The Wolf’s Pregnant Rejected Mate (Bluebell Valley Wolves #2)

Chapter 2 - Ryder

Ryder ignored his sister’s black glare as he rewired an old lamp. After Tess stormed out, she fixed her eyes on him and didn’t stop. It made his neck prickle and his wolf uncomfortable. Not because he was scared of Mica—even if she wanted to hurt him, she couldn’t—but because sooner or later, she was going to start scolding him. It was a change in their dynamics for her to scold him and for him to have to listen. She was his Luna now, not just his little sister.

He stifled a groan as Mica bounced Denzil on her knee. “Well, I hope you’re happy. Tess is probably out there crying her eyes out.”

“That isn’t my problem,” Ryder muttered. His wolf snarled lightly; it didn’t like it when women cried, especially not when it was his fault.

“You didn’t have to be so rude to her,” Mica said. She held her son on her knee as he babbled and grabbed her hair.

Ryder bit back irritation. “What happened to no means no? I told her I didn’t need her help, and she pushed it.”

“You didn’t tell her. You practically bit her head off!”

Echo, who had come to the Alpha’s house to help with the baby while Tess was gone, looked up from where she was knitting. She’d been doing a good job at pretending that she didn’t notice the tension in the room, but now her eyes flashed. Ryder grimaced.

“Stop your fighting, especially in front of the baby,” she scolded. “You are both too old to be bickering like this.”

Mica got to her feet, adjusting her hold on Denzel. “I have to go change a diaper.”

She sent Ryder another glare before she flounced from the room. Ryder shook his head, focusing on fixing the lamp. Here he was, doing her a favor by fixing her favorite lamp, and she had to act like that.

“You know that Tess is Mica’s best friend,” Echo said once Mica was gone. “For a long time, she was Mica’s only friend. I’m sure part of this… tension between you and Tess has to do with the fact that you left us to join the special ops.”

Ryder twisted the last wires together and taped them. “I did what I thought was best.”

“And I’m proud of you for everything you’ve done, Ryder.” Echo continued to knit, her expression smooth. “I’m just saying that might be what Tess is feeling. You are also the Alpha’s right hand. Tess is the Luna’s right hand. You both have the responsibility to work together. And you, as the pack’s Beta, really ought to be the bigger person.”

“Does that mean I should let her do whatever she wants and get away with it?” Ryder snapped. His wolf growled—how dare he take that tone with his mother!

Echo showed no sign of annoyance. “That isn’t what I said, is it?”

Ryder ducked his head. No, it wasn’t. What was really annoying was that she was right. He really ought to be the bigger person. He knew what Bluebell Valley was like under Monroe. Tess arguing back to him was a sign that she no longer feared her throat would be ripped out if she talked back. He’d been serving under Hayden much longer. He should know better.

Righting the lamp, he glanced at his mother. “I’ll be back.”

She nodded, a pleased smile crossing her face.

Ryder rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the tension as he headed out. He reached Tess’s house quickly. Elin answered the door, and upon his query for Tess, she told him Tess had gone out into the forest.

“She only left half an hour or so ago,” Elin said. “You can catch her if you hurry.”

Ryder grunted his thanks. It might be a good idea to just leave her at it and let her cool down. Talking through the tension between them would be better done with level heads, right? Besides, she probably expected him to apologize, even though he hadn’t done anything wrong.

But, on the flip side of all of this, the sooner they talked, the sooner they could get this over with. The less time they spent in each other’s presence, the better. Yes, he was Beta, and she was Luna’s right hand, but that didn’t mean they had to be best buds. They just needed to stay professional when dealing with pack politics.

In their personal lives, they should remain courteous to one another and avoid personal conflicts by avoiding each other when possible. They could exist in the same room and space without it blowing up like today. Perhaps they could have a certain phrase or word that they used when the other was getting too pushy.

Great, now I need a safe word for daily life, Ryder thought grumpily as he headed into the forest.

He undressed and tossed his clothes on a tree branch, trying to ignore the connotations that were brought to his mind.

Images of Tess dressed in leather, cracking a whip in her hand, floated through his mind. Not that he was into Dommes, but fuck if that wasn’t a beautiful thought. Unfortunately, he’d been attracted to Tess since they were teens. Now that he’d come back to Bluebell Valley and seen her as an adult?

He wanted to know what that soft, round body would feel against his. She was so curvy, with hips that he could just imagine digging his fingers in. She usually wore skirts, but when she put on a pair of jeans, the curve of her ass just about drove him wild.

It wasn’t fair that he had to be so damn attracted to her. She was his little sister’s best friend. Not to mention the other reasons why he couldn't pursue her.

Taking his wolf form, he started sniffing around. He soon caught the scent of her jasmine and lily shampoo and started following it. As he did, he envisioned Tess’s white wolf in his mind. She was far smaller than one would expect, about half the size of a normal grown wolf. She was fast, though. What sort of fighter would she be? Most wolves relied on strength and brute force to fight, but with her smaller stature, she’d have to put in other strategies.

Ryder paused next to a bush where Tess’s scent was particularly strong. He breathed in his scent, unable to deny that it filled him with pleasure. Even more, he felt himself harden as he imagined the two of them having a friendly sparring match.

He might not be into Dommes and the whole BDSM scene, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have some kinks of his own. The idea of him and Tess batting each other around, snapping, and trying to maneuver each other made him smile. His tail started to wag, and he imagined the scent of sweat and hormones filling the air.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that when he heard the sounds of snarling and snapping, he thought his imagination was getting the best of him.

Then, a yelp of pain rang through the air. Instantly, everything shifted. His ears pricked forward, and he became laser-focused. He sprang through the underbrush and burst into a clearing. A dozen wolves, all panting heavily, surrounded a small white wolf—Tess. She was backed against a large rock. Her sides heaved, her white fur stained red around her haunches.

Hot anger swept through Ryder, filling his lungs. It burst out of him in a howl as he charged into the fray. He leaped over the back of a tanned wolf and landed lightly next to Tess. He whirled at once, snapping at the tan wolf’s face. The attackers backed off, yelping in confusion. Ryder lunged at the nearest one, and it jumped aside and yelped again.

Tess whimpered as she hid in his shadow. Then, a fierce growl ripped through her, and she went for the throat of the tan wolf. The tan twisted away, and Ryder caught it by the haunches. Fur and blood sprayed into the year. Tess tore out a chunk of fur near the wolf’s throat.

The tan wolf twisted out of their grasp and backed off. The attackers formed a semi-circle around them. A few of their eyes glinted red, indicating that the possession was full; not even an exorcism would save them now.

Tess’s tail swished back and forth in tension. Ryder bumped her with his shoulder, warning her to stay patient. What were they waiting for? He searched the circle, judging where the weak link was. If he could open up the circle, Tess would be able to run and get help.

Just before he made a decision, a big wolf sauntered through the trees. It was a monster bigger than Hayden and not someone Ryder recognized. Its fur was a deep mahogany color with blond stripes over the wolf’s shoulders and down its sides.

Ryder’s fur bristled, and he curled his lips back from his teeth. The big wolf looked him up and down, and its mouth opened, its tongue lolling out as though in laughter. A chain hung around the wolf’s neck, from which dangled a blood-red stone. It glowed internally, and occasionally, sparks would shoot off it, scorching the ground where they landed.

Dread washed through Ryder. Just a single glance at the stone was all he needed to understand the situation.

It was a Demon Seed. All it took was touching a person, and they would instantly be possessed by aura demons. It was violent and destructive, and the host only lasted a few weeks at best. Demons preferred to use a more gradual method so they could hold the hosts longer, up to years before their bodies gave out.

Since Zealuv briefly possessed Hayden, all the special ops teams had special talismans surgically implanted in them. They were immune to possession now.

Which meant he wasn’t the target—Tess was.