Don't Poke the Luna (Xena and Ryder)

The border wall was completely brick, about eight feet high. Wrought iron metal gates opened for us, with very high-tech cameras at every corner. The trees had been dense all the way until we reached a clearing. Everything was dark. A dark gray pack house sat in the middle with a black roof. There were no plants or greenery anywhere. It was either concrete or metal. My heart immediately broke for those kids.

I finally understood the despair that the people living here had experienced. This wasn't a home-this was a prison. No life, no beauty, just cold control. It made me even more certain we were doing the right thing.

People were going in different directions. Piles of furniture, clothes, blankets, and almost everything else had been thrown out. I saw gasoline cans and torches on one side and knew their intentions. I wasn't opposed to this. What surprised me was seeing William sitting on the steps.

"What are you doing?" I shouted as I got out of the car. Even Ryder was confused.

"I'm not spending another day in that place. Men need fresh air," William tried to stand up, but Ama kept him firmly

seated.

"Don't get up. You should be in bed."

"I have my wolf and am healing well. I'm just sitting here watching other people work," William laughed but winced in pain as he bent over.

Seeing William so stubborn, I couldn't help but smile. This need for freedom, I completely understood. Sometimes you'd rather endure pain than feel trapped.

"If you don't start relaxing, I'll drag your ass back to the hospital!" Ama scolded him, and the women passing by tried to hide their laughter. Ryder and I went up the stairs and into the depressing house.

The whole place was spotless but looked like something from a horror movie. The stained glass windows were actually beautiful in a terrifying way. I didn't want them destroyed, but I didn't want to keep any memorial of this place. However, preserving them and putting them in a women's shelter or something similar would be the ultimate "fuck you."

"What are you doing?" Ryder asked. I hadn't realized I'd stopped walking.

"Those stained glass windows. They're beautiful in some way. I'm considering whether I want to keep them, use them to

design..."

That's not your worst idea," Ryder interrupted, grabbing my right hand and pulling me down the hallway. The office door was open, and we could hear Penelope and Logan talking.

"...complete mess! A man who wants women to stay neat, and he's a pig!"

"I see things are going smoothly here," I/said, not hiding my smile as I walked in. "This is all yours!" Penelope had hair sticking up in all directions.

Seeing the strong Penelope defeated by a pile of files was somewhat amusing. She was always so organized, so in control- seeing her a bit chaotic actually made her seem more human.

"Big bad Penelope has a situation she can't handle?" I teased.

She put her hands on her hips and glared at me. This was something she'd never done before. It was organized when you gave it to me. This is just..." she waved her hands around like a maniac.

"I'll handle this. I heard the kitchen needs help deciding what food to keep and what to throw away, I gave her an out.

"You know what!" She was getting a bit hysterical now. "I'll go do that!" She stomped out, and I could only look at Logan

'She's a bit overwhelmed right now," he looked tired just from listening to her.

"We really do need your help though."

"I got it. You move," I said, pushing his chair away.

"Thanks, sis," Logan stood up and walked toward Ryder.

"You guys figure out who's going where and keep dealing with the warriors. This might take me a while. Get Ama in here when she's not yelling at William anymore."

"All the women are yelling," Logan sighed.

"I haven't yelled yet!" I pretended to be offended.noveldrama

"'Yet' is the key word," Ryder muttered. I looked down slowly, then raised my eyes dramatically. Logan laughed and rushed out of the room, while Ryder just smirked but came over to give me a kiss.

"Get your ass out of here," I fake-complained as I started going through the paper files.

Working alone, I entered my focused state. Going through these files, I found everything. The paper trail of his attacks on our pack. How he planned to level it and what he wanted to do with the land. There were entire files about the different businesses he owned and what they did. Most of these would go back to the banks, and it would be up to them to decide whether to sell or shut down operations. If only I could have gotten all this information a week ago.

More than once I heard something from the window that made my curiosity burn, but the anger I felt from Ryder told me I actually didn't want to see. My instincts told me what was happening outside was serious, probably brutal.

Ama found several boxes for me, and she was putting files into them. I was finishing saving different content to flash drives before deleting everything else.

Eventually, the sun began to set and it was getting late. "How's it going?" Ryder and Logan asked as they walked through

the door.

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