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

world tilted. My vision went white at the edges as every muscle in my body seized with shock. This couldn't be real. This couldn't

was like every foundation I'd built my li turned to

only seconds before it transformed

had just

the engine straight into the crowd. Bodies scattered like bowling pins as my car plowed through them. Two of the masked figures went flying, their torches spinning

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

Chapter 306

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

The man who'd taught

enemy.

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

voice cracked on the last word, the sound of

and emotionless.

when Mom died? Where were you when our pack was

the first time, something flickered across

gone so quickly I might

with his lies and his excuses

"This is

could feel the weight of their stares. My dad looked at me for a long moment, his expression unreadable. When he nodded, it

his agreement left his lips,

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

Blood poured down my leg, but I barely felt it through the adrenaline. I twisted, using his grip

and fury. He was heavier than me, using his weight to try to pin me down, but I was faster. I slipped from his grasp and raked my claws down his ribs, feeling them part

bone.

howl of pain and rage split

my blind side. His massive paw caught me across the face, claws opening three parallel gashes from my eye to my jaw. Stars exploded across

weight slammed into my left leg. I heard the bone snap before I felt

from a dozen wounds. He circled me like a