You Have No Idea, My Dear Alpha

•17•

•Ryder's POV•

I walk into my office and everyone turns their head to look at me.

I continue towards my chair and take a seat.

Nobody has said anything yet, they are all looking at me expectantly.

I clear my throat before I begin, "A few years ago, I used to always visit my Aunty and Uncle, we weren't actually related, but we were so close that I just called them that. Anyway, they had a son, who is Cole, and a daughter, Maddison. I always saw them as my siblings, I used to see them all the time and we were so close. About two years ago, Maddison and her mum died in a car accident. Cole blamed it on himself, even though he had no part in it.

"After that, he changed. He didn't pay as much attention to me when I came to visit, he changed his style to darker clothing, and his personality changed too. I wasn't surprised when he said that his pack ditched him, he was causing trouble and making it hard for the other pack members.

"But I knew when I saw him last, which was just over a year ago, that he had completely changed. A side of him came out that I never knew existed, he had a dark side. And now that he came today, I understand part of the reason he's like this is because of me."

Mara looks like she's about to say something, but I put up my hand to silence her.

"I just need you all to know that Cole isn't like this. He isn't what you saw today, he's actually a kind and caring person that just wants everyone to accept their lives as they have it." I finish.

I look around and see everyone nodding their heads, but when my eyes land on Mandy, they look lost and confused.

"Are you okay Mandy?" I ask.

Mara looks at her and frowns, she walks over to her and pulls her up.

"We'll be back in a second." She says and walks out, Mandy trailing behind her in a daze. Mara turns around before she completely vanishes and looks to Layla, giving her a silent message to come too.

Layla nods and gets up to follow too.

Josh, Trent and I give each other looks.

"They need one of their 'girly talks'." Josh says through mind-link.

"Yeah, but did you see Mandy's face? It was like she'd seen a ghost." Trent replies.

"Why are we talking in mind-link again?" I ask.

We all give each other a look and start laughing.

How this was funny? I don't know.

The door opens and my dad walks in.

"Ryder, I need to talk to you for a second." He says in his Alpha tone.

I nod and excuse myself from the guys.

We go out into the hallway and I close the door behind me.

"What do you need to talk to me about?" I ask.

"So Mara's human?" He begins.

I knew Mara wanted to keep her secret, because she didn't shift when she was being held by the rogue just adds to my suspicions of her not wanting people to know.

"Yes." I reply with a straight face, careful not to give anything away.

"Well I see that you told her everything okay?" He asks.

"Yeah, she accepted us fine." I shrug.

"Good. And you know that she's going to need lots of protection?" He says.