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.

kings were my DAD

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

physical blow could have. It was like every foundation I'd built my li turned to

only seconds before it transformed into pure

had just

Bodies scattered like bowling pins as my car plowed through them.

stopped, my feet hitting the ground at a dead run. My dad turned to

Chapter 306

of fury I possessed. He caught it, the Impact sending shockwaves up my arm and we both

and son. The man who'd

enemy.

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

the last word, the sound of my

he said, his voice flat and emotionless. "You're too

him, my control completely shattered. "Where were you when Mom died? Where were you when our pack was attacked? Where the fuck were you when

something flickered across

was gone so quickly I might have

done talking. Done with his lies and his excuses and

the sudden silence. "This is a death

for a long moment, his

agreement left his

like a loaded spring as I launched myself at the him. He

the adrenaline. I twisted, using his grip against him, and sank my own fangs into his neck. The

He was heavier than me, using his weight to try to pin me down, but I was faster. I slipped from his grasp and

bone.

howl of pain and rage split the

side. His massive paw caught me across the face, claws opening three parallel gashes from my

leg. I heard the bone snap before I felt it. The pain came a

supporting my weight, blood streaming from a dozen wounds.