Don't Poke the Luna (Xena and Ryder)

Chapter 306

Ryder's POV

The lab's lights had burned themselves into my eyes as I finally left the university research facility. The neural-controlled prosthetics prototype felt warm in my jacket pocket-Ama's breakthrough discovery that could change everything for Xena. My heart pounded with excitement as I slid into my car, immediately reaching out through the mind link:

Xena? Baby, I have incredible news.

Nothing.

The silence that greeted me was like ice water in my veins. I tried again, pushing harder through our bond.

Xena, can you hear me?

Still nothing. My hands trembled as I gripped the steering wheel, memories of the last pack attack flooding back. That same metallic taste of fear coated my tongue

now.

No, no, no. Not again.

My foot slammed down on the accelerator. The speedometer climbed-70, 80, 90 mph. Street lights blurred into ribbons of yellow light.

The pack gates should have been manned. They were always manned. But as I approached, I saw nothing but empty guardhouses silhouetted against the night

sky.

"GOD DAMN IT!" The curse ripped from my throat.

I didn't slow down. Didn't even think about it. The gate exploded into splinters and metal as my car crashed through. I had to get to the pack house.

That's when I saw them.

A circle of figures in dark masks holding torches like some twisted medieval execution scene. In the center of that circle, Xena knelt on the ground, her body crumpled and broken.

like conquering kings were

white at the edges as every muscle in my body seized with shock. This

have. It was like every foundation I'd

lasted only seconds before it transformed into pure and

had just

the crowd. Bodies scattered like bowling pins as my car plowed through them. Two of the

dead run. My dad turned to face me, and there. wasn't even surprise in his eyes. Just cold calculation, like he'd been

Chapter 306

his face with every ounce of fury I possessed. He caught it, the Impact sending shockwaves up

ten feet, father and son. The man who'd taught

enemy.

your wolf disappear?!" The words tore from my throat like broken glass. "Why did you fake

voice cracked on the last word, the sound of my

and emotionless. "You're too young, too naive to be Alpha.

you when Mom died? Where were you when our pack was

first time, something flickered across his face-shame, maybe, or

was gone so quickly I might have

lies and his excuses and his pathetic justifications

said, my voice carrying across the sudden silence. "This is a death

for a long moment, his expression unreadable. When he nodded, it was like watching a door

his agreement left his lips,

I launched myself at the him. He shifted

I barely felt it through the adrenaline. I twisted, using his grip against him, and sank my own fangs into his neck. The taste of his blood was metallic and bitter on my

across the dirt, a tangle of claws and teeth and fury. He was heavier than me, using his weight to try to pin

bone.

pain and

paw caught me across the face, claws opening three parallel gashes from my eye to my jaw.

before I felt it. The pain came a heartbeat later, white-hot

leg barely supporting my weight, blood streaming from a dozen