Arrow Inferno
Chapter 96: Jeremy Stanton vs. Ryan Hicks ~ Feral attraction in the midst of hatred… Calmed by the mate!

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Jeremy stared his mate down. He wanted to fuck him and punish him at the same time. His eyes dropped to Ryan's mouth, stared hard at those beautiful full lips... the lips that gave him joy... Then he pictured somebody else kissing those lips....

"Fuuuuck!" Jeremy roared. He wanted to hit something. Turning abruptly on his feet, he stormed out of the sleeping area.

Ryan watched his mate go and gave a deep sigh. He understood that Jeremy was upset but he needed to calm down and listen to him. Ryan left the sleeping area and went to the kitchen to grab a broom. Then he came back and swept the shards to one side so that Jeremy wouldn't step on them and hurt himself. When he was done, he took the broom back to the kitchen and then went to the closet to pull on sweats and a t-shirt. Then he entered the bathroom. The sight that met Ryan in the bathroom, broke his heart. Jeremy was leaning over the vanity with his head in his hands. The desolation Jeremy was feeling hit Ryan with such intensity, he gasped. He definitely preferred Jeremy's anger to his current feeling of wretchedness. His anger, Ryan could handle. But that feeling of utter desolation, he didn't know how to handle.

"Jeremy?" Ryan called softly. But when Jeremy raised his head to look at him, the devastation on his face caused Ryan to lose his train of thought.

With a sigh, Ryan reached for their toothbrushes and squeezed some toothpaste onto them. Then he reached out to give Jeremy his. Jeremy took his time taking the brush from Ryan. He couldn't seem to keep his eye off Ryan's mouth. But this time, the look in the alpha's eyes wasn't the usual sexual hunger. His eyes showed how betrayed he felt.

Both brushed their teeth slowly, with Jeremy staring at Ryan's face through the mirror. After they were done, Jeremy cursed low in his throat and rubbed his face with his hands in an obvious sign of frustration. "I'm going for a run." The alpha announced.

"I'm coming with you," Ryan responded.

"I don't think that's a good idea right now." Jeremy rasped. "You...I can't...it's not safe..."

"You mean I won't be safe around your wolf," Ryan said quietly, feeling his heart do a swan dive to the pit of his stomach.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Jeremy responded simply.

"God, Jer..." It hurt so much knowing that Jeremy's wolf was angry at him. "Let me tell you everything before you go for that run, please." Ryan pleaded. "Do this for me, Jeremy."

After a hard stare, Jeremy finally nodded and moved past Ryan into the room. He went directly to the closet and pulled on black jeans and a sexy dark green tank top with low-cut armholes. He looked so sexy Ryan just stared.

"You know what would last longer," Jeremy muttered and immediately wished he could take it back. That was so fourth grade. He wanted to kick himself when he saw the heat race up into Ryan's face. "If you don't mind, make whatever you want to explain snappy so that I can get out of here." His voice was low and hard.

Ryan followed Jeremy to the couch and sat beside him. He didn't miss how Jeremy moved further away from him, leaving a bigger space between them. Waves of hurt rippled across his perfect face. Although he knew that Jeremy would understand after he explained what happened, Ryan couldn't help but feel as if a dagger was being pushed into his chest at that tiny gesture by Jeremy. Ryan rubbed his chest as he cleared his throat. "When you left, I..."

"At what point did you kiss the warlock?" Jeremy interrupted.

Ryan looked at Jeremy's grim face. "That was two days ago but..." "Skip to that part." Jeremy rasped. "What happened two days ago?"

"Jeremy I have to start from the beginning otherwise you won't..."

"Hey, I agreed to listen to your explanation." Jeremy cut Ryan off. "My main interest is what happened the day you decided to kiss another person. Was it a man or a woman by the way?" "A..."

"Never mind, that's not important." He again cut Ryan off. "Just tell me what the fuck happened two days ago?"

Ryan's eyes narrowed dangerously and his nostrils flared. He was beginning to get angry. If that was how Jeremy wanted to play it, so be it.

"Two days ago we buried Vincent, Jake, Evans, Ramsey, and Nuka. After the fun..."

"What?" Jeremy roared, surging to his feet. "What the fuck?"

"You wanted to know what happened two days ago so shut up and let me tell you." Ryan's voice was dead quiet.

Jeremy wouldn't sit though. So Ryan went ahead to narrate what happened with The Jackal after the funeral of the warriors. He explained how he'd gone to the study with Paige to work but had instead fallen asleep and dreamt about him for the first time and asked him to kiss him. He then dispassionately told him what the warlock had done and concluded with Paige's plan and how it had backfired.

"I didn't know what had really happened till Paige came to explain everything to me yesterday. I'm sorry I made out with the warlock but...I didn't know it wasn't you."

"You should have known it wasn't me Ryan. You know my scent. Everybody has their own unique scent. If someone was able to get that close to you for you to demand a kiss, you should have known. Dream or no dream, Ryan." Jeremy said quietly.

"Well, I didn't know and I'm sorry," Ryan said with a hint of anger.

"Now tell me about the warriors," Jeremy demanded.

Hearing that he'd lost his warriors was even more horrible than knowing that his mate had made out with someone else. After all, from what Ryan was saying, it hadn't been his intention to do so. It still hurt as fuck and he didn't know how he was going to get that silly image out of his mind but there were more important issues to think about.

Taking a deep breath, Ryan told Jeremy everything. Well, at least what he could remember. When he started the tale about the Wyatt Clan, Jeremy sat back down beside him on the couch. And as he spoke, Jeremy kept drawing closer to him. At a point, the alpha reached for Ryan's hand but he yanked his hand from Jeremy's and folded it across his chest. Jeremy could tell how emotional Ryan got as he spoke about what the asshole who fathered him told him. By the time Ryan got to the part where his father had insinuated that he was a freak just like his siblings...and in front of Deloris too, he was shaking so hard Jeremy pulled him into his lap.

The alpha had a feeling his mate didn't even notice his new position. That was how wretched Ryan felt and the feeling hit Jeremy like a ton of bricks. Being bonded as mates, each could feel the emotions of the other. Jeremy could therefore feel how insignificant and worthless Ryan felt, thanks to what his father said to him. He wanted to rip the man's heart out of his chest, wherever he was.

"You don't have to go on, baby." Jeremy didn't recognize his own voice. "It's okay." But Ryan kept narrating what happened.

By the time Ryan got to how Vincent and his team had lost their lives, he was sobbing so hard Jeremy wanted to kill someone...anyone. He hugged his sobbing mate to his chest so tightly it was almost as if he wanted to absorb Ryan into himself.

"Oh my god, Ryan." Jeremy groaned, rocking Ryan as he would a child. "I'm so sorry you had to go through all that without me. I'm so sorry baby." He kept murmuring soothingly to Ryan. Fuck, he needed to vent, Jeremy screamed inside. The level of anger within was absurd. But this time, Jeremy wanted to kill Phillip for exposing his mate to all that violence. His friend should have known better. He opened his mind-link to Phillip. 'My suite. Now.' Jeremy barked onto the link. His friend had better have a better explanation, he fumed.