Chapter 47: Chapter Forty-Seven

Ryder’s fist slammed into the dummy target’s face, a sharp jolt of pain reverberating through his arm due to the forceful impact.

That, however did not stop him from withdrawing his fist, and slamming it back in, again, and again, and again, never getting tired of the workout, while also reveling in the pain that kept exploding in his hand.

His muscles burned, and sweat was dripping down from his forehead and into his eyes, blurring his vision a little, but that also didn’t make him stop. He had done this workout countless of times before, he was basically operating on muscle memory. He didn’t need his vision for any of his hits to land against the target.

The scent of sweat, blood and violence tainted the air, but that was what kept him going, along with the pressure of the decision he had made days ago, to challenge his father.

It would either setback a plan that had been set in motion ten years ago, or be the pivotal moment they needed, to achieve their goals.

While he hadn’t allowed his fear to show when he had been trying to make Zayden and Shivani agree to support his farfetched idea, here, now, he was able to project his fear into a weapon, even if it was to eradict a dummy enemy.

The training center was the one place in the world that he allowed himself to unleash every single emotion that he kept under lock and key, at each moment of his life.

Here, he could just be a man, who channelled his superior skills in a positive manner, a manner that had nothing to do with exercising his anger on someone else.

His body was a mess of aches, bruises, and sweat when he was done thrashing the training dummy but thanks to his supernatural healing abilities, all that was left by the time he stepped away from his training target, was the sweat that clung to his body like a second skin.

He picked up a towel off the bench and wiped the perspiration off his face, before taking a swig of water from the waterbottle he had kept earlier, his fear all but gone, as a much needed calmness flowed through him.

“Worked off your frustration yet, lover boy?” Zayden asked drily, stepping out of the shadows, and regarding Ryder with a cool expression, as he leaned against the wall opposite him. “It looked like that dummy had personally offended you. Pray tell me why that is.”

“It’s good to see you too Zayd,” Ryder replied in the same dry tone, as he capped the waterbottle and dropped it back onto the bench besides the dirty towel.

“Have you figured out your game plan yet?” Zayden asked, his mask of indifference slipping off, and revealing an anxiousness he didn’t bother to hide anymore. “Or are you just going to wing it when it’s time, just like when you made the decision itself?”

They were alone in the training center, so there was no need to hide his true emotions to his friend.

“Yeah, I deserve that.”

Zayden huffed at Ryder’s reply. “So, have you?”

“No,” Ryder scowled, brushing his hand through his hair, his frustration mounting up, with just the confession of that one word.

“I thought as much,” Zayden sighed, rising from his reclined position over the wall, to walk towards Ryder.

“The full moon isn’t until three weeks from now, I think I still have time to prepare for…”

“Time to prepare for what exactly?” Zayden scoffed, waving a hand through the air, as if to demonstrate the ridiculousness of Ryder’s entire sentence. “Your death I presume?”

“Oh moons!” Ryder groaned, letting out a frustrated breath. “Not this again.”

“Yes, this again,” Zayden nodded, as if he was answering a question Ryder hadn’t asked. “You can’t possibly expect me to just let you go on a fool’s errand, without at least trying to make you see that…”

“See that it is the best option that I have?” Ryder cut him off, his brows arcing as he posed his own question.

“It could be the best option,” Zayden mused, using another tactic to try and knock some sense into the stubborn wolf’s head. Riling each other up wouldn’t provide a solution to their current predicament. But perhaps, making him question his foolish decision might work.

“But, are you willing to risk your life, and the future of those whom you claim to liberate, all because of one woman? Is it worth throwing away plans that have been set in motion for years, for a woman you’ve only known for what, two months? Three at best. A woman whom we still have no idea what species she belongs to, or what her endgame might be.”

“I know your questions come from a place of great concern,” Ryder began, folding his arms over his chest, and staring at his friend with a hard expression, his voice firm and unyielding. “But I assure now, as I have done countless times before, I am not going to die, neither am I throwing our hardwork down the drain. My father needs to go, and I need to be the one to make him.

“We have known this for years, since we began to plan uniting the different factions together, under a new regime. It is just happening earlier than we have planned. Saffron might be the catalyst to it, but she isn’t detrimental to the cause, neither does she threaten the safety of our people.”

Zayden’s lips pinched tightly, as he processed Ryder’s words. Ryder was right, even though he was basically acting and making decisions due to emotional entanglements–an entanglement neither he nor Shivani accepted, not while the truth of Saffron’s identity was still unclear.

“If you are set on doing this, then it might help your case, if you started looking for other potential allies in the neighboring packs. It would help cement the unity and liberation we are working towards,” Zayden stated after clearful consideration of Ryder’s stance on the matter of the challenge.

“Neigboring packs? Do you mean…” Ryder trailed off, not wanting to say the words out loud.

“Silver Moon Pack, yes.”

“Are you insane?”

“Not more than you are,” Zayden quipped, arching his eyebrow in challenge, daring Ryder to refute his words.

“But their Alpha is…”

“Off his rockers?” Zayden suggested, his eyes twinkling with mischief. “Yeah, I am not sure about that.”

“But the reports…”

“Might be wrong,” Zayden stated, cutting Ryder off mid-sentense again. “What do we really know about the pack? No one has been on their island, since the Luna and her daughter were allegedly killed by the Pack’s Alpha Supreme. All the information we know about the pack is outdated. It wouldn’t hurt to reach out and see if we might find an ally in their Alpha. Best case scenario, he agrees to help. Worst case scenario, he decides to do your father the honors of killing you.”

“Very funny,” Ryder gave Zayden a dark look, to which the vampire shrugged as if to say ‘it’s the truth’.

“I think there is some information about the pack in the archives. Although, as you have already mentioned, it might be outdated but it will still give me an idea of what to expect.”

“You do that. I will try and see if I can make contact with an acquaintance of mine in the pack, though it has been eighteen years since I have last heard from her.”

Ryder nodded absentmindedly, as he thought about the task ahead of him.

He only had three weeks to prepare for the greatest gamble of his life. Three weeks in which he had to act like the loyal son, while also plotting ways to usurp his father’s throne. Three weeks in which he had to try to gain support of his pack’s greatest enemy.

Just three weeks, and he would find out if his decision would break or make him.