Page 44 of Ryder

I glanced back at Ryder, which was a mistake.His too long hair was messy and tangled from sleep.He looked like a big, sexy god sprawled out with a lazy smirk on his lips.

“Has Sloane finally roused?”

“Yeah,” I said, but I didn’t sound as enthusiastic as I should have.

He gestured toward the cell in my hand.“So are you going to message her back?”

“Yeah,” I said again.“Yeah, I am.I… This is really weird.I don’t know what to say.”

“Start with the basics,” he said.“Tell her you’re happy that she’s well.Tell her you can’t wait to see her.”

So I did.

I love you, Sloane.Please don’t apologize.I’m fine, I’m well.I know that Jace got you out.I’m relieved you’ve come through okay.I’ll be here when you’re ready.

Suddenly, everything welled up, and the back of my eyes stung with the heavy onset of tears.

“Hey?”He gathered me up into his arms as I started sobbing.

“I’m so happy that she is okay.”But it wasn’t only that.It was also the recognition that this interlude was over.I could see Sloane, and then I needed to go back home to my apartment—I’d received a message yesterday to say ownership had been transferred to me—to my friends, the job offers, and to the graduation ceremony that was only two days away.

It all felt surreal, empty, and meaningless.“Why do they separate alphas?”I asked.“Why do they do that?You’re not monsters or animals.You don’t deserve to be locked behind a chain-link fence.”

I was asking a deeper question, one pertaining to why we couldn’t be together.

“It’s complicated,” he said, and I sobbed harder.“There’s a lot going through your head, baby.”

“I can’t process any of it,” I said honestly.

“Don’t try to,” he said.“Take it a step at a time.”

My cell beeped with another message.

“You’re going to have to let her know that you’re here.She can’t leave now.Omegas, they have no place in the beta world.”There was bitterness and his tone.“And given how we busted her out of the Dawn Agency, we really don’t want to risk her face appearing on any security cameras.”He nodded his head toward my cell.“Do you want me to sort this out for you?”

I dashed the tears from my cheek and heaved a troubled breath.

Cupping my face, he wiped the tears from my cheeks with the pads of his thumbs, but more fell to take their place.“Emma, do you want me to sort this out?”

“Yes.”

He grabbed his cell from the nightstand, swiped the screen, tapped a button, and held it to his ear.I could hear it ringing.Pressing a kiss to the top of my head, he slipped out of bed and moved to stand before the big window.

He was gloriously naked, and the dawn sky cast his big body into silhouette.I drank him in greedily, wanting to store up the sculpted lines of his back, his broad shoulders, the trim waist, remembering how his muscled ass felt under my fingers as I’d held him to me when he came deep inside me a short time ago.

His hand raked through his hair, sending muscles rippling in his arm, shoulder, and back.

He said something I couldn’t quite hear from here, then he chuckled, threw a look over his shoulder at me, and winked.

My stomach performed a slow tumble.I was so freaking gone.

“Don’t you dare give me any shit… Yep… No problem.”

He hit the button on his cell.There was a slight delay before he turned around.“Better get your ass in the shower, baby.You got fifteen minutes.”

Fifteen minutes?Panic gripped me as I realized the state I was in.My hair was a knotty mess and a little crusted in places.I’d hardly slept since I entered Ryder’s room.I ached from head to toe…and my pussy was… full of cum.

Despite all of this, I wanted him again.

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