Desire for you- ALPHA RYAN Book 1
Chapter 37

RYAN

I had a queasy feeling about the whole thing. I kept walking down the corridor and eventually came to a second door, where only a hinged window opened. The door didn't really open.

I looked around me and didn't know what to say or do. Time was ticking and my only thought was to wake Catherine again...

Less than two seconds later, the door opened and two vampire guards stood behind the door. "Go on, Dimitri's orders" said one of them, annoyed, and nodded at me. I walked through and continued to the end of the corridor. I walked in through the next door, while the other door opened and the one behind me closed again. It was a kind of airlock system, like infection isolation.

The room was dark, but a light was still burning in the far corner. "Ragnol?" I asked cautiously. The room was cool and didn't have much to offer apart from a mattress, a table and a chair.

All I heard was a growl: "Who dares to disturb me?" he hissed at me and slowly stepped out. Ragnol... I had imagined such an old version of Dimitri, but apparently I was wrong. Ragnol was a good looking George Clooney style guy, except his clothes weren't the best anymore and he was in desperate need of a shower.

"My name is Ryan, I'm the Alpha of the Black Moon pack. I've come to ask for your help... My mate has fallen into a coma after trying to commit suicide..." I introduced myself. Damn, saying those words was hard.

Ragnol laughed and looked at me in astonishment "Do I look like a doctor? You've come to the wrong place... Alpha..."

I shook my head "There's more to the story... She was marked by a demon... She has two mates."

Ragnol grabbed his chin and ran his hand over his beard "Interesting... Having a demon and a werewolf as companions at the same time... No wonder, she tried to commit suicide." He grinned at me now, looking visibly amused.

"If you're not tired of living, Alpha, then I suggest you get out of here fast.... I can't help you any further..." His interest in helping me wasn't really that great. His manner was also strange, as if he didn't care about anything.

I grabbed the bridge of my nose at his words and sighed. How the hell was I going to get him to talk within a quarter of an hour? He was stubborn, grumpy and not very talkative...

"Listen, we had to rip an innocent woman's heart out just so we could replace you... Now you're telling me here that you can't help us?" I tried to broach the subject again and bit my lower lip desperately.

'So, how's it going?" Ilay asked.

'Shitty... He refuses to help us...' I said, hoping for something.

'No one forced you to do this,' he said, sitting down on a chair. He stared into space and finally sighed.

"You should have hunted Dimitri down... Instead, you enriched him."

"What do you mean?" I asked him, confused.

Ragnol laughed softly and looked over at me: "Do you think I'm the real evil, Alpha? Why do you think I wanted to pass him over? He's up to something bad... He's going to doom you all one day." He smiled at me and acted like it was nothing.

'Ilay? He's telling me something about Dimitri and that he wants to bring us to ruin?'

Ilay was suddenly quiet and didn't say anything.

'Ilay?' I asked again and waited for his answer.

'You mustn't believe everything Ragnol says, he's there for a reason... Find out how we can help Catherine,' Ilay insisted. I was sure he was right when he told me that. Gradually, I didn't know if I could believe him...

"Why would he do that?" I asked Ragnol, looking down at him. I was now wondering what Ragnol had to say. Turning his back on his leader doesn't happen for no reason. On the contrary, there had to be good reasons for it to come to this. Especially as Helena helped Dimitri to lock him up. This Helena was also funny. She helped her ex-husband to imprison a well-known warlock.

"He was always power-hungry. Only Helena had him under her control, since she left, the murders have increased, people are getting hurt. Everything was right before. Now Dimitri doesn't care who gets hurt."

"Why have you been locked up here? After all, you worked for Dimitri."

He looked me in the eye. "It's complicated, boy, it's best you sort it out with Dimitri. I can't help you with that. End of story." Ragnol finally said stubbornly and stared at the wall.

Now I could understand what Dimitri meant about Ragnol's mood. It could be very changeable.

"Please Ragnol... You are our only solution, we can't get any further otherwise. You have to help us..." Did I seriously have to beg him now?

He looked at me motionlessly.

"Think about it... The solution is right under your nose, Alpha. As Alpha, you should be able to analyze such things, shouldn't you? Your mate has two mates. One has marked her... and the other hasn't yet... Ding Dong. Ring any bells?"

He put his head back on his neck and stared at the ceiling.

"Dimitri, you, even Ilay. You're just big knuckleheads... You're supposed to run a pack, an entire vampire society and a demon kingdom? You have the solution before your eyes and you don't even realize it... Ridiculous..." Ragnol laughed and shook his head again. "Because of incompetent people like you and Dimitri, the world is coming to an end and Ragnol is the evil one who will be locked up forever... Does it make sense to you Alpha?" he said almost too ridiculously.

I became angry that he was talking down to me and he may indeed be right.... I never considered this view before, that my marking could possibly be the key to everything....

"That's right, in fact we hadn't thought about it. That's why we were looking for you, so you could help us." I said again to Ragnol.

"Exactly, and you didn't really think about the consequences it could have? I mean, you murdered a woman in cold blood... Tzzz tzzz tzzzz. Leader and your thinking again." He leaned forward, stood up and approached me menacingly

"This woman will haunt you and your friend.... I can tell by the rings around your eyes that you probably haven't slept. But just wait and see when you close your eyes.

Even if you don't want to help me now, Alpha, you and your friend will visit me soon for another problem. Have fun, Alpha... We'll see each other again soon." He waved at me and gestured for me to approach. What did he mean by not helping him? And above all, what did he mean by being haunted by her again?

I seized the opportunity and turned around without saying a word. It had been a damn funny situation and I didn't really know if I'd got much further. That was, after all, just a rage claim with the marker. A potion or a Bibedibabedi-Bu spell would have been something more tangible.

The door was opened for me by the vampire guard. They scowled at me and didn't say a word. I walked through and almost strolled to the hallway up to the main door. I felt like I'd been run over by Ragnol, his words weren't entirely clear, what I did take to heart was to have a look at Dimitri. Apparently the good man was up to something that even Ilay wasn't aware of.

When we reached the big gate, Dimitri let me out again. Ilay and Dimitri looked at me intently. "So, was he able to help you?" Ilay asked me directly and Dimitri looked at me just as curiously.

I decided it was best to keep it to myself so that Dimitri wouldn't get in the way in any way. I shook my head, "That was all for nothing. Let's go, Ilay." I said in an annoyed tone and was already running up the stairs, followed by Ilay and Dimitri. Dimitri apparently made no effort to stop us.

Twenty floors up...

When we finally reached the top, I was completely out of breath for the first time and had to pause. Running down the stairs was easier than going up.

'Get us out of here before this guy gets any ideas. I didn't want to be here any longer. I felt like I was being crushed by this place.

"You're welcome to stay here for dinner and see a bit of Italy." Dimitri said, smiling at us.

I shook my head: "Unfortunately, that's not possible, we'll have to look for a new solution. We thank you for your help," I said succinctly, while Ilay looked at me with narrowed eyes.

"What my friend here wants to say is that it is really important to him to have his companion conscious again. We'll take you up on your offer another time." Ilay said and held out his hand to Dimitri.

Dimitri shook Ilay's hand "Thank you for the great heart, I always enjoy doing business with you." he said and grinned almost wickedly.

I nodded to Ilay and he flicked and away we went.

We landed in front of our pack house. Not much had changed except that a thin layer of snow had fallen. The surroundings were quiet and there was no one to be seen. Probably everyone was indoors in the cold.

"Nothing? Really nothing?" Ilay asked me in astonishment, eyeing me as if he was trying to extract something from my head.

"I didn't want to reveal it in front of Dimitri... That would only have led to problems, the way the guy was on it," I said, shrugging my shoulders and sighing.

"You've done your part... Now I have to do my part."

"Your part?" Ilay asked me, confused.

I nodded "I quote, your mate has two mates, ONE mark she already has.... Something like that. Ragnol didn't really express himself cleanly and let me go with the riddle. He also said that Julieth will probably haunt us, we would have done something bad with it. He also said that he wasn't the bad guy and that we would look for him again one day to ask for his help." I said, shrugging my shoulders and pacing back and forth.

I looked at my footprints that had formed in the snow and sighed. "His statement was clear, I have to mark her too so that she wakes up again. That's the only thing I could understand. Oh yes, best wishes: We are incapable of running anything. Those were his last words."

"He told you all that in a quarter of an hour?" Ilay asked me in confusion and looked at me askance.

"That quarter of an hour seemed like half an eternity to me. I thought the whole thing would get out of hand. At least he didn't look like Dimitri at the beginning. Of course, that was a blast," I said with a laugh and looked towards the entrance.

Ilay agreed with me "Dimitri is a funny bird, we have to keep an eye on him, I don't think Ragnol is lying about that... He's certainly up to something, but not today or tomorrow. He doesn't have the reserves for that." Ilay was convinced that Dimitri wouldn't be able to do anything for the first time.

"How do we want to proceed?" I asked, biting my lower lip.

Ilay shrugged his shoulders: "Well, you'll mark them. Problem solved." he said, running his fingers through his hair as he walked towards the house. "Brrr it's getting cold... Let's go inside." He called after me and I ran after him.

"Let's say I tag her, she wakes up. What do we do then, Ilay?" I said, holding him by the arm in front of the door.

He gave me the same clueless look and shrugged his shoulders. "I would say that the competition between you and me will continue until she chooses one of us," he said quietly.

Competition. That sounded like more trouble, especially as the whole drama made me like him more and more.

"Well then, may the best man win, you virgin," I said with a laugh and punched him in the shoulders.

He shook his head with a grin and opened the door. We both walked in and were surrounded by the smell of freshly baked pigtails.

"And I thought you two were about to go out there for some cuddles. Where have you been all day?" Maya snapped at me. She scowled at Ilay and wiped a strand of hair away from her face.

"Bella Italia." I said, shrugging my shoulders and sat down on the bar stool.

"Italy? With the vampires?" she asked me in astonishment. "So you really made it out of there alive?"

I grabbed one of the plaits she had baked and almost burnt my fingers. "Ouch, they're hot..." I said and looked at Maya.

"Alive and kicking," Ilay added and grinned at Maya.

Maya rolled her eyes and sighed. "Have you at least got any further in your case?" Maya asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders "We've at least got a start, but whether we've really made any progress... That remains to be seen."