The Ice Alpha’s Mate (Aria and Ryder) novel Chapter 45

Chapter 45

RYDER

The silence in my father’s office is deafening.

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My eyes are on his, and we’ve been staring at each other for the past ten minutes without looking away. I know he’s mad-I know it. But nobody in this whole fucking planet is angrier and more disappointed than I am.

That was my game.

I’m the one who ended up looking like a fool in front of the entire pack. In front of the Moonveils, especially.

An exasperated sound leaves his lips, and he turns around to pour himself a drink. “You’ve really made a mess of things. Ryder.”

I don’t answer him. He meets my eyes and stares at me over the im of his glass. “I want you to tell me exactly what happened tonight. I want to hear it all from your point of view.”

“Who’d you talk to?”

“That’s irrelevant,” he answers dismissively. “Their words don’t matter if you tell me the truth, Ryder. What. Happened?”

At this point, I already know that one of them must’ve mentioned the whole situation with Aria to him, but my father’s keeping it cool and trying not to give away what he knows, maybe to catch me off guard.

Well, I won’t hold back. After tonight, there’s no point in doing that at all.

“I left the rink because someone was in trouble,” I explain. “Someone who means a lot to me.”

“More than the game against Moonveil?” he asks incredulously.

“Yes.”

Dad studies me. “I can’t believe I just heard…who? Who’s this girl”

“I’m sure whoever spoke to you told you all about her, Dad. Can we cut to the chase? I see no point in running around in circles here.”

Anger flashes across his eyes. “An Omega girl? Murdock’s daughter?”

“His niece,” I correct.

My father runs a hand down his face in frustration. The drink is on the table, forgotten. “Ryder…an Omega? Out of all the girls you could’ve become enchanted with…it had to be her?”

“It’s not an enchantment-she’s my mate.”

Shock is written all over his face now, momentarily replacing his anger. “What?”

My jaw is set. I don’t say a word.

A curse escapes his lips and he picks up the glass again before dawning the whole thing. “I don’t think you need me to tell you that this pack will never accept an Omega as a Luna! I hope you know that by now, son!”

“I don’t care about what the pack thinks.”

His anger rises. “No? Is that so? You’re talking like a fool, Ryder, and I didn’t raise a damned fool! You’re going to be the

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Chapter 45

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Alpha of this pack when I die or decide to step down-you’re going to become this pack! An Omega Luna…what’s the matter with you!? How many times in the past have we had this conversation!? Omegas aren’t fit to be Lunas, Ryder!”

“I know all the risks involved, and like I said, it doesn’t matter to me!” I exclaim.

“So, your plan is to claim her as your mate? Is that it?”

I don’t answer him. The truth is that I know that this is a critical moment in my life, and I have to decide whether or not I’m going to pursue this. And the truth? I’m terrified. Of course, I am This is all new to me. I hated how I felt about her in the beginning. She’s so damn frustrating…and I don’t know if she feels the same way.

I don’t understand why I’m only now recognizing her as my mate.

There are so many questions that are unanswered….and I fear that the answer isn’t one I’m going to like.

“Think!” he practically shouts. “You can’t have an Omega as a Luna! Every pack around us is going to destroy you because they’ll know that in the generation after you, the Alphas will be weak and might not even have wolves! And that’s if…for fuck’s sake, Ryder!”

He throws the glass against the wall, where it shatters into tiny pieces.

A tense moment of silence passes. She hasn’t left my mind for a second. I have to go to the hospital and find out how she is. I have to. My wolf demands that of me.

“There was a meeting about an hour ago,” my father says, and it onfuses me because I don’t understand why he’s changing the subject.

“What about it?”

His furious gaze meets mine. “The Beta’s daughter made a complaint against her-she claimed that the Omega you’re in love with attacked her, and there were two eyewitnesses to prove it.”

I scowl, disgusted. “What? Aria would never have attacked her! I’m sure that this is something that Nadia planned…”

I trail off, mostly because I do remember seeing a bleeding Nadi on her knees on the bathroom floor, but at the time I’d been so concerned with Aria that I didn’t pay any attention to it at all.

What happened? I don’t think I even asked.

But I know for a fact that Aria isn’t a violent person.

“What you think doesn’t matter because the decision has already been made,” my father declares. “Aria Murdock has been expelled from the university.”

I rise. “What!?”

“The decision has been made, and I think it’s what’s best for all of us,” he claims. Then, he gives his head a disappointed shake. “I can’t believe you, son. I can’t believe you would do this to our family. Our pack. An Omega causing this much trouble?”

I clench my jaw to keep myself from saying all the terrible things that are forming in her mind. “Why does her rank

matter?”

“Because it does and always will!” he snaps. “And if you’re not ready to face that fact, that maybe you’re not cut out to be an Alpha.”

Irritated, my father walks past me, and I’m left alone in his office Fuck, I feel so terrible. So damn awful. She didn’t deserve that. This is one of Nadia’s schemes and I hate myself for not having protected her as much as I should have

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How did I let things get this far? I have to do something.

But first…I have to see her. There’s no way around it.

And it can’t wait.

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