Ryder The Mate-less (book 1 of Hell in the Realm, series)

CH 5

Ryder was awake and waiting for her escort from the pack. She had packed a small backpack only. She’d put a few photos in her bag, but her most precious one was one of her and her dad on her 16th birthday. She’d been all dressed up formally for her first shift, as was he, standing there smiling proudly at her.

Her birthday had fallen on the full moon that year, and he’d splurged and bought her a very pretty chiffon dress, in soft green, with a little bit of bling. It had fallen to her knees, and he’d told her that her wolf would arrive in style, in a flourish of green chiffon, and everyone would be jealous. She recalled laughing at him and shaking her head, calling him crazy. Recalled him just hugging her, he’d kissed the top of her head and smiled. “I just want your day to be super special.”

It was a good picture of the two of them, and a good memory for her to retain as well, and though she didn’t need to take anything with her, she wasn’t going to leave without a few pictures of the one man that had loved and cherished her. Raised her and wanted her to have the world.

She’d left a note for her friends; knew they were all coming to get her for a big fancy breakfast at seven. They also wanted to take her out for a day of shopping for her birthday. She’d not been able to talk them out of it, and they were arriving at dawn. She’d relented in the end and told them ‘okay, a big fancy breakfast and some shopping’. She had figured it was going to be her last moments with them.

But no, she wasn’t even being allowed that one luxury, she was being sent away right as her time of birth clicked over. So she’d sat that night and written them a letter; she had used that letter to tell them the truth, that she had been deemed Mate-less by the Matchmaker. That she was going to the Kingdom to serve in the royal military.

That she no longer felt she wanted to be inside the pack, that there was now nothing left here for her. That a life of a soldier at war was better than a life of loneliness inside the pack, where she would have to watch them; all of her closest and dearest friends mate off, one by one, and be happy and loved up, have children.

Something she wanted for all of them, something she wanted them to be able to truly enjoy, without having to, in any way, feel guilty for having around her, for being happy and loved up, when it wasn’t something she would ever get to feel.

That this was her choice and she’d not told them because she didn’t want them to spend their last few days together worrying about her. She had wished them all well in their lives to come, told them not to worry, that she was a good fighter. They’d all seen her train and knew she could fight, so she would do well, and that military training would only increase her skills.

That where she was going, she would get the best warrior training within the kingdom. Her life would amount to something: that one day she might even become a renowned War General, leading her own troops to defend the kingdom, and that they’d hear about her and smile and be able to say 'that is my childhood friend', even if they never saw her again.

They were her childhood friends, and she’d never forget them as long as she lived. She had a lot of good memories with them, to keep her company, on this, her journey into this next part of her life.

That it was unlikely that she would return. To just think of it as she’d gone off to live within another pack, like so many other she-wolves did, when finding their Mate’s and never returned to their home pack. That this would be no different to that. She’d signed it simply, Ryder, and placed into the envelope a photo of all of them as a group. She had a copy of the picture in her bag to take with her as well. She had placed that envelope on the middle of her bed with the words ‘My Friends’ written on it, so they knew it was for them.

There were three short raps on the front door of her home at precisely 0320 and Ryder got up from the chair she was sitting on in the lounge room and pulled on the small backpack she would take with her.

There was a lamp on in the house and the front porch light lit the steps. Those out there would know she was here and waiting for them. Ryder looked around her home one last time and sighed to herself, before walking over and opening the front door to see who was there to escort her from the pack at this ungodly hour.

Two large bulky warriors were standing there. They both looked down at her, much taller than she was. “Ryder, we’re here to escort you to the royal military sign up. My name is Varn, and this is Tony,” one of them stated.

She nodded and stepped outside. “Let’s go,” was all she said. There was no point in putting it off. Delaying it would get her nowhere, or worse, shown to the pack’s brothel if she suddenly changed her mind. This also wasn’t to her, the pack she’d grown up in. She looked at it very differently now; it wasn’t a place she wanted to be anymore, so leaving it was fine.

This was her lot in life, and she was now resigned to it. At least the King took in the Mate-less, and didn’t deem them useless. He would feed them, clothe them, train them up and pay them to be his soldiers. That was better than any life she could lead here inside the Silver Sable Pack.

It was a long walk and those warriors she knew were Elite Ranked. She could smell it. As they stepped out of the pack’s territory, she was handed a simple long black-hooded cloak. “It’s going to get cold, crossing through the mountain passage,” Varn told her. “Put that on, it’ll help to keep you warm.”

She’d accepted it and off they had gone, into the woods, northwest of their pack, they made their way into the Adirondack Park, onto a trail in which she knew some parts of. It was used for training, to do endurance running. It was also used by humans, known to them as the Elk Lake – Marcy Trail. That was only a couple of kilometers from the pack’s borders.

She walked between the two men, one in front of her and one behind her, and she kind of felt a bit like a prisoner, she realised as they escorted her along. A guard in front and a guard behind, so that she couldn’t run off.

Ryder wondered what would happen if she just turned herself rogue, shifted to Thorn and bolted off into the woods, to live a life out there as a lone rogue female. Thought better of it two hours later when they were face to face with two male rogue wolves, all snarling and aggression.

“Stay here, don’t move and let us handle them, Ryder.” Varn had told her.

She’d never come across male rogues before, not in the pack or out of it, and she could see that they were both looking at her. Realised in that very moment why she was getting an escort.

She was female, and they could scent her out, and that was what had attracted them. Her female scent had drawn them right to her, because they wanted to mate with her themselves.

She had always lived within the safety of the pack, never been threatened by rogues, knew that the pack had their fair share of attacks, but she was always sent to the packhouse to be within the safety of the lockdown mode because she was female and underage.

Ryder stood there and watched on as those two elite warriors fought those rogues. She did as she was told. She didn’t think it was wise to run, it would likely only set off those rogues need to hunt her, which would only get her into more trouble, and she knew it.

She watched as those two beasts were dispatched by her guards, and Varn looked at her. “Are you alright?” he asked, looking over her.

“Yes,” Ryder nodded, neither Varn nor Tony had let either of those rogues get close to her. “Is it going to be like this all the way to the portal?” she asked.

“Yes,” Varn nodded. “This is why you get a full escort.”

“Through it?” she inquired.

“Yes,” he nodded to her, “we will take you all the way to the enlistment camp within the wolfen kingdom.”

“Thank you,” she stated, and she was grateful for them being here. Those rogues had been vicious, and she doubted she would have been able to defend herself from both of them after watching the fighting that had gone on.

“It’s our job to escort those willing to serve the king.” Tony stated simply, “Let’s keep moving.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier and quicker in wolfen form?” she asked.

“This trail has its pros and cons, for both human and wolf alike. Human is the best we feel,” Varn told her as they moved on once more.

Ryder just nodded as she walked between them once more. The sun wasn’t even up yet, and she wondered if it would only get worse during the day. Surely there had to be a better way to travel to the kingdom portal.

Though Tony had said this was their job, that was curious to her, was this all they did walk back and forth from the pack to the portal. They certainly seemed comfortable walking and chatting between themselves. They knew where they were going as well, hadn’t once checked a map to see if they were headed in the right direction.

“How often do you escort people to the kingdom?” she was now curious as to how many wolves their Alpha sent off to the kingdom and for what reasons.

“Half a dozen times a year,” Tony shrugged.