The Rider Alpha's Runaway Luna

CHAPTER 10 THE OTHER WOMAN

Ryker made it halfway down the hallway before his phone started ringing, and he almost ignored it until he saw Seraphina's name flashing on the screen. He'd been avoiding her calls since arriving in Portland but she was persistent and eventually he'd have to deal with the mess he'd made by letting her think their arrangement was more than it actually was.

"What?" he answered, too tired and emotionally drained for pleasantries.

"What?" Seraphina's voice came through sharp and angry. "That's all you have to say to me after I find out from social media that you have a secret son?"

Ryker closed his eyes and leaned against the wall. "It's complicated," he said.

"It's really not," Seraphina shot back. "You've been sleeping with me for three years, telling the pack I'm your intended mate, and now I find out you've had a child with another woman this entire time?"

"I didn't know about Kade until three days ago," Ryker said. "His mother never told me she was pregnant."

"His mother," Seraphina repeated coldly. "You mean you contracted Luna from six years ago? The omega you paid to play pretend and then let disappear?"

Ryker's jaw tightened because of course the pack gossip had already reached her. "Kyra is my fated mate," he said quietly. "The bond never broke despite the contract."

The silence on the other end was deafening. "You told me you didn't have a fated mate," Seraphina finally said, her voice shaking. "You told me the moon goddess hadn't chosen anyone for you."

"I lied," Ryker admitted. "I rejected my mate because she wasn't what I wanted, and I've been paying for that mistake ever since."

"You've been paying for it?" Seraphina laughed bitterly. "I've spent three years thinking I was building a future with you, thinking I'd be Luna of the Nightrider Pack, and it was all based on a lie?"

"I never promised you the Luna position," Ryker said. "I made it clear from the start that our relationship was casual."

"Casual?" Seraphina's voice rose. "You introduced me to the elders, you brought me to pack functions, you let me move into the pack house, that's not casual, Ryker, that's serious."

Ryker ran a hand through his hair because she was right and he'd been an asshole to her too. "I'm sorry," he said. "I should have been more clear about my intentions."

"Your intentions?" Seraphina said. "Your intentions were to use me as a placeholder until something better came along, and now that your fated mate has reappeared with your son, I'm being discarded like trash."

"That's not—" Ryker started, but Seraphina cut him off.

"Save it," she said coldly. "I'm coming to Portland tomorrow and we're having this conversation face to face."

"No," Ryker said immediately. "Stay in pack territory, Seraphina, there's nothing for you here."

"There's you," Seraphina said. "And three years of my life that I invested in our relationship, so I'm coming whether you like it or not."

She hung up before Ryker could argue, and he stared at his phone feeling the situation spiral further out of control. Kyra was barely speaking to him, Kade was confused, and now Seraphina was coming to Portland to stake her claim on a relationship that had never been real to begin with.

His phone buzzed with a text from Kai. *Seraphina just booked a flight for tomorrow morning. Thought you should know.*

Ryker cursed under his breath and called his beta back. "Can you stop her?" he asked when Kai answered.

"Not without causing a scene," Kai said. "She's telling everyone she's coming to meet her stepson, and the pack is eating it up."

"He's not her stepson," Ryker growled. "She has nothing to do with Kade."

"Try telling her that," Kai said. "She's convinced that if she can win the kid over, she'll secure her position as Luna."

"Over my dead body," Ryker said. "Kyra will lose her mind if another woman tries to play mother to Kade."

"Then you better warn Kyra before Seraphina shows up," Kai suggested. "Because you know she's going to make a dramatic entrance."

Ryker looked back at Kyra's apartment door and knew going back there tonight would only make things worse. She'd already told him to leave, and showing up again to warn her about his ex-lover coming to town would push her over the edge. "I'll handle it in the morning," he said.

"Your funeral," Kai said. "For what it's worth, boss, Seraphina's not good for you and never has been, everyone in the pack knows it."

"Then why didn't anyone tell me?" Ryker asked.

"Because you're the alpha and we figured you knew what you were doing," Kai said. "Turns out you're just as clueless about relationships as the rest of us."

Ryker hung up and headed for the elevator, his mind racing with how to handle tomorrow. He needed to talk to Kyra before Seraphina arrived, needed to make sure she understood that whatever Seraphina claimed, it wasn't real and never had been. But would Kyra even believe him after everything else?

The elevator doors opened and Ryker stepped inside, catching his reflection in the mirrored walls. He looked tired and older than his thirty years, and for the first time in six years, he let himself acknowledge the truth he'd been avoiding.

He'd never stopped wanting Kyra. The mate bond had been there all along, dormant but not dead, and seeing her again had brought everything roaring back to life. He'd spent three years with Seraphina trying to fill a hole that could only be filled by his fated mate, and now that Kyra was back in his life, Ryker realized he didn't want casual or convenient anymore.

He wanted his family. He wanted his mate. He wanted to fix the mistakes he'd made and build something real with the woman he'd rejected out of pride and stupidity.

But first he had to survive tomorrow, when Seraphina arrived in Portland and tried to destroy any chance he had of winning Kyra back. His phone buzzed again and he looked down to see a text from an unknown number with a photo attached.

The image showed Seraphina at the airport with her luggage, and the message below read: *Your girlfriend's on her way. Thought you should prepare the real Luna. - Marcus*

Ryker saved the photo and sent it to Kai with instructions to intercept Seraphina at the Portland airport and keep her away from Velocity Motorsports. Then he pulled up Kyra's contact information that he'd gotten from the arena's HR files and typed out a message.

*We need to talk tomorrow before you go to work. There's something you need to know about someone from my past. - R*

He hit send and watched the message deliver, then headed back to his hotel to prepare for the disaster that was about to become his life. Six years ago he'd rejected his mate and let her disappear. Tomorrow he'd have to convince her that he'd changed while his ex-lover tried to prove otherwise.

Ryker had faced down rival alphas and survived pack challenges, but somehow he knew that dealing with two angry women was going to be the hardest fight of his life.