Note: I wrote this summary in 2021 and I have basically forgotten almost everything I wrote previously in my story, so if you have any questions, just shoot it out in the comments and I'll answer it to the best of my memory. This is all long and disorganized with some excerpts thrown in.
• So after this chapter, I don't remember exactly what I planned out next but basically Emily becomes an important part of this story because she's Ryder's ex-girlfriend and first love
• Ryder basically became a player because of her, but because she has a mate, he was forced to give up a while ago
• Ryder is sort of scared of love at this point because he's scared of getting hurt
• He gets mixed up in this bad crowd and that's why he's selling drugs (but he's not doing them)
• Emily doesn't care for her mate so she tries to pursue Ryder again and Grace ends up walking in on her forcing herself on him (and at that point, Grace already found out that Ryder used to have feelings for someone else)
• Ryder doesn't push Emily away but doesn't actually kiss her back, which hurts Grace and she ends up leaving the scene
• Grace becomes so sad and depressed at this point that she decides to chug a bunch of alcohol in her room, but a sudden surprise stops her
• Here is the scene I had written for this big reveal:
-
[written in 2014]
My mouth gaped open and I suddenly forgotten what had happened the past month.
"Oh my god!" I screamed. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!"
"Hey hey hey," Cole shushed. "Don't yell, you'll attract too much attention."
"You.. You..." I started but I was lost for words. I then yelled, "You're a fucking werecat?!"
He flinched at my loud tone.
"Yeah, I know, I know."
"Oh my god," I said again before realization struck through me. "Oh my fucking god, I cut off your balls!"
I covered my mouth with my hand as I gasped for a breath.
"I shouldn't have," I said, full of guilt.
"It's fine with me," He puts his arms up.
"No! No it's not fine at all! I basically just screwed up your whole reproductive system and now you can't have babies!" I felt so horrible, so bad that I actually removed his testes while he was a cat. "Oh god, are your testicles missing right now?! God, isn't that the organ that produces testosterone?! Why are you still so manly?!"
He rolls his eyes. "Can you let me explain at all?"
"No, I can't believe I just cut off your testes!"
"Are you more worried about the fact that you cut off my balls while I was a cat or me being a total stranger who's lived with you for a whole month?"
"I cut off your baby-maker! I have every right to be worried!"
"You only cut it off while I'm a cat, don't worry. I'm pretty sure I still have a pair of fine, unharmed testicles right now. I can show you, if you want."
I covered my eyes when he reached for his belt.
"No!" I shouted. "No thank you!"
I'm hear him chuckle. "I was joking."
"Are you sure you can still make babies right now?"
"Of course," He says. "I've seen it happen to a bunch of my friends. I just can't make babies while I'm a cat."
"But-but how? Why is it like that?"
"I don't know," He shrugged. "Ask nature or whatever the hell made us this way."
"So I didn't screw your reproductive system up?"
"Nope," He pops the 'p', "In order for me to lose my baby-making thing while I'm a human is when I get that thing..."
"Vasectomy?"
"Yeah... Whatever that is."
"It's when they make a little incision on your seminal vesicles and that stops your sperm production."
"How do you know so much about this?" He furrowed his brows.
"I took sex ed and an anatomy class," I explained and then asked worriedly, "So what about the girls? How do they get spayed?"
"The veterinarians usually take out their cat ovaries."
"But when they're back to human form, do they still have it?"
"I think so," He shrugs. "I wouldn't know. I haven't seen a female cat in years."
"How come?" I furrowed my brows.
He shrugs. "Female werecats are quite reserved."
"Oh."
"Yeah, well enough about me," He says sternly. "Would you like to explain to me why you locked yourself in the bathroom and gulped down a whole bottle of vodka? You know, you overdosed and nearly died if I hadn't made you puke it all out."
"That was kind of the whole point," I mumbled, knowing that he could still hear me either way.
His eyes softened and he took a seat on Ryder's bed. "Sit next me to me," He ordered.
I did what he said and he threw his arm around my shoulders. His familiar cat scent engulfed me and I didn't care that he was a stranger pretending to be a normal cat. I had told him a lot of secrets and that wasn't going to change because he was a werecat.
"Why did you do it?"
"Because of Ryder," I whispered and felt a wave of emotions hit through my again. The pain I felt back then was once again here. "He... He kissed another girl- or at least, he let the girl kiss him."
-
• So yeah, cole is a werecat and that was the surprise I wanted to reveal lol but basically Cole stops Grace from harming herself even further
• Grace ends up packing her bags and left to stay with Lily afterwards, leaving a letter for Ryder about how she's breaking up with him
• Ryder finds the letter and is distraught, he does whatever it takes to win Grace back
• After what takes forever to win her back, Grace warms up to him again, and I have another scene written out:
-
[written in 2014]
"God, I'm drunk," Ryder said, his speech slurred as his heavy body leaned against mine. "And god, you're so beautiful."
"C'mon," I said and tried to move him up. "Let's get to our room before your parents wake up."
"I love how you said it's our room." He grinned at me and started to walk up the stairs with me.
"You're an idiot," I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, but I'm your idiot, right?"
"Right," I smiled up at him, "You're my idiot."
He looked at me with an inscrutable emotion before speaking.
"I love you," He said as he leaned against my body some more. His eyes were drooping and I was taken aback at his first time saying it to me.
Then I remembered that he didn't say it back last time and that the first time he says it, he's drunk.
"Ryder-" I spoke. "You're drunk."
He didn't pay attention.
"I love you, I love you, I love you," He repeatedly said. "God, I love you so much it hurts."
"You don't mean it," I mumbled as I opened our door.
"No, Grace." He responded, still swaying back and forth. "I mean it, godammit. I'm so scared- so scared that if I do fall in love with you, that you'll just leave me like everybody else did. But godammit, I've fallen in love with you already and I don't want to lose you."
I laid him down carefully on the bed, touched that he said that, even if he was drunk.
My heart cracked into two because of what he said.
He's scared and I'm probably the only person he trusts.
But I shook my head. I couldn't trust him just yet. He was drunk and he didn't know what he was saying at all.
"Ryder, you need to rest."
"No," He said stubbornly. "Not until you love me back."
"But I do."
"Then say it," He plead. "Please tell me you love me back."
I hesitated and I knew he saw it.
"I really fucked up this time, didn't I?" He smiled bitterly. "I should've said it back. I should've pushed her away."
I blinked back my tears when I remembered the time he didn't say it back on my first day of school and when he kissed Emily.
"Go to sleep," I ordered, not wanting to talk about this anymore.
I've learned to forgive him for that. Plus, that incident with Emily was a while ago. I needed to forget about it already.
But it still hurts after all this time, just watching her kiss him and he didn't even pull away from her.
"Only if you stay," He said and held my hand. He looked up at me, his eyes showing so much vulnerability. "Will you stay?"
"I'll stay as long as you need," I whispered and rubbed his cheek with the palm of my thumb.
"So forever then?" He asked.
I smiled, even though there was no such thing as forever.
"Forever."
I laid down next to him, wrapping my arm around his broad chest, inhaling his addicting scent.
"I love you," I whispered to him.
"Tyler," Ryder mumbled, "Stop pretending you're Grace. It's annoying."
I give him an amused smile before kissing him on the cheek.
"I won't leave you if you promise not to leave me," I said to him.
"Giving me the ultimatum, huh?" He creaked his eyes open a bit and looked at me jokingly.
"Shut up and go to sleep," I rolled my eyes.
"Grace?"
"What?"
"I love you."
I smiled at him.
"I love you too," I replied.
"God I hope this isn't a dream," He whispered to himself.
"Sleep," I ordered.
He didn't say anything and I knew he had dozed off.
I felt secretly happy that he had said he loved me, even though he was drunk.
I placed another kiss on his cheek before I laid my head on his shoulder and shut my eyes.
And just like that, we fell asleep in each other's arms.
-
• After that, the two make up because Grace understands that Ryder no longer has feelings for Emily anymore, and that she was the one who he truly loves
• At that point, things had started to build up with Ryder's background and the drugs that he was selling had become associated with a gang consisting solely of Alphas
• He tries to quit because he didn't want to be a part of that life anymore and Grace made him realize it wasn't worth screwing his life over, but the gang refused to let him quit because he was powerful and next in line for succession
• Which essentially made him an enemy, and they decide to target Grace, but Ryder was prepared for this so he got his pack ready for an ambush
• The fight ends up happening and lots of people get hurt, and Grace just stays behind because Ryder doesn't want her to get involved
• But she could sense that things weren't going too well, and in this intense moment, she decided that she wasn't going to be scared of taking the first step anymore, that she was going to do something for herself and be courageous for once, even if it meant getting hurt. After all, she is going to be the Luna, she had to defend her people.
• And then along the way, she managed to get some extra help from the pack that helped her in the beginning of the story (no I didn't forget about them haha)
• She manages to save Ryder while he was battling another alpha and then the both them work together to defeat the leader of the gang
• At the end of the story, Grace works to get her degree in psychology to become a psychiatrist specialized with children and teens. She becomes the Luna and queen after Ryder's father steps down and realizes how much his son has grown and matured.
• Ryder becomes the alpha king at the age of 25/26-ish
• Grace learns about the responsibility of being queen and how to manage packs all over the country
• During high school, I did plan on having Grace and Ryder have a naughty scene, but now that I'm 22, I don't feel comfortable with the idea anymore, so I'm just gonna say that they do the do after graduating high school.
• And with mutual understanding and knowing the importance of communicating with each other, Grace and Ryder continue to love each other very much. Grace ends up learning to trust others more, and Ryder learns that it's okay to open up, that it's okay to love.
• And more importantly, that Grace is the only woman he'll ever love in his life.
THE END
-
Honestly there were many more twists and turns I wanted to add, but I don't remember them. There were lots of scenes I wanted to include that gave insight to other characters that I was going to write another book for, like with Victoria. I wanted to explore mental illness some more, touch on topics of depression, things that I was experiencing at the time, but I couldn't. There's isn't enough time in the world for me to write it all, and I just want to leave things at that.
Thank you all for reading TNAK. It has been a journey I'll never forget. I hope you all take care, and I'm sending all of the positivity and love to everyone.
- HearMeScream (Val)