Page 29 of Betrayed Mate

Without hesitation, Ryker pressed Simon’s face into the water once again.

The vampire thrashed wildly, and my heart broke. This man had just endured an attack that had ended in the deaths of his friends, if not his family, and he was being tortured by the person they’d called for help against their attackers.

This time, I wrapped both hands around Ryker’s arm and yanked. “You’re no better than the ones who attacked our packs and the vampires!” I hated that my strength hadn’t completely returned. Still, even without tapping into my still-weak magic, I’d managed to yank hard enough for Ryker to lean in my direction.

“Maybe not,” he spat, and the veins in his arm bulged as he straightened. “But it’s the only way we’re going to get answers from him.”

This wasn’t right. Why would anyone want to share information with us after being treated so horribly? “You didn’t even try to talk to him! How can you possibly know that?” Back at the vampire houses, Gage and Xander had already detained Simon because he’d tried to run away. Then Ryker had showedup and immediately treated Simon like a prisoner and not a victim.

“Just trust me.” He narrowed his eyes at me.

I scoffed bitterly.Trusthim. I didn’t trust anyone but myself and Briar. That had been a recent and hard lesson that would stick with me forever.

His brows rose ever so slightly like he hadn’t expected that reaction.

Good. Screw him. I wouldn’t tuck my tail between my legs, nor could I be forced to obey him because he wasn’tmyalpha.

His eyes glowed, enhancing the unusual sheen, and I knew what he was doing—calling the rest of his pack.

If I were going to attempt something, I needed to do it now and quickly before the others arrived. This time, I yanked at my wolf, borrowing some of her strength. I’d hoped I wouldn’t need to tap into my magic yet since neither my human nor my animal side was at full strength, but I couldn’t allow Ryker to continue torturing somebody.

Before I could change my mind, I raised my arms, causing his eyes to widen. He shifted his grasp, but before he could fight off my attack, I shoved him in the shoulder. He wasn’t prepared for my strength, expecting me to be weak based on my previous attempts to take him down, and he wasn’t able to offset the motion.

He grunted as his side hit the ground, and I used my leg to remove his from Simon’s waist.

“Stop,” he rasped, rolling over to his knees.

The vampire lifted his head from the water and crawled away. He coughed as he tried to stand, but Ryker spun around and kicked him in the back. The vampire fell forward onto his knees again, his hands splashing as he used the riverbed to keep his face out of the water.

I’d hoped that my sudden burst of strength would’ve had a larger impact on Ryker, but I should’ve known better. He was a strong wolf after all.

I jumped over Simon, and Ryker turned toward me and raised his arms to stop my momentum, so I changed my approach and tapped into my wolf again. As his hands gripped my waist, I punched him in the jaw.

His head snapped sideways, and he stumbled back.

“Run!” I exclaimed and threw all my weight onto Ryker, sending him sprawling.

My body jerked as I landed on him, and a few rocks scattered at the impact.

Footsteps pounded behind us, and an overly sweet-scented breeze curled past me as a few drops of water hit my arm.

A little bit of the tension left my body. Simon had gotten away.

My relief was short-lived. Ryker’s massive hands grasped my arms and shoved me off him. My body flew through the air before I landed hard on my side. Sharp pain radiated down my shoulder as Ryker climbed to his feet.

His face was flushed, and his nostrils flared as he sniffed the air. “You have no fucking clue what you’ve done. You better hope like hell I can find him.” Though vampires ran quicker than us, they couldn’t sustain their speed for long periods, and their overly sweet smell lingered in the air longer than that of other supernaturals.

“I stopped you from torturing someone who just losteverything.” My voice cracked on the last word. I understood exactly how Simon had to be feeling. He’d lost everyone in that house like I’d lost my pack, and I still was barely functioning despite not having been tortured right afterward.

I stood, ignoring the ache in my shoulder, refusing to allow him to continue to look down his nose at me.

Bastard.

I’d never been able to stand the alphaholes in other packs who seemed to believe they were superior to not only their packmates but all others as well. They had an arrogance that caused anger to boil inside them, which was one reason that my pack had kept to ourselves as much as possible.

Ryker didn’t even flinch, but his face set into deep grooves, conveying his disgust. “You knownothing,”he snapped and vanished between two large oak trees, chasing the vampire.

My heart ached, and I fisted my hands at my sides. Other than causing frustration and anger, his reaction shouldn’t affect me, so feeling anything else should not be possible.

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