The little fool wasn't coming back.

Follow her, the wolf suggested- no growled.

Can't. If I followed her now I'd do a lot more than make her cry or hate me. I'd make her afraid of me which is exactly what I've spent years preventing- shielding her from my real self. Yet I'd managed to thoroughly destroyed the precious trust between us and I knew it was going to be about a hundred years before I could get it back. But shit, she'd said she didn't need me. A part of me- the wounded part- didn't want to bother trying to rebuild anything with Kiara Brooks. That part was sick of holding back, sick of pretending and lying to her. It wanted to punish Kiara, to make her feel alone until she admitted that she really did need me.

But wolf didn't agree and neither did the larger part of me. We both agreed that I should follow(hunt) Kiara and apologize(lay my claim) until she forgave(submitted to) me.

Well one thing was certain, I was screwed.

"Let go of me," Audrey said suddenly, snatching her hand out of mine and wiping it on her shirt with disgust.

I glared at her. This was entirely her fault and I've had enough of her disrespect. "You might have forgotten but I am your alpha, Audrey."

She nodded at me. "Go ahead and discipline me then, put me in my place. At least then you'd be acting like the alpha you claim you are."

"Watch it," I snarled.

"You shouldn't be standing there snarling at me, what you should be doing right now is snarling at your mate, claiming her as rightfully yours instead of acting like the harmless puppy we all know you aren't!"

"She doesn't want to be claimed," I replied quietly, refusing to shout because if I started shouting like I wanted to, I'd start breaking things too. And I didn't want to hurt Travis's tiny girlfriend, no matter how largely annoying she was.

Audrey was staring at me like she certainly wanted to hurt me though, her teeth bared in a savage manner that contradicted her civil looks. "Her heartbeat paused when I told her I was marrying you and then started racing like crazy. That wasn't nothing, she feels something for you."

I shook my head. "She was just shocked. It's not the same thing I feel for her."

She threw her hands up. "Fine, Mr. Alpha. Do whatever pleases you but just know, the longer you fail to stake your claim, the more pack members are going to see that as a weakness. You'll be drowning in challenges."

I folded my arms, expression steely. "I can handle myself."

Her lips twisted, but she didn't say anything more. She swirled on a heel and was storming down the hall and into the elevator. I almost expected her to flip me off before the doors closed, but apparently she still had some consideration for my position because she only glowered.

When she was gone, I went back into my apartment and went straight for the fridge. My hands shook as they pulled out a can of beer, in fact my whole body was shaking. The wolf wanted out, wanted to fix things his way- the way that would get Kiara to hate us for sure if she didn't already. Kiara hated possessive men, she told me so a long time ago, the only time she ever got drunk. The reason, I suspected, was her father. The stupid old man who I would like to snuff the life out of one of these days, if only murder wasn't illegal...

Anyway, ever since then I've kept my distance from Kiara, unable to touch her the way I wanted but even more unable to cut her out of my life. Which I might've just succeeded in doing today. I gulped down the beer and was reaching for another one when I felt it.

Felt Kiara drowning.