The Ice Alpha’s Mate (Aria and Ryder) novel Chapter 122

Chapter 122

RYDER

For a moment, all I see is black, but not in front of me because this room is always dark.

It’s my mind that’s causing this.

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I suffer a moment of brief anguish, and for several beats, all I can see is Aria’s face. I can feel her agony. They’re hurting her. I’m certain of this even though I have no way of proving this clan, and I call out to her.

“Aria. Aria, my love, where are you?”

Then, it all comes to an end.

In the place of all the pain I felt just now is a gaping hole. Something has happened to Aria. I’m sure of it. But I have no way of knowing what it is.

I can’t feel her. Why can’t I feel her?

I didn’t realize how close we’d been until now. This whole time, i felt like I couldn’t hear her or that she was too far away from me, but the feeling I have now is that our bond has been severed or no longer exists.

But that’s impossible, or I wouldn’t still be here.

The door opens and my father turns the lights on. The smug look on his face fills me with dread. He steps toward me, raises his arms, then claims, “She’s gone.”

My first instinct is to shake my head. “Liar.”

“She is. You will never hear her name again, not here or anywhere,” he smiles. “How are you so sure that she isn’t?”

“Aria’s my mate. I would’ve felt it.”

“Maybe your connection wasn’t as strong as you thought.”

Rage courses through me and makes me light-headed. “What did you do to her?”

“That’s not your concern anymore, Ryder. Now that she’s out of the picture for good, it’s time for the attention to be turned to you. After all, it’s your turn to be punished. You’ve disappointed this pack enough and have to be made an example of.”

Aria isn’t dead. I refuse to believe that. My father won’t tell me where she is, but she has to be somewhere. Sitting here and waiting for death hasn’t gotten me anywhere. I need to act. I don’t know where this thought came from, but it’s a part of me now and I can’t focus on anything else.

Fuck, this is my chance to get out of here.

It might be the only chance I’ll ever get.

“You just want me gone because you know I’d be a better Alpha man you,” I say just to provoke him. “You want me out because you can’t control me. I’m living proof that you have failed in every possible way. Go on, do your worst. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that getting rid of me will make the pack move on from this. If you can’t control your own son, then who can you control?”

My words get to him right away, just as I knew they would.

“Do you want honor?” I question, meeting his gaze. “Do you want to prove yourself as an Alpha? Fight me, then. I challenge you, father. I want your place.”

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Chapter 122

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A humorless chortle slips from his lips. “As if I would ever dream of lowering myself to your standards. You’ve truly lost all sense of what is appropriate behavior. I don’t know how I failed so successfully with you, Ryder. I gave you everything I had. I showed you all the love I had inside of me.”

“Sounds like fear to me,” I claim. “You know I’ll beat you. You want to get rid of the only person in this pack who would ever dare to go against you. That’s what it is, isn’t it? Imagine what people will think when you present Lizzie as your Luna. They’ll say you staged the whole thing just to get rid of me.”

Anger is etched upon his features. I’ve finally managed to get under his skin.

“Nobody will think that.”

“Sure they will,” I insist. “You know they will. Nobody knows about me and Aria. Rumors might exist, but nothing is confirmed. I challenge you, and this will be a good enough reason for you to kill me. Then, nobody would ever doubt your word.”

My father shakes his head at me. I can see it in his eyes that he’s considering this. “Do you really think that you’re going to beat me, Ryder? In a fight? Do you think you stand a chance at survival in this position of yours? I won’t give you time to

recover.”

“No, that’s not what I think,” I lie. “If I am to be killed, then I want it to be by your hand, since that’s what you You brought me into this life, so you’ll take me out of it. That’s what I want.”

want so much.

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