Page 4

I look into Ryder's eyes and he looks into mine. How? How is this even possible? There must be some mistake - I feel lightheaded.

Well, this explains how I was able to resist his command. He's a Yin Yang wolf, just like me.

I watch, frozen, as his eyes take in each of my features. One of his hands leaves my waist and returns its warmth to my cheek. His knuckles skim softly against my skin from my cheekbone to my chin, leaving a path of cold in its absence. His eyes shine with...fascination.

He pulls his hand away, seeming to notice I was frozen. "Jade?" he prompts. I shiver as my name rolls off his tongue. I look into his eyes and shake my head. I step out of his embrace and brace myself up against the counter.

My mate, a man who I have blamed for my parents' deaths.

Logically and reasonably, it was the rouges that killed them.

Emotionally, I know we are the strongest pack in the werewolf kingdom, meaning we are the main line of defense for the Royals.

I look at Ryder's face and I see hurt, however, it quickly disappears.

A blank expression now replaces the emotion.

It is quiet for a moment and then his voice rings in the room. "Pack your things. We are heading back to the castle tonight."

I snap my eyes to his. "What?" I ask incredulously. Is he joking? He has to be joking. He and his Delta must have similar senses of humor.

Ryder straightens his stance and crosses his arms across his chest, making his muscles ripple through his shirt. I surprise myself by not breaking eye contact. "Pack your things. We are leaving in three hours," he repeats.

I scoff and roll my eyes. "No," I tell him firmly.

He raises his eyebrow in question. "What do you mean 'no'?"

I stand straighter - I'm 5'10, but he still towers over me. "I mean exactly that. I'm not leaving. My family and friends are here. This is my home," I explain to him.

He growls lowly in his chest. "You are leaving with me.

I can drive you or I can drag you, but you are coming with me mate," he commands using his Alpha voice.

I glare deeply into his eyes and he glares back.

His Alpha Command doesn't affect me, but I can't believe this man just tried to command me to leave with him.

If I was anyone else, he could have done the command and it would have worked perfectly.

"I said no, Mathews," I reiterate firmly.

My confidence wavers when slowly, a smirk forms on Ryder's face.

He lets his arms fall by his side and looks over my body from head to toe.

He then turns and walks to the kitchen doorway, but pauses there.

He looks at me with that same stupid, sexy smirk on his face.

"You don't have a choice." With that, he walks out of sight.

I stand in the kitchen for...who knows how long before I finally can walk again. With the feeling of my legs, another feeling familiar returns: rage.

I run upstairs and slam my door, shaking the frame violently.

Add Ryder Mathews to the list of the damned!

He'll fit right in with my asshole brother and his sexist Delta.

I feel the anger pumping in my veins, pushing me to act on these feelings.

This time the victim is my bedside lamp.

I storm over, pick up the lamp, and chuck it against the closet door.

The poor thing shatters into a million pieces and I stand there breathing heavily. I roll my eyes, annoyed by the entire situation. I try to clean up the glass shards as best I can, but give up when I cut my finger for the fifth time.

I sit on the edge of my bed with my head in my hands.

There has to be a way out of this. He can't really force me to go.

..can he? I'm a Yin Yang werewolf for crying out loud.

..but my family isn't. If Ryder is anything like what I've heard he is, I can't trust that my family would be safe if I were to try and escape.

I sigh and slowly start packing my things. I pack everything I can fit into the limited luggage I have. The last thing I place in my bag is a picture of me and my family. I take a deep breath and close the bag.

I get in the shower, quickly washing away the sweat from the gym and shaving.

Once out, I go to my closet, choosing from the few clothes I didn't pack.

I choose black jeans, some black and white Vans, and a blue, cropped oversized shirt that hangs off one shoulder.

I let my hair dry naturally in its curls and do a natural makeup look.

I sit on my windowsill and look out into the woods, thinking of how this day got so out of hand.

'Don't think like that, Jade' Jasmine scolds.

I roll my eyes at her ignorance.'How else am I supposed to think? He's forcing us to leave with him. He's taking us away from everything we've ever known and giving us no choice in the matter,' I defend.

She sighs in my head. 'I know you're mad, but he is our mate. We can't exactly hate him,' she says.

I roll my eyes again and scoff. 'Maybe you can't. I can hate him,' I mutter.

She chuckles like she knows something I don't. 'We'll see.'

A knock breaks my focus. "Who is it?" I call out, not moving from my spot.

"Evan," a voice calls out.

Evan? Beta Evan Hendrix? What the hell does he want? "Come in." The door opens and Evan steps through my doorway. He looks at my packed bags and the shattered lamp before his eyes travel to me.

He walks over and sits on my bed across from me. Evan clears his throat. "So I heard you'll be coming with us to the castle," he says, breaking the silence.

I laugh mirthlessly. "Sure. Let's call it that," I say sourly and look out the window.

"I know he seems like an ass and sometimes he really is, but he's not a bad guy, Jade," Evan says. His comment about whom I assume is Ryder catches my attention.

I look over at him and study his face. I let out a humorless laugh and shake my head when I confirm my suspicions. "That's what you guys came for. I knew you weren't here for an evaluation, it didn't make any sense. You can't do a proper pack evaluation in a day," I confront him.

Evan shakes his head and smiles. "You're smart."

"He came here looking for his mate," I confirm aloud.

"Well, actually we were checking on the packs we visited. Making sure that they were being run correctly, however, yes. These past few months Ryder has been searching for his mate," he relents. "I guess he found her, huh?" He says with a chuckle.

"Guess so," I say, smirking.

Evan shakes his head and stands up. "I can tell you are going to make things much more interesting."

I laugh softly at his prediction. "I'll take that as a compliment," I say.

He bows his head and starts walking back to the door. "Until next time."

A few moments after Evan has gone, I stand up and walk out of my room. The Goddess would have it that Ryder turns the corner at the exact same time. I roll my eyes, walking straight past him and downstairs. I hear him growl quietly, but I continue my descent.

I get to the bottom and walk down a couple of halls until I'm in front of the pack orphanage.

I open the door and see a bunch of little kids running around.

Once I'm spotted, excited screams of my name spread around the room.

They all rush at me and hug my legs. I laugh and bend down to hug them back. "Hello, little ones."

A little brunette girl named Lexi taps me on the shoulder. "Will you play with us?"

I smile and nod. "Of course. I would love to play with all of you." All of the kids cheer and we all start playing. After a while, I take them outside and we play a game of tag.

When I get close to someone, I slow down and act like they are too fast for me. "Haha, you can't catch me," Jordan yells. He is the cutest little blonde-haired boy who we found abandoned after a rouge attack. I smile and run faster, catching him within seconds.

I grab him and throw him high into the air. Jordan squeals and I catch him as he starts falling. He laughs and I set him down on the ground. Suddenly, a tiny mass is on my back and I fall to my knees so they won't slip. Soon, tons of little kids are on top of me.

I laugh and "struggle" against them. I laugh as one of them starts to tickle me, so I start to tickle them all.

They scream and start running away from me.

I run after them and tickle them a few seconds before they escape and I start running after another kid.

This continues for a while before some of them grow tired of the constant running.

Noticing the tiring tiny people, I lead them all over to the pack playground.

I push two kids on the swings while the others run around chasing each other, climbing on the monkey bars, or going down the slides.

"Jade?" A deep voice calls out and I know it's Ryder.

I slow the kids down on the swings so they don't go flying off, then look over to him.

He is leaning up against the side of the pack house, watching me. He's wearing black jeans, a black T-shirt, and a leather jacket with some black combat boots.

I raise my eyebrows. "What?"

Ryder narrows his eyes. "It's time to go."

My eyes widen unexpectedly and dread settles in my stomach.

Checking the watch on my wrist, I see that it is indeed almost three hours later.

"Already?" I ask and he nods. I sigh heavily and remember I have a bunch of kids outside.

"Give me a few minutes," I say. I tell the kids it's time to go back inside and they get sad.

I give them a small smile, "If we go inside, I'll get you all some ice cream.

" My bribe works perfectly and they cheer as they run back into the house.

I take a breath to compose myself and follow them in.

I feel Ryder walking behind me, but I don't turn around.

I go into the kitchen and give a sheepish smile to the kitchen workers who are staring at the children confusedly.

"Sorry. I kind of promised them ice cream." The workers laugh and help me make ice cream for everyone. After they all have ice cream, I turn to Ryder who has an unknown emotion in his eyes, but once again it is gone too soon to tell.

"All your bags are already in the car," he informs me and I nod. There's only one thing left to do.

"Have you seen my brother?"

He clears his throat and looks out the kitchen window. "He's outside with some other people." I nod and follow him outside. Once outside, I look up and see Jason. That dread from earlier hits again at full force.

Jason's eyes soften when he sees me, but I look down at the ground.

I exhale sharply - I just need to forgive and forget this whole day.

I look at him and nod my head towards the old oak tree on the edge of the front yard.

He gets the message and we both walk away from prying werewolf ears.

When we get to the tree, I see Jason's face full of guilt.

Relenting, I close the distance and hug him - I don't even know when I'll see him again.

Jason immediately hugs me back. "I'm so sorry and I do love you, you have to know that.

I would die for you. You're all I have left now," he apologizes quietly.

I pull back and I see he has tears in his eyes.

I give him a sad, small smile. "You're my family and no matter how much you piss me off, I can't hate you," I say with a short laugh.

"Ya know, one day you'll find your mate and she'll be your family when I'm not around.

Hell, you probably won't want me around by then," I joke again lightly to comfort him.

Though, as I think more about leaving my big brother, the tighter my chest gets and the more painful the lump in my throat is.

We've never been apart from each other longer than a couple of weeks, even less so after our parents died.

As strong as I like to think I am, Jason has been my rock and a huge part of my life, and.

..I'll miss him. Jason rolls his eyes and just pulls me in for another hug, making us both laugh.

I pull away from the hug and wipe the tears off his face.

"Alpha's don't cry remember," I mock jokingly, my own eyes watering slightly.

I swallow the lump in my throat and take in a deep breath before smiling at him.

Jason rolls his eyes again. "Alpha's don't cry," he repeats.

We hug one last time before we let go and I walk over to Ryder's truck.

I give Jason one last wave before opening the door and climbing in. I glance at Ryder who's already looking at me. I look back out the window. "Ready?" he asks.

I roll my eyes - like I have a choice. "As I'll ever be." I hear him sigh, probably in exasperation, and the car starts to move.

We speed down the road and the blurry scenery is like a lullaby. Soon, my eyes are closing and I'm gone from the world.