"Everybody take a step back." He says sternly to all the male bodies that were around me. One of taller guards that was stood on my left, his ginger hair shaved close to his head, spoke up, his eyes flicking to me apprehensively. "The alpha told us to stay close to her." "Well I'm telling you to back off because you're making her uncomfortable. You're more than welcome to run it by him but I can already guarantee you he won't be happy with what he hears." Reynolds counters his voice not faltering in the strength it displays. The ginger guard nods his head at me and mutters a quick apology before he and all the other guards, I wasn't used to, take two steps back. Reynolds stays at my side and Theo, Charlie and Cyrus a step behind still. "Thank you," I whisper to him as we continue down the steps again. The closer we get to the meeting room the more I relax hearing Ryder's voice grow louder. The double doors were open and I could see Ryder sat at the end of the table. His elbow is rested on the table and his chin on his fingers. He looked frustrated as some of the other Alpha's argue amongst themselves over the table. Standing outside the door, all the guards move out of the way but are still surrounding me. Bracing my shoulder against the door, I watch as Ryder pushes himself up from his seat and walks around the large oval table, surveying everyone that was sat around it. Maxon's eyes flick to me from the end of the table and he gives me a quick smile before he rises to his feet as well. Quickly he says something into Ryder's ear and both of their heads turned towards me. Ryder seemed to visibly relax as he saw me standing there and he quickly crossed the room not caring about all the alpha's that shoot him a confused look. Within a second he flicked his hands at the guards, pulling the door half closed to the meeting room and pressed his lips to mine. I wasn't expecting his kiss but I felt the desperateness in it as he locked an arm around my waist and slid his hand into my hair. My hands fisted his shirt over his hips, moving my lips slowly against his. I didn't want to let him go but I knew there were still guards around and the meeting room full of alphas and betas. Pulling back I look up at Ryder, completely breathless as he sways forward and presses his head against mine. "I was going to come up and see you soon. What are you doing down here?" "I wanted to go and do some training." He froze slightly when the words left me mouth and I prepared myself for the battle when he said no to me. Ryder pulls his forehead back and scans the guards and the meeting room again. With a deep sigh he tilts his head towards Maxon. They whisper to each other before they give a single nod to each other. Gently his hand moves down to grip mine, our fingers intertwining. Nervously I turn back to see Maxon talking to the alphas and betas as they watched Ryder and I walk away from the room, Cole following behind us. "What are we doing?" "We're going training." He says simply to me like it's the most obvious thing in the world. A smile still crossed me face as I realised that he was going to come with me. He hadn't seen me train since the first day when he taught me to actually shoot the arrow. I did feel slightly restricted in my freedom but I was still happy that he was coming with me. With Ryder standing by my side all the guards took another couple of steps back further and Cole fell in with Reynolds who was now more than a meter behind us. "We're leaving the castle after lunch time." Ryder says suddenly as we step down onto the castle lawns. "There's a funeral being held for the wolves that died in the fight. It's held in the town square and there will be a sort of party afterwards that celebrates their life and the duty they did for our country." "How many wolves died?" I blocked Ryder from my mind because I felt that it was my fault that they had lost their lives. I didn't want him to hear those thoughts. Ryder didn't need to hear my thoughts to know what direction they went in. He heard it in my voice. His hand squeezes around mine as he pulls as to a stop in the middle of the castle grounds. "Please don't blame yourself." He said softly, his hand reading up to caress my cheek. "You wanted to be alone and you deserved to have that right without feeling that you were in trouble. Thy died because of George, he's the only one to blame in all this. Remember that." "Ok," Nodding at him I allowed his lips to move against mine again. Ryder was nervous about being out here. I was at risk and the only way he would feel truly calm is if we we're both locked in the suite. Reaching the target field, all the extra guards that were following us, a total of twenty, now spread around the perimeter. Turning my back to let my guards remove their clothes, I'm surprised when I see that Ryder is removing his as well. "What are you doing?" I was stunned and also heating up as I watched his muscles flex under his exposed skin. All he did was give me a quick smirk before he shifted and in front of me stood his large salt and peppered wolf. He took a few steps forward and I lifted my hand to run it over his muzzle. I only got one stroke in before he twisted his head and ran his tongue over my palm.