There were ten more successful bondings that took place before it was our turn and I extended my arm again for Tia as we waited to be announced.
“And now for our final couple, Tia Malone and Ryder Grey,” Elder Cliff said and applause broke out. Chase and Melissa were now seated close together at our table and I swear Chase was clapping the loudest.
We made our way onto the stage and Tia beamed as everyone looked at us. I felt slightly nervous and Abeloth was restless to be let out but I couldn’t do it yet. He had to be patient until we eventually got home before he could separate from me.
“Do you Tia Malone accept Ryder Grey as your bonded half? Do you vow to remain faithful to him and to your bond? Do you accept the placing of his mark on your neck tonight?” Elder Michael asked her.
“I, Tia, accept you Ryder as my bonded half and I vow to remain honest and faithful and I accept your mark on my neck,” Tia said.
“Do you Ryder Grey accept Tia Malone as your bonded half? Do you vow to remain faithful to her and your bond? Do you accept to place your mark on her neck tonight?” Elder Cliff asked me.
“I, Ryder Grey, reject you Tia Malone and I reject this bond with you. I take responsibility in the realm of the dragons to face the consequences of this rejection,” I said loudly and Tia blinked her eyes in confusion a few times. The whole ballroom was silent as everyone watched me in astonishment.
“What?” she asked me looking confused.
“I fucking reject you!” Abeloth sneered through me as my eyes glowed yellow and we leapt off the stage and walked towards the doors.
“Ryder!” my father yelled my name but I ignored him as I walked out of the ballroom and I could hear chaos erupt as the door swung closed behind me.
He gave me back control just before we reached the foyer and I walked outside to the parking lot. Abeloth separated from me and I climbed in my car. My phone started ringing but I ignored it and switched it off as Abeloth pushed off from the ground and I started driving.
I didn’t really know where I was going but I followed Abeloth as he flew slightly in front of the car and I could hear him roar with rage. He wasn’t mad at me, he was furious with Tia and rejecting the bond had been his idea. He was with me no matter what choice I made but the further I drove the more I felt that I had made the right one.
I soon realized where Abeloth was taking me and I smiled suddenly. He was flying towards the lake house and I sped up and overtook him as soon as I knew where he wanted to go. There it would be quiet and peaceful and nobody would look for us there immediately.
I pulled up to the lake house three hours later and switched the lights on as I walked inside. I checked the board and switched the geyser on. It would take a while before I could shower and I opened the freezer. We had been here three months ago just before our birthday and Mom had left some meat.
I placed it in water to defrost and headed upstairs. We always kept spare clothes here and I changed out of the tuxedo and made coffee for myself downstairs and switched the television on. Abeloth had landed and I could hear him in the lake.
He would let me know when he was ready to merge again and I wanted to also give him his time to deal with everything that had happened. Rejecting the bond in our culture was major and even my mom and dad had failed when they tried it.
I didn’t want Tia as my bonded half and I would never accept her no matter who said what. Abeloth and I were both ready to face whatever consequences they wanted to throw our way. He wasn’t worried so neither was I, but I would still have to face my father.
I could imagine Tia’s parents’ rage at my rejection and I smiled when I thought how humiliated she was right now. My parents would be furious and Chase would be confused. Emily and Megan would probably be happy and I wondered why I had suddenly thought of Megan.
Two hours later Abeloth woke me as he scratched on the door and I stood up to let him merge with me again. He was still dripping with water and I locked the door behind me as I walked to the kitchen. I prepared the two steaks that had defrosted and I ate in font of the television as we watched an action movie.
I showered before going to bed and we literally slept like the dead. When I woke up the following morning Abeloth was lying on his back snoring loudly and I blocked him out otherwise I’d have a headache soon. I felt refreshed after yet another shower and I took the box of cereal with me to the living room since there was no milk and I ate directly from the box.
“What’s your plan halfling?” Abeloth asked me an hour later when he finally woke up.
“Stay the weekend then go home I guess,” I said to him.
“Bazzoit has been trying to communicate with me but so far I’ve blocked him out, he’s quite mad,” Abeloth said grinning.
“Just let him know we’re okay but don’t tell him where we are and don’t give him access to trace us,” I said to him.
“You’re a smart one halfling,” he said and I smiled.
“Of course I am, I got you,” I said and he looked shy for a moment.
“You do realize they’re going to try and force this bond on us,” Abeloth said.
“I know but it doesn’t matter, the bond can’t be formed if one of the two rejects it,” I said to him.
“True,” he said, “you’re stronger than I thought in the beginning.”
“Did you think I wouldn’t go through with it?” I asked him.
“I did wonder but I’m glad you did we’d never have been truly happy with her, not after what we saw,” he said.
“It’s not even a real bond, so there’s nothing they can do about it,” I said.
“We’ll face the music when we go home but right now, let’s go fishing,” he said to me excitedly.
“That sounds like a plan, I’ll lie in the hammock and you can fish for us,” I said knowing that he wanted out and wanted to play in the lake again.
“Deal halfling,” he said and grinned at me.
We spent the afternoon fishing and Abeloth suddenly merged with me. Five minutes later I heard the truck as it bounced up the road towards the house. I turned to look at it and smiled. It was one of the landowners that lived on the other side about a mile away from the lake.
“I thought I saw lights on here last night,” he said as he climbed out and I stood up from the hammock.
“Hey Billy,” I said as he gave me a fist bump.
“You alone here?” he asked me.
“Needed to clear my head a bit,” I said and he nodded as if he understood. They were all human and knew nothing about our kind.
“I’m hosting a party tonight, come on over when you need your head muddled with booze and girls ready to party,” he said as he walked back to his truck.
“Yeah I’m sure I’ll be seeing you tonight,” I said with a smile.
An hour later I drove into town and ate dinner at the diner and then I made my way back but took the road leading to Billy’s parents’ house. There were a lot of cars and the music was blaring from speakers. I could see some of the humans were already half way drunk and I smiled.
“Just what we need, distraction,” Abeloth said and I had to agree.
“You made it!” Billy yelled from the porch as I climbed out of my car.
“For once yeah,” I replied.
“Okay, great man, let me introduce you to a few people and get you a drink,” he said as he swung his arm over my shoulder and we walked inside. He yelled loudly that my name was Ryder and that everyone should introduce themselves to me.
Three hours later we were laughing at jokes as we drank and played beer pong with vodka because the beer was finished and I had already made the acquaintance of quite a few people whose names I couldn’t really recall.
“You look like you might be lonely tonight,” a girl said as she leaned against me where I sat on the barstool.
“What makes you say that?” I asked her.
“You’re hot and you’re obviously single,” she said to me.
“I live right across the lake actually,” I said to her and she picked up her handbag.
“So what are we waiting for?” she asked me and I laughed.
“Let’s go then,” I said as she grabbed my hand and I led her outside to my car.
She was half naked and all over me by the time I parked the car in front of the house and she leaned against the car as she climbed out. She grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to her and my hands were on the back of her thighs as I lifted her and she wrapped her legs around me.
We were kissing as I struggled to unlock the front door and kicked it closed behind us. We made it safely up the stairs and into my room where I slammed her back against the wall and unzipped my pants.
“Wait,” she said breathlessly.
“What?” I asked her.
“Condom,” she whispered and pulled one out of her purse. Good thing she was thinking because I wasn’t. I pulled it on with one hand and she gripped me tightly and guided me inside her. It was rough and exhilarating and I knew by the time we were done her back would hurt. I didn’t really care at that moment and it seemed neither did she.
She climaxed and I could feel that I was close so I moved us over to the bed and I pushed into her roughly and reached my own climax. Her eyes were half closed as I pulled out and she started laughing.
“That was fun, we should do it again,” she said and I laughed.
We fell asleep naked, tired, and sweating and I didn’t feel an ounce of guilt. My head pounded slightly the next morning as I heard the front door open and I sat upright instantly. I pulled my jeans on and headed to the stairs as I smelled Chase.
“Thank the gods I found you,” he said as I walked down the stairs and he grabbed me into a hug.
“Morning,” I said and he looked at me.
“You smell like liquor and sex,” he said and grinned at me.
“How mad is Dad?” I asked him and he shook his head.
“He’s furious with you, he might just kill you this time,” Chase said.
“Shit,” I said.
“Why’d you do it? You’re the one always spouting all that bond nonsense at me and here you go and reject yours, what the fuck Ry?” he asked me.
“She’s not the one for me,” I said to him as we heard movement on the stairs.
“Who’s this?” Chase asked.
“Oh wow, there’s two of you, did I do both of you last night?” she asked and Chase laughed.
“Nice brother, real classy,” he whispered as I lowered my head. I didn’t even know her name.
“I guess I should leave right,” she said as she looked at us.
“You got that right,” Chase said and turned his back on her.
I still wasn’t ready to go home but I knew that I had to so I drove behind Chase since he stayed at the Lake house while I showered and got dressed. Abeloth was snorting in my head that we didn’t need a babysitter or an escort home.“Shit is going to hit the fan,” Abeloth said.“I get that feeling too,” I said to him.“Guess we’ll know soon enough,” he mused as we entered lower Aurora and headed to the house.I wasn’t looking forward to this. Lucas had a quick temper and when he was pissed off like I knew he was then you were in for the ride of your life. I had embarrassed him and the lair. As a Sire’s son I was one of the lead examples and the only one to reject my bonded half.“Good luck brother,” Chase said as we climbed out of our cars.“Did he send you to the lake house to look for me?” I asked him.“No, I figured that one out all by m
I spent the next six months in Chicago and underwent rigorous training under Wentworth and his men. The groups were small and once you failed your mind was wiped by a witch and you went back to your old life. I felt at home even though I was the youngest by three years and I quickly became close friends with the other guys I was training with.Most of them had green or blue dragons and one or two had a violet one. There were no yellow dragons in our unit and these were the best of the best. Training started at five am and we stopped at ten pm every day. It was hard and brutal and we even underwent torture training where we were tortured.If I had been a boy when I walked into that building I was definitely a man after those first six months. We were taught how to fight with weapons, without weapons, with your dragon and without your dragon. There were vampires and wolves training with us and we would go head to head with each other.We were taught how to read people and situations, ho
I spent the rest of that Sunday shopping and settling in. I had gone for a jog since I was still in the training routine and I couldn’t just sit idly at home and do nothing. I had cleaned the house, jogged, washed the truck, gone shopping and packed everything away and I had already checked in.I felt better after talking to Chase and slightly worried that Lucas was looking for me so I drove to another store and bought a new cellphone. I drove to the forest behind the school and sat in the truck and called him.“This is Lucas,” he answered.“Hi Dad,” I said.“Ryder, are you okay?” he asked me.“I’m fine,” I answered him.“Where are you?” he asked me.“It doesn’t matter where I am or what I’m doing, stop looking for me,” I said.“I’ll never stop looking for you, you’re my son,” he said.“I’m working, taking responsibility, standing on my own two feet, you should be proud instead of trying to treat me like a little kid,” I said to him.“You have responsibilities at home,” he said to me.
It took another two weeks for Coach to organize the fight and he wanted me to be first up. I had started spending time with the other ten guys at school. They weren’t professional fighters but the fear of juvie kept them fighting even when most of them didn’t want to.The fights usually consisted of them being beaten up by adults which was hardly fair and I could see some of them were sick of it. They got paid just enough to keep them wanting more but not enough to stop or say anything.“It’s basically a blood sport where people bet on how fast our asses will be kicked in that ring,” Michael said as we sat at one of the outside tables.“Grown ass men, ex boxers, fighters or just plain crazy guys looking to vent kicking our asses all over the place, no fear of being arrested and they pay to hit us,” Denver remarked.“That’s bullshit actually,” I said as they looked at me.“There&rsquo
Felix and I spent the next nine months on the road searching for those rogue packs and eliminating them after getting the information that we needed to move on to the next one. We would call Wentworth to send in a cleaning crew after we were done and we had specific orders not to leave anyone alive.I hadn’t spoken to my father again after that one phone call and it had already been three months since the last time I phoned Chase. I couldn’t call him now as we were on the road heading to the location of a vampire coven.Felix was driving as I checked my two guns and strapped my other weapons to my legs and arms. I had started adding tattoos to my arms, one for every ten kills and I had almost completed my second sleeve. Felix had laughed as I sat in the tattoo parlor and then to my shock he sat for one too and our arms looked almost identical.We had become best friends over the last nine months and we had declared ourselves brothers of other species. We had vowed to always have each
“He should start to wake up any minute now,” Stella said.“Thanks Stella,” Lucas said as he sat next to the hospital bed.“Has Abeloth said anything?” Rev asked.“Not a word, he’s waiting for Ryder to wake up before he speaks,” Lucas said.“He’s extremely loyal,” Rylee muttered.“Too damn much for their own good,” Lucas said as he sighed.“At least Abeloth brought him home and he’s healing,” Chase said.“I want to know what the fuck happened to my son and where he’s been for this last year and a half,” Lucas said angrily and Chase looked away.“Lucas you might not like the answer,” Rev said and Lucas looked up.“What the fuck do you two know?” Lucas demanded as he looked at Rev and Chase.“I haven’t spoken to him in over three months,” Chase admitted, “but the last time we spoke he was heading to Idaho.”“And what was he doing there?” Lucas asked clenching his jaw.“I can’t tell you,” Chase said and Lucas slammed his fist down on the flimsy hospital trolley and it cracked in the middl
Stella discharged me but put me on bed rest for the next two days, I was itching to do something, anything at this point, I even missed training. Chase was busy during the days as he attended university and my father still hadn’t come to talk to me.I walked into the house at nine am and went upstairs to my room to have a decent shower. I stood under the hot water for as long as my throbbing leg allowed me and walked into my room with the towel wrapped around my waist.“You look much better,” she said as she sat on my bed.“What are you doing here?” I asked her.“I live here now, it’s good to see you Ryder,” she said as she stood up.“I really can’t say the same,” I said as I walked to my dressing room and started getting dressed.She was standing behind me shamelessly watching me as I got dressed. I ignored her as much as possible until she wrapped her arms around me from beh
I was sitting in a booth in the back, just needing some alone time and I was lost in thought as I kept seeing everything that had happened on that last assignment. It haunted me, Felix’s face just before he died. The whole setup with that ambush was puzzling me.“Is this seat taken?” I heard someone ask and I looked up.“Hey, no it’s not,” I said and smiled as she slid into the booth opposite me.“I heard a rumour that you were back,” she said and smiled at me.“Guess it’s true,” I said and she laughed.“How have you been?” she asked me.“Good and you?” I asked her.“Not too bad, my classes ended early today. I usually come here to do my homework, it’s quiet,” she said as a waitress brought her coffee over.“What are you studying?” I asked her.“Bookkeeping,” she said and then she laughed, &