Cole relaxes and gives me a look almost asking to take my arm again but I look away from him trying to pull my other arm out of the grip Ryder has to help me defend myself. "Lottie?" Ryder says softly into my ear. My chest is tightening and I feel like I can't breathe. "Charlotte," He lets go of my arm and pulls me in closer to his chest which almost seems like an impossible task since I'm already so close to him. His arms wrap around my waist and I wince lightly as the pressure pushes against my stomach where I was given the needles, once he notices the pain he inflicted he moves to gently rub his hands over the area. "Can we stop this please." I whisper turning myself in his hold to bury my face deep into his chest. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?" he whispers to me but I'm shaking my head before he even has time to finish. "We're alone. Cole isn't here anymore. Come on I want you to feel comfortable and I can't get that for you if you don't tell me what's going on." I can't even begin to explain what possessed me to shut up within myself. Something about the way that his arms came down towards me scared me. Like something like that had been used on me before. Henri had only ever really held me down and other than the slap I got across the face when he finally got me to where he wanted me to be and as far as I could remember nobody else had ever laid a hand on me despite coming close to it a number of times when I was on the street but I always somehow managed to get myself out the freighting predicament. I had moved past all that though as much as the memories still haunted me from the worst times in my life I know Ryder would always be by my side making sure I would never have to experience what I went through again. He doesn't want me to hurt even though I haven't yet managed to hear his thoughts the way he is allowing me to I can still feel the distress that both he and his wolf have over my reaction to something that he believed might help and keep me safe of either he or my guards weren't around. "Lottie, we can stop if you don't like this. I want you to be safe but also want you to be happy." Ryder's hand is running through my ponytail, twisting it lightly around his fingers as whispers the words against the top of my head and I can feel as the loose strands of my hair move with his warm breath. "I don't know what the problem is Ryder." I say to him my voice muffled against his chest. "I know baby, I heard." Shaking my head at him I lift my head up to rest my chin against his chest to look up into his eyes. "There's something familiar in it. Maybe it's- I don't know something that's happened to me before but I just can't remember it." "You think it has something to with your biological parents." His eyebrows are furrowed at the thought that I was too afraid to admit aloud to him. Being a couple of weeks old there was no denying that I wouldn't be able to remember what the people who created me were like or what promoted them to leave me in that park to nearly freeze to death. Even with the little knowledge that I had of them I don't believe that they would have treated me like that or left me in a positon like that. Ryder had his hands on my birth certificate and every single document that had my name on it since that one. I don't know if he actually looked into who my parents were but I know he knows there names but with his reaction it almost assured me that he doesn't believe that they wouldn't have put me in that position either. When I come out of my own thoughts and lock my eyes back on Ryder I notice that he himself is zoned out obviously thinking about something himself. I try to get myself into his mind the way that he wants to and when I think I've finally achieved it I run into a wall. I can almost feel my mind rebounding off of it. "Sorry," he says my impact calling his attention back down to my small height encased tightly in his arms. "I was thinking about your parents. I can tell you about them if you like?" "Do you know about them?" My voice is a whisper that is lower than then the audible gulp I give. I don't want to know who they are. They gave me up for a reason and I'm going to keep my distance to make sure I don't ever inconvenience them again. But I wanted to know what he was thinking about them. I think I wanted to know what they were like to see if I could add up any similarities between them and me. I could see the traits between Ryder's parents and him which made me more inclined to know. "They wouldn't have hit you Lottie. I'll tell you that, they would never even think about it." He whispers as he leans down to softly press a kiss against my lips. "Come on," His hand is locked tightly around mine as he almost drags me out the door. I question him that I'm leaving my clothes but he tells me not to worry about them, that Ellie will collect them and return them to our room. "Ryder!" I exclaim as he seems to forget that I can't move as fast as what he can. He turns around to look at me and I can see the concern in his eyes. "What are we doing?" I ask with a small laugh as I end up back in his arms.