My Challenging Mate

Things Are Definitely Changing

All Rights Reserved

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"Only two more days of partying." I said with a scowl on my face. Ryder had stayed behind to help me clean up... Yeah, I had to clean up after a party that was thrown for me.

Ryder stopped his work and looked up at me, placing the paper plate he had in his hand down onto the table.

"What do you mean?" I gave him the most obvious look.

"That means today I accepted the Alpha position, tomorrow I will turn eighteen and actually become Alpha, and then the next day is when I'll pick my Beta. I thought you knew?" Ryder continued on cleaning up and stayed quiet.

After a couple of minutes, he finally spoke. He ignored the question I asked, but instead said:

"Today is the day I left you." That was when I stopped my work and looked up.

"Ryder, you didn't leave just me. There are other people in this pack. Three hundred and fourty-seven to be exact. And they're all spread out over the Black Mountain Range territory; five hundred acres of people." Yeah, I knew my facts. As Alpha, you have to know everything there is to know about anything.

"No, Ravyn, I left you." Before I could ask him what he meant, my dad and Beta stepped in, laughing.

"What's so funny?" I asked them.

"Oh, nothing. I was just telling Jackson here that when I was little, I used to ask my mom if I could bring friends to dinner and instead, bring a pile of worms!" My dad started laughing so hard that I thought he was going to roll on the floor.

"And I was telling your dad that I used to bring a pile of worms to school and set them on my teacher's chairs and desks... pretty much everywhere! And I never got caught!" Both men erupted into a fit of laughter and I scrunched my eyebrows together, trying to understand what was so funny.

"Men." I mumbled.

"Old men." Ryder mumbled after me, smiling. I let out a small laugh and quickly covered my hand to my mouth. Luckily, my dad and Beta hadn't heard what Ryder said. Either that or they did and were just too caught up in the 'old times' to say anything about it.

Then, they started talking about high school and what kind of pranks they pulled and I slowly ushered them outside so I wouldn't have to hear them anymore. I kept walking right behind my dad so that he would move forward and Beta would follow.

Once outside, I closed the door and peeked through it to make sure they were still walking, they were.

"Finally! I don't know how much longer of the 'good old days' I could handle." I chuckled.

"Yeah, I know what you mean! Before I left, my mom and dad..." He trailed off. "Before I left." He said again.

"Hey, stop beating yourself up about it. I know you had your reasons. You couldn't deal with some stuff. It's all good. What matters now is that I have my best friend back! We can party like we used to." That seemed to make him feel better because he was back to his normal cocky, smart-assy self in no time.

"Cause the party don't start 'til I walk in." He said in a serious, monotone voice.

"Did you seriously just quote her? What's wrong with you?!" I laughed at him and he just smiled at me.

"It's good to be back, Rave. I've missed you." He told me as he threw away the last of the trash that was laid out. He put the trash bag by the front door.

"Yeah, I've missed you, too. It's been a long five years." I nodded my head in agreement and before I knew it, I was wrapped in a pair of strong arms.

"I don't think I can ever go away again."