12/05&10/2017

Miraculously, Kristin and Evelyn snuck out of the house without being caught by a guard.

This was mostly due to Evelyn's unknown, but impressive skill of sneaking past everyone unnoticed.

This was harder for Kristin, seeing as her human feet couldn't move as fast and silent as Evelyn.

Moving with ease, Evelyn stealthily lead the way through the woods, until coming to a clearing.

They were now closer to the heart of the pack, but Evelyn was only interested in running to the nearest car.

"Is this yours?" Kristin asked confusingly as she got in.

"Nope," she shook her head and chuckled, "I'll return it, don't worry."

Kristin widened her eyes at her as she stepped on the gas and drove them away.

"The pack's on lockdown anyway," she added, shrugging, "They won't even know it's gone."

Kristin hesitantly nodded, thinking it was weird to take someone's car, even if they were a fellow pack member.

"So Brandon is your mate?" Kristin asked, remembering her phone call.

Evelyn snorted and shook her head, "That's disgusting. No, he's my brother."

She sighed, slightly speeding up even more.

"He isn't in this pack, but he's here right now. I need to convince him to leave before he meets Jackson."

"Jackson?" Kristin wondered.

However, Evelyn had stopped outside of a smaller house and was already getting out.

"Come on," she waved for Kristin to follow, "You'll be safe here, trust me."

Kristin followed her into the house but froze as soon as she saw the scene.

Nothing major was happening. Actually, nothing was happening at all. It was just the intensity and dominance in the air that had caused her to be glued to her spot.

She was used to this with her father and brother, but she knew to stay out of the way in these situations.

Two guys were standing on either sides of the living room they had stepped into.

They were both tall, muscular, intimidating... and they looked angry.

"Hey, Sis," one of the guys spoke, his face still hardened, "Long time, no see."

"Brandon I told you now was not a good time," Evelyn spoke lowly, taking a step towards him.

"That's okay," he replied, turning to face the other guy, "I got to meet an interesting wolf today."

The guy that he was talking about narrowed his eyes, somehow making his glare full of even more hatred.

Kristin stayed in the corner, near the door, having no clue what was going on.

"Let's talk outside," Evelyn reached out and tugged on Brandon's arm.

Brandon threw one last look at the other guy before following his sister out the door.

The guy looked like he was trying everything not to shift and attack Brandon, clenching his jaw and squeezing his fists.

"Stay here," Evelyn said, gaining Kristin's attention, "I won't be long."

Kristin was about to object to being in a room alone with this guy, who was now looking her up and down, but the look of stress on Evelyn's face made her nod.

"I'll be right back," she nodded before closing the door behind her.

The room filled with silence and Kristin hesitantly glanced over at her company.

"Luna," the guy nodded at her, looking a bit curious through his previous threatening expression.

"Uh, hi," she replied, remaining in her spot next to the door.

The guy just nodded and walked over to the window, looking out to where Evelyn and her brother were probably talking.

Kristin knew we was most likely listening in to their conversation, but for some reason she spoke up.

"You're Evelyn's mate?" She couldn't help her curiosity.

He seemed to be slightly taken aback as he furrowed his brow and turned to her.

Kristin continued staring at him, though it was really hard due to his intimidating/ angry vibe he had going on.

He just chuckled dryly and shook his head, turning back to look out the window.

After another minute of awkward silence, Evelyn walked back through the door.

She still looked stressed, as she took a deep breath and briefly shut her eyes.

"Sorry about that," she mumbled, shaking her head and walking up to Kristin.

Even though Evelyn was looking at her, Kristin felt like she was talking to the guy.

He didn't say anything, and Kristin decided he was a man of little words.

"Okay, lets go back before Ryder—"

She suddenly flinched and brought her hands to her temples.

"Sh*t," she muttered, turning to look at whoever the guy was.

"Ryder knows."

He rolled his eyes and started walking away.

"What?" Kristin asked, frantically.

"Ryder knows you aren't at the house," she said as she grabbed her hand and started guiding her outside, "He just 'ordered' me to bring you back immediately."

Kristin bit her lip, "He's really mad, isn't he?"

She didn't know exactly where he was or what he was doing in that moment, but it was as if she could almost feel his anger.

"He's furious," Evelyn nodded, jumping into the driver's seat.

Kristin glanced around before getting into the car, paranoid of the dark woods surrounding them.

She gasped when she realized her paranoia wasn't just paranoia. In the darkness, from behind one of the trees, she saw the glowing yellow eyes of a wolf. They were staring right back at her, causing a chill to run down her spine.

She didn't know how she knew this was one of the rogues, but she could just sense it. Those eyes gave her a horrible feeling.

This all happened so fast and by the time Evelyn asked her what was wrong, the eyes had disappeared.

"Nothing," she quickly shut the door to the car, "Let's just hurry back."

She wanted nothing more than to go back to Ryder.

"I'm screwed," Evelyn mumbled as they parked in front of Ryder's house.

"Just let me talk to him," Kristin hopped out of the car but was immediately surrounded by guards.

"Kristin."

It was Ryder's voice, but it sounded angry.

The guards parted and backed away when Ryder appeared.

Kristin seemed to lose her voice as she looked up at his hard expression.

He glanced her over, "You're okay?"

"I'm fine, Ryder," she replied, taking a step towards him. All she wanted was to be near her mate, needing comfort after her previous encounter.

The rogue could have easily attacked, yet he disappeared. She couldn't figure out why.

Before she could take another step towards Ryder, he completely turned and walked away from her.

She watched as he walked up to Evelyn, who was standing there, awaiting his fury.

"What is wrong with you?!"

Evelyn flinched at his yelling, keeping her eyes on the ground.

"I don't understand what the hell would make you think that leaving this house would be okay? The pack was on lockdown. You were supposed to be keeping the Luna safe!"

"I'm sorry, Alpha," she whispered, glancing over at Kristin.

Kristin knew she should say something. Tell Ryder that she told Evelyn to take her with her, and that it was an emergency.

She hadn't figured out what was going on with Evelyn and her brother, but she knew it was something serious.

"I'm sorry, Kristin," Evelyn said, before Ryder cut her off.

"That doesn't make anything better. You had the responsibility of protecting the Luna and you didn't take it seriously. You don't take your position as a fighter seriously either," Ryder shook his head at her before continuing, "You're done."

"What?" Evelyn exclaimed, hurt spreading across her face.

"You are not a fighter anymore. I don't want to see you going to any trainings or meetings. You are done. don't want to see you anywhere near here."

"Ryder stop," Kristin demanded, knowing how important being a fighter was to Evelyn.

"You don't have a say in this. I know you left with her voluntarily," he said, turning towards her.

"Ryder, you're being extreme. Don't take away her position," Kristin tried arguing with him.

He shook his head at her.

"You have no say in this decision."

"Ryder!" she raised her voice, angrily.

"Take her inside," he nodded towards the guards who took a hold of her arms and dragged her towards the door.

"No, stop," she struggled to get out of their hold but once again lost the fight due to her human strength. Or lack thereof.

"Let me go!" she yelled as they pulled her inside the house.

Once inside, they finally let go of her and she kept quiet. She knew she should keep it together in front of the other pack members. She just needed to wait until—

"Ryder!" she said accusingly when he walked through the door.

His dark blue eyes gave her a once over before he turned to the guards.

"You guys can go," he waved them off and they left after quickly bowing their heads.

"I can't believe you just kicked her out of the fighters," Kristin widened her eyes.

"I can't believe you left this house when the entire pack was on lockdown," he shot back at her.

"Look, I know it wasn't a good idea to leave, but—"

"No. I don't want to hear your excuse. All you do is defend Evelyn. You both are so irresponsible."

She scoffed at him, hurt by his words, "You sound like my father."

He ignored her, looking down at his phone.

"Did you hear what you said?" she continued, worriedly, "You made it sound like you kicked Evelyn out of the pack!"

"Good, maybe it'll give her a wake up call," he replied without looking up.

"I can't believe you right now," she muttered, feeling immensely guilty for what happened with Evelyn.

She shouldn't have gone with her. Yet for some reason she knew Evelyn needed support. She didn't know what was happening in her life, but her brother seemed unstable.

"I should be saying that to you!" Ryder shot back, finally looking up at her.

"You aren't the boss of me, Ryder," she suddenly replied, "I make my own decisions and if I want to leave then I will."

"First of all, I'm your Alpha, so I am the one in charge here. Second of all, you aren't going to leave this house unless I say you can from now on."

"What?" Kristin gasped, "You can't do that. You can't control me."

"I'm not trying to control you. I am however trying to keep you from getting kidnapped by the rogues," he shook his head at her, "Do you want to get kidnapped again?"

Kristin flinched at his words, glaring at him, "It wasn't my fault."

"What wasn't your fault?" he retorted.

"Getting kidnapped by your father!"

"You're saying it was my fault?" he scoffed.

"I'm saying if you hadn't lied to me I wouldn't have left in the first place. I'm sick of you blaming me for this!"

"I never said it was your fault!" he yelled back, "Obviously you blame me for it."

"You act like it's my fault!" Kristin snapped, "I didn't chose to go through that. I didn't chose to watch your brother and Jess die!"

A choked sob left her before she could finish.

"You think it's my fault?" he asked lowly. She could hardly hear his words.

"No!" she blinked through her tears.

Ryder was leaning his back on the wall, arms crossed, staring at her. He looked angry.

"I just wish you'd stop treating me like a child. I know you think I'm so fragile I can't handle anything. I hate it!" she yelled.

"Maybe if you stopped acting like a child I would!" he growled, his eyes growing dark.

Kristin spun on her heel and ran up the stairs, not stopping until she was in the bedroom with the door locked.

She walked over and sat on the floor, leaning against the side of the bed. She didn't know what to think anymore, her thoughts were a jumbled mess and she just felt angry and sad.

A minute later there was a turn of the handle.

"Unlock the door Kristin," Ryder's voice was on the other side.

He sounded a little calmer, but she still didn't want to see him. She just wanted to be by herself.

"I'm going to break the lock if you don't open it," he warned.

Kristin covered her face with her hands.

"Leave me alone. I don't want to see you," her voice sounded completely drained and void of emotion.

She heard him sigh, "You can't just lock yourself away when we fight."

"I might as well," she mumbled into her hands, "You treat me like a child no matter what."

"Maybe if you acted like an adult and actually talked things out, I wouldn't have to," he shot back.

"Talk things out?" she laughed dryly, "You mean letting you order me around and tell me what I can and can't do?"

"If you were more independent and acted like a Luna yourself then I wouldn't have to tell you what to do in the first place."

"Why don't you give me a chance then?" she frowned at the door, "You keep me from getting involved in what's actually going on with the pack. You make all the decisions!"

She heard him scoff and mutter something.

"And don't act like you're so perfect," she added, "All you do is point out what I'm doing wrong but look at you!"

"What about me?" he demanded.

Kristin just stared at the door silently.

"What about me, Kristin?" he repeated, "Please go on. I want to hear all about what I'm doing wrong."

"Nothing," she said quietly, not wanting to fight any longer.

"No tell me," he repeated again, "Whatever you want to say just say it. I can handle it. I'm not fragile."

She knew he was saying that to try and get her to say what was on her mind, and it worked.

"Fine," she spoke up, "You want me to be more independent yet all you do is shelter me, and how am I supposed to make my own decisions when you already make them for me in the first place? You think I'm too 'fragile' to handle anything because I don't have a wolf like you. And I'm sorry I get overwhelmed and panic sometimes, but I can't help it! The best part is, you tell me to 'be a Luna', yet you have absolutely no faith in me."

"Wow, spot on," he said sarcastically, "Now it's my turn."

Kristin wiped her cheeks and stood up, taking a step closer to the door.

"Kristin," he said bitterly, "The one who acts like she is the victim all the damn time."

Kristin covered her mouth to keep her crying quiet.

"How about you realize that part of being the Luna is putting the pack first. Your pack. By putting yourself in danger you're putting your pack in danger, and you're being selfish. You act like you can't trust anyone because of what you went through, but for some reason why you seem to trust Evelyn. You trust someone like that over your own mate! How do you think that makes me feel? My own mate doesn't f*cking trust me. And for what? It was my brother and his mate who got murdered. By my own f*cking father! You think life's hard? At least you still have family that's alive! And after everything that's happened, you still can't let yourself open up to me."

Kristin began crying once again, not being able to control her emotions. Ryder's word hurt.

Sliding back onto the floor, she didn't say anything else. Tears were silently falling down her cheeks and her breathing sounded uneven.

"Kristin," she finally heard him. His voice wasn't angry anymore, it sounded more worried.

"Kristin, just open the door," he said, turning the handle again.

After a minute of sitting there crying, Ryder finally stopped trying to talk to her. She was pretty sure she heard him walk away.

Wiping her tears, she grabbed a blanket from the bed and wrapped herself in it, pulling her knees to her chest.

She was exhausted from fighting and crying, her chest full of pain from the mate bond.

Closing her eyes, she tried to block out the pain, but she kept hearing Ryder's words over and over again.

He was right.

•. •. •. •. •.

Chapter 52 ✔️

Thank you for your input last week, I'm glad I asked for your opinions!

You helped me write this chapter so a big thanks! Also thanks for reading too.

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Chica_2016