Page 34 of Betrayed Mate

He arched a brow as if I’d offered a challenge. He rubbed his hands together and said, “You know what? I should make you submit to me and join the pack. That way, you won’t free a fucking vampire who has answers and then pretend to sense a threat in the woods to get us to stop searching for him.”

I flinched. I knew he’d be pissed at me for what I’d done back at the river, but I hadn’t considered the possibility he’d think I made up the story of someone watching us from the woods. “It wasn’t made up.”

“See, I find it strange that you specified the incident asit.” He cracked his knuckles while staring straight into my soul. “You could be referring toanything,and worse, you think I’m dumb enough to fall for that.”

I huffed and eliminated the five-foot gap between us. My feet moved way too willingly—like Iwantedto be close to him instead of my real reason—proving I wasn’t afraid of him. But this was one of my pack’s downfalls and another reason we’d stayed pretty isolated—we refused to cower when faced with someone likehim. I refused to stroke his ego just because he was such a strong alpha. “I felt a presence back there, watching us,” I whispered. I’d meant to sound sure, but maybe I’d imagined it after all. I was exhausted, injured, and constantly felt as if something might jump out and try to kill me.

Ryker sniffed and narrowed his eyes. “There’s no hint of a lie, but you didn’t say it like you were confident. I find it convenient that you fought me to let our best lead escape, and when we finally picked up his trail, we were suddenly called away.”

I shook my head. “That’s not what happened at all. I thought I sensed someone watching me.”

“Youthought?” Ryker leaned forward.

Kendric’s and Gage’s expressions were strained as they watched Ryker and me. They slowly flanked Ryker, their gazes darting back and forth like they weren’t sure what to do or what was going to happen.

In fairness, I wasn’t sure either, but Ryker infuriated me more than anyone in this world ever had before. His mere presence irked me, and I didn’t like what that said about me. However, someone had to stand up for what was right in this world, or Ryker would make it his own version of hell.

Ryker cleared his throat. “Any day now, or are you choosing not to answer for a reason?”

I jerked my attention back to him. “I was certain until—” I cringed, hating that I couldn’t finish my sentence. When Ryker grinned and clasped his hands together, I forced the rest of the words out. “I wasn’t.”

His mocking grin disappeared into a stern expression. “What does that even mean? There was no one there, Rebel. We sniffed out everything.”

This was where I’d sound crazy, but I’d own up to my mistakes. “I don’t know how to describe it, but Iknewsomeone was watching Xander and me.”

“I’m going to need you totryto describe it,” Ryker bit out.

Xander grunted behind me like he was standing up and might interject, so I didn’t wait to start talking. “Awareness prickled inside me.” I steeled my expression, though a part of me wanted to cover my face in shame. I was a wolf shifter, and mywolf magic had never sensed anything out of the ordinary before. I had no legitimate reason to think that someone was there…and yet, I had.

The stress, loss, and chaos must be getting to me. I couldn’t even rely on my animal.

“What do you mean by that? Did your wolf sense something?” Ryker pressed his lips into a hard line.

If I said yes, my wolf would look weak, and I’d smell of a lie, so I had no choice but to come clean. “No, she didn’t. My wolf didn’t sense anything.”

“So you used whatever you made up in your head as a reason for us to stop chasing that fucking vampire.” He flushed, and a faint growl reverberated from his chest.

Xander stepped to my side and puffed out his chest. “Man, a gust of wind came out of nowhere. It freaked me out too, so it wasn’t just her.”

“Had she told you that shesensedsomething by then?” Ryker asked.

“Yeah, but—”

Ryker’s nose wrinkled as he cut in, “You let her manipulate you instead of relying on your senses.”

As if Fate agreed with Ryker, a breeze suddenly picked up like it had earlier, causing branches to rustle and more orange, red, and yellow leaves to fall to the ground.

“Do you sense something now as well?” Ryker snapped, staring Xander and me down. “Or since Rebel hasn’t said anything, does it just feel like fall weather in the mountains?”

The urge to punch him again built in my chest. I hated how condescending he was, and I couldn’t help comparing him to the alpha I’d known best who would never treat a pack member or someone else that way. Yes, Dad would’ve been disappointed in me for letting my imagination run wild, but he also would’ve known that putting more pressure on me wouldn’t help. I’dseen how he handled families that suffered a loss and weren’t quite themselves for a time. He would have forced me to sit out from scout duty until things got better. Granted, I’d never done anything like what had happened tonight, but I’d lost my entire pack except for one person, and she was likely with an enemy I needed to find as soon as possible.

“I didn’t make it up on purpose, okay? Besides, I had no way of communicating with you all to know that you’d picked up his trail when I felt the alarm.” A small part of me screamed that I hadn’t made up anything at all, but the logical side of me understood what extreme loss could do to a person. “I seriously thought I felt someone. There wasn’t anything extra to it. You tracking down Simon was coincidental.”

Gage patted Ryker’s shoulder. “If she were lying, we’d know. Remember how we were for days, if not weeks, after our pack died? We were all on edge, thinking we were going to be attacked at any second. Hell, some of us still act like that.”

At Gage’s admission, my body felt a little lighter. Maybe I wasn’t crazy after all. Lately, I’d felt like I was falling apart more each day instead of getting better. Could that be why I resented Ryker so much? I feared that I would become like him and lose who I was in the process?

Cutting his eyes at his friend, Ryker scowled. “I know she’s not lying, but that doesn’t mean that ever since I found her near death, she hasn’t been a huge pain in my ass.”

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