Oh Hell No

Chapter 15

As it turns out, the new shifters had yet to shift back, which would explain why Ryder was sent to investigate and possibly help. There were two of them having that problem, Amelia Cook and Dalton Barone if he remembered correctly. He had never met them personally, but he knew their parents and had at least heard of them before.

"Ryder, thank god! I don't know what's happening but Dalton's wolf is still in control, and he barely allows us to get close enough to give him food," Mrs. Barone explains worriedly.

He puts his hands on her shoulders, "There is no need to worry, Hannah, this sort of thing is much more common than you think. His wolf might not be entirely aware of who you are, which is completely natural for a new wolf. It just means that Dalton may still be unconscious from the exertion and hasn't been able to tell his wolf that you can be trusted. He's simply trying to protect your son from any possible threats."

It was obvious that the words weren't entirely comforting; no parent wanted to hear that their child, or the wolf sharing your child's mind, saw you as a threat. Her mate pulled her into his arms, taking over the job of comforting her. They nodded at each other, Mr. Barone out of respect and Ryder out of appreciation. Comforting people he hardly knew wasn't easy, and he always felt he was doing it wrong, so it was a relief to let him take over. Leaving them to be adorable and in love, he crouches down in front of one of the occupied cells. The brown wolf inside growled at him, and he assumed based on its size that this one is Dalton.

He allowed his eyes to flash red briefly, "Hey there buddy, would you mind waking Dalton up for me? I'm sure he wants to show you off but he can't do that if you keep trying to bite people," He let his powerful aura flare, so the wolf would know who he was.

Dalton's wolf is now eyeing him warily, obviously sensing that he could ignore the order if he wanted, but Ryder figured he wouldn't. Having decided that matter was settled for the moment, he moved on to Amelia, whose parents weren't around. Instead, her friend Kara was sitting inside the cage and petting the recently transformed wolf. Her eyes were their usual brown, signifying that she was in fact in control.

"Everything alright?" He asks, surprised that anyone allowed her in there with Amelia.

Kara sat up at his acknowledgement and nodded, "Yep, she was just out for a while after her shift and is still pretty tired so she hasn't turned back yet," The girl explains.

He nodded in response, glancing at the new wolf again before deciding that she would be fine from here. Just to be sure, he checked up on Dalton again, but his parents seemed to have it handled from here. Good, that gave him more time to plan his first date with Jamie. They hadn't agreed on a time so he'd have to let her know when, which technically meant he had as much time as he needed but he'd prefer to get this relationship going sooner rather than later. After mind-linking Mason to let him know the situation had been handled, he left the prison.

- - -

Unbeknownst to Jamie, Ryder had put several contingencies into place to keep her from being scared off. For example, he banned everyone that had another house to stay in from entering the pack house until further notice. A bunch of wolves tripping over themselves to earn her favor while also reminding her of the large responsibility that came with being his mate sounded like the type of thing that would scare her off. It just so happened that his mother didn't believe she applied to this rule. When he met Jamie, she had already left for a spa trip with his aunt and one of her friends, because apparently adults still had those. And today, she had gotten back.

At Ryder's request, Alpha Mason kept the pack's current luna out of the way, because they both knew how...excited she would be once she heard that her son had found his mate. They couldn't keep it a secret forever, especially since the two girls would be in the same house most of the time, but they could hope her reaction wouldn't be too extreme. He supposed she might force Mason to sleep on the couch for hiding it, but that wasn't his problem. When Mason himself pointed that out, specifically saying how he didn't want to invoke her wrath, Ryder argued that after being away for three days, Luna Danielle wouldn't want to be away from him. Because of this, Mason reluctantly agreed to give him some time to bond with Jamie.

In fact, this was why Mason was "busy" earlier. Before Danielle could take notice of the new scent in the pack house, he took her out on what he called a surprise date night. A more accurate name would have been spur of the moment date night, but as long as it worked Ryder couldn't care less. Unfortunately for the soon-to-be alpha, they ended up coming home early after someone spilled coffee on her blouse, and Mason couldn't find an excuse to keep her out. So, this meant that Jamie went downstairs to get herself some food, she was faced with the current luna. When she spotted the girl, a smile slowly spread across her face as she realized why a rogue was allowed to stay in the pack house without a babysitter.

She lightly slapped her mate repeatedly in the chest, "Mason, you better explain yourself before I jump to conclusions, because you know everyone hates when I do that!" 

A/N: Seems like Mrs. Daniels is going to be a handful... I wonder how Jamie will react to that...