Chapter 3 Fireblood Pack

• Ava was shoved into a truck, she sat in the darkness and waited for the truck to start moving.
• "She has been put in a truck and the truck will follow you as you leave," Jax informed him.
• Ryder nodded. "Ryder, don't you think she has suffered enough, just let her be" Lily begged on behalf of Ava with her usual faked grace.
• "I don't think she has suffered enough, she dared to hurt you and I am not okay with that. Besides, I don't feel safe leaving you with her." Ryder brushed away her worries.
• Lily was the most precious thing in Ryder's life. His mother had died while giving birth to her and his father unable to handle the grief of losing her had died too.
• Ryder had been the one who raised her and he had protected her all her life. Anyone who hurt her had faced the consequences.
• When she had disappeared a few months ago, Ryder had almost gone crazy.
• When he finally heard she was in this pack, he was so relieved and furious as well when he heard about a female werewolf who tried to his little sister.
• He had come to get revenge for Lily. But the person who had made his sister suffer had turned out to be his mate.
• Ryder remembered her face and clenched his fists, he would never accept that as his mate.
• He would take her back to his pack and torture her till she regretted ever laying a hand on his sister.
• He turned to Jax, "I will be on my way now. Take good care of my sister"
• "I will" Jax assured him.
• Ryder walked to his car escorted by Jax and Lily. He kissed Lily on her forehead and gave her a hug before entering his car and driving off.
• As he drove off, the truck followed him.
• After some hours of driving, Ryder got to his pack.
• He stopped his car and the truck stopped as well, the guards who were on duty and his Beta Jayden came out to welcome him.
• "Welcome back, how was the ceremony?" Jayden asked.
• "It was okay, Lily was the most beautiful Luna bride." Ryder said with a beaming smile.
• "Thats good to hear" Jayden said. He looked at the truck, "What is in there?" he asked.
• "A prisoner," Ryder replied. The guards who had driven the truck came down to open the back of the truck. They brought out Ava who was still in her shackles.
• Jayden looked at Ryder in confusion. "What is going on?"
• "she bullied Lily while Lily was recovering in the pack and even tried to kill her. I brought her here to punish her" Ryder answered.
• "What the hell! Why can't you just let bygones be bygones?" Jayden asked.
• "I can't do that. I have to give her the same treatment she gave to Lily," Ryder said.
• He turned to his guards and instructed them to take Ava to the prison.
• Ava sat on the damp cement floor of the prison. Thoughts of Ryder filled her head, she thought about how his face had been so cold earlier. It was like he wanted nothing more than to tear her to shreds at that moment.
• She knew he would never see or acknowledge her as his mate. It was just her fate that her mate turned out to be Lily's elder brother.
• The door of the prison opened and Ryder walked in.
• "Stand up!" he barked at her. She scrambled to her feet instantly.
• He walked closer to her and held her chin with his hands, he punched her chin so hard that her eyes watered from the pain.
• "Do you know how much I love and cherish my sister?" he asked menacingly.
• Ava kept quiet. "I love her very much, she is the most precious part of my life. You hurt her and I can never forgive you for that. You might be my mate but I will never acknowledge you, I will never accept you and I will never love you." He told her. Ava felt a painful jolt in her heart when she heard these words.
• "Do you understand me?" Ryder asked.
• "I do" Ava answered.
• He pushed her to the ground roughly and left.
• 'don't cry, don't cry' Ava told herself.
• Ryder went back to the general pack house where he stayed and sat at the table sipping a bottle of water, he had gotten from the fridge.
• Jayden came to meet him. "What's wrong with you? You have been tensed up since you came back from Creekwood pack."
• "I am fine" Ryder assured him.
• "Are you sure?"
• "Yes, it must be the stress of the journey"
• "Okay, then go have some rest okay," Jayden told him.
• "Okay, I will do that now" Ryder replied.
• He stood up to go to his bedroom. When he had gotten to the door, he turned around, "Tell someone to give the prisoner food and water" he ordered.
• "Okay, I will take care of everything" Jayden replied.
• Ryder nodded and went to his bedroom, exhaustion finally overtaking him as he sank into the bed. Sleep crept over him quickly, and in the quiet darkness of his dreams, Ava appeared before him.
• She was in a cell, her hands bound in chains, her head bent low. Shadows pooled around her, flickering in the dim light. Ryder took a step closer, feeling a strange ache twist inside him as he saw tears streaming down her face. Her eyes—haunted and hollow—looked up at him, filled with a sorrow so raw, so deep, that he felt it pull at something inside him he hadn’t known existed.
• Without thinking, he reached out, his fingers brushing her cheek to catch the falling tears. But the moment his hand touched her skin, she dissolved like mist, leaving only the coldness of the cell.
• “Ava!” he called, his voice echoing off the empty walls.
• But then, another presence crept into the room. He felt the cold grip of it before he even saw her. Lily’s voice slithered through the darkness, low and accusing. “So, this is the girl you would choose over your sister?” Her voice was laced with betrayal. Ryder turned, and there she stood—his little sister, her face pale and her eyes glinting with disappointment.
• “Lily, it’s not—” he stammered, but she silenced him with a single, piercing look.
• “Do you remember what she did to me?” she whispered, stepping closer. Her voice was filled with a quiet, simmering rage. “How she tried to take my life? My own brother mated to the one who hurt me most.”
• Ryder felt his heart twist painfully. He looked down at his hands and saw blood on them, though he didn’t know whose. “No,” he whispered, shaking his head. “I would never... I could never betray you, Lily. She means nothing to me.”
• Lily’s eyes narrowed, sadness flickering there for a brief moment. “Are you sure?” she asked, her voice cold, drifting through the silence like a curse. “Because your heart seems to beat for her. And the bond…” Her words trailed off, her lips twisting in disgust as she turned away.
• Ryder felt a chill sweep over him, clawing its way into his chest. He reached out, desperate to hold onto her, to assure her of his loyalty. But she vanished into the shadows, leaving him alone.
• In the silence, he heard his own heart pounding, a heavy, erratic beat that echoed in his ears.
• "You feel for her", a voice in his mind whispered, taunting him, daring him to accept the truth he so fiercely denied.
• “You’re already bound to her!!!”
• “No!” he cried, the word ripping from his throat as he shot upright in bed, breathless, drenched in sweat.
• As the dream’s dark haze lifted, Ryder clenched his fists, anger swirling with something he could hardly understand. “I will never accept her as my mate!” he muttered, his voice fierce in the stillness of the room.
• Yet, the strange pang in his chest remained, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that, somehow, he was already bound to her in a way that terrified him more than anything. How could he betray his sister for the very woman who had hurt her, simply because fate had entwined his soul with Ava’s?