Meeting In The Middle

Return And Goodbye

I think at this point, Ryder has finally calmed down and understood why I did it. He let me sob into his tear stained shirt and slowly stroked my hair, murmuring sweet nothings.

He was finally loosening up, a feeling a relief to have me back in his arms, safe and sound. His arms shield me protectively every second. He was too afraid of losing me. And I was glad to have him at my side again. It was as if we were both repaired, although not just quite.

"Rosella?" He murmurs into my hair while holding me secure on his lap.

"Yes?" I whisper, into the darkness of his room.

"I love you, princess." He kisses me softly on my forehead. He slowly trails kisses down my cheek and pauses at my lips. I smile into the dark but I was sure he saw it. Then he presses his lips against mine, soft and gentle. It curves around mine perfectly and I press mine onto his. He seemed surprised for just a second but he regains his consciousness.

We break away from the kiss.

"I love you too." I reply, my lips tingling still, from the magical kiss.

I lean into his chest and close my eyes, savouring the sweet moment. I am so glad to be back.

I almost drift off to sleep when a knock at Ryder's door awakes me. Ryder sets me gently on the bed and gets up to answer the door, a little irritated that it woke me up. I bet he was waiting for me to fall asleep so he could watch me sleep and possibly sleep talk too. He could get quite a show out of that. I sigh and peek at the door.

It was Caleb. He is mumbling something inaudible to Ryder and he seemed distressed in some way or another. Ryder sighed loudly and turned to me.

"The guy you brought back wants to see you." He says. I jump out of bed immediately. He raises his eyebrows at my jerky movement.

"Dylan." I breathe.

"That makes it even worse." Ryder complained. "Why would you want to see him after he hurt you so much?"

"He didn't mean it. He couldn't control himself." I insist. "He had JUST shifted." I must have got pretty upset because he lifted his hands over his head in surrender.

"Okay okay your highness." He shrugs while suppressing a grin. I smirk at him and reach for his warm hand. He squeezes them and we walk down the hall, following Caleb. He seemed weary and he dragged his feet as he walked before us.

"Caleb?" I ask. "Are you alright?"

He quickly turned to look at me over his shoulder. "Yeah. Everything's good."

I didn't believe it for a second. I bite my lip and meet Ryder's dark flitting eyes. I stopped walking. "What happened." I demanded loudly. I know I was gone for a while and something must have happened. The Caleb I know would never act like that. Ryder was unwilling to make eye contact with me. I cross my arms and wait for him to explain.

"Look, I don't think right now is the best time to talk about it." Ryder says quietly. He tugs on my hand and urges me forward.

"No. Tell me."

"You don't want to keep Dylan waiting, do you?" Ryder changed the subject. I open my mouth to object but I imagine Dylan on the hospital bed waiting for my arrival.

"Fine." I give in. "But you better tell me after."

Ryder give me a small smile and we walk down the hall to Dylan's hospital room. I can tell he's hiding something from me that's not all sunshine and rainbows. I shake it off for a while as I enter Dylan's room.

I see him, tousled hair and dull eyes, his head resting on a big, white pillow. His eyes were sliding closed and the boy I used to love is back. I remember spending lazy Sunday's with him, just lounging on the couch, sipping sweet soda and watching lame shows on TV. I missed those times. These days lacks the comfortable feeling. Something bad was always about to happen in one form or another.

I walk as quietly as I could, Ryder making an irruptive stop at the door, making no impression of entering. He keeps a close and guarded eye on me. I had hoped Dylan would've just fallen asleep but I guess I'm just really bad at walking. Maybe it's the werewolf hearing.

"Hey Rosella." He greeted me, his voice low. He looked worse up close. Bruises cover his jaw but he manages to smile at me.

"Dylan." I fidget with the hem of my shirt. "I didn't know. You should've told me. Now I will feel regret for the rest of my life because I did something unacceptable. And things between us will never be the same." I frown, realizing the truth.

"I couldn't tell you, Rose." Dylan sighs. "I wasn't allowed to."

"I'm good at keeping secrets." I whisper, giving him a tiny smile of comfort. He returns it with a goofy one of his own. That smile, was a promise. We were okay.

Then his smile clouds over. "Though, I'm sorry about your friend. It was all my fault and I shouldn't have come here."

I whip around to face Ryder and a sullen looking Caleb. "What?"

Ryder grits his teeth and shoots Dylan a death stare. "Thanks a lot pup." He growled. I sigh at the tense relationship between the two.

"What friend?" I demand. Dylan remains silent and Ryder steps into the room.

"After Dylan was shot in the woods and collapsed, someone had to chase down the bad guy. So a couple of the guys went after him and brought him down."

At first, I thought it was Ethan who had died. But Caleb wouldn't have gotten upset by that.

Ryder continues. "Ethan fired some bullets and one seemed to find its way into the torso of one of our." He pauses. "Friends."

I feel tears about to rush up. "Who?"

I imagine Lucian's hard golden eyes that mocked me quite a lot since I met him. I can't bear to think about the life being sucked away from those eyes. Gray's similar eyes would be so hard to watch. Then Alex. Alex was never my favourite, and I was never his. Even though, I still loved him as some sort of brother. It would hurt to see him leave so soon. Even I enjoyed some of his stupid jokes and witty comments. It would hurt all of us to see even one go.

Dylan must've been feeling pretty guilty because he whispered a faint sorry to me. I bet you anything that Ryder and Caleb both heard it.

"Who is it?" I ask again.

"Alex."

No.