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

vision went white at the edges as every muscle in my

physical blow could have. It was like every foundation I'd built

lasted only seconds before it transformed

had just

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

a dead run. My dad

Chapter 306

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

other across ten feet, father and son. The man

enemy.

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

last word, the sound of my own desperation echoing back at me from

and emotionless. "You're too young,

"Where were you when Mom died? Where were you

time, something flickered across

quickly I might have imagined

done talking. Done with his lies and his excuses and his pathetic

"This is a death match. The one

stares. My dad looked at me for a long moment, his expression unreadable. When he

agreement left his

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

barely felt it through the adrenaline. I twisted,

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.

of pain and rage

finished. He feinted left and came around 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

into my left leg. I heard the bone snap before I felt it. The pain came a heartbeat later,

supporting my weight, blood streaming from a dozen wounds. He circled me like a predator.