(Tyler's POV)As I stared out the window of my dad’s office, watching the sun break over the horizon, it hit me that we had been at this for hours. The adrenaline that had fueled us through the night was wearing off, leaving behind nothing but fatigue and desperation.We had combed through the old ledger, page by page, searching for any lead, any clue that might point us in the right direction.At last, we reached the final entry without any further mentions of a 'Nathan'. At least not as a current listing.Ryder sighed with exhaustion, but he wore a pleased smile as he paged back to the spot he had marked earlier. "Then it has to be Nathan Flatly," he insisted.I looked at the entry, reading it over and over again as I tried to figure out why it didn't feel right to me. This was the only option. This was the only currently listed 'Nathan' and I wanted it to be the lead we were looking for, but it felt wrong."Hang on, let’s just take a minute to try and work this out," I said, trying
(Katelyn's POV)"Harlan—" I began, my voice trembling as I searched for the words to try and make him understand my position. But he cut me off, his tone still completely casual, but the underlying threat was more than apparent."You don't want to make this hard, do you? Either way, I'm going to get what I want, Kate. And if you make it hard, it's just going to be worse for you," he explained, the charming smile on his face at odds with the menace in his words.I stood there, my back pressed against the wall, my heart pounding in my chest as I wiped away the tears that had spilled down my cheeks.What could I say? What could I possibly do? My mind was racing, but I was frozen in place, at a loss for any realistic solutions."Now come on," Harlan continued, his tone suddenly enthusiastic, as if we were discussing something trivial, like what film we should watch at the movie theater or something. "We've got a celebration to prepare. What do you prefer? Do you want to go the more tradit
I had no clue what time it was. There was no clock in the room, but judging from how light it was outside, I'd probably guess around midday.I'd inspected every inch of the room, searching for a way out, but there was nothing.A charger plugged into the wall mocked me - a lifeline to the outside world, but without a phone to connect to it. No TV to watch, no music to listen to, nothing to occupy my racing mind. The only book in the room was "The Rational Male," filled with Red Pill garbage and misogyny that I had absolutely no interest in reading. Eventually, with nothing else to do, I lay down on the bed, trying desperately not to cry.I just wanted to go home. I missed Tyler and Ryder so much it physically hurt. Things had finally started looking up for me, and then THIS had to happen. It made me hate Harlan even more. Just when things were starting to fall into place, he decided it would be the perfect time to pluck me out of the life I'd so desperately been yearning for.A knock a
***TRIGGER WARNING - SEXUAL ASSAULT***I finished the last bite of cheesecake, disgusted with myself for eating everything on the tray. The food had been delicious, but accepting it felt like defeat and I felt a wave of disappointment wash over me. Not just because I had eaten, but because I had succumbed to this tiny act of submission and I hated myself for it.I pushed the tray away in disgust and headed back over to the bed, flopping down and staring at the ceiling.Time seemed to crawl by in this room. With no clock and nothing to do, I was left alone with my thoughts, and they weren't exactly pleasant company.I kept picturing Tyler and Ryder's faces, wondering if they were looking for me. How would they even know where I was? I clung to the hope that they would somehow find me, but it felt like I was fooling myself. I had left no clues, no hints, no trail of breadcrumbs for them to follow. I was a needle in a haystack.I was pulled from my brooding by the sound of the lock turni
The door clicked shut behind Harlan, leaving me alone once again. My throat ached, the pain a sharp reminder of what this man was capable of. The lengths he would go to to ensure my compliance.Miserably, I curled up on the bed, allowing myself to sob myself to sleep.The room was dark when I woke up. Night had fallen and I hadn't had any need to put lights on during the day, so the room had plunged into darkness, which was kind of unnerving in the unfamiliar setting.With a sigh, I sat up, searching for the lamp beside the bed and clicking it on.I'd shed my tears and acknowledged my shitty situation, but now I needed to try and figure a way out of it, because crying all afternoon hadn't magically resolved the issue.It was clear, Harlan was dangerous. More dangerous than I'd ever imagined. The fact that he seemed to want me was in my favor, but that would only go so far... He had said he didn't want to hurt me, but he would. I couldn't rule out the possibility that he might push tha
I knew there was no getting out of this. Harlan's eyes bore into me, expectant and demanding. With a resigned sigh, I nodded."Okay," I relented softly. "But I need you to understand, I can't control what I see. It might not be anything useful."Harlan nodded eagerly, scooting even closer to me on the bed. "That's fine. I just want to see how it works."I took a deep breath, steeling myself for what was to come. "I need to be touching you," I explained. "And I need to look into your eyes," I went on, already knowing that such an intimate act with Harlan was going to leave me feeling dirty for days.Without hesitation, he grabbed my hands, his touch making my skin crawl. He leaned in close, his blue eyes locking with mine. I took a deep breath, trying to focus on something trivial, hoping to find a memory that wouldn't be helpful or relevant in any way. Something boring and mundane.As I stared into his eyes, I felt the familiar sensation of being sucked backward through space and time
(Ryder's POV)The moment Dad confirmed Nathan as the new Beta of Aspenwood Pack, I was ready to go. My heart raced, with a resurgence of adrenaline. We knew where Kate was, now we just needed to get to her."Let's go," I said, picking up Tyler's car keys and heading for the door.He grabbed my arm, stopping me. "Hold on, Ryder. We can't just go."I spun around, glaring at him. "Are you kidding? We know where she is, let's go get her. Why are you making this so much more complicated than it needs to be?!""I'm not trying to make things complicated. I just want to make sure we do shit right," Tyler countered, his voice annoyingly calm. "We need our IDs to travel. We should pack some clothes, maybe grab some supplies. We don't know how long we'll be gone. We can't just run in there all guns blazing."I groaned in frustration. "Fucking hell, Tyler! Every second we waste here is another second she's at their mercy!""I know. But if we show up unprepared, we'll be no help to her at all," Ty
(Ryder's POV)It felt like time was moving so slowly it might as well be going backwards.The wait at the airport felt like torture. The flight itself was a nightmare because some Karen felt like she deserved a window seat, even though she hadn't been assigned one and she, of course, had to make a big scene about it. Then we had issues at the car hire place because insisted on something with four-wheel drive and they didn't have anything, so we had to try another dealership.Now we were finally on the highway headed toward the Medicine Bow Pack. The monotonous hum of tires on the asphalt filled me with anxiety. It felt like we were headed further away from Kate rather than toward her.I glanced over at Tyler as he yawned, blinking his eyes furiously as he tried to keep focus. He was exhausted. We both were. We hadn't slept in over 24 hours and it was starting to take its toll on us."Want me to drive?" I offered, knowing I wasn't doing much better than him, but seeing that he might ne
(Ryder's POV)Tyler's belief in me should’ve felt reassuring, but instead, it felt like a heavy weight pressing down on my chest.“No,” I said again, more forcefully this time. “I’m just… It’s not me...”The conversation spiraled from there and we ended up in a shouting match with him trying to point out how good I had been at things like art and creative writing, as if that just somehow magically made me a more capable leader than I was giving myself credit for.It all just kept going downhill from there..."Fear of what, Ryder?! What are you afraid of?! It's sure as shit not being a disappointment because you've prided yourself on that fact for years now. So what is it? What are you so fucking afraid of?!" he snapped, his frustration and patience finally reaching its limit.“Of letting people down!” I finally admitted, the words bursting out before I could stop them. “I’m just—”But Tyler wasn't having it. Before I could even finish my sentence he spoke over me, his words tumbling o
(Ryder's POV)My eyes were focused on the ripples from my failed stone-skipping attempt, but I could feel Tyler's on me, waiting for a response.His question hung in the air and I didn't know how to answer it. I didn't know what to say.With a sigh, I dragged my hand down my face. “I’m just trying to figure shit out.”The answer was a cop-out, but I didn't know what else to tell him. I was torn between letting every word and thought pour out of me so that I could just get it out in the open or shutting down completely and internalizing everything until I finally imploded.“Figure what out?” he pressed, his tone firm but not pushy.Jesus... Did I tell him? Should I just spill the fucking beans and let the chips fall where they may? Or did I keep my mouth shut and deal with it myself?The silence hung over us, heavy and awkward as I struggled to make a decision. Why did this feel so fucking complicated?!He looked like he was going to ask again, to press harder for an actual answer and
(Ryder's POV)I sat on the mossy log, staring at the still surface of the pond in front of me. The air was cool and damp, the smell of earth and pine heavy in the air. I looked up as gray clouds swirled overhead, the threat of rain imminent.This was Tyler's spot, but I'd come here a couple of times before when I needed to get some space to think about shit. Back home, everything just felt so... consuming... overwhelming. Not that it was much better here. It's not like the problems just magically disappeared as soon as I stepped out the front door. But here... I don't know. It was quiet. There was no chaos.This wasn't exactly what I had had in mind when I left this morning, and truth be told, I had no clue how long I had been here. I'd turned my phone off, not wanting to have any distractions or interruptions.Kate had probably messaged, but I just needed this time to focus. To focus on this one stupid problem. A problem that shouldn't have even been a problem at all.There had been
(Tyler's POV) Before I had a chance to put together some kind of response, Ryder continued, “You’ve always been better at everything, Tyler. You could always run that much faster. You were always that much stronger. You always scored that much higher. Everything you ever did... Everything you ever do... You just do it better than me. You can even skip a fucking stone further than I can..." he went on, scoffing at the absurdity of it but I could see that it weighed him down.I bit my lip, still not knowing what to say. To some degree it was true, but there was so much more to it."And I don't hate you for it or anything, okay?" he said, as if trying to set the record straight. "It's not like it's your fault that I couldn't measure up. It's just the way things panned out, and that's fine. I guess the pack needs a leader and that's you. You were always the one everyone looked up to and I guess I just figured that the best thing I could do was stay out of your way and not hold you back.
(Tyler's POV)Ryder hesitated for a moment before shaking his head again and replying, "I'm just... trying to figure shit out.”“Figure what out?” I pressed, trying to sound curious rather than forceful.He was quiet for a long moment and I was almost one hundred percent sure he was going to give me the generic 'stuff' reply again, but he surprised me.“That empty feeling I told you guys about after the marking? Well, it’s still there. I tried to ignore it, figuring that The Elders being here was more important. I thought that maybe it would go away if I didn't think about it, but it hasn’t. It's just gotten worse and with all the shit that asshole Simon was saying... I just... I think… I think I might know why I've been feeling this way...” he trailed off.I frowned. “Why?”He hesitated, his hands clenching into fists. “It's the Alpha thing, I'm almost sure of it. I’ve been avoiding it for years, telling myself I didn’t want it, that it isn’t who I am. But now? It’s like it’s catchin
(Tyler's POV)The Fortress was as busy as ever. People milled around the gym, sparring, chatting, working out, the usual. The faint smell of sweat mingled with disinfectant hung in the air.I scanned the room, hoping to see Ryder beating the shit out of a punching bag or leaning against the wall, smirking at someone’s terrible form, but there was no sign of him.He didn't come here often, so my hopes weren't high to start with, but it was still disappointing when he was nowhere to be seen.If he wasn't in the gym, he didn't really have much reason to be here otherwise. But even so, I figured I may as well make the most of it and do a thorough check of the building.Making my way down the hallway that led to all the meeting rooms and classrooms, I peeked into a few of the rooms where I knew I wouldn't be interrupting anything important. Along the way, I ran into a few familiar faces, but no one I asked had seen him around.With no sign of him here and no solid leads, I stepped back out
(Katelyn's POV)Two days had passed since The Elders had left, and the weight of their impending decision hung over us like a miserable storm cloud. Everyone seemed to be carrying it differently. Tyler busied himself with pack matters, his steady demeanor a calm anchor amidst the uncertainty. Liz had thrown herself into the house, preparing meals and cleaning each and every nook and cranny as if that might somehow scrub away the tension that had been building. David had been quieter than usual, which was its own kind of unsettling.And Ryder? Ryder had been... absent.At first, I didn't think much of it. Ryder wasn't one to stick to predictable routines. He moved at his own pace and showed up where and when he wanted, usually with some sarcastic comment or mischievous grin.But today was different. I hadn't seen him since the morning when he'd looked a little out of it and had just told me he had a lot on his mind. That was it. That was the last time I had seen him. It was late afterno
(Katelyn's POV)I stared at Helen, my mind spinning with her words. Each revelation felt like a hammer blow, shattering any illusions I’d clung to about where this was going.“So, then what’s the point?” I asked, my voice sharper than I intended. “What’s the point of learning to control my abilities if it won’t make any difference? If they’re just going to see me as some kind of… resource?” The word tasted bitter in my mouth.Helen sighed, her gaze softening as she looked at me. “It’s not that simple, Katelyn. I won’t lie to you, there will always be those who see you as a means to an end. A 'resource', as you put it. That’s not going to change overnight. But that being said, things are changing. Times are changing and so is the way people think.”“Yeah, not fast enough,” I sneered, the frustration bubbling inside me.“No,” Helen admitted, nodding. “Not fast enough. But they ARE changing. And people like you? People like us? We’re the ones who will push those changes forward. We're th
(Katelyn's POV)I heard the vague sound of hurried footsteps approaching us, but I made no attempt to lift my head from Ryder's chest to see who it was. In my mind, I had pictured Liz coming to offer me some comfort, but when Ryder spoke, I realized my assumption must have been off."I don't think she wants to talk to you," he said, his voice firm and protective as he still clutched me tightly."Please," Helen's voice begged, "I just need a minute. I just want to explain—"But Tyler cut her off. "Listen, Helen, we appreciate how you've tried to assist with Simon and all that, but I think she just needs some space right now. There's nothing you can say that's going to fix this. It seems pretty obvious that the Council of Elders has their own agenda here," he stated, trying to keep his words firm without coming across as hostile."Katelyn," Helen tried again, refusing to give up, but Ryder simply rotated me away from her, standing as a barrier between us with his back towards her.I hea