The Ice Alpha’s Mate (Aria and Ryder) novel Chapter 72

Chapter 72

RYDER

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I don’t know thinking long I stand in the bathroom stall, just rethinking about everything Aria and I said to each other.

I know I messed up. I know it.

I never thought I’d see her here, and I guess that makes things even worse because I never planned on telling her about this.

I want to slam my fist into the stall, but that won’t do anything for my situation, so I wait another two minutes and walk out, too. The good thing is that the whole restaurant doesn’t have a view of the entrance of the toilets, so nobody will tell that I left the women’s restroom.

I return to my table, my eyes seeking out Aria. I see the back of her head as I walk past, and then my gaze slides over to the people seated at the table fairly quickly, and that’s when I see him.

Tyler.

The sight of him seated at their table, directly across from Aria, makes me sick to my stomach. Genuinely sick. What the fuck is this guy doing here?

He wasn’t at the table earlier. Is he her date, like he was last time: Why didn’t she tell me?

It’s precisely at this moment that I realize how much of a hypocrite I’m being. I don’t want her to bring a date anywhere even though I’m practically engaged to someone else. This doesn’t make me feel any better, though.

I just feel worse. I’m disgusted with myself and the whole world around me.

And right now, the primal side of me really wants to take it all out on Tyler Fucking Hawke.

I want to kill someone.

I’m forced to walk right past their table and act like nothing’s going on. I could greet Coach Murdock, but I don’t trust myself to do that right now.

I’ll say or maybe even do the wrong thing, and then it’ll all be over.

“Where were you?” Lizzie asks right away. “You took so long.”

I don’t answer her for her sake. The last thing I want is to argue with her when she has no fault in any of this either. In fact, I’m the one who’s wasting her time and keeping her in this pack when I have zero plans of marrying her.

“Are you okay?”

I barely glance at her before nodding, and then my eyes are back on their table. This time, Aria is looking directly at me, and we make eye contact for what feels like several seconds before she looks away.

What’s she thinking right now? Is it weird that I can’t tell, even though we’re more connected than ever?

It’s become easy for me to tell when she’s angry, happy, or even aroused. Sometimes, I’ll even feel her worry, or her sadness when it does happen.

Right now? I feel a whole lot of cold emptiness.

I don’t know how to explain it. In other words, it feels like she’s really pissed off.

Someone else enters the restaurant and I only pay attention to who this person is when they approach my table. My heart

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09:57 Mon, Mar 2

Chapter 72

sinks when I see it’s Nadia, and she’s smiling at us both in the collest, fakest way imaginable.

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“Hi, Ryder. Hi, there,” she says to Lizzie before extending her hand. Lizzie shakes it. “I’m Nadia Palmer. The Beta’s daughter. You’re his fiancée?”

“Yes,” Lizzie smiles before glancing at me. She seems so happy that someone is talking to her. “It’s really nice to meet you.”

“Of course!” Nadia says, purposely not looking at me so she doesn’t see the warning in my eyes. “I’ve heard so much about you and I knew we had to be friends! You’re so beautiful.”

“Thank you!”

“Nadia,” I say sharply. “We’re busy and I’d appreciate it if you left our table.”

The look in her eyes becomes almost murderous but the smile returns. “Oh, why, Ryder? Can’t I talk to her? What? Are you afraid of me telling her about your little Omega girlfriend?”

As soon as her words leave her lips, I see red. Red. Shock is written all over Lizzie’s face, and Nadia makes it worse by digging her fingers into Lizzie’s shoulder and pointing in Aria’s direction. “It’s that girl over—”

I swiftly grab her wrist while standing up, and I proceed to drag her outside, not caring about who’s watching. Once we’re standing on the sidewalk, I squeeze her wrist tighter. “I already fucking warned you, Nadia! What the hell is wrong with you!?”

“You ruined my life,” she says while her eyes fill with tears. “You ruined me! All because of that stupid Omega who means absolutely less than nothing!”

I bite my tongue so I don’t say anything that won’t be relevant to the situation and release her. “Get out of here or you’re going to regret doing this. I mean it, Nadia!”

She starts walking backward, then reaches her car, which is parked across the street, and drives away. Before I can head back inside, Lizzie comes outside, wrapping her shawl around her arms.

“Ryder, what happened? What was she talking about?”

I stare back at her for several seconds as I try to think of an answer. I don’t know what I can tell her. Right now, I don’t feel like lying about Aria and saying she doesn’t mean anything to me. I don’t. I’m tired of doing that.

That was the whole point of the argument we had.

But Lizzie needs an answer right now, or I’ll risk jeopardizing everything I’m trying to do here. I’ll have to be direct with my father. I don’t know how I’ll do that without ruining our relationship.

I’ll have to start with him.

“I think it’s best if I drop you off at home. Things have gotten out of hand and I didn’t mean for this to happen. I’m sorry.”

Disappointment is written all over her face. “But Ryder-”

“Nadia is insane. That’s why she was expelled from Ironclaw U,” interrupt. “You shouldn’t listen to her. I was going to marry her, but that’s over now.”

“You…went out with her? Why did you break up?”

I think about my answer carefully. “Because she did something could never forgive.”

Lizzie nods and appears calmer, and we head toward the car. I don’t look back at the restaurant. I’ll deal with this situation first, and then I’ll deal with this situation with Aria later.

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09:57 Mon, Mar 2

Chapter 72

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I can’t leave things as they are. Never. Aria means everything to me. We have to find a way to bounce back. She’s my fated mate. We belong together. That means we fight when it’s hard and never give up. At the end of the day, there’s no one in the world better for me than her.

I believe that wholeheartedly, too. No girl has ever made me feel the way she does.

I won’t lose her. Not for anything in the world.

Not even for my Alpha title, it seems.

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09:57 Mon, Mar 2