Page 98 of Knot A Chance

I whipped around and gasped. Bennett pulled me back toward him. “Felix, no.”

“I have to,” I said, already moving toward the figure on the ground. Ryder lay in a pool of his own blood, Wyatt at his side. I looked around for the source of the shot and saw Donovan standing with Reid just behind Bennett, gun drawn.

My relief at Donovan arriving in time to save Bennett was palpable, but the sadness I felt at seeing Ryder dying in front of me was hard to reconcile.

I ran to his side, sensing Bennett following me from a distance. I dropped to my knees, landing in the blood pooling on the pavement. Ryder looked at me, his face pale and his body shaking, the one wound in his chest spilling a steady flow of blood.

“He’s not going to survive this,” Wyatt whispered, his fingers on the pulse at Ryder’s wrist. “If you have anything to say or ask him, you need to be quick.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and squeezed Ryder’s hand. “I’m so sorry,” I said. “I wish this could have ended differently.”

Ryder gave me a crooked smile. “Pretty sure this is all my fault, remember?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said, chest tight. “Just let me stay with you.”

“Felix?” he asked, his voice uneven and weak. “Please don’t forget me. I don’t want to be forgotten.”

“I won’t forget you,” I promised, my eyes filling with tears. At least this time it was the truth. I may not have been able to honestly say that what we had was love, but it was something meaningful. It was a relationship that had shaped me early in life and I truly wouldn’t be able to forget Ryder. I didn’t want to. We’d had good times together, despite everything else.

Ryder looked over my shoulder to where Bennett stood, sending his support through the bond. “I’m sorry about busting up your garage.”

“It’s not important. Apology accepted,” Bennett said.

“Take care of him,” Ryder said, his eyes flickering closed.

“I will,” Bennett said.

A few seconds later, his chest stopped moving.

“He’s gone,” Wyatt said.

I dropped Ryder’s hand and immediately felt Bennett lift me off the ground and wrap me up in his arms. “I’m so sorry, handsome,” he said.

I sobbed against his shoulder. “He shouldn’t have died like that,” I cried. “No one should die like that.”

“I know, Felix,” he said, rubbing my back soothingly. He surrounded me with the scent of pine. “Let’s go back inside the bar.”

I nodded and let him walk us in that direction. Wyatt and Donovan were talking over Ryder’s body and other police from the surrounding towns had started to arrive. Reid stood outside the bar door, and I pulled out my key as we approached.

Something soft brushed my legs and I gasped, looking down at the pure white wolf standing next to me. “Ally?”

She rubbed her head against my hip, and I lifted my hand to pet her. “Wait, can I pet her?” I asked, looking at Bennett.

“Yeah, she can understand everything we say. She just can’t respond in her wolf form,” he said. “She’s trying to comfort you.”

He took the key from me and opened the door to the bar as I pet Ally’s head and scratched behind her ears. “Your eyes are so pretty,” I said, the bright blue entirely captivating. “Are they that pretty when you’re human?”

She nipped my hand.

“Ouch!” I said, petting her head again, feeling myself instantly relax.

“Yeah, she bites,” Bennett said. “You’ll get used to it.”

“Petting her is soothing though, right?” Reid asked. “Ally used to sleep with Oakley in wolf form after their parents died because Oak liked the feeling of petting her until she fell asleep. I assume the comfort you get from her is an omega thing.”

“Apparently,” I said, feeling calmer with each stroke of her white fur. I glanced over my shoulder at the sound of sirens as an ambulance arrived.

“No,” Bennett said. “Don’t look again, Felix. You’ve already seen enough.”