Alpha Ryland

Chapter 14

He is finally willing to tell me why he needed my vial. I give him my full attention and try to focus on his eyes in the dark. We are sitting on the bed, facing each other, and waiting for one of us to speak. He's focused on me, so I think he is waiting for me to say something first. "Why did you take it?"

Ryland looks at the vial, "Do you know what this is?" He moves the vial up into the air so I can see it more clearly. I nod at him while looking at the vial.

"It's a solution that ruined my life." I say out loud. He looks at me with a confused expression. I realize that he would want me to explain, but I really don't want to. "Long story. I'll tell you another time."

He nods his head and looks at the vial again, "Since you are familiar with it, you know that it can bring two anomalites together. Two unmated people can be paired together to stimulate a mate bond between them."

I scrunch my eyebrows together, "What? No, that's not what it does." I tell him, "It breaks the mate bond. It tears two people apart and ruins their relationship and chances at being together."

He looks equally as confused, "There must be two vials then. This one was behind a glass panel that had a description of what it is." He describes what he read that night and then stops to look at me, "The unmating vial ruined your life? Did something happen to you?"

I shake my head and change the subject, "My parents must have made both. Doesn't matter, it hasn't had much testing on it at all, so you don't know exactly what it will do."

"That's true. I don't know if it mates together anyone or only compatible people. It could also only be for people who are not anomalites, or people who were affected by the unmating solution first. But, it doesn't matter as long as I try it out." He says.

"You're going to use it on yourself? You're an anomalite that doesn't have a mate, so you are wanting one?" I ask him, "Back where you are from, do you have a girl you are interested in?" I don't know why, but I feel a teensy bit jealous at the thought of him having someone at home. Someone he actually treats nice and shows emotion to, while I'm stuck with the stone-faced version of him.

He shakes his head, "No. It's not for me. I don't particularly like the thought of being with someone who wasn't made for me and was for someone else. Plus, I don't need a Luna by my side from where I am."

I tilt my head, "Luna?"

He looks shocked for a split second, but then gets composed, "Oh, did I say Luna? I'm not familiar with the terms."
I nod my head, "Only Alphas have Lunas. Regular people have just mates. Luna is a title, like queen or princess." I smile, remembering learning this in kindergarten. He nods his head, "Then I don't need a mate to be happy. I've lived this long."

He puts the vial in his jacket that was on the table by the bed and then sits back in front of me, "I got this for my sister. She fell in love with another unmated male and got married to him. She had been in the shadows in my family and had been a role model for me. I want to repay her by giving her the mate bond she always had dreamed of with the man she is with."

I 'aww' at his explanation and realize that he isn't that bad at all. "You care that much about her that you'd go through this whole trip?"

He nods and slightly smiles, "I'd do anything for my family." He smirks, "Even kidnap for them."

I roll my eyes, "I'm not your family. You just kidnapped me for fun."

He chuckles, "Fair. But I meant that I'd kidnap someone and go on a journey with that annoying person to be able to give my sister her happiness."

"Excuse me, sir. But I'm not annoying. I'm great." I say with a fake hair flip. He chuckles again, "You're pretty annoying."

I shake my head again, "You added an extra word there, buddy. I'm pretty, not pretty annoying."

He smirks again and I stop my charade. His brown eyes look glassy with the moonlight reflecting off of them. With his half smile, it makes him look like a sculpture looking into my soul. I'm left breathless until he speaks up, "You're right. But you're still annoying."

He called me pretty and annoying. I don't know if I should be offended or complimented. "I guess I am annoying." I say, "But you are, too."

He nods with a simple smile, "I'm an ass sometimes, I admit. But I do what I have to, to get things done." I'm still mesmerized by him that I just now noticed how close we were. My heart is beating fast, but I don't know why. Maybe this new information about him made me see him in a different light. He stole for his sister's happiness while I only tried to take it away.

He leans closer to me in the darkness and his lips slightly part, his eyes sparkling, "I think it's appropriate to tell you that I think you're my ma-..." he stops and closes his eyes and backs away. My heart is beating faster and I'm afraid I will soon get some kind of arrhythmia. "I think you're my companion, Maura, until the Alpha is killed. I can't let you get hurt in the fight we are going to put up. I'll send you home when everything blows over, if you choose. But I couldn't live with myself if my... if you got hurt."

He seems to have a hard time getting his words out, but fixes it. He might be feeling the same way I am and got too flustered to talk. That's why I think he had so many errors in his speech. "I thought you were going to kill me when we got back to your home pack? Change your mind?" I ask him.

He looks down at my legs, "Now that Jake and I have a mutual plan, I have no need to kill you anymore. Unless, you want me to?" He looks back at me with a smirk and I furiously shake my head. "Nope!" I say with a smile. I'm not going to die! Yay!

He laughs, "Good. Also, we will have to leave tomorrow, or today since it's 1am, to find that fortune teller you wanted to see. Do you have questions in mind for her?"

I nod, "A few. I want to see if she could help me. Do you?"

"I have one main one." He sighs and rubs the back of his head, looking exhausted, "It's stupid, but it's regarding if I have a mate or not. When I was younger, I was tested and it came out as positive for a potential soulmate. As I got old enough to find her, I thought I felt something. When I was about to leave my pack to find her, the feeling stopped. It's weird, but it felt like the feeling I had in me just disappeared. The emptiness grew as months passed, and now it's a dull ache inside. I think something is wrong. I hope that my mate isn't dead and I'm going through the depressive stages. If I died, my people wouldn't have anyone to look up to. I just need to know what's going on and how things will turn out for me." He stares at me for a few seconds, "Or if something happened to her that broke the bond."

My heart starts to pump faster again and I don't know why. I'm the only girl that I know of that had my bond broken with my mate. He wouldn't know that though, so he couldn't mean me. Have mate bonds been broken naturally before? Maybe when she rejects him, but I thought you must be near them to do that. He smiles at me and his facial expression loosens, "Just a thought."

"Anyways," He backs away from me and gets settled underneath the blankets on his side of the bed, "We have a long day ahead of us. Get some sleep, Maura."

I slowly get into the covers and lay my head down. He didn't say, 'Go to bed,' or, 'Go to sleep,' like he usually does. This time ii feels more genuine. I close my eyes and get comfortable. I feel different tonight, almost safe being next to him. I was scared and intimidated with him other nights, but he genuinely seems to be looking out for my safety for some reason. His personality is more open, and I feel like we are connecting a lot better. He told me so much about himself and I haven't told him anything about me. Maybe I should mention it tomorrow on the way for conversation.

"Goodnight, Maura." He tells me after taking in a deep breath. He is facing me while I'm lying on my back. I turn to face him on my side and smile, even though his eyes are closed, "Goodnight, Ryland." I say quietly to him and he opens his eyes when I say his name and smiles at our eye contact. I shiver, but not from being cold. Maybe I do like him and I'm just too stubborn to admit it. We stare at each other for a while, but it's not awkward. It feels like it is normal to be with each other like this, even though it shouldn't.

Maybe talking to Jake earlier made him break down a wall he was putting up toward me. Jake has a pretty quirky way of showing us hospitality, but if he opened Ryland up to me, I am thankful. He moves his hand from under the blanket and brings it up to my face. He moves a stand of my long hair out of the side of my face and tucks it behind my ears and it lies behind my head. He moves his hand back to his side and closes his eyes. I watch him for a few more seconds, looking at his sleeping face, and then close my eyes. I think part of me has fallen for him.