Ryk
"Who the hell are you?" The witch wonders, her narrowed eyes aflame with suspicion as she looks me up and down. "Another lycan? What do you want?"
She reminds me of the Red Alpha, but different. Instead of being darkly beautiful and powerful, this female has oily hair, sunken in eyes, and by her words I know she's withering away in here. Good.
The thing that she does have something in common with the Red Alpha is that she's an evil bitch.
Her shackles clink together, a sound of her imprisonment. She backs away a little as I get closer and closer.
I crack my knuckles. I walk forward slowly, letting my boots crunch the cement between us. The room is dim, hardly any light to illuminate my harsh face as I think of all the things I want to do. I'm unleashing the beast, and she has no idea. She's about to find out.
I lean in real close to her cell, putting a hand on the silver bars so I can stoop down and look in her blue eyes. I grin.
"I'm your worst damn nightmare."
Her bravado drops, as does her jaw. She scuttles into the corner when I wrap my hand around the door handle. I take my time unlocking the door, not missing a beat as I let myself in, strolling towards her like a lion ready to strike. I bend, and I grab her by the throat, lifting her by the delicate column of flesh so we're level with each other. I want to look into her soulless eyes while I make her scream. I shove her against the wall, hearing her moan in momentary pain.
"You have no idea why I'm here, do you?" I wonder out loud, my voice as cold and solid as ice. Her eyes bug out as she gasps for air, eyebrows pinching in concern.
"DO YOU?" The words crack like thunder, and the female has the audacity to flinch away from me. The bitch shakes her head desperately. She grabs my wrist with both of her weak hands, clawing at me as she tries to pry my grip off of her. I growl, leaning in until my nose touches hers.
"Well, that shit's too bad. I'm here to make you suffer. To make you bleed. Shatter your teeth. Break your bones. You want to know why?" I seeth, each syllable with barely leashed fury.
The she-wolf lets out a whimper of pain.
"Because you hurt my mate, and I don't let those things slide. You're going to pay for every little bruise you put on her, every evil word you said to her. Understand?" I bark.
Tressandra's Mother sobs, tears streaming down her dirty face.
"Please. Have mercy." She pleads, and I pull her forward slowly, then I slam her pathetic skull back into the brick wall. She screams as her head cracks. I relish in the sound of her agony. I feed off of her torment.
"Mercy?" I laugh. "Mercy? What do you know of mercy. How many times did your own child ask the same of you? How many times did you hit her afterward? How many times did you beat her into submission when she begged you to stop?"
She closes her eyes, not wanting to look into my smiling face.
I throw her to the ground like a rag doll, prepared to torture her with pain beyond anything she's ever felt. Pain that she made my precious angel feel.
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After an hour, I became bored with the unresponsive female. She had passed out. I supposed she'd had enough after I left her lying in a pool of her own blood. It's nothing that the bitch won't survive, but she will certainly have some scars on her mind after that.
So, I move on to my next target. I narrow my eyes at each person I pass while I stroll through the pack, looking for the weasel so I can exact my revenge.
Every pair of eyes I come into contact with darts away before I can look too close. This pack is smarter than I thought. None of them want to get in my way right now. They probably see my anger, see my strength. And, I doubt the blood stains on my knuckles are hard to miss.
I hear laughter, and I tilt my head, listening close as I draw nearer to it when I hear a certain name uttered.
It's a group of young werewolves, and they're completely unsuspecting as they joke and jest at a picnic table. I spot the male that I want to hurt, and I know exactly how I'm going to do it. I think about every aspect of his pain and how I'm going to create it while I cross the snow. The white stuff crunches under my feet.
I know the exact moment that they notice me. The prey feel the predator coming. All of the supernatural races can feel powerful auras, and I'm not exactly keeping mine tucked away right now.
The fear in their eyes is expected, and I enjoy it.
They flee, running and screaming as I stomp my way over. Some get far, but I don't care, I'm not after them. I have my eyes on one pup, and I grab him before he can get away.
"Ow! Let go of me!" He yells, struggling against my strength. I yank him by the wrist towards the very table he tried to leave.
"You think that you can get away from me, asshole? Think you can run away from what you did?"
"I didn't do anything. You're crazy!" He demands, trying and failing to get away. I narrow my eyes, and then I slam his arm down on the wooden table. The wood cracks. He screams like a little girl.
"I may be crazy, but I'm only crazy when it comes to my mate." I reply smoothly, and his eyes get wide quick as it finally dawns on him who I am and why I'm here.
He flails, I grab him by the back of the head and push it down hard. His ear crunches against the table top. I don't try to hold back, I want him to suffer. What he did doesn't fit the Mother's crime and punishment, but I'll still be making things equal.
"I get it, your Tressa's mate! Whatever that bitch told you isn't true. She's had a crush on me forever. She's just mad I never slept with her." He begs, fumbling over every word like a blubbering mess.
I let him up, and he sighs in relief, thinking he's going to walk free. I hold tight to his wrist, glaring into his eyes.
"Wrong thing to say." I tell him, and I see the momentary panic in his eyes before I put pressure down on his delicate bone.
Even when the noise of his snapping bone reaches my ears, I don't let go, don't ease up. He needs to know where his place in this world is.
"That bitch is my mate, you sack of insignificant shit. She has more worth in her little finger than you do in your entire body. Want to know what I do when people hurt my angel?" I snarl, and he sobs, staring at his throbbing wrist with misty eyes.
I lean forward until my lips are touching his injured ear.
"I get even."
Before I can do anything else, I hear my name being called, it's barely enough to make me snap out of my violent trance. I wasn't done, not nearly, but I have to listen.
"Ryk! What the hell are you doing?" It's Ezra, I look up at him with mild recognition. I don't want him to come between my enemy and I. Not now, not when the fun was just starting.
"Hurting." I reply simply, "May I continue?"
Ezra's mouth drops open in disbelief. He shakes his head adamantly as he arrives at my side, assessing the situation.
"No, you may not continue. You think you can just attack whoever you want?"
"You don't know what he's done." I growl, and the kid wriggles against me, full on crying now because I won't let go of him.
"I know what he's done, but it doesn't give you the right to torture him. That is not how we do things here. Now, let Nathan go." He commands, and since Ezra is the Gamma of the Slate Penumbra Pack, I must obey. He is my superior.
I grumble, letting go of the pathetic excuse of a werewolf. He sprints away, tripping over something as he goes, cradling his shattered wrist to his chest. I turn to Ezra, my lips pinched in a taught line. He sighs.
"Who told you?" He demands, his voice calm but unyielding.
"Who told me what?" I wonder innocently.
"Who told you what Nathan did?" He clarifies, and I look away, pissed that I have to explain myself.
"Savannah may have said a few things..." I explain slowly, and Ezra groans.
I don't really see what the big issue is. I'm just getting pay back for those who wronged my Tressandra. She's too reserved to tell me what happened, and too sweet to hurt anyone physically. As her mate, as her protector, I am the one who deals out the punishment for her pain.
Except, I don't tell Ezra that. As a lycan with his own mate, he should understand perfectly.
"Shit. Where did all that blood come from?" He asks, motioning to my hands. I stare at the back of my fingers, seeing the fresh red stains against my pale skin.
"I may have payed Tressandra's Mother a visit in her dungeon." Ezra groans again, putting a hand to his forehead.
"Ok. Ok. Here's what we're going to do. You're going to go back to your house and stay there until we leave for Montana tomorrow. I don't want to see your face until then, alright?" I glance at him, nodding once. His wide shoulders sag in relief.
I try to turn and walk away, but Ezra calls out for me again. I growl, whirling around to hear what he has to say.
"No more of this, Ryk. Seriously. It won't happen again, right?" He presses, but I don't give him the answer he wants.
"It won't happen again, as long as no one touches my mate again. You have my word."
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I immediately go to her, not questioning it for a second. I need to see her after all the darkness I just put myself through. I have to be with that beautiful angel I call mine, see some light, or I might sink back into old habits.
I look down at my bloodied knuckles and curse. It's a little too late for that. Old habits have already been sunken into. Shit. Why did I have to do that? I just beat the living shit out of that female. I don't regret it of course, but what if Tressandra finds out? What if she leaves me? What if she hates that side of me, even if it's used for her protection? What if she sees me for the monster that I really am?
It's all I can think about while I trudge home in the fading light. I hope I didn't worry my precious mate. I told her I would be back soon. That was hours ago. I got a little side tracked when I heard who it had been that was tormenting my sweet female.
I just went out to grab something from Tressandra's house, and that's when I heard what the female Beta was saying about my mate and her past.
I couldn't take the anger. I had to let it out. I had to make things right. So, I found the people responsible for her torment, and I made them pay.
The only thing that would make me regret my actions was if they upset Tressandra. She comes first. She's the only one I will do anything to please. She's literally all that I have. I can't live without her. I don't want to imagine what would happen if I didn't have her.
When I walk in the front door, I take a deep breath before closing it again. I don't make it two steps in before soft, warm arms are thrown over my shoulders.
"Where were you? I missed you." She murmurs against my ear, and I relax, returning the embrace. I hate to leave her for any amount of time, and she doesn't like it much either.
"I was... busy." I settle for, not quite knowing what to call my outing today.
She raises an eyebrow dubiously, pulling away sighty. I lift my hand to her face, cupping her cheek tenderly. She's so beautiful, so kind, so delicate. She's everything that I'm not. It's only been a few hours since I left her, but felt like an eternity.
I've waited my whole life for this female, and I was not let down, in fact, she exceeded my expectations tremendously. I'll never be the male that deserves someone like her.
Tressandra grabs my arm, pulling it down to her level. I let her, all too willing to let her do what she wants. I realize too late what she's actually doing. She's looking at the knuckles covered in blood stains. She knows.
"Ryk. What happened? Are you okay, how did you?" She's speechless, having a hard time grasping words. I sigh, ready to explain my misdeeds and face the consequences.
"Your mother. I heard what she did, I had to do something. I'm sorry. I didn't think, I just felt so much rage and I had to hurt her." I say low, just under my breath. Tressandra's beautiful pink lips part, and I suddenly can't look at her face, too scared at what I'll see there in her gaze.
Rejection? Embarrassment? Disgust? Fear?
I shiver at the last thought. The last thing I would want is her fear of me. It would kill me inside. I've seen countless people cower in fear of me, and I liked it, but not Tressandra. Never my own mate. I feel sick at the thought.
What I don't expect next is to have those plush lips pressed against mine. I blank, not knowing what to do. Tressandra is kissing me. She's actually kissing me.
It doesn't take long before I'm kissing her back. She's delicious on my tongue, delicate and sweeter than any candy. I can't stop touching her, feeling her. I want more, I want so much more, but I would never force my desires on her before she's ready.
When she finally pulls away, I'm staring at her wild eyes. That light blue that's so mesmerizing I can't look away. It's almost the same shade as her Mother's eyes, but not quite. There's no malice in her perfect eyes, no cold hatred or twisted secrecy. There is only love. Unhidden, pure love. I can't believe it's directed at me of all people.
"I've never had anyone do something like that for me. It's silly... but I kind of... like it." She admits, almost embarrassed of herself. I growl low in my throat, leaning down to nip her lip.
"I'll do it again and again as long as it takes. Anyone who even looks at you wrong will feel my wrath." I say to her with ferocity in my voice. She laughs, clearly thinking it's a joke.
It's not.
"I'll go back and do it all over again if I get another kiss like that one." I tease, and Tressandra simply obliges. She all but jumps on me, grabbing my face and making it hers.
Little does she know that I'm already hers, head and heart, soul and strength. I couldn't stay away from her, even if I tried.
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If you're reading this, you're worth it:)
Thank you all for the heart felt messages, I'm forever grateful for your kindness
Longest chapter in this book so far, and probably one of the darkest. Deadly Ryk is not gone, but just morphed into protective Ryk, lol.
This is a novella, so there's only a few lore chapters left unfortunately! If you like this book, you'll check out my other books here in watt pad!
I will try to update soon! Have an amazing day, y'all