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.

once terrorized my childhood-l felt that unwelcome stirring of mercy again. But then I remembered my father's death, remembered how she had driven him to choose

anymore.

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

bathroom fell into dead silence. All of us waited for Martha's answer, but she remained numb, staring blankly at the bathroom light fixture.

preparing to deliver another punch when she

"Benedict Nash."

the last answer I could have expected. The name

eyes wide with the same shock as she looked between Ryder ar1 me. Logan's

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

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

1/3

Chapter 292

as if we

brutally Ryder beat her, she didn't make a single sound of pain. Her body absorbed each blow like she was already dead inside. Logan finally stepped forward and pulled

from my shock, my mind racing through the possibilities. Could Benedict

reason to lie. But her answer was so impossible to accept, so devastating if true. My brain fought against believing it even as a

hand, gently pulling him toward the door. "Tie her up and keep

us into the living room area outside the

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

still flushed red

chances

state," he

in agreement,

remembered what my mom said before she died. She told me that after you and Xena left the pack, dad took a team of warriors and left too." His voice began to tremble with growing realization. "A few minutes after mom died, I felt my father's

finish the sentence, but we all understood what he

but it still couldn't prove one hundred percent that Martha wasn't lying. I squeezed Ryder's hand tighter,

possibility Martha lied or