07/21/2017

Blood.

It was everywhere.

Jess' body was soaked in it, Alpha Rickard was drenched in it, and the floor was covered in it.

And it was all Jess'.

Kristin was sobbing, struggling to breathe, as she stared at her unmoving body.

"I am glad you could watch that, Kristin," Rickard stood up from the ground, wiping his bloody hands on his already blood- stained suit.

Kristin struggled to catch her breath, so she could scream at him, but she was losing oxygen.

"Gabriel will not stand a chance against me now. He will not be able to live anymore," Rickard wore a sinister smile as he kicked Jess' dead body.

"Don't touch her!" Kristin screamed as loud as she could, tears streaming down her face.

Rickard ignored her as he called two of his men to take care of the body.

"Where are you taking her?" Kristin sobbed, trying to use the bars to pull her weight up. She felt too weak to stand.

"Kristin, she is dead," Rickard shook his head disapprovingly at her, "It doesn't matter."

His men continued to pick the body up and disappear down the hallway.

By this time, Kristin had calmed down. She was no longer sobbing, though tears were still silently running down her face.

She suddenly felt exhausted, like her body was giving up. She felt too weak to try and move, so she remained on the floor in front of the cell door.

"Kristin, can I let you in on a little secret?" Rickard spoke again, walking over to stand in front of her.

She remained silent, refusing to look at him.

"After much thought, I've decided to keep you alive," he grinned down at her slumped figure, "Would you like to know why?"

Kristin stared hard at the clement floor, trying her hardest to ignore him.

"I thought you might," he smiled, cunningly.

"You see Kristin, I could kill you, if I wanted to weaken Ryder as well. However, if I did that, I would have two crazy wolves coming after me. Don't get me wrong, they would be blinded by revenge of their mate, their wolves taking complete control. Which would block their logical thinking, allowing me to kill them."

He walked away from her, thinking before continuing.

"Gabriel, I could handle like that. Both of them though," he chuckled, walking back over to Kristin, "I think then, they might actually be able to kill me."

Although Kristin's head hurt and she was both physically and emotionally drained, she wondered why Rickard was acting like she was Ryder's mate.

He was the one who came up with the plan with Ryder, in the first place.

"Because although their human side disappears, along with all logical thinking, perhaps this will make their wolves stronger. Two out of control wolves, are dangerous for me."

Rickard kicked the cell door in front of Kristin to see if she was listening to him, or just zoning out.

She flinched, but remained staring at the floor.

"The deciding factor for you, Kristin, was that if I did kill you, I would not only have to deal with Gabriel and Ryder. But your father as well."

Kristin had been listening to his monologue, and by now, she knew that he was saying if she was dead, he'd be dead.

The only thing that was stopping her from acting upon this thought, was that Ryder wasn't really her mate. Therefore, it wouldn't affect him if she died.

Maybe that would be more beneficial to his side though.

By this point, Kristin was confused as to who was on the good side and who was on the bad side, Ryder in particular.

However, after Jess had told her she was wrong about Ryder, that he was only trying to protect her, she was going to trust Jess.

She had no idea why, or what Ryder was trying to protect her from.

"There you go Kristin, I gave you a little peek into my mind. See, I'm not as crazy as everyone thinks, am I?" Rickard's eyes darkened as he continued, "Everything I went through, just made me stronger."

"How do you know Gabriel won't survive and become stronger?" Kristin asked with a low voice, finally looking up at him.

She ground her teeth at the sight of him, covered in Jess' blood.

"Because he will seek revenge right away. By this time, he has already let his wolf take control. Which means, he'll be here shortly, only wanting to kill everything in sight," Rickard responded, "Then, I will use my logic and other men against him, and kill him."

He straightened his suit and turned on his heal, "Now, if you will excuse me. I have to await my two dearest sons' arrivals."

He started walking away, and Kristin panicked, trying to think of a way to stall him.

"Your plan won't work," she spoke, her voice tired from crying.

He stopped briefly, and turned around, "Although I am interested in why you would think that, especially after I explained everything to you, I must go."

"Ryder and I aren't mates," she replied, trying a different approach.

Hearing this, Rickard grinned at her, "Is that so?"

"You're the one who told him to fake that we were mates."

Something in Rickard's eyes lit up, and he glanced at his watch.

"I suppose I do have time to tell you one more, brief little story, Kristin," he smiled, showing his teeth.

"Before we even met with your father, I told Ryder that, as soon as he saw you, to pretend you were his mate. It was for obvious reasons. Then I would gain your father's trust, along with our alliance. But you know that already, don't you?"

Kristin nodded silently, wanting to stall him as long as possible, but also genuinely interested in what he was getting at.

"At first, I really did not think the plan would work. I thought your father would be able to see through Ryder's lie. Only now, I know how he did it," Rickard chuckled, "Come on Kristin, don't be such an ignorant human. I thought even you would figure this one out on your own."

"What?" Kristin asked, now wanting him to just spit it out.

"You are Ryder's mate."

Kristin sat there, scrunching her eyebrows at him.

She was actually Ryder's mate?

No, it couldn't be. She had obvious reasons for not trusting Rickard, although, he had been telling her his legit plan this whole time.

Or was it just to throw her off?

After a full minute, Kristin let his words finally sink in.

"No," she spoke, shaking her head at him.

He was lying. He was trying to confuse her more than she already was.

"Yes, Kristin," Rickard laughed at her, "I went through this whole plan, making sure Ryder would go through with it. He really didn't want to. I mean, he never really liked to do anything for me, not after his mother was killed."

Kristin saw something brief flash across Rickard's face. It was gone before she could really see what it was, but she thought it had looked like feeling. Like pain and emotion.

"But what are the odds that you of all people, happened to actually be Ryder's mate?" Rickard shook his head, truly shocked.

"How do I know you aren't lying?" Kristin asked, trying to prolong the realization that Rickard could actually be speaking the truth.

"I have not lied to you, since you walked through my office door today, Kristin," he responded, looking distracted for a moment.

"Ah, now if you will excuse me. This time I actually have to go."

"Where?" Kristin quickly asked, wanting to know what was happening.

"Gabriel has arrived early, it seems," he replied, turning around one more time, "It truly was a pleasure speaking with you, Kristin. I do enjoy your company. Such a shame, you had to be Ryder's mate. We could have been such good friends."

And with that, he disappeared down the hallway.

The sudden silence filled Kristin with anxiety.

She tried to keep busy with pulling on the door, yet she knew it was no use.

These cells were built to withstand werewolves.

Kristin could only hear her own breathing as she tried looking around for some way of an escape.

There was nothing. All of the cells around her were empty, Rickard had purposely placed her away from his other prisoners.

When Kristin's eyes landed on the floor outside of her cell, she squeezed them shut, not wanting to see all of the blood.

Closing her eyes only made it worse, as she saw Jess' lifeless body in her head.

She instead tried to think about Rickard's words.

Most importantly, his claim that she was really Ryder's mate.

She refused to believe it, even if a small part of her knew it had been true the entire time.

Instead she focused on the sound of her increased breathing, feeling her heart pounding in her chest.

Anxiety and panic engulfed her, as she curled up into a ball on the hard, cold cement floor.

•. •. •. •. •.

Chapter Eighteen done!

Que the action.

Thanks for reading!

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Chica_2016