Alpha's Mate

Chapter Nine.

"Don't worry about it princess." He smiled at me but I could still see the tension in his muscles like he was holding himself back from something. "If we crash you may have just saved my life. So, thank you." He smiled wider and I felt my nerves drift away.

"Yeah I guess so." I smiled as he went back to driving.

"Do you have a certain time to be home?" He asked me.

"6 at the latest. I have MMA training with my dad at 6." I told him.

"We better keep a close eye on the time then." He said and I agreed. My dad hates me being late for training.

It didn't take us too long until we got to the Ice Rink and as soon as we had parked, Ryder climbed out and ran to my side to open the door for me.

"Thank you." I giggled as I took the hand he offered to help me out.

"You're very welcome." He smiled as he locked the car. He took my hand and began leading me towards the main entrance.

"So how often does the hockey team train?" I asked as we walked inside.

"Two times a week outside of school." He said. "But we also have two gym lessons a week to go and train as well."

I nodded and followed him over to the lockers. I dumped my shoes and bag in a locker along with my kimono and took the pair of skates he handed me before pulling them on.

"How long has it been since you last skated?" He asked me as he tied the laces on his skates.

"About a month. So please don't laugh if I fall over." I grinned.

"I won't laugh at you." He smiled as he stood up and offered me his hand.

"Good." I said as I took his hand and allowed him to pull me to my feet.

Together we made our way over to the mostly empty rink. Only three other people were on the rink and they looked to be two adults with a small child.

Ryder stepped onto the ice first and I quickly followed. He never let go of my hand so I allowed him to pull me along as I laughed behind him.

"You are so slow!" He laughed as he tried to speed up but couldn't as I still held onto his hand.

"No I'm not, I'm just enjoying you pulling me along the ice." I told him causing him to laugh some more.

"But if you want faster..." I mumbled, letting go of his hand before I quickly skated past him.

"You might wanna keep up!" I yelled behind me as I picked up the pace and sped across the ice.

I heard him laughing behind me as he slowly began catching up to me. He kept trying to catch me for a good half an hour but I managed to keep avoiding him when he tried to grab me.

I laughed as I ducked under his arm and skated away again.

I heard his grumble of complaint as he hurried after me yet again. I swiftly spun around so that I was skating backwards while I faced him.

"I expected the Captain of the Ice Hockey team to be able to skate much faster than this." I winked at him but my eyes widened when he suddenly sped up towards me.

I hurriedly turned around but he was faster than me and suddenly a toned, muscular arm wrapped around my waist and lifted me off of the ground.

"Gotcha." He whispered in my ear. I felt a shiver go down my spine when I felt his hot breath fan against my ear and neck.

"That wasn't fair." I complained as leant back against him feeling the pleasant tingles as our skin came into contact.

"Yes it was." He grinned as he tightened his hold around my waist slightly. "I caught you fair and square."

"Fine, I guess you did." I gave in and he finally released me. "What time is it?" I asked.

"Half 5. I should probably be getting you home." He sighed and I nodded.

"Yeah we should probably go." I smiled sadly and began skating back across the ice, hearing him following behind me.

Once we were off the ice, we made our way back to the lockers and took off our skates.

"I forgot how much fun skating was." I smiled widely at him as I pulled my shoes back on.

"Its a lot of fun." He smiled at me as he held his leather jacket in his hand.

"You are a great skater by the way." I told him as I put my kimono back on and grabbed my bag.

"Well you're a very fast skater." He told me as he led the way to the exit.

"Thanks." I giggled.

I looked outside and groaned when I saw that it was raining heavily.

"Oh terrific. I knew I should've brought my jacket." I mumbled.

"Here." Ryder said as he handed me his leather jacket to keep me dry.

"Wait are you sure?" I asked and he nodded. "What about you?"

"I'll be fine." He smiled as he held the door open for me.

"Thanks." I replied with a large smile as I put his jacket over my head to keep me dry.

I was engulfed in his scent; apples and cinnamon, which made me smile and my body totally relax.

I snapped out of my thoughts and hurried out into the rain with Ryder. It was so cold as we both ran to his car. Even with Ryder's jacket I was still getting drenched.

We both laughed as we hurriedly climbed into his car, and into the shelter from the rain.

"Well that was fun." I said as we sat in the car looking at each other.

Ryder was definitely more soaked than me. He was dripping wet. His black hair looked even darker as it fell against his forehead and dripped water down his face and his black shirt clung to his skin, outlining every single muscle.

I gulped and looked away as I kept his jacket around my shoulders. I distracted myself by fastening my seat belt.

"It was definitely fun." He grinned as he fastened his own seat belt and began to drive out of the parking lot. "We definitely have to do this again some time."

"Yes we do." I smiled at him.

The conversation flowed all the way to my house and the rain continued to fall.

Ryder brought the car to a stop outside my house.

I went to take the jacket off and hand it back to him but he stopped me.

"You'll be needing it to walk to your door." He told me. "You can give it back to me tomorrow at school."

"Thanks, Ryder." I told him. "I should be going inside now."

"Yeah I guess." He smiled.

"Thank you for making me have such a fun time." I smiled and without thinking I moved out of my seat to wrap my arms around his neck for a hug. Immediately, his arms went to my waist and hugged me back tightly.

"My pleasure." He said once we pulled away.

"Goodnight, Ryder."

"Goodnight, Rory." He replied and with one last smile I grabbed my bag and climbed out of his car and into the pouring rain.

I used his jacket to shield myself from the rain and I sent him a wave before I sprinted towards the front door and hurried inside as I heard his car drive away.

I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face as I leant against the closed door.

"There you are." My dad said as he walked down the stairs to where I was still standing.

"Hey dad." I smiled.

"You better get dried off. We start MMA training in five minutes." He said before walking into the kitchen.

I groaned but hurried upstairs to my room anyway. I was going to be so tired.