The Ice Alpha’s Mate (Aria and Ryder) novel Chapter 100

Chapter 100

ARIA

Ryder’s hand is on my lower back, stroking and caressing.

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Being this close to him is so reassuring. I breathe in his scent and swear that all my worries disappear. We’re currently on my bed. Yes, I know he shouldn’t be here, but we couldn’t stay away from each other. So, I left the door open for him and he came inside.

Uncle Barty is sleeping in the next room. Is this irresponsible? Absolutely. But he’s always been a heavy sleeper, and anyway, now he knows about the two of us.

“There’s something I want to tell you,” he whispers in the dark.

“What is it?”

“When I went back home to talk to my father about you, I caught him in bed with Lizzie.”

This shocks me. I raise my head to look at his face, but I don’t see disappointment anywhere near his face. “This is horrible, Ryder.”

“Yeah. I guess what bothers me the most is that he wanted me to marry her even though they were lovers. I’m sure it happened in my absence, but I don’t see how they would magically stop having an affair with me in the picture. The fact that he wanted to do that to me, his son, tells me everything I need to know about him.”

I rub his chest. I try to see Lizzie with the Alpha and I just can’t. What’re you going to do now?”

Ryder told my uncle that his father agreed to all this, but I need to know more information. Just what exactly did he agree to? I don’t see how years and years of werewolf culture can be flushed down the drain so simply.

In all our history, there has never been an Omega Luna.

Well, I’m not necessarily an Omega, but it’s easier to think of myself that way than as a Nocturn.

Speaking of which….

I should tell him. The words are right on the tip of my tongue. But on the goddess, I freeze and have no idea why. Ryder and I are mates now. I bear his mark on my neck. Yet, I can’t find it in me to tell him about something so important.

What if he becomes so repulsed by the reality of who I am that He rejects me?

Then again, would it be better to live a life of lies? I promised Uncle Barty after Ryder “left” that I would talk to him about it. He was close to mentioning it on the table, but I managed to catch his eye and stop him before that happened.

Now, it’s up to me and I still can’t do it.

“I don’t know,” he answers, jerking me out of my thoughts. “I promised him that we would talk about this in more detail tomorrow. I don’t know what he’s going to say to me but I won’t leave his office without the perfect solution to all this.”

Worry coils low in my belly, and I can’t do anything about it. Ryder notices my change in mood and lowers his head to look at me. Our foreheads touch.

“What is it? You don’t have to be scared of anything.”

My mouth is dry but I manage to ask him, “Is it bad that I’m not as positive about this as you are? There has to be a catch somewhere. Ryder, this has never happened before. It has never been done before.”

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10:00 Mon, Mar 2

Chapter 100

“We’ll be the first ones,” he smiles. “There’s a first time for everything. Don’t worry about a thing,”

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He kisses me before I can say anything else, taking my breath away. Smooching noises fill my ears, and he runs his fingers through my hair. He breaks the kiss to ask me, “Do

you trustine

“Absolutely.”

“Good. Because there’s nothing in the world that will ever take me away

from you. Only death.”

I find myself nodding. Goddess, I wish I could feel totally happy and not be worried at all. Why does life have to be so hard? Why do certain rules have to exist?

Why can’t I for the life of me trust that everything is going to be okay?

“You’re my everything, and I loved you from the minute I saw you.”

I chortle. “You liar.”

“I’m serious.”

“You mean when you didn’t want me to stitch you up because I was a newbie?”

“Yeah, and you put me right in my place, didn’t you?” He chuckles. “Nobody had ever done that to me before. Until that moment, I didn’t realize how spoiled I was. It was like the entire pack kissed my ass just because of who I was. Nobody ever sided against me. Nobody contradicted me.”

“What a miserable life,” I joke.

Ryder grows serious. “No, you’re right about that. I was miserable. Hell, I always considered myself effortlessly good at getting the things I wanted. You were the one thing I had to work my ass off for.”

His words are touching and I have to admit that I feel emotional Ryder runs his fingers along my jaw, then rubs a few circles on my cheeks with his warm thumb. “The thought of anyone touching you sickened me. Goddess knows how many times I thought about killing Tyler Hawke.”

“Tyler’s a good guy.”

“The same way Ray was?”

I tense and an apologetic look crosses his face. “I’m sorry, baby, didn’t mean that at all. I only said it because that’s what you told me. Ray and Tyler are cut from the same cloth. I don’t trust that guy and I don’t want you anywhere near him.”

“I don’t want to talk about that,” I admit. “What happens now? You hurt Ray. He’s the son of an Alpha.”

I was shocked when he and my uncle were

known, I would’ve been more suspicious.

talking

about him in the dining room. I had no idea who Ray was. Maybe if I had

“My father and I will discuss it tomorrow. I don’t want you to worry about anything.”

“Ryder, are you sure?”

“Yes. Of course. Don’t worry.”

I sigh impatiently. And anxiously. “Don’t ask me not to. Of course, I’m worried. This is about us, not just you. Our lives are

on the line here. I’m worried about what’s going to happen to you. Uncle Barty mentioned a war.”

“Yes. There will most likely be one.”

I lower

my eyes. Guilt just washes over me.

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Chapter 100

“Don’t,” Ryder says right away, shoving his fingers under my chin “It’s not your fault. He was asking for it.”

“Would you

have done it if he hadn’t attacked me?”

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“That’s beside the point because it’s happened, hasn’t it? Look, I know what you’re thinking and I don’t regret it, Aria. You’re my mate. You’re the woman I chose to spend the rest of my life bound to. They can’t mess with you. You’re to be respected, no matter who I am. I couldn’t show weakness, do you understand? Not to them. They need to understand that there are people they can’t mess with.”

I let his words sink in, then comment, “We have a long way ahead of us, don’t we?”

Ryder kisses me briefly. What matters is that we’ll be together. Okay?”

I nod, and we kiss again.

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