It had been three months since Megan left me and I still couldn’t understand why. I had a void in my chest, a void that Megan used to fill, but now it was just empty. I hadn’t lashed out or broken anything. I had gone home and packed all her clothes and stored it in the basement.
Her phone had gone straight to voicemail and after that day I didnt call her again. I was done begging and trying. Abeloth was quiet too, he was fuming and confused and his emotions ranged from hot to cold.
Over the course of that first week I had gotten rid of every trace of her in my life. It wasn’t just the humiliation of being stood up in front of my lair, my family and friends. It was the fact that she couldn’t even be bothered to tell me to my face. She had chosen the easy way out, packed some of her clothes and just left, again.
I had thought that we were fine, we rarely fought, I’d declined two assignments from Wentworth and focused on Megan and our future together. I had placed her ring in my personal safe, at the back, where I didn’t have to see it but she was everywhere.
Beyond the hurt, I was angry and pissed off. So I reverted back to my default setting. I shrugged off the pitying looks from people and focused on my lair and our businesses. I became more ruthless, less forgiving and I tried to erase her by drinking more and caring less.
I was back to being the old Ryder, the Ryder before Megan, the Ryder that walked into a bar alone but didn’t leave alone. I made sure not to fool around with anyone that was a part of my lair. I didn’t want some overprotective father knocking on my door because I’d ruined his little girl’s reputation. I stayed away from dragonkin women in general.
It didn’t help much, no matter how hard I tried to kid myself. Her memory didn’t go away but I’d be damned if I’d let it rule me or consume me. It didn’t feel like anybody understood what I was going through and Link and Emily watched me with wary eyes.
Each day became a little easier as Abeloth tried not to think about her and that helped a lot. It kept me sane. I wasn’t prepared though for the twists my life would take. Thinking back I don’t think I could’ve been prepared, no matter what.
I certainly couldn’t blame anyone but myself. They were my choices, my path, my burden to carry. Melissa was pregnant with their first child and Lucas had stepped down and let Chase take over the reins. It was a good change because Chase had been ready since we turned sixteen.
Wentworth had sent me a case, not a file, just a one-pager. It kept sitting in my inbox and stared at me and for once in my life I wasn’t interested in taking on an assignment. I felt almost depressed and lethargic.
I was in a slump and I had to get out of it. That’s when my team arrived on my doorstep and refused to take no for an answer. The real Ryder had to live again. I would rise to the top even if I had to do it alone.
It’s funny how life turns out. I was always the good guy, believing in love. I was willing to do whatever it took and now I was the only one not bonded, not married and not having a kid on the way. The one thing life couldn’t take from me though was that I was Ryder Grey, Ryder the hunter and Ryder the Sire.
I’d leave my own mark on this world, my own way.
“Who’s idea was it again to come here?” I asked as I dried the excess water off and sat down on the lounger.“Elio’s,” Marlo and Basil said at the same time.“Are you seriously complaining?” Elio asked.“I’m not,” Basil said as he sat up straight and surveyed the beach in front of us.“Of course you’re not,” Marlo said.We were in Bermuda, our yearly get away as a group disguised as a holiday to cheer me up. We always rented a house since hotels were so impersonal and with our eccentric lifestyles we needed the privacy. Explaining blood bags in the freezer might not go down so well for Elio and Basil.The view was pretty spectacular, pristine beaches, clear waters and women in bikini’s wherever you looked. Two weeks of fun in the sun as Elio called it. Tank and Jack where off somewhere snorkeling and doing couply things.Basil was a self-proclaimed bachelor and I was newly left at the altar. I watched Elio as he glared at the male population as Marlo made her way from the sun chairs d
Ava and Selma had ended up spending the weekend, they hadn’t checked into their hotel by the time we had met and their bags were still in their rental car. The weekend turned into the next week and before we knew it, our holiday was coming to an end.“This was the best reunion ever,” Basil said as he stretched out on the lounger next to the house’s pool.“Bermuda has left its mark on us,” Marlo said as she intertwined her fingers with Elio’s.“Sadly though real life waits for all of us,” Ava said.“And real life is where exactly?” Jack asked her.“Back to Los Angeles,” Selma answered.“Talking about real life, I’m moving in with Jack,” Tank said.“What did your dad say?” I asked him.“His daddy ain’t telling us a thing, since Tank’s not taking over the family business, he can’t say anything,” Jack said and I had to smile at the code he was using.“I’m actually surprised Link hasn’t called me yet,” I said.“Who’s Link?” Ava asked.“My business manager,” I said as Marlo smiled secretly.
The door wasn’t locked and I opened it to find my father and Stella in the foyer. Rylee came rushing forward, wiping tears from her eyes as she hugged me. Chase and Melissa stood in the doorway of the living room and the look he gave me was one of worry.“What the hell’s going on?” I asked.“Come with me,” Stella said.I followed Stella out of the house with Lucas close on my heels. She opened the door on the west side and then went down the hall towards the infirmary. Something really wasn’t right. Stella stopped in front of the recovery room and turned towards me.“She’s stable now but we don’t know much,” she said.“Who is she?” I asked and Stella looked at Lucas.“Megan,” he said softly and Stella opened the door.I stopped breathing at that exact moment when the door opened and I looked at Megan in that hospital bed. Her eyes were closed, the right side of her face swollen and bruised. Dried blood matted her blonde hair and her left arm was in a cast.“What the fuck happened to h
My lair had gathered around our small ceremony hall and people bowed their heads as I walked through the crowd, carrying Megan to the stone slab. I didn’t want anyone else touching her. She had been my responsibility, practically my wife, the woman I loved and lost.My family stood to one side with my friends and Megan’s family stood on the other side at the head of the slab. Kurt’s eyes held contempt for me but Mary had been graceful even in her sorrow. I didn’t mind Kurt blaming me, I blamed me.I laid Megan down gently on the stone slab and wiped a stray hair from her face. She looked peaceful, almost serene if you looked at her from the left, her skin untouched by the violence that had ultimately claimed her.“Dragonkin of the Grey lair, tonight we gather together to bid farewell to Megan Greer,” Elder Michael began.“I call upon Sire Ryder to join the deceased and leave his parting gift to follow her into the afterlife,” Elder Victor said.“I hand you this knife, made of dragon s
I didn’t need to pick the lock on the front door. I had a key to his house and I let myself in quietly. The living room was dark, quiet and everything in its place. I walked down the hall towards his bedroom where he lay snoring in the darkness.“Time to wake up Kurt,” I said as I pulled him out of his bed.“What the …”I yanked him upwards by his t-shirt and shoved him forwards where he fell on his hands and knees. I pulled him upright again and pushed him towards the kitchen where I pulled out one of the wooden chairs from the kitchen table and pushed him down onto it and tied him to the chair.“Have you completely lost your mind?” Kurt asked me angrily.“We need to have a little talk,” I said as I leaned against the kitchen counter behind me.“I’ll have you arrested for this little stunt,” he said snidely.“Who do you owe money to?”“What?” he asked me.“You wanted money from me as retribution, who do you owe?” I asked him again.“Money won’t bring Megan back but at least it’ll mak
“Where did you get the name Gideon Delanie?” Tank asked me much later as we sat down to eat.“There was a note in her car, talking about paying an owed debt. Lucas and I assumed the note was for me but after Megan’s father asked for financial retribution it got me thinking,” I said.“And you paid him a visit.”“Yes, took a cordless drill and some steel rods with me,” I said.“Shit, you weren’t playing around,” Jack said.“I have to do this Tank. She was being hurt while I lay in the sun in Bermuda,” I said bitterly.“You didn’t know Ryder, none of us knew,” Tank said.“That fact doesn’t help me sleep better either,” I replied.Tank’s computer searches were still running, gathering information on Gideon Delanie, his family, his businesses, everything that could be found. I fell asleep easier that night knowing that soon I’d end him.The following morning we sat around the kitchen table having breakfast and I was feeling on edge again. “Tell me what you found on Gideon Delanie.”“Gideon
I stood outside the borders of Puerto Vallarta. It was eleven pm and the sky was dark. Abeloth and I would fly over his house and recon the perimeter. It wasn’t hard to find his house, everybody knew him and I had tracked one of his pack members to the outside fence.Abeloth separated from me and stretched his wings open to their full glory. He blended in with the darkness around us and I had worn dark clothing and rubbed some of the dark soil on my face and hands.“I love the smell of victory,” Abeloth said.“We’re going in blind Abeloth,” I said as he lifted me onto his back.“We’re ferocious, unstoppable and blood will be spilled,” he deepened his voice.“Why are you deepening your voice?”“I’m not idiot,” he said in his normal voice.He flapped his wings and took off into the night. The air was warm and the wind didn’t bring any kind of relief. Gideon’s property had lights on the outer perimeter but as I’d learned in town his territory hadn’t been breached in over twenty years.Th
I woke up as the hand encircled my throat and my arm shot out instinctively but was slammed down on the mattrass. The room was dark and I couldn’t make out the man’s features and I had to wonder how he’d gotten past Gideon's armed guards.I swung my legs up and flung myself around his midriff and his hold on my neck loosened. I grabbed his arm and pushed it away from my neck as we fell sideways off the bed with a loud thud and I landed on top of him.“Fuck Ryder,” I heard his voice.“Elio?” I asked and loosened my own grip.“You couldn’t call me?”“What the fuck is wrong with you? I could’ve killed you!” I practically yelled at him.“Even asleep you never switch off,” he said rubbing his neck where the red was already starting to fade.“Basil called me.” I wasn't even shocked to hear him admit it.“Damnit.”“Some kind of friend you are. Megan’s killed and you find the one person worse than you that apparently took her and you want to go at it alone?”“Worse than me?” I asked him.“The