An Alpha's Duty

Chapter 19

Ryan watched the blood wash off him and drain away as he stood under the shower. He leaned his arm heavily on the wall for support, shaking slightly from everything that had just happened.

How had he lost control like that?

Shutting the shower off he angrily grabbed a towel and dried himself off quickly. He couldn't even look at himself in the mirror.

Although he'd washed all the blood off he couldn't wash away what he'd done. The image of elder Michael's broken body was something that was going to remain with him. It was the fact that he had done that to the man that had the images permanently etched on his brain.

He remembered being stood over him, wanting to kill him, and he would have if Lenah hadn't stopped him. The anger he'd felt had pushed him further over the edge than he'd ever gone before. He felt like a stranger in his own skin.

He couldn't even begin to imagine what Lenah thought of him. Truthfully he was glad she was somewhere else in the house, he didn't think he could handle seeing her right now.

Walking into his room he was surprised to see a figure perched on his bed. He'd been so distracted that he hadn't heard anyone come into the room whilst he was in the shower. It put him on edge and he pulled the towel tighter around his hips suddenly embarrassed as he looked back at the figure.

Elaina snorted as she looked at Ryan trying to hide behind his wardrobe door.

"I wouldn't worry about that Ryan I've seen it all before." She winked in Ryan's direction and laughed at the blush that covered his face.

Ryan quickly pulled on some clothes out of the view of Elaina, wishing that for once he could just have a few moments to himself. He wasn't angry with the woman but right now he didn't feel up to casual chit chat.

He moved out from behind the door and back to the bathroom to tidy up his mess whilst trying to ignore the following eyes of the woman who still sat motionless on his bed. He hoped she would understand the subtle signs that he wasn't in the mood for talking but clearly Elaina had other ideas.

"I thought you'd like to know that elder Michael is fine and in recovery." Ryan showed no signs of responding to what she said.

Elaina watched him busy himself in the bathroom and huffed out a sigh.

"He'll be back to his usual ignorant self in a few days." She called out to Ryan's back, knowing full well be could hear her, but he still continued to ignore her.

She wasn't surprised by Ryan's reaction but it still made her sad so she said the one thing that she knew would get his attention.

"It wasn't your fault Ryan." Her simple words had the desired effect. Ryan whipped his head around to look at her. His agitation was written all over his face as he dragged his fingers through his damp hair.

"I could have killed him. If it wasn't for Lenah..." He let the sentence trail off as he looked anywhere but Elaina.

"He insulted your mate Ryan, went for her, of course you wanted to kill him. That's understandable. The fact that you showed restraint and didn't kill him immediately is what's amazing." Ryan was in disbelief as he looked over at Elaina's sincere face.

He didn't believe what she was saying. How could she stand there and defend his actions after everything he had done and what he could have almost done. He deserved to be seen as a monster.

"Elaina you don't understand-" Ryan wasn't used to people talking over him so wasn't prepared for Elaina to interrupt him.

"She's your true mate Ryan how else were you going to react?" Ryan was speechless as he looked at Elaina.