Page 1 of Ryder

ChapterOne

Emma

“Are you sure this is what you want to do for your birthday?”Sloane had sat me down beside the kitchen island, and she was having one of her sisterly motherly heart-to-hearts, also known ascautioning Emma not to fuck up.

“Yes.”I nodded vigorously, worried she was about to back out.“This is absolutely what I want to do.”

She stared back at me with the same brown eyes that greeted me in the mirror every day.We didn’t otherwise look similar, and as far as our personalities went, we were wildly different.

“Wouldn’t you like to go to Angelo’s instead?I heard the food there is amazing, and?—”

I couldn’t help myself—I rolled my eyes.

Her lips thinned with disapproval.“Bloody hell, Em, you’re talking about going into Desparion.”

“Yes.”I nodded again with equal vigor.“That’s where I want to go for my birthday.I’m twenty-two years old, Sloane.Let me be twenty-two.This is what I want to do.”

“But why?”Her hands remained at her side, but I pictured her mentally ripping out her hair.

I shrugged.“Curiosity.Lots of people go there.My visa is approved.I did one for you too, Sloane, but if you don’t want to go, I understand.”

“I’ve never missed a birthday,” she said.

“We’re not going to do every single birthday together.What if you get that job?You’ll leave and live in another city.Besides, college is over for me now, and I might be moving too.”

She sighed.“I guess you’re growing up.”

“I grew up a while ago, Sloane.I’m twenty-two.”

The tightening around her eyes didn’t escape my notice.We’d grown up quicker than we should’ve had to when our parents died in a car accident.It happened, or so the policeman who notified us had said.I mean, I knew that because you heard about it on the news, except this time, it had been us.Sloane had stepped up into the void they left when she stopped being my big sister and became my mother instead.

I missed my big sister.I missed my mother and father too.I felt like I lost them all.

“You’re set on this, aren’t you?”

I smiled because I sensed her resolve weakening.“Come on, it’ll be fun.What’s the worst that can happen?”

“We leave in a body bag,” she said dryly.“Never ask me what the worst is.I can fill a book with worst-case scenarios.”

I chuckled.“You’re being dramatic.Lots of people go to the alpha zones.Hundreds and thousands of them all over the world.That’s why they have visas.It’s just like visiting a foreign country,” I finished with a shrug.

“A foreign country?They’re fucking animals.”

“They’re people,” I replied.“Just…slightly different from us.”

“Did you see yesterday’s news?Another alpha triggered, revealed, and went on a rampage in the shopping center.It took five security guards to take him down.”

“They’re different in their own zone.They know what they are.It must be confusing for them when it happens.All alone, ripped from their friends and families—the same as omegas are.Nobody talks about it.I feel sorry for them, personally.”

“Well, I bloody don’t,” Sloane said.

“Anyway, we are going.Jude will be here in” —I checked my watch— “two hours to pick us up.He’s fetching Jewels with him.Please say you’ll come, Sloane.”

“Fine.I’ll come.”

“Great!More friends are catching up with us there.When I told the people in my design class, everybody wanted to come.”

“Jesus,” Sloane said.“How many people are going?”

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