Page 65 of Redeeming His Omega Mate

I had mourned him year after year for twenty-five years.

And yet, here he was.

“I thought…” My voice broke as a tear slipped down my cheek. “I thought you were dead.”

His jaw tightened. “I thought the same about you.”

“How?” I whispered, stepping closer, almost afraid to reach for him, afraid that if I did, he’d vanish like nothing more than a cruel illusion.

But then Ryker stood, towering at six feet. His face was shadowed by a deep frown. He looked hardened and shaped by years of pain. But beneath it, I saw him, my brother. The boy who had loved me, who had protected me with his life.

Ryker lifted a hand, hesitating mid-air as if caught between reaching for me and pulling away. Just as he started to withdraw, I caught his hand and pressed it to my face.

His expression shifted. And just like that, the hardness disappeared.

I rushed into his arms, sobbing uncontrollably as I held him tight.

Ryker’s body stiffened at first like he wasn’t used to being touched. But after a moment, he exhaled, his muscles loosening as he wrapped an arm around me and hugged me back.

“How?” I choked out between sobs. “How are you here? Where have you been?” And more importantly, how are you the rogue leader?

Ryker let out a sharp breath as I pulled back to look at him. The anger was back in his eyes, but I still saw that familiar softness when he looked at me. His gaze drifted past me as though lost in a memory, and from the way his face darkened, I knew it wasn’t a good one.

Running a hand through his short brown hair, he sighed. “I barely made it out,” he said, his voice tight. “After I left you behind that tree, I went back for Mama and Papa. But by the time I got to the house…it was on fire. They were inside.” His jaw clenched. “The flames started at the doors, trapping them. There was no way out.”

My heart clenched as I tried to picture my parents trapped in the flames, panic setting in as the fire closed around them.

“I couldn’t just stand there and watch our parents burn,” he said, his voice tight with emotion. “So, I tried. I walked straight toward that fire, straight through that door to save them.”

His breath hitched as his fingers brushed over the scar on his face. “That’s how I got this,” he murmured. “But by the time I got inside…Mama was already wheezing, barely holding on. The smoke had gotten to her before the fire did. Papa carried her as I cried, but when we made it outside, we ran into something worse.” His throat worked. “The soldiers were waiting. They came at me, but Papa didn’t let up. He fought with everything he had so that I could run.”

Tears blurred my vision as I listened. I had always known our parents died in the war, but I never knew how. Now I did. My mother, gasping for air as smoke filled her lungs. My father, cut down in battle.

They didn’t deserve that. They should have lived long enough to grow old and leave this world in peace, not in fire and blood.

Ryker placed a hand on my shoulder to pacify me. “I ran all night,” he continued. “They chased me through the woods, but I didn’t stop. And when I finally lost them, I went back to the tree where I left you. But you were gone. The whole area was covered in blood, and I thought they got to you too.”

I reached up, cupping his cheek, my fingers gentle against his scar. Ryker met my tear-filled eyes and gave me a small, broken smile. I knew what it felt like to be alone in the world. So, I understood how he must have felt.

“I was so angry, Tala.” His voice cracked. “Mad that they took you from me. Mad that they took our parents. The only thing that kept me going was the thought that one day, I’d make them pay, and I’d make them feel the same pain they caused me.”

“You became a rogue,” I said quietly.

Ryker pulled away from my touch, taking a few steps back as if realizing he had let his guard down and needed to rebuild the walls around him.

“I became a rogue the day they stormed our village and tried to killus all,” he said, his voice cold, distant. “The very people you all fear, the ones you call terrorists, they’re the ones who saved me. They found me wandering the forest alone. They took me in. They trained me. They made me who I am today.”

“A rogue leader?”

“Yes, Tala!” Ryker snapped, his voice sharp enough to cut. “I am the rogue leader, and I’m damn proud of it.”

I flinched at his tone, my stomach twisting.

“Why do you think we raid towns for supplies?” he went on, his eyes burning with conviction. “There are so many of us out there, Omegas, outcasts, people with no home or whose homes were ripped from them. We give them a place to belong. We keep them alive. And if that means stealing from the packs that cast them out, then we damn well will.”

His gaze flicked to Damian. “Do you have any idea how many Omegas from this pack are in our camp?” He scoffed, his voice laced with contempt. “How many of us lost everything while your father, the great Alpha, sat on his throne and called for our heads?” His words turned into a low growl, thick with anger and grief. Then, his sharp eyes landed back on me. “I wasn’t going to spend the rest of my life begging for scraps, Tala. So, I built something of my own, an army strong enough to make your packs feel the same fear they forced on us.”

I shook my head. “I get what you went through, Ryker—”

---