Ram's Meeting

There were now ten miles between Ram and Tymarie, and with each mile came a painful pull at him, like a rope wrapped around his limbs trying to drag him back to his ill mate. It wasn't just physical either, Ram's emotions were all over the place and pulling at him. He was angry with Alpha Tyler for demanding that he meet him right away, sad that he had to leave Tymarie in such bad shape, and scared that he'd lose her forever. The blood bond may have been forced, but there was no mistaking that it was just as real and strong as if the Moon herself had tied the two of them together with her own hands.

Alpha Tyler would never meet on his own turf, that would be too risky. He'd never dare risk being seen with someone the likes of Ram. So, he'd picked a spot that was just on the outskirts of Ram's pack's territory. It was an old, abandoned diner parking lot with a large sign that still advertised a pancake special. Every time Ram drove past, he'd be reminded of when he was a child and his father would take him to get those same pancakes. Now, he wished they'd tear the old diner down along with the rusting sign. It was an eyesore on his territory.

Gravel flies up into the air as Ram turns quickly into the diner parking lot, slams on his brakes, and jerks his truck into park. He jumps out of his truck and throws his hands up in the air as he looks around the dark empty parking lot.

"Get out here, Alpha Tyler!" He yells out into the darkness. He doesn't see the Azzora pack leader or his men, but he knows they're there. The Alpha doesn't have the confidence or bravery to come alone or to not hide in the dark until he knows it's completely safe to come out. "I don't have time for games! Get out here!"

Alpha Tyler's beta stepped out from the shadows first. Beta Greg scanned Ram up and down and then looked around the area once more before motioning for more men to come out. Ram laughed and shook his head, amused at how cowardly the Azzora leader was, hiding somewhere in the bushes.

"Can we get on with this?" Ram sighed as he watched a few more of the Azzora pack members come out to watch over the meeting.

"Where are your men?" The Beta asked.

"I don't need backup," Ram smirked.

"Not even your beta?" Beta Greg questioned.

"Am I supposed to be scared?" Ram wasn't intimidated by any of the Azzora. In fact, he could shift at any second and kill them all with his bare teeth before they could even turn into their wolf. "Now, I'm going to need you to get to the point of this meeting. I don't have time to play hide and seek with you pussies."

The Beta growled, but it wasn't anything but amusing to Alpha Ram.

"None of this would be necessary if you had just kept to our original plan. You are the one that changed the meeting." Alpha Tyler said as he stepped out of the dark bushes and walked towards Ram.

"I'm not one of your businessmen with agendas and office luncheons. You hired my pack to fight for you when the time comes, not to come every time you call. I'm no one's dog to order around. Now, the time will come to fight, and we will fight. Until then, leave me the fuck alone."

"There's been a bit of change though," Tyler told him. "There's been human attacks."

Ram thought of the humans that attacked him and Payne on the way home from the Moon Pairing Ceremony, but he didn't reveal that to Alpha Tyler. Something about the whole situation seemed off.

"And?" He asked.

"We think the South might be sending them. It might mean sending you and your pack out sooner." Tyler told him.

"Sending? We're not your army. You said that the other territories were planning on attacking you and the other upper packs. It wasn't our fight."

"But you made a deal."

"No, I made a deal to join in the fight on you and the upper packs when they came all our way. I didn't agree to take a fight their way."

"Well, human attacks is them taking the fight this way," Tyler claimed.

"We don't know that for certain." Alpha Ram crossed his arms and stood tall. He didn't like where this was heading. He'd made a deal to side with the Azzora and fight with them, but not to be sent out like soldiers to be slaughtered at their beck and call.

"How's Tymarie?" Tyler asked with a smug smile across his face. "She is, after all, part of this deal. No deal, no daughter."

Ram quickly snatched Tyler up by his neck and slammed him into the truck. Beta Greg and the other men began to growl as they came toward him, but Ram turned and roared loudly as his aura filled the air. The males all stopped approaching him, but their mouths were still snarling at him as they debated their attack.

"Stand down!" Alpha Tyler yelled out to his men, knowing that Ram would rip him in two before they could even get to him. The males all shook their fangs away and stood down, except Beta Greg, who was still growing lowly off to the side, waiting for the moment to rush in on Ram and rescue his Alpha.

"Don't try me." Alpha Ram warned Greg. "You don't stand a chance."

"It's alright," Tyler told his beta. "We didn't come here to fight, and I'm sure Alpha Ram didn't either. We're just here to talk."

"You talk too much," Ram growled into Tyler's face.

"Is this about my Tymarie?" He asked him. "Don't worry, keep the brat. Do what you want with her, but don't break our agreement."

Ram felt a rumble inside his chest as he heard Tyler talk about his own daughter like that, but he fought the urge to tear the male into pieces as he loosened the Alpha's neck and eventually let go, tossing Tyler to the side where he fell into Beta Greg.

"Stop wasting my time with your bullshit meetings. Next time you call me down here, it better be important." Ram warned him. "Or we're going to have a big problem."

Fed up with wasting his time, Ram got back into his truck and took off towards his house, leaving Alpha Tyler and his men fuming in the old run-down parking lot. There was something more sinister and calculating behind Tyler's actions, he could feel it, but he wasn't certain what it was just yet.

Ram didn't tell Tyler that he was now fated mates with Tymarie. The jerk threw her away to him like trash, he didn't deserve to know anything more about his daughter. Plus, the Alpha was so manipulative and sneaky, that he didn't want him using her as leverage or hatching a scheme involving her. In time, Tyler would find out, but it wouldn't be yet, especially when she's so ill.

Just then, a pain ached through Ram's body. He almost pulled the truck over it hurt so bad and took his breath away. As he was catching his breath, his cellphone rang in his pocket.

"What?" He asked into his phone.

"Iris says you need to get here now." Beta Payne told him. "It's Tymarie."

Ram threw his phone across the truck and stepped down on the gas. That was the pain he was feeling. It wasn't his own pain; it was his mates. Something was wrong, even more wrong than when he'd left. Each mile felt like hours as he sped his way home, taking corners so dangerously that he was lucky he even made it all, but he wouldn't let anything or anyone stop him from getting to her.

He looked up at the sky and the Moon would be on his side once more. As he pulled up at Iris's cottage at the end of his property, Payne was waiting for him with a nervous look on his face. He also noticed a bunch of his men from his pack sitting and standing around the cottage.

"Why is everyone here?" He asked his Beta through their mind link.

"Tyla's in heat at the packhouse. It got pretty intense. No males can go over there until it's over." His Beta told him.

Damn it. Just what he needed, with everything else going on, a female in heat at his packhouse would add more fuel to the fire.

"Keep them out here," Ram told his Beta as he hurried from the truck into the cottage.

As he entered the bedroom and saw Tymarie, his heart sank. She was pale and still unconscious. Her skin looked almost gray, as though the life was being drained from her.

"This is why you don't force a blood bond," Iris said from behind him as she entered the room and closed the door. "There are too many complications."

"I don't need a lecture." He sat down on the bed next to his mate and ran his fingers over her soft skin. "Just tell me what can be done."

"You're going to have to mark here if there's any chance to keep her alive." The healer said.

"I'm not mating with her like this." He looked up at her with disgust.

"Not by sex, you fool." Iris shook her head at him. "Mark her by blood."

"You mean bite her?" He asked.

"Yes. There's more to marking than what you males like to focus on."

He knew about marking with fangs, but he'd always been under the assumption that mate biting was just for pleasure or extra bonding. He didn't think it marked mates the same as mating.

"How will that even help?" Alpha Ram asked his healer.

"You need to take her blood into you and put your blood into her. Hopefully, it will strengthen the bond and complete it so that she will recover and the two of you can go on as though it is a naturally fated bond sent from the Moon herself." Iris pulled Tymarie's hair away from her shoulder and motioned for Ram to proceed with his fangs. "You need to taste her blood, then give her your own."

Ram sighed, but he knew that Iris was a wise and dedicated healer to him and the pack. If she told him this was the only way, then it was the truth. Out of options, Ram took a deep breath and then sank his wolf fangs into Tymarie's soft neck. The poor female didn't even budge as his teeth stabbed through her skin. Her blood was delicious, so lovely that he almost forgot why he was tasting her until Iris's hand on his shoulder snapped him back to reality.

"Now, give her your blood, son." Iris's voice was soothing as she directed him on what to do next.

Normally, a female would bite their mate's neck just as he has hers, but as long as he gave her his blood, it'd be the same. Ram bit into his wrist and then took his wrist to Tymarie's mouth. He watched as his blood drained onto her plump lips and into her mouth.

"You've done all you can do now, Alpha," Iris told him as she covered him with a blanket. "Now, all you can do is rest beside her and pray to the Moon that the bond heals correctly."

"But there's so much I need to go do." He started to get up, but Iris sternly refused to let him.

"No, everything can wait. Only your matters now." She lit a few candles and some kind of herb. "Just rest."

Ram felt exhausted and even though he had no intention of closing his eyes, he was soon falling asleep, not knowing what he'd wake up to.