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.

her like conquering kings were my DAD and

the edges as every muscle in

have. It was like every foundation I'd built my

the shock lasted only seconds before it transformed into pure

had just

like bowling pins as my car plowed through them. Two of the masked figures went flying,

feet hitting the ground at a dead run. My dad turned to face me, and there. wasn't even surprise in

Chapter 306

of fury I possessed. He caught it, the Impact

The man who'd taught me

enemy.

my throat like broken glass. "Why did you fake your own death?! WHY ARE YOU DOING

the sound of my own desperation echoing back at me from

pack," he said, his voice flat and emotionless.

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

across his face-shame, maybe, or guilt.

gone so quickly I might

and his

carrying across the sudden silence. "This is a death match. The one who survives becomes Alpha of Boneash

to us. I could feel the weight of their stares. My dad looked at me for a

his agreement left

the him. He shifted simultaneously.

I twisted, using his grip against

using his weight to try to pin me down, but I was faster. I slipped from

bone.

pain and

he wasn't finished. He feinted left and came around my blind side. His massive paw caught me across the face,

snap before I felt it. The pain came a

backward, my broken leg barely supporting my weight, blood streaming from a dozen wounds. He circled me like a