“You’re important to Ryker and Sawyer for reasons I’ll never understand, so I’m going to walk into the house like nothing happened. I suggest you do the same for Ryker’s sake.” I give her one more pointed look before spinning on my heels and making my way up the stairs up to the house.
“You should ask Ryker about that time we fucked!” she shouts after me.
I falter in my steps, the toe of my shoe catching on the stone step. But I quickly recover and straighten my shoulders. I don’t look back at her because I don’t want her to see the look on my face. I don’t need to give her the satisfaction of seeing the hurt that now sits there.
“Go get dried off, Avery,” I call over my shoulder.
17
Pruitt
I march into Remi’s room, slamming the door behind me. A splintering sound follows along with the sound of metal hitting the floor. I look down at my feet and find the door handle sitting there. “Fuck!”
“So, we’re going around breaking shit now?” Remington raises a perfectly arched brow at me from where she sits on her bed. “I mean, that’s cool…you do you, girl. I just need a heads up, so I can start hiding the expensive stuff.”
I raise my head and look at her, rolling my eyes as I do. “No, obviously I didn’t do that on purpose.”
“Yeah, okay. Sure,” she drawls, a weird look on her face. “So I have just like, one small question.” She climbs off her bed and makes her way toward me. “Are you aware your eyes are glowing?”
“Wh–what?” I stammer.
“Your. Eyes. Are. Glowing,” she repeats one word at a time.
“I heard you the first time. You saying it slower doesn’t help.” I move to the mirror and gasp when I see my reflection. “Holy shit, my eyes are glowing!”
“Really? I didn’t notice,” she nonchalantly replies with a shrug.
“Remington!” I spin around, my chest filling with panic. “You’re not helping. How do I make it go away?”
“Well, obviously something’s got you and your wolf upset, try to calm down,” she suggests.
“I can’t calm down because Avery is a horrible person, and I can’t make her go away because Ryker cares about her. But I really, really don’t like her. She’s mean. Well, I wasn’t very nice either, but she started it,” I ramble as I pace in front of the bed. “And now I sound like a two-year-old, but she said that thing about Addison, and it pissed me off. And then she said she knows Ryker better than me and oh God, Remi—” I stop pacing and look at my friend. “She does know him better. She really does, and I don’t know how to handle that. Well, I don’t know how to handle any of this, but that’s another issue entirely.”
“Dude—” Remi begins, but I cut her off before she can say more.
“Oh, and then she tried to hit me. Again, I wasn’t very nice either, so I guess it should have been expected, but it’s not fair because she has fucking claws. And then I realized something. She’s in love with Ryker. And I mean, why wouldn’t she be? He’s amazing and drop-dead gorgeous—”
“And, that’s my brother you’re talking about.” Remi dramatically pretends to gag.
“—And then she tells me I’m a danger to him and the pack. And that made me really mad because the last thing I want to do is hurt Ryker or you guys. I got even more upset. So then I told her she could never have him, and then she fell into the pool.”
I suck in a deep breath and face the vanity mirror again. “And now my eyes look like green glow sticks, and they won’t go away!” I slam my hand into the mirror, and it shatters into a million pieces. The loud crashing sound of glass hitting the floor hurts my ears.
“Oh, come on, really?” Remi jumps back. “I just got that.”
“I’m sorry.” I hold my now bleeding hand against my chest. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what came over me.”
“Well, I believe the term you’re looking for is jealousy,” Remington grumbles as she carefully steps over the glass. “And as they say, it’s a green-eyed monster. Hey!” She stops and points at my face. “You have green eyes. Oh, the irony.” She chuckles.
“Remi!” I whine at her.
You sound like a two-year-old again.
“What? It’s okay, it’s just a mirror, and your eyes are going to go back to normal once you get over yourself.” Remi reaches for my hand and examines it. “You need to stop getting hurt, this is getting really old,” she grumbles at me before picking a piece of glass out of my hand which I don’t even feel.
“I don’t know if I can get over it,” I cry. “He slept with her.”
Just saying the words out loud makes my chest burn. I thought that seeing them kiss was bad, but this is way worse.
“No,” Remi gasps. “That can’t be true.”
“She told me to ask him about it,” I murmur.
“What a bitch. I don’t know why Sawyer and Ryker put up with her. She seems totally unstable if you ask me.” Remi shakes her head at this. “You’re going to have to ask Ryker if it’s true. He’ll tell you the truth.”
“I don’t even know how I would bring that up.”
“I can help.” She grins at me, a look of mischief appearing in those blue eyes of hers.
“No, that’s okay. I’ll figure it out.”
“That’s probably for the best. It would be a little weird talking to my brother about his sex life.”
“Maybe a little.” I laugh, agreeing with her.
We both jump back when the door swings open with a loud bang, and I watch in horror as it falls off its hinges and slams against the floor. Ryker and Elias stand there, each of them with a look of confusion on his face.
“What the hell happened to the door?” Ryker questions as he takes a step into the room. “And why is there glass everywhere, and why do I smell blood?” he asks all in one breath.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. It was fine until you touched it.” Remi shrugs at her brother.
“What? I didn’t—”
“Remi stop it.” I take my hand back from her. “That was me, I broke it. Elias, I’m sorry. I’ll pay for the damage.”
Elias examines the cracked doorframe before looking at me. “It’s quite all right. It’s only a door, and everyone in this house is guilty of breaking one or two.”
“Or four,” Remi adds with a guilty look on her face. “What? I was a fan of the dramatic door slam as a teenager.”
“Okay, but that doesn’t explain the glass or why you’re bleeding.” Ryker reaches for my hand, but I pull it out of reach.
“Or why your eyes are in wolf form,” Elias adds, taking another step into the room to get a better look at me.
“What? Still?” I look in what’s left of the mirror, and sure enough, they’re still a bright, glowing green. “They won’t go away!”
“I told you, you have to calm down.” Remi reaches around her brother to hand me a tissue to put on my hand. “The bleeding is minimal, so I’m not worried about you needing stitches.” Thank God, because I would be so embarrassed if I needed to be stitched up twice in one week.
Hello, walking disaster.
“Why do you need to calm down? Why are you upset?” Ryker’s voice is full of worry as he questions me.
I don’t know what to say to him, instead, I just stare at him. His eyes search my face for answers, but he doesn’t find any.
“Okay, fine, since she won’t say it, I will.” Remi shrugs before turning to face Ryker. “The new resident psycho told her about how you guys did the dirty.”
Any other time, the look of shock on Ryker’s face would have made me laugh. But I don’t feel much like laughing right now. There’s a rage growing inside of me I’ve never experienced before, and I don’t like it. I don’t like how jealous I feel, knowing he’s shared a bed with Avery.
“Pru…” Ryker starts, but I raise my hand to silence him.
“No, stop, don’t say anything,” I sigh. “I realize I don’t have a right to be mad. You thought I was dea
d, and it’s not like you were actually cheating on me. I need a minute to calm down because I’m not used to feeling this way.”
“Feeling what way?” he asks.
“Jealous,” I state simply. “I am so jealous of her; I want to break things.”
“Mission accomplished,” Remi mumbles under her breath.
“So…” I clap my hands together. “This is what I’m going to do. I’m going to go calm down.” I reach over and grab a large pair of dark sunglasses off Remi’s dresser. “By calm down, I mean go drinking. Because after my last forty-eight hours, I think I’ve earned it.” I put the sunglasses on and nod at Ryker, before walking over what’s left of the door.
“Pru, wait, you shouldn’t go alone,” Ryker calls after me.
“Who said she’s going alone?” Remi huffs at him as she follows me down the hall. “I love day drinking.”
“Ugh, it burns.” I shake my head back and forth as the amber liquid makes it’s way down my throat.
“You say that every time,” Remi mumbles around the lime in her mouth.
“I know.” I put the shot glass on the bar upside down to join the others that have been discarded there. “Okay, back to your brother.”
“Which one?”
“Ryker,” I huff. “Why do you think he slept with her?”
“Honestly?” Remi hiccups. “I think he was lonely, and she was there.”
I frown at this, upset it doesn’t make me feel better. “But Ryker said that because we’re mates, we aren’t meant to be with anyone else. So how could he of been with her?”
“Well…” Remi swings around on her barstool, so she’s facing me. “Shifters can have sex with other people before they find their mate, and for the most part, they do. But once they’ve laid eyes on their mate, there’s no going back. Something changes in their body that makes it really hard to umm…” She snaps her fingers, trying to find the right word. “Get in the mood. Yeah sure, why not? We’ll go with that. A lot of the time, an adverse physical reaction happens to them when they sleep with someone who isn’t their mate. Sometimes it’s nausea, sometimes it’s body aches.”
“But if their mate dies, they can sleep with whoever again, right?”
“I mean, it’s one thing to lose a mate before you’re bonded and another to lose them after the mating ceremony.” Remi leans against the counter, using her arm to prop up her head. “Most of the time, if a shifter loses their mate after they’ve been bonded, they’ll never look at another person romantically again.”
“Can wolf shifters have babies with humans?” I ask, thinking about Addison and Noah and what their relationship might have been if they had been able to be together.
“No, shifters can only have children with their mates, and only after they’ve completed the mating ceremony.”
“Okay, I guess that makes sense, and it matches what Ryker told me.” I nod my head a couple times before I snort. “I’m lying, it doesn’t make sense at all. But maybe when I’m sober, I’ll understand it better.”
“Best of luck, dude, because I grew up around this shit, and it still confuses me.” Remi shakes her head. “My mom always says I’ll understand mating and how intense it is once I’m actually mated.”
“Do you want a mate?” I ask her.
A small smile starts to form on her face. “When I listen to people talk about finding their soulmate, I can’t help but want that for myself. To know I’ve found the person I’m meant to be with, that I was made for, it would be so special.” She looks at me with a serious expression. “You don’t realize how lucky Ryker and you are. Most of us will never find our true mate, and you guys have been given this second chance. I know you’re apprehensive and confused, but you have no idea how amazing your life is going to be having your mate at your side.”
“My feelings for him are already so intense it scares me,” I confess. “It’s also scary how jealous I am over this whole Avery thing.”
“She got one night with him, Pru,” Remi says, “but you’re going to get a lifetime. You’re the one who gets to have the mating ceremony. You’re the one who’s going to bare his mark and maybe his children one day.”
“I’m not even sure what a mating ceremony is,” I tell her as I make eye contact with the bartender. I motion with my hand that we need another round. “Is it like a wedding?”
“No, shifters don’t typically have weddings. We view the ceremony as a wedding of sorts, but instead of it taking place in front of your family and closest friends, it’s a private thing between mates.”
“I can’t have a wedding?” I frown at this. I had always pictured myself wearing a white dress and exchanging vows with the love of my life. I always wanted to get married outside with tons of flowers, and now I may not be able to.
“I mean, there’s no rule that says you can’t…” She trails off when the bartender puts two more shot glasses in front of us. “Thank you,” she tells the man before reaching for her glass and quickly tipping it back. “Ugh, that has to be the last one.” Her face wrinkles in distaste. “Anyway, most shifters view having a wedding as redundant since the mating bond is basically a marriage in its own right. But it’s much deeper than a piece of paper. It’s a bond that permanently connects your souls.”
I pause, shot glass halfway to my mouth. “Holy shit, that’s deep.”
“I know. Imagine hearing it explained to you by your ten-year-old brother when you’re five.” She grins at the memory. “He announced at the dinner table one night he found his wife. And he knew she was going to be his wife because she was sparkly.”
“The mating aura.” I tip the shot back and stuff the lime in between my teeth as quickly as I can.
“Yep! It’s rare that shifters find their mate that young. I mean, they can grow up in the pack together and spend years around each other before the mating aura appears. But with Ryker… He was only ten when it appeared around you one day.” Remi sways in her seat a little bit as she talks. “He was so happy when my parents explained to him what it meant.”
“And now he may never actually get to mate with me because my wolf is all locked up.”
“We’ll figure a way to get her out.” Remi reaches over and grabs my hand. “Esme will know what to do.”
“I hope so because I can’t do that to Ryker. I won’t be able to live with myself if I can’t do this for him, for us.” A newfound determination washes over me. I’m going to figure out this whole shifting thing because I do want Ryker. Every fiber of my being wants him.
“Now that’s the attitude I like to see,” Remi cheers loudly, making everyone turn and look at us. She grins and wiggles her fingers at the spectators before turning back to look at the bartender who walked over.
I also turn in my seat to look at him. “We’ll take the check now.”
“Are you sure I can’t interest you pretty girls in another round?” A flirty grin appears on his face as he looks at me. “I would hate to see you leave so early. The night is still young.” He winks at me, making my skin crawl.
“No, that’s okay. Just the check would be great.” I try to give him a polite smile, but I know I’m failing.
“I’ll give you the check if you give me your phone number.”
“Uh—” is all I get out before Remi leans forward in her seat, a big grin on her face.
“Listen, Peter. It is Peter, right?” She waits for him to nod before she continues. “I know for a fact you aren’t allowed to flirt with the customers. You know how I know? I know the owner. He’s actually a really close family friend of mine,” she says with a bright smile, “and I can’t wait until the next time I see him so I can tell him about my experience at his bar. He’s always eager for any feedback. Do you think he’ll like what I tell him?”
“No,” Peter mutters, his face turning red.
“No,” she repeats, still smiling. “You know who else would be upset to hear you’ve been flirting? My big scary brother, who just so happens to be her boyfriend
.” She points in my direction. “And ask anyone, Ryker is known to have some anger issues.”
“Ryker Weylyn?” The bartender’s eyes go wide, and his face pales.
“The one and only.” The previously bright grin on Remi’s face has turned into a mischievous, dark one. “Should I call him?”
Uh, oh.
“No, please. I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” Peter backs up and raises his hands in defense. “I’m sorry if I offended you.” He looks at me, eyes pleading for forgiveness.
“It’s fine,” I tell him.
“Drinks are on me tonight,” he tells us quickly before disappearing around the corner.
I bust out laughing the second he’s out of sight. “Oh my God, I can’t believe you did that.”
“What? I wasn’t lying. Kody really hates when his bartenders flirt with the customers.” Remi shrugs like it’s no big deal she almost made a grown-ass man pee his pants.
“You called Ryker my boyfriend.”
“I figured calling him your mate was a little much for the poor human.” Remi looks down at her phone and smiles. “Our ride is here.” She jumps down from her seat.
“You called a cab?” I ask her, following her out of the bar.
“God no, that’s what big brothers are for. I made Ransom come and get us.” She scoffs. “God, I really want a cheeseburger.”
18
Ryker
I’m lying shirtless in bed, staring at the ceiling when she walks in. The light from the hallway shines behind her as she stands in the doorway. I can only see her silhouette because of the light, but I can tell by the way she hangs onto the doorframe for support that she isn’t completely steady on her feet. Ransom sent me a text telling me he was going to go pick them up from Kody’s bar. I was a little upset she didn’t ask me, but I understood why she didn’t.
She was upset about my past with Avery. Even though I didn’t actually cheat on her, there has to be a level of betrayal there that’s hard to understand. I don’t even know for sure if there were men in her past, but I’m jealous of them regardless.
Wolf Bound (The White Wolf Prophecy Book 1) Page 14