Arrow Inferno
Chapter 45: Jeremy Stanton vs. Ryan Hicks ~ Feral attraction in the midst of hatred… The Ojah appears!

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Ryan heard the door crash open and looked up gratefully. But when he saw his mate, a gasp of terror tore out of his throat as his pulse raced with foreboding. No! He would pick the vicious Camille over a red-eyed Jeremy any day. Camille stumbled backward, barely catching herself with a hand against the wall. The raw power emanating from the alpha left not only Camille but even Ryan completely weak from trepidation. "Jeremy..." Camille breathed, her eyes wide with fear.

The red-eyed alpha stretched out an arm and opened his palm. Both Ryan and Camille gasped at the purplish fireball that appeared in that palm. They didn't have to be geniuses to know where that fireball was going to land in the next few seconds. The direction of the murderous red eyes said it all. Camille's eyes were filled with terror. She knew her end had come. Even Vincent shook with fear.

"Jeremy, don't!" Ryan screamed.

Ryan watched as Jeremy slowly turned his eyes on him. A whimper tore out of his throat as he stared into the eyes that terrified him to his very soul. The man standing before him was not his Jeremy at all. He was someone else...something else. And he didn't look like he even understood what Ryan said. The fireball got bigger. Ryan knew that if it dropped, there would be chaos. But most importantly, he knew Jeremy would hate himself afterward. He had to do something to stop Jeremy from dropping that ball. But what could he do? Ryan turned to look at Camille and saw tears squeezing past her tightly closed eyelids. Definitely no help from that end.

He looked past Jeremy to Vincent. The visibly trembling warrior raised his eyes off the cell phone in his hand and stared at Ryan with a look of absolute helplessness. Ryan knew he had to act. He had to get over his fear of the monster and get to his mate.

Ryan pulled himself to his feet. Then he started towards Jeremy on shaky legs. When he got to his red-eyed mate, he wrapped one arm around his waist and placed the other on his chest...where he could feel his heart beating. Then with a voice throbbing with an emotion that brought warmth into the hearts of their audience, Ryan spoke to Jeremy.

"Come back to me Jeremy," Ryan said softly. "I know you're in there. And I know you can hear me. Please, come back to me." He laid the side of his face against Jeremy's chest. "Please I need you. I need you to take care of me. No one can do it as you do. I don't want anyone to. That's your job. So please come back to me."

When Ryan heard a whoosh sound, he tensed up, thinking Jeremy had dropped the fireball. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut, ready for the worst. But then he felt Jeremy's arms wrap around his shoulder and cradle the back of his head. And even before he heard his mate's voice, Ryan knew he was back.

"Thank you," Jeremy whispered shakily, burying his face in Ryan's hair. "Thank you. Thank you." He kept whispering.

Behind them, a shocked Stan stared with huge eyes. When Vincent had sent both him and Philip messages telling them about the situation, they'd both panicked. He had been closer to the school so he'd quickly rushed there. And he'd gotten there just in time to hear Ryan talk Jeremy down. That had never happened in the history of Ojah. They didn't get talked down. They snapped back in their own sweet time or when something forced them to. Definitely not a talk! "Take her to the pack house, Vince," Stan ordered curtly. Camille lived in her lovely house outside the pack house. She was a medical doctor and a very brilliant individual. But of course, when the beast inside wanted to have its way, there was no stopping it.

"Jeremy, I'm sorry." Camille sobbed as she was led away.

But the alpha didn't even raise his head. His massive body shook against his mate as he tried to calm down. Besides the fact that he'd seen his mate being hurt, he'd almost killed a pack member for something she had no control over. Jeremy knew he had to get Ryan to the pack hospital to be checked out but he just couldn't bring himself to release his hold on him.

"Why didn't you fight back?" Jeremy's voice shook.

"I couldn't." Ryan signed, feeling very weak. "I wanted to but my body just wouldn't obey my mind."

"How so?" Jeremy whispered.

"I don't know how to explain it." Ryan raised his head but Jeremy put it back on his chest. "It was like that time." He said quietly. "When you compelled me to...stay put whilst you..." Ryan trailed off.

"Shit." Jeremy gasped. "She couldn't have compelled you. She can't."

"She didn't," Ryan responded.

"Jer, you did," Philip said from behind Jeremy. "We have to take Ryan to the hospital. He's lost a lot of blood."

"I'm fine," Ryan said quietly. "Just weak. I just need to change my clothes and lie down for a while."

"No, Prof." Philip countered. "You're going home and that's final. I can't..."

"What do you mean I did, Lip?" Jeremy turned eyes filled with worry and confusion onto his friend.

"You compelled him the day he shifted for the first time not to ever attack a pack member," Philip said quietly. "Camille is pack."

"Oh my god." Jeremy gasped. "I caused this. And I almost killed...fuck. If I'd dropped that..."

"Hey, listen to me." Ryan reached up to cup Jeremy's cheeks in his palms. "If you'd really wanted to drop it, you would have." He said with conviction. "You didn't have to wait till I tried to stop you, Jeremy. Think about it. You didn't want to hurt us. So snap out of whatever self-hatred you're sinking yourself in and take charge like you always do." Ryan gave a slight smile then. "I find that very sexy." He murmured.

Jeremy visibly calmed down after hearing Ryan's words. "I need to fix this." He whispered. "Otherwise you can never defend yourself. I can't believe I forgot that." He groaned.

"We all forgot, Jer," Philip said quietly.

"Yeah, but he's my mate Lip. I shouldn't have forgotten." Jeremy muttered.

"In your defense, you were not exactly...you when you compelled him." Philip drawled. "But I agree the earlier you fix it, the better for all of us. And that is why we have to get back to the house immediately."

Philip was still shocked at what Stan had told him. He couldn't believe Ryan had actually talked Jeremy out of that Ojah influence. To the Beta, Ryan had instantly become the most important individual in the pack. Being able to control an Ojah was a very big deal. And Philip resolved to ensure that no harm ever came to Jeremy's mate. That suddenly became his number one obsession.