CHAPTER FOUR

Why now? How come I have to meet him this way? There's no point in saying all of this, right? It does not matter now. 

“Eirlys.”

She was jiggled out of her deep thoughts. She opened her mouth to speak but the words wouldn't come out, like they seemed heavy to be uttered.

“I know you were not expecting anyone, not close to me, to come to your rescue but at least, I deserve a thank you for helping you out in such a tight situation.” he tilted his head to one side, a smile curling at one end of his lips.

Eirlys nodded, humming, her sound like a singing bird. She chuckled and folded her lips. “Yeah, you're right, I don't need you to save me.” she limped forward, steadying herself with the tree at her side. “I was going to find my way out before you interfered.” 

“Oh, are you sure about that? You could not even walk well… or are my eyes deceiving me?” He advanced his steps, almost closing the distance between them.

Eirlys drifted into silence. There was nothing she could say to defend herself. Yes, she was in a tight situation and had prayed for someone to save her, maybe in her mind. To rescue her. And it seemed that the Moon Goddess had sent to her, her long lost mate— or probably, the mate who rejected her.

“Why have you come here?” She furrowed her eyebrows.

Ryker stepped in closer and this time around, he was standing close to her. He pulled out his hand toward her to touch her but Eloise propelled her head backward. 

“You're not allowed to touch me, Ryker… You dare not.” She pulled away and crouched down, taking a look at her Bigfoot. The blood already stopped but the cut was obvious. Looked deep enough. She gently touched it but with that, she grunted.

“Let me take a look,” Ryker bent to her level, noticing the cut on her leg. He was about to see for himself but Eirlys stood up on her feet, ignoring his care.

“Why have you come here, Ryker?”

“It's obvious why I am here. You don't need to ask me that question anymore.” He sighed, his hands crossed behind his back.

“Oh! I see, maybe you should just go back to where you were coming from if you're not going to answer the question. Don't you think so?”

“That's no way to thank a saviour who rescued you. Don't you think so?” he snapped and took a pause before speaking up again. “I thought as much that you wouldn't listen. You know why, I'm here to save you and to take you back.”

There was a minute of silence between them. The silence stretched and hung in the air. The only sound was the night birds and the night air shooting through the tree branches and cutting through the silence. She chuckled but the next second, it faded away.

You thought as much I wouldn't listen. Ryker. He must have been stalking me all this while, right? I've needed you all this while but you didn't come around. You didn't even bother to find me, right? But how did you find me? Are you by any chance looking for me?

“We have to get going. We're not safe out here.”

His words cut through her mind, disrupting her thoughts and jolting her to come back to the present.

“I don't get you. Go where?”

“Back to my pack of course.” He grabbed her hand but she struggled and lost his grip.

“Your pack? Oh, I see. You're now an Alpha. Wow.” She swallowed, her expression betraying her words.

There was a time when she would look at Ryker with those lovely eyes. There was a time when she could not even respond harshly when he spoke to her or asked her questions. Their mate bond was as tight as a bolt screwed into a fitted hole. But this time around, hearing about him already being an Alpha raised a lot of questions. Questions she won't probably get the answer to.

“You want me to go back with you, to your pack. To do what exactly?” 

“Do you have other options? You're left with none, Eirlys. The best you could—”

“No, no Ryker. You don't get to tell me that.” She interrupted, her hands swinging in the air like she had to do it to convey her words more clearly and make him understand what she was actually talking about. “I've been held captive for months, I survived. Without your help. And if you didn't come here, I'm still going to survive it. Without your help…. Trust me…. I didn't ask for your help. Don't force me to do anything. Not now, not here.”

Ryker kept mute and only pressed his gaze on her. His lips slightly opened but no words came out. There was nothing he could say. To him, Eirlys was right and had the right to say whatever she had been keeping inside for a long time. It's been two years since they saw each other and within those years, he had been in luxury as the Alpha of the pack. No worries, nothing to think about. All he had to do was to lead his pack and give them instructions, making sure they were at peace and not intimidated by any rival pack.

He had no idea what she had been through, where she had been. He was the one who rescued her from the hands of The Tyrant in the first place. And now, he had to rescue her a second time.

I'm sorry for all that you have been through, Eirlys. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed me the most. I'm sorry I—

“Hey, are you thinking also? It's not bad.” she winked at him but he sure knew too well it was all sarcasms.

“Eirlys.” He took a deep breath and paused for a moment. “I know I'm the last person you want to see. I know you have every right to be angry.”

Eirlys gaze locked with his, studying his expression like a book she was to read to pass an exam. She could see the look on his face, the emotions he conveyed even without talking.

Maybe he'd change. Maybe he wants me. She thought, not until she heard him say otherwise.

“But I have to save you as an Alpha. I would do it for anyone.”

For anyone, he said. He wouldn't do it for me. She felt a little heartbroken, swallowing like she got something in her mouth which she was trying so hard to get inside her gut. She waved the thoughts, realizing there was no point pushing further and asking questions to know how he felt.

“How did you find me? Your pack is faraway from here but yet, you found me. How?”

“You want to know how I found you?” He grabbed her hand and pulled her so that she followed him. This time around, Eirlys could not lose his grip. “We can't stay here. Don't you smell them? They're nearby. We have to go and you'll know everything you want to know when we get back.”