Chapter 76: The Fated Mate’s Ultimatum And A Crown Discarded!
Ryker could remember meeting Popi’s father years ago.
But he could not quite remember how everything had led to Popi. It felt like it was from before he became chief. From a time when he was still fighting for the position, still trying to gather support.
He had needed the votes from the nobles of the tiger tribe.
The wealthiest ones. The ones with influence and connections and the power to sway the other members. Popi’s father had been one of them. A wealthy man who had been busy with his own mate and had eventually left the tiger tribe after giving his support to Ryker. He had left his daughter behind with the understanding that Ryker would bond with her once she came of age.
Ryker had agreed to it without really thinking about what it meant.
At that point in his life, all he had cared about was becoming chief. All he had wanted was the title and the power that came with it. He would deal with the consequences later, he had thought. Later was always easier to think about than the present.
But now later was here.
And he did not remember Popi at all.
"Listen to me, Popi," Ryker said as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
Her gaze traced his hand up to his wrist. She stared at the bond mark for a long moment. Her finger came out and traced the pattern of the light blue and silver mark.
Ryker pulled his hand away and Popi’s expression hardened.
"My bond is the one that’s supposed to be on your body," she said quietly. "But you betrayed me and my father."
"Popi," Ryker called her name, hating the guilt that settled in his chest. "I didn’t know you were here. I didn’t know you were shoved in this dungeon."
"Don’t expect me to congratulate you," Popi said, ignoring his soft voice. She turned away from him. "Even the tiger tribe would regret picking you as their chief."
She started walking.
Ryker wanted to grab her and stop her from leaving. But he turned instead and glared at Bella, still sitting in the dungeon cave with that satisfied expression on her face.
"Even if I don’t do anything to Neve," Bella said, her voice dripping with confidence, "someone else will. You’ve just made sure of that."
She pointed at the exit where Popi had disappeared.
"Shouldn’t you go after her?"
Ryker cursed under his breath and ran after her.
.
.
He found her standing with a group of people from the tiger tribe.
Most of them were elders who had been close with the former chief. Others were tigers who had contested against Ryker for the chieftaincy but had lost. They were all standing together and they all looked angry.
"Ryker," one of them called as soon as he appeared.
"If you’re going to talk about my bonding with Neve, I won’t listen," Ryker said immediately.
The elder man shook his head.
"I personally do not have a problem with you choosing your mate," the man said carefully. "But as chief, you have a responsibility to the tribe. You should mate with a female who will be able to contribute to the tribe’s future. That boy cannot bear cubs."
Ryker felt anger flash through him.
"So what if he can’t?" he asked coldly.
He looked at Popi standing in the middle of the group. She was watching him with an expression that was hurt and angry and betrayed all at once.
"I’m afraid I’m bonded to someone," Ryker said. "But I can’t be with anyone else. Including her."
The elder man’s expression grew darker.
"Then I’m afraid we might have chosen the wrong person as chief," he said. He turned to look at Popi directly. "We’ll have a meeting without you to select a new chief. And then the new chief will be bonded with Popi to honor the promise her father made to our tribe."
Ryker lifted his shoulder.
He was not going to beg. He was not going to plead or argue or try to convince them otherwise. He had made his choice the moment he decided to bond with Neve. This was the consequence.
He reached up and grabbed the cowries chain around his neck.
The symbol of his chieftaincy. The thing that marked him as the leader of the tiger tribe. The thing he had worked so hard to obtain.
He pulled it.
The chain snapped easily and fell into his hand.
Without another word, he tossed it to the elder man.
The chain fell through the air and the man caught it instinctively. He stared at it like it had just burned him.
"Goodluck finding a new chief," Ryker said flatly.
He turned and walked away.
He could feel them watching him as he left. All of them. The elders. The warriors. The former contestants for power.
And Popi.
He could feel Popi’s gaze on his back like it was a physical thing. He could feel the weight of her disappointment because of his betrayal.
But he kept walking.
He did not look back and did not stop.
He just kept moving forward, away from the tiger tribe politics, away from the elders and their expectations, away from the girl who was supposed to be his fated mate but was not.
Because Neve was his mate now.
And Ryker had already made his choice.
.
.
Behind him, Popi watched him disappear into the snow.
She was thinking of the information that Bella had given her. The plan to eliminate Neve. The promise that if she did this, Ryker would come back to her. That if she helped Bella, she would get what she was promised.
But watching Ryker toss away his chieftaincy without hesitation. Watching him choose that red panda over his entire tribe. Watching him walk away from everything he had fought for.
She understood something she had not understood before.
Ryker was not coming back.
Not for her. Not for the tribe. Not for anything.
He had made his choice and he was committed to it completely.
Popi kept thinking of the information.
She looked at the elders standing around her with hope in their eyes, hoping she would do what they could not force Ryker to do. Hoping she would eliminate Neve so they could find a new chief who would be more suitable.
She frowned clenching her fist.
"I won’t do it," she said quietly.
"What?" the elder man asked, his voice sharp.
"I won’t eliminate him," Popi said. "Ryker has made his choice. He’s chosen that boy. And I won’t be the reason his heart gets broken."
She looked at them one more time.
"Find yourself a new chief," she said. "But don’t ask me to hurt someone Ryker loves. I’m not that kind of person."
She turned and started walking away from the group.
Behind her, the elders exchanged looks.
The situation was more complicated than they had thought.
And the tiger tribe suddenly had far bigger problems than just finding a new chief.
And that was convincing Mad Popi to do their dirty job.