Author's Note: So I'm trying something different. The chapters marked with an asterisk are from a limited omniscient point of view (there's only two of these chapters). They only serve to create dramatic irony for Ashlynn (and I suppose Ryder too for just this chapter) to be honest, but you can also understand the beginnings of how Ryder thinks and uncovers things for himself and why he acts a certain way around a certain character. SO if you're someone who wants total explanations, read the chapters. If you strictly want to uncover the story as Ashlynn does, don't read the chapters.
DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU.
*****
Ryder drove back to Ashlynn's house in an unexplained fury. Once his car had pulled into the driveway, the strange, beautiful woman had stood up. Filled with a mixture of anger, wonder and natural territorialism, he quickly got out of his Porsche and approached her.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" he hissed at her on the porch. He was sure to quickly glance and sniff around to know that no one was home and no neighbors were watching. The woman's face was familiar, but loads sadder than the night of the fire. That night, she was filled with vengeance and intent. While Ryder knew she was older than him and someone who demanded respect, he didn't wait for her response. He began to walk away from her before she followed and spoke.
"Where are you going?"
"I can't be seen with you," he answered while opening the driver side door. He looked down at her with a surprising amount of control. "Meet me at the old house on 4253 Obsidian in twenty minutes," he ordered before trusting she would manage her own way there in the allotted time.
***
Ryder paced for only five minutes before the woman arrived. His thoughts were clouded with everything to do with Ashlynn—if his car prank ruined her day, if she was worried about a stranger on her doorstep, how disappointed she was in him—everything down to whether or not she even liked Colin's cooking that he knew would be Hamburger Helper. But just like his every day struggle, he had to silence that part of his mind in order to deal with the issue at hand.
"So what's your name?" she asked politely while she walked around and examined every inch of the historic house like Ryder remembered doing himself long ago.
"Yeah right."
"You don't trust me," she figured and eventually stopped circling the foyer. Ryder only shifted and crossed his arms.
"I think I have a good reason as to why," Ryder responded with a scoff. Now the lady smirked.
"So you're the alpha," she named. "I thought it might be you or the other boy in the fire. I'm not surprised it's you. He saved the girl, you went for the kill. Alpha priority."
"Not my kind of alpha," Ryder whispered under his breath despite wanting to defend his decision to have Zander take Ash to the hospital. But he didn't owe that to a stranger. "And I wasn't trying to kill Preston."
"I know," she laughed. "You just let him suffer from the fire and woke him up only to nearly beat him to death—"
"I wasn't trying to kill him!" Ryder suddenly roared and felt his eyes blur for half a second to where he knew they were glowing red. But instead of cowering away in fear of rank, the woman was amused.
"Maybe not," she changed and then took steps towards him. She stopped when she was a foot away and Ryder was void of his wolf barking inside of him for the proximity somehow. His hand even twitched at the thought of grabbing the dagger he had stolen from Ashlynn a long time ago. The woman's dark eyes searched his. "But you could have," she added, hinting that she knew about Ryder's identity as an Alpha. The two glared at each other for a brief moment before she took two steps away from him and let her hands clasp behind her. "So I think I did you a favor."
"And how's that?" Ryder's mind ran with absolute curiosity about this woman. The Donahues hadn't warned him, but every instinct he had as a werewolf was set off by her. She was dangerous and calculated. Why was she still here? And why was she at Ashlynn's house? To tie up loose ends about what really happened that night?
"You wanted him dead. I saw it in your eyes when you tortured him in the woods behind the house," she answered. "Maybe he meant something to you at some point or maybe you want to keep some nice image for yourself, but you're welcome. I did you a favor by killing that boy."
Red, searing fury ran through Ryder's veins, but he had to tell himself to focus. He had been blinded by rage before and he couldn't do it again right now.
"And why is that?" Ryder asked. "You pop in out of nowhere, interrupt a teenage brawl at an arson site, slaughter a guy, and throw his body back in the fire like it was nothing. Sounds to me like you had your own favors to carry out."
He remembered everything. He had pulled Preston out of the fire at the same time Zander had taken Ashlynn to the hospital. Only, Ryder took Preston to the wooded area behind the house to beat him senselessly with every ounce of emotion he had for Preston ruining Aaron, killing his dad, nearly killing Ashlynn, biting Stella, burning the Everton house, and defiling any loyalty to the pack or his title of Beta. Blow by blow Ryder was closer to testing the legend of lenience towards a True Alpha's choice execution. But a woman had stumbled over thinking that the smoke-covered boys were just fighting despite the fire raging on. She took over, convincing him she would help bring the boy to consciousness and that's when Ryder's concern kicked in to worry about Ashlynn and even Zander. He had snuck back to the front of the house that was plagued with emergency vehicles to make sure Zander's truck was gone, but after getting off the phone with Zander, he was spotted by Sheriff Bloomingdale before he stealthily ran back to the woods and found a wolf standing and pawing on the chest of who was once Preston Russell. In shock, he couldn't even do anything but watch the brunette wolf drag the mangled body across the backyard and onto the back porch.
Ryder noticed her heartbeat speeding up, beads of sweat starting to form, and her pupils start to minimize. She was guilty. And now that his True Alpha knew about it, he was going to milk it for all it was worth not only because she was an intruder in his town, but because she had killed his best friend in cold blood and sought after Ashlynn. That last reason was the one thing that could ever lead Ryder to kill. "And then you find yourself on a girl's doorstep to what? Make sure she doesn't remember even the chance of seeing you here the night of the fire? Well you know what, she doesn't. She remembers me and Preston, that's all."
"And she isn't going to ask questions about how you survived?" the woman inquired. If she wondered about Ash knowing about his survival or lycanthropy, it meant that the woman knew he had been in contact with her. But she could only smell Ashlynn on him if Ashlynn met her before she knew Ryder. And that was doubtful unless the woman was tracking Preston through Ashlynn. If that were true, she wouldn't be wondering if Ashlynn knew about the werewolf secret. "Two boys enter a burning house that seems to have no damage, yet one victim gets hospitalized and one gets a coffin while you two walk away. Seems to me like questions would be—"
"This territory is mine," Ryder hissed. "No one gets around asking questions about me for long. I had a witch take care of her for me," he added despite it not being completely true. He had control over the mystical secrets of Tyriette, but he was no shy of questions from monsters and humans alike. But that was none of her business. "The only question that seems to be getting thrown around is whether or not I killed somebody."
"You did," the woman immediately replied.
"You did," Ryder roared and got near her. "You interfered that night. You let me go and make sure everyone else was okay only for me to find out that you killed Preston and left the body at the house. You killed him. It was all you!"
Suddenly, the woman reached out to pin Ryder to the nearest wall and he immediately reversed the hold for him to have the advantage. He even raised a fist clutching the Everton dagger, but couldn't find it in himself to use it. She pushed him away with an incredible strength and he saw her eyes quiver for a second.
"You killed him," she repeated at him in a threatening tone, begging for him to take the blame even if she didn't know that Ryder would have no consequences.
"Stay away from her house," he found himself threatening in a growl because he couldn't control his wolf. That's why he was here. He was here to protect Ash. It didn't matter if he took the blame for Preston's death, but his murderer wasn't going to just be lurking around his mate's house—or Tyriette at all.
"Keep my involvement out of your mouth and you won't have to worry about her," the woman hissed back before exiting the Everton house. As much as Ryder wanted to laugh at the irony that he would literally always worry about Ash, every cell in his body was threatening to burst. This woman had killed his best friend and threatened his mate. She was the exact lone wolf that he was warned about. And even though he had reservations about being a True Alpha who could slay the guilty, he was hoping that the Order saw that even Preston's murder was enough to allow him to kill this monster in front of him.
