Don't Poke the Luna (Xena and Ryder)

Chapter 3

Xena's POV

Martha's eyes widened in shock before narrowing again. "Logan!" she hissed.

I could see Dad's jaw tighten. "X," he said, turning to me. "Did you complete your chores?"

"Yes, sir. I did them this morning before school." My voice rose unconsciously.

Martha said coldly, "She's lying."

"No, I'm not!" I yelled back. "See?" I pulled out my phone, opened my email, and showed him the time-stamped pictures I'd taken of each completed task. "All done at 6:30 AM, before school."

"Looks like she did it." Dad nodded slightly. "What are you doing this evening?"

"Ama and I are going to run to the pizza place in town and have dinner there," I answered in a cold voice, unsatisfied with how he was handling this.

"Alright, have fun and remember not to be too late," he said flatly.

"By the way, Dad," I added, "the son of Alpha Benedict from the Boneash Pack is coming by the shop tomorrow at five for a custom job on his motorcycle. His name is Ryder."

Dad's eyebrows rose slightly and turned to leave. "I'll stop by to meet him."

Martha clearly wasn't happy about being cut out of the conversation. She followed Dad back inside, already launching into complaints about how I needed to be disciplined.

Logan lingered behind with Samuel and Leonard. "What did you do to piss her off this time?" he asked once Martha was out of earshot.

literally just pulled up and she was already waiting there. I can't

following me inside. "Running

entered my room, Logan on my heels. "What's going to change, Log?" I countered. "Dad said you can't take over until you're twenty-five,

mate is here?"

my closet, grabbed a blue tracksuit, slipped it on, and checked my reflection in the mirror. Not bad. "Well, I hope he likes to travel, because

hated this situation as much as I did, but he was bound by his sense

him, softening my tone. "I know you don't like it, but what do you expect me to do? A girl can only take so much, especially when no one stands up for her.” I slipped my headphones from my nightstand and secured them around my neck my precious little escape from

you," Logan said, hurt evident

I assured him, "But you know you can

that," he growled, his fists clenching at his

mood. "It's fine. You hit me harder when we spar anyway." I grabbed a hair tie from the table by

didn't smile at my joke. "That's not the same

up my running shoes and gave him a sad smile. "I love you, bro, but I don't have any options. I need to go run." I hesitated, debating whether to double up on

room, already changed into her running

smilingly. "See you

the pizza place in an hour!" Leonard called from down

by Dad's office. Even through the closed door, I could still hear Martha's shrill voice complaining about

Ama asked as we stretched at

run to the Center today. We can take the long way to the pizza place." The

"Sounds a bit hard."

I felt the familiar weight in my legs and the tension in my shoulders. But with each stride, the burden lightened. I increased my pace, Ama keeping up beside me. I slipped my headphones over my ears, letting the music drown

burn in my lungs, and the beat of the music. Each step

minutes and ten miles later, we reached the town, stopping at our usual lamppost-our unofficial finish line. We

her voice raspy.

from my water bottle and grinned at her. “You've been having too many desserts lately. Next time I call you for a run,