Oh Hell No

Chapter 31

When a male wolf sees his mate straddling another male, he's bound to be more than a little jealous at the sight. So, to say that Ryder's reaction was over the top, would be one of the most close-minded and stupid things a werewolf could believe. If anything, he was keeping himself together pretty well given the situation. He trusted Jamie, so surely there was an explanation as to why she and that pup's faces were inches away from each other before he showed up.

Realizing the situation would get really bad really fast if she didn't act quick, Jamie immediately got off Fin, subtly gesturing for Melissa to help him up. It seemed best to avoid any extra contact with him in case Ryder didn't have as much self control as she thought. Fin meanwhile smiled in that awkward way he always did when confused, like he was concerned that whoever he was talking to was about to pull a gun on him.

"Who is that?" Ryder's eyes flashed red at the idea of having competition. Jamie had never mentioned dating people from her old pack, so he had no real way of knowing whether Fin was interested in her or not. Well, in Ryder's mind it was practically impossible for someone not to like her so there was a good chance Enzo would decide Fin is an enemy if no one stepped in.

"This is Fin, an old friend of mine," She made sure to enunciate the word enough to get her point across, "So if you rip him to shreds I'll be a little upset."

"A little?" Fin piped up, offended.

"I'm trying to save your ass here, now is not the time to sugarcoat," She fires back, walking over to Ryder.

Once she got close enough he immediately pulled her into his arms, breathing in her cinnamon scent while he calmed down. He had gotten his growling under control, believing that she had no romantic involvement with him. That still didn't put Fin completely in the clear, since there was always the chance he was secretly harboring feelings for her, but he could trust that she would choose him over Fin.

"Fin, meet Ryder Daniels. The future alpha of the Everglade Pack, and if he didn't make it obvious enough, Jamie's mate," Zack explained.

He gapes, "You landed a freaking alpha's kid? If all it took was for you to get banished a couple weeks then maybe I should try it."

Zack didn't appreciate the joke, "If you commit a crime I will do everything in my power to make sure Lewis throws you in the prison instead," That ruined Fin's mood temporarily.

Ryder pulled away from Jamie when she tapped his arm as if to say "do you plan on letting me go anytime soon?" Fin certainly didn't seem like a threat, so he could handle Enzo's jealousy. The wolf even considered marking her in front of them, which was why he let Jamie move away without a fight. She seemed like the type that thought of marking as something that should be done in private.

"Just to be clear, you two have never kissed, dated, or anything like that?" Ryder asks quietly, intending for only Jamie to hear but knowing it was pretty pointless with everyone's heightened senses.

"Nope."

"I'm not an idiot."

They responded at the same time, Fin's responsive earning a raised eyebrow from Jamie, "What? You probably would have slapped me if I even tried to make a move on you. It's a good thing you're not my type."

"Well, I think everyone else is ready to go. You can stay if you want, but I figured I'd let you know now," Ryder tells her, albeit reluctantly. Despite Fin's assurances he still didn't like the idea of leaving her here with him, or any other male wolves in this pack. Most of them didn't know that she's his mate so there's no telling what they might try.

Jamie looked back at her parents, whose expressions didn't help at all with the decision. On one hand, she didn't want it to feel like they were guilting her into staying, but if they had just stared blankly she wouldn't appreciate their lack of opinions on the matter. But, things were more okay between them than it had been in months, so she didn't see a reason to stick around and risk ruining that. Besides, Artemis was in no mood to be away from Ryder again so soon, and frankly neither was Jamie. Even the temporary separation worked wonders on her opinion of him and their bond. Compared to surviving a kidnapping, complaining about the mate bond and trying to get into an "organic" relationship seemed so stupid now.

"No, I'll come with you guys. I'll just slow you guys down a lot because shifting isn't a good idea for me right now," Another thing Marcus had tried was seeing how much wolfsbane it would take to immensely slow her healing while not forcing Artemis out entirely. He had succeeded, leaving her wolf form quite battered after Artemis decided she could fight him off. Specifically, he went for her back legs to make walking that much harder, and while a fair amount of the damage hadn't transferred over to human form, or had already healed, running in wolf form didn't sound like the best idea.

"Okay..." Ryder trailed off, obviously wanting to talk about it but he got distracted before he could.

'Do you know where Alpha Lewis is?' Chris asked over the mind-link suddenly, 'I need to talk to him.'

'No. Last I saw he was in the kitchen. Why do you need to talk to him?' He asked. There weren't many reasons that Chris would need to speak with Lewis, and most of them were still pretty weird.

'I need to ask him about bringing a member of his pack with us,' Chris responded simply, though Ryder swore he sounded a bit irritated, which was unusual.

Ryder considered how he should respond for a moment, ignoring the curious looks he noticed Jamie, Zack, and Melissa were giving him. Fin didn't really care, he was busy winding up the hose again before Zack added even more running to his training regiment, 'If you mean Jamie, she's not a part of their pack; Alpha Lewis only lifted the ban, not welcome her back.'

Chris's response was blunt in only the way werewolves could after such an event, 'It's my mate. I need to ask him about bringing my mate with us.'

A/N: My boy found his mate!! I honestly love Chris as a character and I saw the opportunity for him to meet his mate, so I kinda had to