MATED TO THE SECRET ALPHA
Chapter 139: Ryder, The Ancestors’ Ancestor

Chapter 139: Ryder, The Ancestors’ Ancestor

"You fed me your blood? You mean you have a healing gift too?"

He nodded. "Yes, but it has a downside."

She swallowed her disbelief and asked, "Which is?"

"I can’t heal even my own injuries if I’m too weak," he said, his voice low. "If I give my blood to someone else, it can...bind them to me, in a way. That when they’re hurt, I feel it too. When they’re weak, exhausted, it affects my healing speed."

Reana’s eyes widened slightly. Does that explain why he heals quickly but the wound on his stomach took a little more time to heal... because she was exhausted at that time?

"What else are you capable of?" The revelations were too much. She couldn’t even be surprised anymore.

Ryder watched her quietly for a while, then he shifted his gaze to the broken bed frame. Reana’s eyes followed him, waiting patiently to hear his speech but she didn’t expect what happened next.

"Reassemble," he mumbled lazily.

The bed frame trembled and suddenly lifted off the floor, reassembling itself with a soft creaking sound.

Reana’s eyes widened in amazement and shock as the bed frame settled back into place, looking as though it had never been broken.

"That too," Ryder said, turning to face her. He smiled, seeing how wide her eyes were. "I can manipulate and restore objects with my mind."

Reana’s gaze was fixed on the bed frame, her mind reeling with the thoughts of what she had just seen. She felt a sense of wonder, mixed with a sense of trepidation. What else was Ryder capable of?

"Anything else?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

She was too stunned to give a proper reaction.

"I can control nature at will –"

"Wait, slow down," she said, her voice rising in surprise. "You’re telling me you can control nature, manipulate minds and objects, possess supreme healing powers... What can’t you do? Tell me that instead."

He could alter his looks. Just like in the prison, he looked unkempt – only to fool people and draw Reana’s sympathy – but after bathing, he shifted his appearance to charm her.

But Ryder wasn’t going to tell her that. Otherwise, she might beat him up for scheming.

The thought of getting beaten up after a good sex made him chuckle.

"I can’t read the future and the past, I can’t read your mind... I can’t kill the Moon goddess..."

Reana blinked. "You wish to kill the moon goddess?"

He nodded. "She hates me."

The Luna didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The moon goddess hated him, yet blessed him with such outrageous powers?

But she wasn’t surprised. After all, it could be a curse. Like hers.

Reana saw her powers as a liability. She was a seer but couldn’t let her skills be known, otherwise she would bring trouble upon herself.

That, she couldn’t say was good. So, she understood Ryder’s sentiment. But uttering such blasphemous words – having the intention to kill the Moon goddess, Reana could only laugh it off.

He must be cracking a joke. So, she didn’t dwell on it.

"And what about your age? How old are you?" she asked, her voice filled with curiosity.

"You said something about waiting centuries for me and transcending lifetimes. How old are you, exactly?"

Ryder’s gaze seemed to soften slightly, his eyes taking on a hint of warmth. "Older than I look," he said, his voice low. "Let’s just say I’ve been around for a very long time."

Reana glared at him, knowing he was evading her question. "Numbers, Ryder."

He chuckled, his chest vibrating as he took her hand, placing it on his bare chest. "In this lifetime, I’m currently over eight hundred years old."

Reana choked on her saliva, her fingers twitching. This man was making her dumper every passing minute.

Eight hundred years old?!!

Reana’s mind reeled with the implications of Ryder’s words. She felt like she was stuck in a dream, a dream that was rapidly spiraling out of control.

"You’re...you’re over eight hundred years old?" she repeated, her voice barely above a whisper, belying the horror she was feeling.

Ryder nodded, his gaze calm and serene, fixed on a distant point in the ceiling, as if he was looking through the roof.

"Yes, I am," he said, his voice low, distant. "I felt lonely... I watched a few friends, not really friends, subordinates, die of old age. I watched the world change rapidly." He sighed... "The wait was too long."

His gaze drifted back to hers. "I’ve been waiting for you."

Reana’s eyes felt like they were going to bug out of her head. She couldn’t even begin to wrap her mind around the sheer scope of what he was saying.

Their kind only lived for at most, two hundred and few years. Anything beyond that, she’d never heard or seen.

Ryder is literally an ancestor’s ancestor at this point!

How could it be possible?!

And yet, as she looked into Ryder’s eyes, she saw the truth there. He wasn’t lying, and he wasn’t joking. He was telling her the truth, and she had to face it.

"How...how is that even possible?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Ryder’s gaze seemed to soften slightly, his eyes taking on a hint of warmth.

"Immortality," he said, his voice low. "It’s a...a side effect of my powers, I suppose. I’ve been alive for a very long time, Reana. A very long time indeed."

It wasn’t true. Immortality wasn’t the side effect of his powers. It was the price he paid for seeking help from another deity.

According to Shadow One, werewolves were under the Moon goddess’s jurisdiction. Seeking help from outside factors would alter the werewolf’s path, and disturb the flow of things.

And now, Ryder was partly a werewolf and partly...what he didn’t know.

In other words, he was an outsider.

Reana took a deep breath, trying to process the sheer scope of Ryder’s powers. She felt like she was trying to drink from a firehose, and she wasn’t sure if she could keep up. "Okay, okay," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I think I need a minute to process all this."