Three

Ryker

I was aware of Ronnie’s arrival long before I could hear the first traces of the purring engine on the incoming vehicle.

My wolf’s mournful howl boomed out in my head in response to our mate’s propinquity while I forced myself to remain standing within the doorway, not wanting to seem too eager by waiting in the driveway.

The deafening sound penetrated through the unease that had suffused my being until all I could see was a reel of the most painful flashes of my life playing on repeat while I remained frozen in place.

Returning to the South was the last thing that I wanted, but I also knew that it was long past time that I cleaned out the skeletons in my closet.

Each new day added to the burden that I had been carrying my whole life, but it had become almost unbearable since that fateful morning after when I had first comprehended the full extent of the bond that I still share with Jax’s little sister.

Then, I had bolted with my tail tucked between my legs before she had awoken, too afraid at the time to face my traumatic past and my likewise as frightening best friend when he learned the truth about the scope of my relationship with Ronnie.

Fortunately, my reminiscing of prior mistakes was mercifully interrupted for good a few moments later when my wolf’s sensitive hearing picked up on tires crunching over the unpaved driveway, confirming what I had already known deep in my soul and breaking into my increasingly melancholy thoughts.

I was out the door in the twinkling of an eye, but any plans of a pleasant reunion soared out the window the instant that my sharp eyes zeroed in on another male touching what’s mine.

I was pleased when the alpha retreated at my furious snarl, but my mate’s cool brush off irked me to no end. I knew that I deserved nothing less after the way that I had treated her, but damn, did her rebuff sting.

She continued to ignore me over the course of the evening as Asher and I picked up the remainder of the pack house, and I lost myself in overanalyzing how to fix things with Ronnie.

My wolf’s pitiful whining consumed my mind while I worked, yet another reason why I had come to the conclusion that I had before the bears invaded yesterday. Ronnie was mine, and the timing was long overdue for me to claim my other half.

Just the same, in order to fix things with my soulmate, I needed privacy, which would only come after we all had the conversation of how the bears had managed to transitorily gain the upper hand here.

Everyone eventually gathered around the partially split kitchen table to sate our appetites and tell our own respective sides of the harrowing event. I recalled how lucky we had been that I hadn’t immediately followed orders this time around as Jax took the lead in the discussion.

I had been dragging my feet about returning to the South, even if it had ultimately turned out for the better, but I was already rationalizing how to put it off for another day with my mate within arm’s reach.

I had been able to make myself face the discomfort of my history in my home province when I had known that Ronnie’s life would be in danger elsewhere.

I had not known that she was my mate then, but I had always protected her just as ferociously as Jax since the first day that I had rolled into the North, tearing through the town in my wolf form.

The second my eyes connected with hers, I knew something was different. I knew then that everything would be okay, even if I didn’t fully understand how at the time.

I’d like to say that it was her guiding me to my new home, my wolf having followed some type of invisible string leading straight towards her, because the second his piercing eyes connected with her mesmerizing emerald irises, my wolf finally receded, allowing me to retake control of the situation and shift back into my human form.

I was not sure how long I had been running in my animal shape for at that point, but I knew that it had been a decent stretch.

I was still fairly new to shifting at the time, but my wolf had taken over when I had returned home and found the lifeless bodies of my parents and baby sister in the destruction surrounding my home.

I had always believed that the magnetic pull I felt for Ronnie was caused by me seeing my sister through her, but as she grew, my attention wandered to places that were not family oriented or remotely platonic.

She was gorgeous with her wavy, black hair and green eyes, centered perfectly on her heart-shaped face, and her pouty lower lip that I desperately wanted to sink my teeth into. She was tall for a she-wolf too; I could get lost in her mile-long legs that seemed to go on forever.

I constantly berated myself for my attraction to her as I grew from a kid into a man, but I had already decided that I was done denying the existence of my other half, even if I was still withholding the information from my oldest friend.

I was a child when I had arrived in the South, and Jax and Ronnie’s family had been amazing to take me in and raise me as one of their own. Jax truly was my best friend, and he knew more about me than anyone to date.

Nonetheless, there were still things about my past that I had kept hidden over the years. I could never bring myself to tell him about the allure I held for his sister or the fact that she is destined to be mine, among other things, but I knew the time was coming.

I had been feeling so many things when I left that morning after. Ronnie had been a mess with her parents being gone and her home being ripped from her, and I could freely admit at that time that I loved her, at least in some fashion, and hated to see her suffering.

I was not cognizant of the fact that I was in love with her then, but somehow comforting her with a simple pat on the shoulder had evolved naturally into her melting into my chest as I pulled her into my solid warmth.

I remember wanting to ease the sorrow in her eyes any way that I could, and everything had at last coalesced into the best night of my life to date. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind. I was determined to get that feeling back, regardless of how much time or effort it took to do so.

Willow’s higher pitched voice sucked me out of my plotting as the conversation turned more serious.

I had already pieced together enough of Jax’s side to know what happened, what with the bodies and damage that he had left in his wake, but Willow’s tale turned out to be far more interesting.

For the life of me, I hadn’t been able to figure out how the bear shifters had managed to get the jump on us. I had secured the border myself and was responsible for ensuring that the patrols covered the entire boundary.

One second everything had been fine, and then the next, the bears were descending like a pack of wolves closing in on their kill. We had come out on top at the end, but our males had taken heavy damage.

The chemical scent blockers cleared up the confusion, but Willow’s assertion that the elders had conspired against their own kind shocked the room into silence.

I’d had an inkling as a child that the arrangement which had been set up with the elders at the head of the packs, rather than the alphas, was not for the betterment of our kind, but I had never expected this level of deceitfulness.

Asher and Jax’s overarching decision to name me as Alpha of the Southern Province also came as a surprise, though I knew it shouldn’t have. Ready or not, it appeared that I would have to step up and claim my rightful role in addition to my true mate.