Alphas daughter

Chapter 18

"Why do I always miss the good stuff?" Ryder complained at lunch. Much to my dismay, my father had ordered us all to go to school. I ignored the conversation around me and kept my eyes on Zach, who was oblivious as he ate his pizza.

"It wasn't good!" Alexia squealed in protest. "I nearly killed Ella," she yelled, a little too loudly for my liking.

"Say it a bit louder Lex, I don't think the chef heard you all the way from the kitchen." I shot her a glare and she blushed before mumbling a quick sorry. I rolled my eyes and took a bite from my pizza.

"She is grouchy now look," Ryder cooed teasingly. "Aww, did the Alphas cub get a boo boo?" He mocked and I snarled at him, scowling over at him.

"Call me a cub again." I dared, growling under my breath and reaching to grab his throat.

"Woah, ok!" He laughed, holding his hands up in surrender. I let go and refocused my gaze on Zach, desperately trying to put the pieces together. He knew something about the incident this morning, I just needed to figure out what.

"Ok, whats with the glare?" He finally spoke up, dropping his fork onto his plate and folding his arms across his chest.

"You know something," I grumbled.

"You will have to be more specific sweetheart."

I huffed at the nickname and ground my teeth together. "About this morning," I clarified. "I saw the way you and my dad looked at each other, you know exactly who left wolfsbane on Lexis door," I growled. I was expecting him to look guilty, or nervous but he just laughed.

"I am not doing this with you right now."

"Do you know who did it?" Alexia asked, snapping her head round to face him. "If you do then tell us, you saw what it made me do," she insisted, pointing over at the healed wound on my neck.

He simply shrugged. "I don't know who put it there." And with that he continued with his pizza.

I continued to stare at him, trying to figure him out. One minute we were friends and the next we were at each other's throats. All I knew was that I didn't trust him, not at all.

"Sweetheart, stop with the glare, it doesn't suit you," he said with a smirk, raising his head to face me and winking. I growled at him once again.

We ate in silence for a while until one of our teachers approached our table. "Ryder Jackson," she called, smiling down at us. "Your mother dropped your water bottle at the front desk," she said. She handed him a bottle of water and quickly walked away.

"My mother?" He called after her and she nodded. Ryders eyebrows furrowed. "Funny, she must have risen from the dead while we were in English," he muttered with a scoff.

"Your water bottle?" Caroline asked incredulously and Ryder shrugged.

I took the clear bottle from him and opened the lid. Immediately, a horrible stench hit my nose and I screwed my face up in disgust. "It stinks," I told him, and then a drop fell onto my hand.

"Argh!" I screamed as quietly as possible. The burning sensation was strong and painful. As the drop made contact with my skin there was a loud sizzling noise and the back of my hand bubbled and blistered where the burning liquid landed.

"What the hell?" Ryder raised his eyebrows, staring at my hand with wide eyes.

"Jesus Christ that hurts," I hissed, using my napkin to wipe the liquid off.

"Let me see," Blake demanded and I handed him the bottle. He furrowed his brows at the liquid. "It looks like genuine water to me, if you had drunk it you would've been killed instantly."

I looked between my friends, who all shared the same scared expression. I felt sick to my stomach as his words sunk in.

Would've been killed.

If it wasn't for the slip up with the mom thing, Ryder may have drank from the bottle and now he would be a corpse beside me. Ryder looked like he was about to pass out, Jordan was in tears and I was mad. Really mad.

"Someone was trying to kill you," I whispered, but they all heard. I felt Ryders hand on my thigh and he gave it a quick squeeze. Silence radiated around the table as we all sat in complete shock.

"Who the hell wants you dead?" Zach finally asked, fuming. I braced myself for the answer, not really wanting to know who wants my best friend dead and why.

"I have no clue." Ryders voice was barely a whisper, as if he tried to speak but no sound came out.

"Whoever it was, they can't know you very well, if they claimed to be your mother. Everyone that knows you knows your mother is dead," Blake explained, maybe less sympathetic than he could have.

"That's true," I agreed.

"Maybe they weren't specifically targeting you for a reason? Maybe they just wanted to kill someone and you were as good as anyone," Caroline suggested. "I mean, a complete stranger can't have a reason for trying to hurt you."

"What the hell is going on?" I asked. I felt so angry and confused and scared all at once. I was so frustrated, it was like most of the pieces were there, I just couldn't put them together.

****

"Are you ok?" Zach asked from the doorway, I turned to face him and smiled meekly.

"I'm ok," I replied, almost trying to convince myself more than him.

"And your hand?" He asked, edging closer to where I was sat, in the window of my bedroom.

"It looks disgusting," I said, holding it up to show him the red, blistered skin. "And its hot, but it's fine."

"Here," he called, throwing me an ice pack which I immediately slammed down on to the back of my hand and winced slightly as the coldness met the burning.

It reminded me of Zach and I, his icy coolness clashing against my hot, fiery nature. Fire and ice swirling around, fighting for dominance.

"Thanks." I smiled and he sat opposite me as the tears in my eyes welled up and threatened to fall. "I can't help but think, if they had said his brother dropped it off, he might have drank it. He could be dead right now." My voice cracked and the tears spilled but I quickly wiped them away with the back of my hand.

"But he isn't," Zach argued and I knew that was what I should be focusing on. Ryder was still alive. My best friend was ok.

"Did you tell my dad?" I asked and he nodded. "Thanks, I just didn't want to have to say it out loud." My voice sounded foreign to my own ears as the quiet, weak sound escaped my dried up throat.

"I understand." He reached for my hand and squeezed it comfortingly and I couldn't help but think about kissing him at the party. I shouldn't have been thinking about that right now. Someone tried to kill my best friend and I was thinking about kissing a boy. But I couldn't help it.

"I have no idea who it could be, Ryder has never done anything to anyone." I laughed through my sobs. Ryder was an asshole but was completely harmless. He could never hurt anyone or annoy anyone enough for them to want him dead. It made no sense whatsoever.

"I think Caroline was right, I think he was just an easy target," he told me and I nodded. It made sense when you thought about it, but why would someone want to kill anyone?