And There Were Wolves

twelve | and did the twin flame bruise paint you blue?

XYRRA

"I was kidding," I told Ryker as I started to feel uncomfortable with the surprised look on his face. That amount of shock soon morphed into anger and annoyance. 

"That is not something to be joked about," he said in return, sounding royally pissed. "Being a Luna is not a joke."

There were two full minutes of tension inside the car and glancing at his stormy face, I knew that although this whole Luna thing was nothing for me, it was something important to him and as he said, I should not have made fun of it. It was stupid of me and I did not even know why on Earth I had done it. "I'm sorry," I apologized. "But I was not kidding about coming with you. You have been asking me, telling me that it will all make sense if I come with you. Well, now that my dad left and Eros won't have me with The Erebus, you are all I have left."

His expression softened a little. "I'm sorry about your dad." Ryker let out a small sigh. "I know that this whole thing is new to you and I should be more understanding but you see, this is new to me too. Not until a few weeks ago, I have always thought that I had no mate. I thought I would marry my childhood friend and live the rest of my life with her."

"Yeah, I am kinda aware that I am being a third wheel here," I said quietly, looking away at the trees as we passed them by. 

I thought he was going to mop about his broken heart, how my presence had ruined everything for him. But Ryker surprised me when he said, "No, you are not." Out of curiosity, I stole a glance at him. His silver eyes were still fixed on the road.

"You are my mate, my other half, and I should have waited for you," he continued and for a split second as he turned his attention away from the road, our eyes met and I could swear I felt my heart being tugged. Then he turned away, breaking the eye contact and everything felt normal once again. "It is never your fault, it was mine. All mine."

I knew telling him that I did not believe in soulmates or that this whole mating business would only anger him so I remained in silence throughout our journey to the North where his pack, The Ethereal, ruled the land.  The North turned out to be slightly different compared to the South where Eros and his pack were. Although the forest more or less looked the same, the feeling was different. I could not pinpoint exactly what it was. 

"We are here," he announced once the car was parked. He pointed at the huge house in front of us and said, "That is our packhouse."

Everyone was staring at me from the moment the car entered the small town until the time I got out of the car. I could feel their eyes on the back of my head. Cold ran down my spine. Perhaps coming here has been a mistake. I should have stayed with Eros. Surely there was nothing worse than being surrounded by strangers who could turn into a wolf at will. Even though I knew I have never met Eros's pack before, at least Eros would be there for me and if anything went sideways, I could always count on him. 

My eyes glanced at Ryker who was busy getting my luggage out of the trunk of his car. I was not even sure if I could trust him. He may seem helpful and kind but I could not lower my guard knowing that he had stabbed me in the back merely two days ago when he had ordered Cindy and her gang to bully me just so I would go with him. What else would he do in order to get me to do something, anything he wanted? 

"Come on," said Ryker, both of his hands were carrying my bags. Although there were two men earlier who had offered to help, he insisted on doing it himself. "I will show you around the packhouse." 

I followed closely behind him towards a big house about ten feet away from us. "Who lives here?" I asked out of curiosity, wondering if his parents or grandparents would be there.