Chapter 49 Unanswered questions
ZORA
My feet moved with a mind of its own as if it'd memorized the directions my bodyguard had given to me in order to locate the stable.
My mind was still at a cross between exhaustion, from what had happened to me last night and terrified, because of what I'd just witnessed in the arena. I knew Ryker was strong, but I hadn't expected him to be that agile and swift. He'd allowed Alpha Selig to dominate the field at the start just so he could map out his fighting style and took on offense when he knew how he fought.
He won easily.
Barely spent ten minutes in the arena
Ryker was smart, I'll give him that, but that doesn't excuse him from being the annoying bastard I knew he was.
My face was twisted in a scowl at the thought of Ryker when I finally stood in front of what the guard had described to be the stable. The door was slightly open with no locks, and I could hear some movement inside. With a little push, the door swung open, creaking on its hinges.
The building was large with moderate lightning and was warm due to the fire. A few horses lined the stables neighing and whining, most were asleep cause it was getting dark outside. From the far end of the stable emerged a young boy, wooden bucket in hand and brush in another. He approached looking exhausted but happy to be here.
“Good day milady, how may I be of service to you?” He spoke with a smile as he wiped a dirt off his cheeks. “would you like me to groom a horse of your choosing for you or show you to the already groomed ones?”
“Oh it's alright, I'll manage on my own. I'm sure I can sort them out and pick the one I'd like to ride” I didn't want to stress him further and he'd been surprisingly polite and warm in his conversation with me, making him the second person to do that, almost like they had no idea what I was popularly known for by most people.
“Are you sure, milady? There's really nothing I can do to help?”
“I'm certain.”
“Alright then, I'll leave you to it. Have a great night” he said with a slight bow as he sidestepped me and exited the stable.
I stood in silence for a while before deciding to move forward. I passed by horses neighing to my ear, a few of them had yet to be groomed while the majority were resting and asleep. I moved a bit further down until I spotted one that was awake and had been groomed. The light from the fire nearby was hitting its rich, black mane and fur in a manner that gave it a red hue as it stood there staring at me.
“Ughh” I groaned for the fifth time now as my butt smacked the ground hard. I have been at this now for over thirty minutes and had still not made any progress. In my mind, I'd thought it'd be easy judging from how I'd seen others ride it. The horse stared back at me with what I could only describe as a confused gaze, like it was questioning my very sad inability to ride it and was taunting me for it.
I was grateful that it had been quite gentle with me through it all. I knew for a fact that I couldn't handle a raging beast this evening. I stood up from the floor, dusted my dress while heaving, and leaned slightly against the horse a little to catch my breath. I had only decided to come here after the event to avoid going back to my room and having to face the criticizing faces of the other lunas, I'd had enough of their bully and torture but now its starting to seem like their critique is much better than this struggle right now.
“You're doing it all wrong”
I pushed myself off the horse, turning around in a hurry, startled by the deep masculine voice that spoke. I was stunned to see Ryker standing by the entrance in a different outfit from the one in the arena. He wore a loose pair of pants with a long sleeved polo. This casual form of dressing was new to me as I hadn't seen him before in such, and I had to admit he looked even more hot in it but I was far too terrified to say anything to him, and just stood there dumbfounded.
In a few long strides, he got to me and went around to the other side of the horse.
“You'd want to first balance your arm on its back then place your foot here on the lower part of the saddle, then use it to lift yourself up while swinging your leg over it as you rise. Like this,” in a swift move, he heaved himself over the horse and balanced himself accurately. Not even a hair out of place. He jumped down quickly beside me and stretched out his hand, “Here, I could teach you how to actually get on it and ride it.”
I was at a loss for words, where was this kindness coming from. Who was this man, and what had he done to Ryker?
In the period at which I'd known him, kindness was never an attribute I could have used to describe him in any way. So it's no surprise when I took a light step backwards, my eyes cast down as I softly shook my head “No…no need” I couldn't bring my eyes to meet his, scared of what I'd find.
My breath hitched as he took a gentle step forward also and did the most insane thing.
He placed his palm right under my jaw and lifted it up carefully to match his gaze, a warm smile spread across his face as he spoke.
“No need to be nervous, I promise to be careful and gentle till you get it,” and with that he reached forward and brushed a few stray strands of hair that had fallen loose on my face, nicely placing it behind my ear.
My neck grew hot, my heart beat quickened, and even my face felt really warm. I was blushing like a fool. I was looking right into his eyes now and couldn't help but realize a beauty in them that I hadn't seen before.
The way the low lighting hit his deep green eyes, the way his jawline were smooth and well defined adding to his masculinity and lastly his baby pink lips looked strangely alluring at the moment, tempting me in. It was like I was seeing him again for the first time before he rejected me.
I longed to tear my gaze from his but couldn't find it in me to do so.
“I can learn it on my own,”I said. I couldn't even convince myself with that tone.
His smile deepened, and he pulled me back closer to the horse. “ Alright, so if you really want to get balanced on a horse, the trick is to…” Ryker began his lesson. I listened, but I knew I was going to learn nothing as all my senses were directed to the activeness of the bond.
The bond was pleasantly surprised.
And all I could think of was sweaty naked breathless thing.
The cool evening air blew across my face softly as I sat high on the horse. The moon was out now and glowed with all its glory, its silver light illuminated the field that I was now in. Ryker walked on foot beside the horse as we took a slow walk across the field.
He'd kept true to his words and had been really gentle and meticulous in teaching me how to get on the horse and actually ride it, and now we were out the stable and in the open field.
“Thank you,” my voice was low, but the silent night breeze carried it well for me and delivered the message.
“It's my pleasure.”
A comfortable silence set in for a while, I wasn't anxious or terrified but rather very calm. The atmosphere was very tranquil, and the glow of the fireflies through the blades of grass gave the field an almost ethereal look. He was calm too, I could feel it through the contact between our hands as he held it from below.
A question slowly crept into my mind, and my smile wavered. This was the worst time to ask him this, but this was the only time I could. I either make use of the moment or miss it forever, and with a fixed resolve, I spoke.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Anything” came his bold and clear reply, without hesitation
“How did–”
Neighhhh!
The loud cry of the once gentle horse disrupted the silence as it raised its fore legs and kicked off, running ahead chasing something white that looked to be a squirrel or something close ahead of it.
“Arghh,” I cried in horror as my hand was forcefully ripped out of Ryker's.
“Hold on!” I heard Ryker say as the horse took off much faster.
“Oh shit!” I cried out as I began to lose control, my hands were slipping.
In a flash, Ryker sped right past the horse, ran ahead for a while, and turned around to face the horse head on, giving it a very bold and commanding look.
“Stop!” He commanded.
It all happened fast. In a blink, the horse, now more terrified at the sheer amount of authority in front of it than the little creature it chased, made an abrupt stop skidding to a halt, instantly leaving me flying through the air and crashing face first into Alpha Ryker's figure, causing us both to go tumbling hard onto the grass.
I landed on top of him, and we stared at each other silently for a while before I burst into a fit of laughter.
I found what had happened, both terrifying and annoying. He didn't laugh, but I could swear a smile formed around his lips.
I laughed until my stomach hurt, and he watched me contentedly. After a while, I calmed down and rolled off him, then approached the horse that had suddenly decided to graze on the nearby grass.
Soon after, we were on the horse, together this time.
He sat behind me and I in front of him.
"That was crazy," I breathed out, letting out a chuckle, "Guess I've checked something off my bucket list."
"That's cool then." He said in a deep, throaty voice.
We found a common atmosphere once more and were able to go back into the tranquil state we once were.
We were both exhausted and drained.
I leaned deeper into him when I felt a bit cold.
His body felt warm, and I could hear his heart beat directly.
It was both soft and gentle, beating in a beautiful rhythm. And as much as I, ‐the bond wanted to do nasty stuff, the nature proximity was different than the others.
This was peaceful.
It was right.
But then I remembered the question and I couldn't ignore it. So I decided to just ask him straight up, ready to brave whatever might happen.
“Ryker?” I called out to him softly to be sure I had his attention.
“Hmm?”
“What happened to the former luna, Grace? How did she die?”