Ryder to the rescue

Ryder carried Ava home. Helena, Vivian and Jayden who had joined them were shocked to see Ryder bring her home bruised.

"What happened to her?" Helena asked.

"a group of four girls claimed that she insulted them and they beat her up in retaliation" Ryder replied as he carried her to the room.

Helena brought her bag of medical supplies to the room. Ryder gently lay her on the bed.

"Damn! They bruised her up badly" Jayden said.

"will she be okay?" Vivian asked worriedly as she stroked Ava's hair.

"she will be fine sweetie" Helena assured her.

Ryder left them so he could change his shirt which was stained with blood.

"thank the goddess that Ryder found her on time" Helena said.

"Don't you guys think it's strange?" Jayden asked.

Helena looked at him, "what is strange?"

"anytime Ava is in trouble, Ryder is always the first to sense it and save her" Jayden answered.

"what's strange about it? It is just a coincidence" Helena said.

"is it really a coincidence? The last time, he was hosting a meeting when he suddenly stood up to go look for Ava. Today he was overseeing the guards when he suddenly left and came home to ask about her" Jayden pointed out.

"You are kind of right though. Something is very fishy about it" Helena said.

Ryder came back with a new shirt, "let's go Jayden" he told Jayden

"Where are we going?"

"I am summoning a pack meeting this instant" Ryder replied. 

Jayden and Ryder walked to the large hall which was used for hosting meetings.

Ryder used the loud speaker to summon all the pack members to the hall.

Soon the hall was filled with the pack members.

When they were all seated and quiet. Ryder stood up to address them.

"Greetings to all pack members, before I begin, I would like to call out Vero, Sam, Jennie and Hannah"

The four girls stood up and walked out to stand on the podium facing the pack.

"in fireblood pack, we punish prisoners by making them work in the mines or making them serve as concubines or servants to high ranking pack members. A few days ago, I brought back a female prisoner who was guilty of assaulting Lily, my little sister back from creekwood pack. This prisoner is under my jurisdiction and I have the right to punish her as I please. I am going to say this just this once, anybody who hurts Ava in this pack will be severely dealt with. I would assume that such a person wants to challenge me for Alpha. I don't think that's what anybody wants"

"no alpha Ryder" the crowd chorused.

Ryder looked at the four girls, "as for the four of you. You are going to do community service for two weeks"

"Yes alpha Ryder" the pack chorused.

"meeting dismissed" Ryder said.

The pack members dispersed and went home. Ryder and Jayden started to walk home.

"I am confused" Jayden suddenly said.

"What are you confused about?" Ryder asked him.

"when you brought Ava, you said that she had committed the worst crime ever which was harassing Lily and that you were going to make sure she was punished." Jayden stated.

"and?"

"well in the past, you have never cared how prisoners were treated by the rest of the pack members. Yet you called an emergency pack meeting for Ava's sake. Not only that, it's like she is on vacation here, the chores in the house aren't much. Helena practically pampers her and doesn't really give her much work. I mean in creekwood pack, I heard she was chained and made to do hard labor."

"What exactly is your point Jayden?"

"what is do different about Ava that you are treating her differently. When it was Lav…...." Jayden trailed off when he saw the furious look on Ryder's face.

"I thought I told you not to mention that name in front of me ever again" Ryder said angrily.

"But he is your..."

"Enough. I don't want to talk about this anymore" Ryder said.

"fine!" Jayden said and walked off angrily.

"Fuck!" Ryder cursed as he walked back to the pack house.

He went to Ava's room. She was conscious now, Helena was feeding her while Vivian was stroking her hair.

"How is she doing?" he asked Helena.

"much better. She is healing very quickly, by tomorrow she should be okay." Helena replied.

Ryder took the plate and spoon from Helena. "you two can go outside, I will take over from here."

"but…". Helena tried to protest.

"I want to talk to Ava in private" Ryder insisted.

Helena and Ava had no choice but to stand up and leave the room.

Ryder sat down close to Ava and fed her. Ava took the food warily as she wondered what was on Ryder's mind.

After she finished eating, Ryder put away the plate and helped her drink some water.

When she was okay. Ryder cleared his throat, indicating that he was ready for them to talk.

"What in fuck sake did you have to do outside alone?" he asked her.

"I wanted to take some fresh air" Ava replied.

"fresh air? Ava, you wanted to take fresh air?"

"Yes" Ava replied.

"Do you know that nobody in this pack particularly likes you?"

"I do." Ava said.

"so why the hell would you go outside?"

"I was just bored with staying indoors all the time" Ava complained.

Ryder looked at her in disbelief. "you do realize that you are a prisoner right?"

"I do"

"when I met you in creekwood pack, you were in shackles Ava. You were doing hard manual labor under the sun. I didn't put you in shackles Ava, you eat well, you have access to books and television. Compared to creekwood, this is a fucking vacation. So how could you be possibly bored?" Ryder asked.

"it is possible, I can't stay indoors all the time. I am just like a plant, if I don't get enough sunlight, I am going to wilt" Ava defended herself.

Ryder looked at her in disbelief, in all his life, he had never met anyone as infuriating as Ava before.