Oh Hell No

Chapter 27

Alpha Lewis hated his job. There was always so much paperwork to fill out, people to suck up to. All in all, the job was exhausting. The arrival of yet another problem only screwed things up more, especially since the Everglade's decided to use their land as a bridge on the exact day that something goes wrong.

By now, most people knew that Lewis could be a bit of a control freak. He liked things to go a certain way, and because of this, he hated surprises. So, he made sure the other packs were aware that he was much more agreeable when he had proper notice. If Mason could have come with the request a week ago, that would have been perfectly fine, but he understood why he couldn't. It was a selfish thought, but he couldn't help but believe that Ryder's mate had gotten kidnapped at the most inopportune time possible.

"It's nice to see you again, Alpha Lewis. I only wish the circumstances could have been better," David greets.

"You and me both," He muttered, nodding politely towards the rest of their group, who remained in wolf form except for Ryder, "I'll be escorting you through so my pack knows not to attack any of you," That wasn't much of a genuine concern in recent years, but it was still a basic social courtesy.

"You obviously want to get this over with as quickly as possible, so we could all shift and run through?" Ryder suggests, more than anxious to get to Drenden territory in the hope that he could do something productive.

He nods, "That's fine by me, and if anyone needs a break let me know. I'm guessing you all ran here and my territory isn't the smallest."

"Neither is ours," Ryder responds, not hesitating to shift back into his wolf form. David and Lewis shifted too, with Lewis immediately turning to lead the way.

They take off through the Garavin Pack's land, Ryder hyper-focused on getting through as quickly as possible. At this point, he couldn't guarantee that he'd wait if someone needed a break. But, he stopped suddenly when he caught that all-too familiar cinnamon scent. She was here, or she had been.

'Ryder? Everything alright?' Chris asked through the mind-link, while everyone else awaited his answer as to why he had stopped out of nowhere.

Ryder was a little too distracted to consider replying a priority, and instead took off in the direction he thought the scent was coming from. He broke down the front door of the pack house, completely ignoring the startled, high-pitched screams that his entrance was met with. They could yell all they wanted, he had something better to do than announce that he came in peace.

'What's gotten into him?' David asks through the mind-link, not bothering to block Ryder out from their conversation. He apparently wasn't going to respond anyway, so there was no point.

'No idea, that's not the right way to Drenden territory, is it?' Peter questions, trying to at least offer an explanation, no matter how far off he was.

'Unless they moved and Lewis decided to lie to us about it, no,' Henry tells them, not truly believing that the alpha was misleading them. Lewis wasn't the type to throw away an ally, which is what would probably happen if he intentionally interfered with their search.

Lewis was the first to follow after Ryder, not having the conversation to distract him while also being filled with curiosity as to why he went towards the pack house. Ryder had already found his mate, so what could have caught his attention so quickly when other wolves could hardly think of anything else while they're away from their mate?

Well, he'd get his answer soon enough once he shifted back and followed Ryder's trail upstairs. More specifically, the room that Lewis's "problem" was staying in for the moment. Anyone could understand his predicament. Only a couple weeks ago he banished Jamie, but only days afterwards it was discovered that she was right. Katey was a spy for the Drenden Pack, meaning that she was completely justified in killing her. But, the banishment had already been ordered, and she was already gone, so there was nothing he could do. Until a couple hours ago that is, when she stumbled back onto his land with countless injuries and two very guilty werewolves that had been trying to make amends since she arrived.

For the moment, he had given her a place to stay, but there was no guarantee of its permanence. The pack had already labeled her as a dangerous murderer, and even the revelation about Katey couldn't make everyone immediately trust her again. As a way of sucking up to Jamie, her dad, Lewis's beta, insisted that she be granted a full pardon, along with a withdrawal of the banishing. When last he saw, Zack and Melissa were busy sucking up to her, apparently not noticing, or pretending not to, that she was taking advantage of them.

There was a reason he had such a conflicting opinion of Jamie. On one hand, he admired her spunk and charisma, how she stuck to her beliefs to the point where she could call a pebble a mountain, and no one would be able to change her mind. On the other hand though, she was reckless, wild, oftentimes not knowing when to quit which made her look stupid, and made her quite uncontrollable. She was a liability, but also one of his greatest weapons.

When he finally got to the room he found Ryder holding Jamie in his lap while growling at her parents. Jamie was holding a sandwich and wore an expression that couldn't seem to decide whether she was about to burst out laughing, deep in thought, or ready to die of embarrassment.

"If no one else is gonna do introductions I guess I will," Lewis mutters, a little too amused by the situation, "Zack, Melissa, meet Ryder Daniels. He is the future alpha of the Everglades Pack, and by the looks of it, your daughter's mate." 

A/N: Anyone rooting for Zack to be an overprotective dad?? Then again if he was overprotective he wouldn't have thrown Jamie out... Well, sorry to disappoint but we've got some family drama coming up so that'll make up for Zack's not cop-like personality!