(Tyler’s POV)I barged into Ryder's room, expecting to find him there, but the room was empty, only fuelling my irritation. I clenched my fists as I set about the rest of the house, determined to find him.As I searched, my fury only grew. He'd better not have decided to leave...At last, I stormed into the kitchen, and as luck would have it, there he sat, innocently eating his dinner in the last place I decided to look.Ryder glanced up at me with an expression of concern. “Did you find—”Before he could finish his sentence though, my fist connected with his face and sent him reeling. He went flying off of his chair, but somehow managed to catch himself before he went sprawling to the floor.He glared at me, his teeth clenched as he touched his fingers to his face, scoffing when he looked back down at them and saw the blood that was pouring from his nose."Did you just fucking sucker punch me?" he asked, his voice low and threatening.I didn't even bother to respond, instead, I grabb
(Tyler’s POV)I headed to my room, my body aching from the fight and my mind still reeling. I'd made my point though, which gave me some sense of satisfaction. Each step reminded me of the blows I’d exchanged with Ryder, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the turmoil in my mind.Sneaking into my room, I made sure not to wake Kate. I pulled on a pair of sweatpants and glanced over at her. She was still fast asleep, her face peaceful. A wave of relief washed over me.I sat on the bed beside her with a sigh, reaching out to brush a strand of hair away from her face, but as I extended my arm, I saw in the dim light that my hand was full of blood. I retracted it quickly, not wanting to soil her or taint her in any way.Taking a deep breath, I pulled myself to my feet and headed back to my mom in the kitchen. As I approached, I heard more yelling echoing through the house. My mom stepped out of the kitchen, her brow furrowed and a pained expression on her face as she gestured for
(Ryder’s POV)I slumped down on the cold kitchen floor, my back against the cracked pantry door. Blood trickled down my face from my nose, dripping onto my chest drop by drop. The entire left side of my face throbbed where Tyler’s fist had connected, and every breath I took sent a sharp pain through my ribs.The fight had been brutal, and now the aftermath was even worse.Dad stood in front of me, his arms crossed and his face a mask of controlled fury.“What the hell were you thinking, Ryder?” he asked, his voice still ringing with anger and accusation.I wiped the blood from my nose with the back of my hand and shrugged. “I told you, nothing happened.”“Nothing happened?” Dad’s voice was a low growl. “Your brother nearly killed you, and you think nothing happened?”“He overreacted,” I muttered, looking away. "Nothing happened with Bailey. Him and Kate are just jumping to conclusions."Dad stepped closer, his presence looming over me. “How did you think it would look, Ryder? How did
(Ryder's POV)"Son, we don't favour your brother. Your mother and I love and care about you both equally. When you told us you didn't want to be Alpha, it broke our hearts. This is my legacy, our lineage. I can't lie to you and tell you that I wasn't disappointed, but we've tried to support you as best we can on the path you've chosen," my dad explained gently.I scoffed. "Bullshit... It's clear that you look down on me and my choices. You think I just play songs with my friends, but there's so much more to it. You don't even acknowledge the hard work I have to put into it!" I flared."Ryder," my dad went on, "I'm disappointed that you turned down your role as Alpha, but that doesn't mean I want you to fail at life. Perhaps I may come across a bit condescending at times, and I'm sorry about that. I'll try and work on it. But when you started these studies, your mother and I would often ask you how it was going and the only response we ever got from you was, 'fine'. We tried to engage,
(Katelyn’s POV)Gentle fingers caressed my cheek, tugging me from my dreams.My eyes flickered open, adjusting to the soft morning light that seeped in through a crack in the blinds. Tyler's smile greeted me, warm and welcoming.I blinked my groggy eyes as he came into focus, a sleepy smile adorning my lips."Morning," I mumbled, rubbing at one of my eyes."Morning," he replied, his voice gentle. "How did you sleep?""Really goo—", I had begun to respond, but the words died before they escaped my lips. "What happened to your face!?" I asked, shocked by his appearance.He had a pretty deep gash on one of his eyebrows, and another on his lower lip. Both looked like they were in the process of healing, but still, they didn't look great.My fingers traced over his brow bone, skimming over the purpling bruise gently. "Does it hurt?" I asked worriedly."A little," Tyler confessed. "But it's not so bad," he brushed it off."What happened?" I asked again, my fingers now trailing over his slig
(Tyler’s POV)I made my way upstairs, feeling the tension in the house growing with each step.As I reached the top of the stairs, I took a deep breath and steeled myself for what was to come. I could hear my Mom's voice, a low murmur punctuated by the occasional sharp word.I pushed open the door to my dad's office and stepped inside.Dad sat behind his desk, his laptop in front of him, but he wasn't looking at it. He quickly over to me now, his eyes narrowing. Mom stood beside one of the leather couches near the fireplace, her expression a mixture of concern and disappointment as she looked over at Ryder. He was standing by the window with his arms folded across his chest, his back to the rest of the room as he gazed outside.The tension in the room was palpable."Where’s Kate?" Dad asked as he peered behind me, likely expecting her to walk in any second now."She's not coming," I replied, meeting his gaze head-on. "She doesn’t want to see Ryder right now, and I don’t blame her."D
(Katelyn’s POV)I heard the faint creak of the door opening and turned to see Tyler entering the room. His expression was a mixture of frustration and exhaustion, and I knew the family meeting must have been a rough one."Hey," I greeted him softly, putting down the book I'd been pretending to read."Hey," he replied, his voice strained.He walked over to the bed and sat down beside me, his eyes scanning my face for any signs of distress."How did it go?" I asked, already dreading the answer.Tyler sighed, running a hand through his hair. "As well as it could, I guess. Ryder tried to apologize, but I told him it was too late. And my dad wasn't happy that you didn't come, but I explained the situation to him. He wants you to head up next." I'd expected as much, but I can't say that the anticipation had made me feel any more prepared.I nodded my head solemnly, swinging my legs off the bed, determined to get this over with."Do you want me to come with you?" Tyler offered, his voice r
I walked down the hallway with a mixture of relief and surprise. The conversation with Tyler’s parents had been more understanding than I’d anticipated.As I descended the stairs, I could barely contain my excitement. I was going on a trip with Tyler and I'd somehow managed to make amends with his parents. It felt like things were starting to go right at last.Pity things with Ryder were at an all-time low. The thought knocked me back down a peg. Don't get yourself too excited Kate, I scolded myself. Your life is still a shitshow.I headed toward Tyler's room, dreading the possibility of seeing Ryder again. Moving quickly, in an attempt to minimize the possibility, I hurried to his room with silent footsteps. I knocked once before swinging the door open, desperate for the safety and protection of his room.Tyler was busy stuffing a pile of t-shirts into a bag. He looked up at my sudden appearance as I exhaled deeply, my back pressed against his bedroom door."How did it go?" he asked,
I adjusted my grip on the tiny, squirming bundle in my arms and smiled as a chorus of laughter echoed through the Valentine house."Could you hold her for a sec?" I asked Ryder, shifting Ava into a more comfortable position. "I forgot my phone downstairs.""Absolutely," he replied, his face lighting up as he took her from me.I had to admit, Ryder had surprised me. I’d always known Tyler would step up to fatherhood like it was his destiny, but Ryder… I thought he might need a little more coaxing along the way.To my relief, and, I'll be honest, surprise, that hadn’t been the case at all.Ryder had embraced fatherhood like a natural. Late-night feeds? He was right there with me. Diapers? No problem. Making sure I ate? He was relentless. And the way he loved our daughter, with every fiber of his being... God, it melted my heart daily.Tyler, on the other hand, was exactly the dad I’d known he’d be. He was steady, dependable, and endlessly patient. Where Ryder brought the energy and fun,
(Katelyn's POV)I nodded slowly, processing it all as I tried to picture it in my mind's eye."Oh! And get this!" Ryder piped up with an excited grin. "Michael, the guy you wrapped around the pillar? He's Simon's cousin!""What?! How do you know that?" I asked, confused.Tyler replied this time, "Well, when we were leaving, we bumped into Simon in one of those long, winding corridors. He started going off at us asking where we were going and if we had permission to leave, blah blah blah... But Helen shut him down. She told him that the decision had been made and instead of giving us a hard time he should probably go and check on his cousin because the last time she saw him, he didn't look so good.""You should have seen his face," Ryder smirked, chuckling to himself. "He just stood there for a moment, still blocking our path, but then I think something clicked in his head. He probably saw that we were all covered in blood and shit and realized that something was wrong and he practicall
(Katelyn's POV)The first thing I registered was the sound of hushed voices and the faint smell of lavender.My eyelids felt like they’d been superglued shut, but after what felt like an Olympic-level effort, I finally managed to pry them open.My vision swam, the room around me looking like a watercolor painting that someone had left out in the rain.Where was I? WHO was I? It felt like I had been asleep for a hundred years.I blinked repeatedly, willing my vision to focus, but when it finally did, nothing seemed familiar.It was dark, from what I could tell, and the only light was coming from a lamp somewhere on the other side of the room.I shifted onto my elbow, trying to sit up, but I instantly regretted it. Pain throbbed in my skull, my head spinning like I’d spent hours on some rotating carnival ride. A groan escaped me, and the low murmurs nearby stopped immediately.“Kate?” A voice cut through the haze... Familiar, warm, desperate.My gaze darted toward the sound, and there t
(Katelyn's POV)She was furious, but not with me. I could feel her... like a storm raging inside me, raw and untamed. I waited in the quiet shelter of my own mind, nothing more than an observer as I watched her wrath unfold. It was like witnessing a hurricane from the safety of a bunker, awe and terror warring inside me."We... We didn't know!" the iron-haired woman’s voice quivered, her arms raised defensively, as if they could shield her from the Goddess's divine fury."You didn't know?! You didn't know that you were exploiting them? Or you didn't know that I would care?" the Moon Goddes spoke through my lips, her words flowing like liquid thunder."I... We..." the woman stammered, her eyes darting around desperately, searching for someone, ANYONE, to come to her rescue. But no one did. No one dared to move. They were all frozen like statues in the face of the storm."You will—" the words spilled from my mouth, but I somehow managed to cut them off abruptly when I heard Tyler's angu
(Tyler's POV)"I don't know what to do," Kate whispered, her voice filled with helplessness as she looked up at me while I struggled against the attendants who held me in place."Let him go," she ordered, authority resonating through her voice in a way I'd never heard before.When they hesitated, she glanced toward the man she'd just sent flying through the air like a puppet as some kind of silent warning of her power.That seemed like enough for them to release me.The second I was free, I fell down beside her, desperate to stop the blood that was pouring from Ryder's neck. It was coming out so fast it was clear that they must have gotten an artery, the blood pulsating out of the wound in steady throbs."What do we do?" she whispered, looking to me for answers I didn't have.I reached out, holding my hand over hers in some futile attempt to stop the bleeding, but it was like trying to hold back a flood with a fucking paper towel.His neck was a mangled wreck. The flesh was torn open t
(Katelyn's POV)Tyler’s hand trembled as he held it in place over mine, trying desperately to stop the blood that continued to pulse out, albeit at a much slower pace now.His voice was a whisper and it wavered with desperation. "You’re going to be okay, Ryder. You hear me? Just hang on. Just—" he broke off, choking back a sob as his other hand found its way to Ryder’s blood-matted fur as he rubbed him affectionately.He looked at me, his face pale and his eyes swimming with tears that he tried uselessly to blink away.“Kate...” His voice cracked, barely audible above the rapid, shallow breaths of his brother. “The bleeding... it’s too much. He’s not healing fast enough.”His words struck me like a dagger to the chest. I'd thought it, but hearing him say it out loud made it real.“What are you saying?!” I cried, my voice raw and broken as I gripped Ryder’s limp paw, shaking it in hopes of some kind of reaction. My vision blurred as I let the tears spill down my cheeks. “Is he going to
(Katelyn's POV)Through a blur of tears, I found myself face to face with the broad-shouldered Elder, Michael."You're an abomination!" he snarled, his hands gripping my arms with a ferocity that promised bruises. "You're a curse! A witch! A temptress! Do you know how my family has suffered because of you?!" he spat as he shook me violently, his eyes filled with absolute rage."But... I..." I stammered, trying to form words into sentences, but my brain couldn't do it.All I could do was stare at him, still reeling from the fact that one second I had been kneeling beside Ryder, trying to help him, and the next, I was being violently shaken by a man who seemed to have gone full psycho."Katelyn?!" Tyler called out, realizing I was no longer at his side.Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him struggling against about three or four attendants who tried to hold him back.Suddenly, pain shot through my cheek and the world around me fell into a darkness that seemed to ebb and flow like the t
(Katelyn's POV)For a moment, the entire room froze and my ears rang with the word exterminated."We're leaving," Tyler said, his voice low as he snatched me by the wrist and tugged me toward the door.The attendants remained though, none of them making any move to unblock our path. Instead, they all looked toward the iron-haired woman as if waiting for her to give them some instruction."Move," Tyler demanded sharply as Ryder appeared on my other side."We aren't finished here," the iron-haired woman called out as three more attendants appeared to block our exit."She wants to leave," Ryder replied, his voice filled with venom as he turned to address her."We aren't finished," she repeated, her voice cold and sharp as steel."I thought you said this was a hearing," I shot back, glaring at her. "Was there some line in the invitation about being held against my will? Because if there was, I must’ve missed that part," I spat, trying to hide my growing fear with sarcasm.The room fell si
(Katelyn's POV)The iron-haired woman watched me, her grip on her notes tightening once more. Her restraint was evident as she took a deep breath before finally replying. “You have already been told, Miss Grey, that this meeting is for us to ascertain—”I cut her off, my own patience now unraveling fast. “God, you can’t even give me a straight answer! What are the potential outcomes here?!” I demanded. "Even criminals on trial know what potential penalties they'll be facing! Why can't I be afforded the same courtesy?! Are you going to impose some kind of limitations on me and my abilities? Or do you plan to lock me in a prison cell? Or maybe a tower in the middle of nowhere? Are you going to kill me? Seriously, what options are on the table here?!" I pressed, annoyed by how fucking evasive she was being.It felt like they had already made up their minds here. While a few of them did seem to be on my side, it's clear that many of them were not. And those who sat on the fence would likel