Don't Poke the Luna (Xena and Ryder)

Xena's POV

Ryder's patience snapped. He stormed over and slapped her hard across the face, the sound sharp and brutal. Martha hit the floor again, and Ryder began beating her mercilessly, demanding answers between each blow.

Martha screamed and cried, mumbling incoherently through her tears. The sound was pathetic and desperate.

"Ryder, stop!" I shouted, unable to watch anymore.

His black eyes flickered back to green as he looked at me, his chest heaving with rage. He grabbed Martha by her hair and

yanked her up so her battered face was level with ours.

"SPEAK UP!" he bellowed.

Martha's mouth was bloody, her face swollen and bruised. Penelope turned away, unable to look at the damage.

The room fell into heavy silence. Then Martha's weak voice drifted up from her broken form: "Kill me... just kill me..."

Tears streamed down her face as she begged for death.

We all stared in shock. Even Ryder seemed stunned by her words. After a

moment of hesitation, he slapped her again, this

time hard enough to knock out one of her teeth.

"Ryder, calm down," I said firmly, moving toward him. "Let her go."

He released Martha with disgust, spitting on her as he backed away to stand beside me. Martha collapsed to the floor like

a broken doll, her eyes empty and staring at nothing.

mercy again. But then I remembered

anymore.

cold: "Tell me who freed you, and I'll make sure your

at the bathroom light fixture. Her eyes

was preparing to deliver another punch when she spoke in

"Benedict Nash."

had assumed Alpha Benedict was dead-this was absolutely the last answer I could have expected. The name hit me like a physical

she looked between Ryder ar1 me. Logan's face mirrored our expressions

and slapping her hard across the face. He grabbed her by the collar, his voice cracking with rage and disbelief. "How

corpse-her eyes vacant and unseeing, no longer responding to anything around

1/3

Chapter 292

through us as if

single sound of pain. Her body absorbed each blow like she was already dead inside.

my shock, my mind racing through the possibilities. Could Benedict really still

she had any reason to lie. But her answer was so impossible to accept, so devastating if true.

door. "Tie her up and keep watching her," I

for Penelope and Logan to follow us into the living

were alone, "did you feel your father's wolf

flushed red with anger and confusion. "I felt the

hand on Ryder's shoulder. "The chances of Martha lying are

he said

nodded in agreement,

said before she died. She told me that after you and Xena left the pack, dad took

but we all understood what

huge clue, but it still couldn't prove one hundred percent that Martha wasn't

lied or mistook someone else for your father," I