Page 49 of Ryder

But in my life, change had rarely been good.

“It will be okay,” Ryder said as he stopped outside a door.

I stared at it, wondering what I would find on the other side, nerves exploding as he hit the buzzer.

The door swung wide, and an alpha, all seven feet of him, loomed in the doorway—Jace.

Ryder held up a hand in the universal sign of peace.I had the oddest feeling Jace was about to punch him.“Not in front of Emma,” he said.

Jace heaved out a breath, nostrils flared like a bull about to charge.

“Emma?Em!”That familiar voice brought a quickening to my heart rate.“Jace, get out the fucking way.”

I grinned.Yep, that was my Sloane.Then Jace stepped back… My lips trembled from the first glance.I had a vague notion of being ushered forward, but everything was a blur through the tears.A soft click told me the apartment door had been closed, then I heard the two men move away, but I only had eyes for my sister.

“I was so worried about you,” Sloane said.

“Me?!I swear I aged ten years when they came and took you away.It was the most horrifying moment of my life.”The words came out garbled through my sobbing.

“It’s over now,” she said, her hand stroking through my hair, before hugging and rocking me.The empty place inside me belonging to Sloane began to fill up with love, seeping into me from her and topping me up, filling me to the point where I knew whatever had changed within her, she was still my Sloane.She leaned back and pressed her forehead to mine.

“It’s been a rough few days,” she said.

I snickered.

“Don’t,” she said.“Seriously, don’t.”

“I can’t believe you’re an omega,” I said.“Do you feel different?”

She leaned up and tucked the hair behind my ear like she used to when I was smaller.

“Yeah,” she said.“I do.”Her eyes cut to the right, and I looked over my shoulder to where Jace was staring back at her.

“Are you mated now?”I asked.

She shrugged and smiled.“Yeah.Yeah, we are.”

My eyes were drawn to the mark at her throat, and her hand immediately went there, trying to cover it.“Don’t.”I shook my head.“You don’t need to hide it.I think it’s beautiful.”

Then it was her turn to narrow her eyes on the mark Ryder had left on my throat.Not the same kind of mark, but still, it made a similar statement.“Emma, something you want to tell me?”

“What?”I tried to fake innocence, but I wasn’t very good at it.She’d seen through it my whole damn life.How I thought I might get away with it was a mystery, even to me.

“What the fuck, Em?”

“I demanded to see you,” I said, like that was all the explanation she needed.

“Huh?”

“Ryder sent me a message to say you were here and safe.I wanted to see you.I acted a bit reckless, to be honest, stormed up to the gates and shook them.I was jabbing the hell out of the intercom there, demanding to speak to… I’ve forgotten exactly who I demanded to speak to.”

“The manager,” Ryder offered from the other side of the room, grinning.“She was crazy.Lucky we didn’t rouse half the fucking alphas in the zone.”

“Rattling the gates?Are you crazy?”Sloan asked.

I shrugged.“A little.I’ve never been one for holding back, have I?

She shook her head.Ryder came toward me, and I felt a blush creeping over my cheeks.

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