“It felt like he targeted me.”
“Same thing,” Harper murmured. “If you had…” Harper swallowed hard. “If the Valdoro pack ended your life, it would’ve destroyed Ryder. And Ryder’s pain would’ve echoed through the crew bond and maimed us one by one until we were all sick and ruined. And they didn’t just go after you tonight, Lexi. While you were running for your life, Ryder’s dad showed up at Drat’s, and he just…destroyed Ryder.”
Lexi sat up straight. “Oh my gosh, what?”
“Axton apparently paid Robbie to keep Ryder distracted while the wolves took care of you.”
“What did he say to him?”
“I think that’s something Ryder will have to talk to you about. Wes told me part of it, but I had to stop him. Doesn’t feel right taking part of Ryder like that without his permission. He’s been hiding a lot of pain for a long time.”
“Is he okay?”
Harper cast her a quick glance, her blue dragon eye glowing much brighter than her human brown eye. Slowly, she shook her head. “He saw the ghost of his past—the one that’s haunted him his whole life. He looked in the face of the devil himself as Robbie told him awful things and admitted to being paid to betray him. To hurt him. To hurt you. And then Ryder watched you fall, Lexi. I’ll never forget the look on Ryder’s face as he watched Wes stitch up your arm where he’d hurt you. He needs time.”
She understood, really she did, but it didn’t stop the bone-deep desperation to be near him and let him know he wasn’t alone.
“What happened to the wolves?” Lexi asked, trying to distract herself from the ripping sensation in her heart.
“Axton and four of his wolves got away.”
“And the others?”
Harper’s voice went hard as stone when she answered. “I burned them to nothing and devoured their ashes.”
Lexi’s heart thumped against her sternum as she remembered how terrifying Harper’s roaring, fire-breathing dragon was when she’d come to help save her. She was just now realizing how dangerous the steady-voiced woman beside her really was.
Harper leveled her oddly-colored gaze on Lexi and promised, “I’ll do the same to anyone who ever tries to hurt you again, okay?”
Lexi nodded and whispered, “Okay.” Dangerous though she may be, the Bloodrunner Dragon was loyal to her people, and with that last oath, Harper had just declared Lexi a part of her crew and under her protection.
Lexi settled back beside Harper and rested her temple on the Bloodrunner Dragon’s shoulder. “Thanks, alpha.”
Harper set her cheek gently on top of Lexi’s head and huffed a shallow sigh. “Anytime.”
Chapter Seventeen
The sun peeked over the mountains, casting the horizon in bright orange. Ryder rubbed his hand over and over his three-day beard and thought of Fishing Mornings. Fishing Mornings were when Bash, Clinton, and Mason would take him out to Bear Trap Falls near the trailer park, and they would all watch the sun come up while they waited for fish to bite.
He’d had it good. Not only did he grow up under Mason, but under the other Boarlanders as well. Robbie had shadowed a corner of his heart for way too damn long.
A limb snapped, and Ryder looked back over his shoulder to see Weston making his way up the trail. “How did you find me?” he croaked out in a sleep-deprived voice.
“Your spot ain’t as secret as you think.” His blood brother sat down on the log beside him, his camouflage baseball cap shielding his eyes from the early morning sunlight. “Did you get any sleep?”
“No. My mind has been going around and around all night. Wondering what if I hadn’t gotten to her, you know? I can’t get the fear in her eyes out of my mind. You know what she said at the end, right before she was gonna hit the ground?”
“What?”
“She told me she loved me, like she was already forgiving me. Like she was making sure I would know she wasn’t mad for not being able to save her.”
Wes nodded for a long time, and then carefully he said, “Have you been thinking about what your dad said?”
“You mean about why he gave up his rights? About how he wanted to torture my owl from me? Fuck, we should’ve let Kane have his dumb ass. Pisses me off.”
“Just pisses you off?”
Ryder inhaled deeply. He could tell Wes was worried. Could sense it. Could practically smell it on his skin, but this wasn’t the part when he spiraled. “I got closure yesterday.”
Wes jerked his dark gaze to Ryder. “Yeah?”
Ryder made a single ticking sound and picked a long blade of wild grass, began shredding it into small pieces. “It’s different when you see evil when you’re an adult. When I was a kid, I was supposed to listen to him. I was supposed to believe him because he was the adult and I was the child. He had me good and convinced he was a shitty person because I wasn’t a good enough son. That stuck with me. Just dug into my brain and sat there like a parasite this whole time. But yesterday, I saw him for what he is.”
“A steaming pile of shit?”
Ryder huffed a laugh and nodded. “Yeah.”
“Can I tell you something?” Wes asked.
“Anything, brother.”
“That bullshit your dad said about you being like him? He’s dead wrong. You have this immovable loyalty to the people you care about. It drove me nuts when we came back here and you just accepted Wyatt, accepted his apology just like that.” Wes snapped. “But it’s also been something I’ve always admired about you. Once a person makes friends with Air Ryder Croy, they’re under your wing for life. You don’t give up on people, man. You know who you remind me of?”