"They weren't really lies" mumbled Lian, the only one who apparently had the guts to say all the things that remained unspoken.

"No? So you have apprehended all the traitors then?" Her eyebrow raised skywards because she knew the answer. They all did. They had been speaking out of their asses, lying and lying because it seemed that was al they knew how to do.

Lie and scheme.

"You know we haven't, but we have confirmed that Jared is the one who let the prisoners out and we know who his accomplice is... so technically we didn't really lie,"

Oh so that's how they were going to play. They wanted to play to the technicalities. So because they knew who the traitors were they "technically" hadn't lied.

Well technically her ass.

They were omitting truths and in her book that was "technically" the same damned thing as lying. They had everyone thinking that everything was under control when in reality nothing was.

Jared had run off with the prisoners, Sonja included and the traitor that they refused to name was walking around camp as if she had done nothing wrong.

"Okay, so do you have the accomplice in a cell for abusing Zosia and arson" she was still calm, her words levelled as she just asked a few questions. Trying her hardest not to belie the anger growing within her.

"No.. Our speech was to let her know that we are watching" replied Ju-long his voice levelled and full of conviction.

Lian's back was against the pole as she expanded on her brothers words, "We wanted to scare her into thinking we were onto her which would encourage her to act quickly-"

"Which would lead us to them because she would be sloppy" interjected Blake.

Jana let their words sit for a bit, her lips pursed as she let it run through her mind. Her finger tapped along her chin as the awkward silence created tension in the atmosphere. Their plan was pretty thought out but it left too much to chance.

"Huh, so I guess it's okay to let an abusive sociopath wonder around the camp. The same sociopath who has constituted to Zosia's growing mental health issues. It's fine because we have to think of the bigger picture right" she hummed, her shoulders shrugging dismissively even as her derision coated every single syllable she spat.

"Well fuck that shit! I don't care about the damn bigger picture I care about Zosia and this goddamn pack! How can any of you be okay with this?"

She was fuming, fighting a loosing battle. She tried to keep her voice hushed for the sake of Zosia but it was so hard, so hard when her heart seemed to be the only one in the right place.

"We aren't!" Growled Blake incredulously. He had never liked Jana. From the moment he had met her and she had introduced him to her blade Slyvie they had never gotten along. It was no surprise that he would be the one to step to her, thunder on his face as his throat vibrated in anger. Well she could growl too!

She began to climb to her feet but Simeon interjected, forcefully pushing Blake back as he stood in front of Zosia and Jana. Then he was twisting to face her, his broad shoulders towering over her as he regarded her with darkening eyes.

"This is not what any of us want, Jana. Do you think I'm happy that the bitch who hurt my daughter is walking around camp smiling in my fucking face? Do you?" His neck was red with suppressed fury, his jaw clenched as he breathed heavily through his nose. Eyes flashing red and black as he fought a battle with his nature.

"I don't know Simeon, I really don't. All I know is that you haven't exactly won father of the year award, so anything goes with you," her eyes rolling as her hand waved in front, motioning to him and his daughter. The daughter that was in her arms and not his, the daughter that he always seemed happy to cart off to someone else.

His nose wrinkled as his teeth tutted at her, "I love my daughter and I would do anything to protect her and see her well and happy!"

That got her attention.

"Anything?" Her back straightened as she stared him down, sizing him up. Seeing how much of his words he really meant. No one else in that room really mattered, no one but Simeon and the child in her arms.

He nodded his head earnestly, eyes imploring her to believe him and so she did.

"Would you let her come with me when I go home?"

"Oh shit" the words were muted and mumbled, shoved to the back of her mind as she waited for Simeon's reaction.

"What?" He stammered eyes darkening as he looked confused, his brows furrowing in bafflement.

Her arms clenched around Zo as her head tilted up, challenging him as she prepared to repeat herself "I said-"

"I know what you said Jana!"

Oh he was angry.

Timrbre low and grating as steam practically flew from his ears, swirling around his head in a twirl of grey and red. He was furious, his hands clenching and unclenching as his jaw ticked. Heavy feat scraping across the floor as he stepped closer to her but she remained seated. Her shaking hands clinging to Zo tightly but her head never lowering.

"Ummm I think this is our queue to leave," Blake hesitantly said, his body already swinging past them as he headed to the door and out of the flap. Lian hot on his toes as she gathered a sleeping Zosia from Jana's arms, mumbling softly as she hushed the fidgety child.

"Jana, Simeon" nodded Ju-Long as he followed after the two other wolves, finally leaving the two alone.

The silence was unbearable, his heavy stare bore into her skin like a hot poker, ripping into her flesh and leaving her bared open. There was nothing she wouldn't say today because she had been silent for too long.

She had quelled her tongue, tried to alter her being. She had tried to be understanding but the time for that was over, Zosia needed better and no one seemed willing to fight for her.

He spoke first. "You want to go home?"

"I think it would be best for me and Zo. Rogue Road 7 won't help us and I just think my family will help her heal better" she remained calm, this wasn't the time for shouting. She would represent the facts and then he would have no choice but to listen.

"You don't know that... Rogue Road 7 is a safe house made specifically for situations like this. It has facilities and doctors, you would be taken care of there. You could heal there"

"Thats nice, really it is buttt I don't care. I'm going home because that is what will be best for us. I have a family that will love and support me and will happily welcome Zo. She deserves stability"

But he wasn't buying it, his head shaking furiously as his eyes spat lava at her. He was raging. His nature warring inside of him but this time it seemed as if the anger was directed internally. As if he was battling with himself. Two sides of the same coin that were not in harmony.

"There are two healers in my family and we have the best facilities around, it just makes sense Simeon" her words gentled at the conflict within him, she could see it clearly in his eyes. He was disheartened, hurt and angry but she couldn't put his emotions first.

He would learn to deal with it just like she had, like poor Zo had been forced to deal with every harsh blow.

"I don't want you two to go" so much was not said in that sentence but she could read his fear. The fear that was crawling from beneath the surface because he knew that if she returned home then whatever they had was over.

Whatever was left of this bond would be decimated because Jana would heal and she would learn to live with this ache. She would be wrapped up in so much love that the twinge, the emptiness would be nothing but a distant memory.

If she headed to the safe house that he had intended then she would be forced to wait for Simeon and the warriors to come and get them, and in that time thoughts of him would dominate her mind but if she went home... at home her healing would begin and Simeon would truly become her past.

She would never be rid of him, they now shared Zosia and he would always be Khan's closest friend, but whatever had been struggling to form on these outskirts of civilisation, would wither away into nothingness and Simeon would truly be alone.

"It is how it has to be now Simeon, the time for change has come and gone" her voice was not jovial, there was no happiness or relief in her words. She was sad and bitter, bitter that the future that had been promised to her had somehow slipped from her grip and shattered into smithereens around her feet.

"What- what if I asked you to stay" the answer was already in his eyes, he knew what she would say but she said it anyway.

She climbed from her seat and stepped towards him, her hand resting along his shoulder.

"Stay where? You would still be leaving Simeon and Zosia would still be hurting... There is no need to prolong this"

His hand reached out to touch hers, pulling it to his chest as their fingers intertwined. His eyes clenched shut as he fought his urge to fight, to refuse, to dissuade her. He wanted to beg, to plead but he couldn't because he knew that deep down her choice was the right one to make.

"When will you go?" Black eyes full of sorrow stared into her soulful browns, this was hard for her, hard for both of them.

"A few days maybe" she shrugged, lightly pulling her hand away from his chest as she stared down at the floor, picking at her clothes.

The room heaved with his defeated sigh, "I'll let you both go Jana- I just-" he cut himself off, seemingly hesitating before he gained the gumption to say his next words.

"Give me a few nights with you" he hesitated, a plea in his voice as he gripped her chin in his fingers and forced her to look up at him, to see everything. Every little emotion that he could not say.

"Simeon-" she sighed breathlessly, her lips ghosting across his thumb.

"Please, " he begged. "I know what you going home means for us... I know that any chance I had to redeem myself will be gone when you leave... so please" he implored, eyes damp as he bit his lip

"Just let me have these days, these nights to remember the life we could of had if I had been a better man."

Her lip wobbled as large globs of tears slid down her cheeks, her face turning pink as she whimpered in pain. It hurt her, physically hurt her. Her heart ached, she could feel it throbbing in her throat as she acknowledged where they were.

She wanted to leave, she did but she could not help but feel hard done by. She needed to leave because this relationship, this environment was toxic but she wanted Simeon. Not the short tempered and cold hearted male, not the warrior or the Alpha, not the loose handed or sharp tongued Simeon but this one here.

This male that had first caught her attention, the male who had been full of mystery and passion. The male who had been gentle and caring, who had promised her the world with his eyes alone.

She wanted that Simeon, she wanted him so bad but that man was a mirage. He was a trick of the mind, he did not exist and when he appeared he was never around for long. He wavered in and out of her life, never constant but she wanted him.

She wanted him forever but she would settle for the time they had, a night, a day or two. Nothing was promised because in this life the soft Simeon that she craved would not survive. Only the hard survived out here in this cold and lonely place, it was a bleak existence beyond the compound walls and no amount of time would ever heal the impaired souls.

Not out here.

"I will miss you Jana, miss everything that I didn't get to be and do with you. Everything that I wouldn't give you.. and Zosia" his Adam's apple bobbed as his eyes became glassy, his hand dropping her chin and gripping into his hair as if the thought of leaving his daughter was crippling him.

"My heart will break letting her go but I'm tired of being the reason she hurts. I don't want to disappoint her but I will take that over the pain my lifestyle has inflicted upon her."

One solid tear slid down his cheek, the droplet glistening like the iridescent rays of the moon. Gleaming with its pale beauty as it disappeared into his skin, melting away as if it had never existed.

"I just need a few days" he mumbled, releasing his had and gripping her chin again, pulling her face closer as his head dipped low. His nose nuzzled against the place that had once housed her mark, all that was left was a silvery pink dot that was barely visible.

Wet skin rubbed against her neck as he clutched her tightly, clinging to her like he had never before.

"Simeon" she gasped, tears clogging her throat as she gripped his strong back in her shaking hands.

"I know" he sighed, his head pulling back as he stroked at her falling tears. His thumb rubbing against her damp skin and stroking along her lips. Pink soft lips that parted for him, her eyes wide and glossy as she tried to conveyed all of her raw emotions.

They moved as one, hands roving as they climbed together.

Hearts beating strongly as she clung to him, clothes dropping to the floor as her legs wrapped around him.

He staggered forwards, his hands outstretched to try and balance his stumbling body all the while his lips devoured hers. Their tongues twirling and curling around each other. His soft tongue stroking along hers as they moved together.

Breath caught in her throat as he sunk into her, euphoria clouding her mind as the pain of tomorrow dissapeared.

There kisses became urgent, his hips rocking as he plunged into her, her nails scoring along his back as she cried into his skin. Eyes clenched shut but her soul wide open. Bodies slick with heat as they glided together.

Breaths mingling as they touched the moon.

He was ferocious in their joining, his hips rocking fast as he delved deeper. A loud crash filled her ears as books and papers flew to the floor, her back hitting the desk as he leaned over her. His hand pulled at her top as he revealed her breasts, brown dusty nipples hardening under his gaze.

His head dipped low and then he was devouring them, his dark black eyes peering up at her as he repeatedly sunk into the deepest depths of her. His teeth grazing along her tiny nubs as he continued to delve into her, their hands intertwined as their bodies joined in pure carnal beauty.

He touched her heart, eyes glistening with tears as his warm breath ghosted across her skin.

His hands cuffed around the back of her neck as he pulled her up into a seated position, her legs climbing along his back as he continued to thrust. Their tongues mimicking their bodies as their lips clung to each others. Her hands in his hair as she began her ascent, her body climbing higher and higher as her cries reached a fevered pitch.

She saw glistening peels of silver light and then she was shattering around him, her body crashing down around her as the metallic twang of his blood filled her mouth.

Her head yanked back as she met his eyes, crimson bleeding out of his pupil and into his iris. His jaw slackened as his hips rocked harder, his muzzle elongating as he snapped. Canines sinking into that silver white line and marking her with a finality that had her soul screeching in despair.

Her body clenched around him the moment his teeth pierced her skin and then he was spilling into her. His hot essence filling her body as she cried into his chest. His strong arms clenching tightly around her as he apologised profoundly, his voice husky and thick with emotion.

He stroked her hair as he pulled her back to look into his eyes. Her face was pink and blotchy as she tried to hush her tears, eyes red rimmed from crying and her lips swollen from his kisses.

"I'm sorry" she mumbled apologising for more than she could say.

"Don't be," he whispered stroking over her face as he stared at her reverently, "I finally got to mark you the right way"

His words were bittersweet because both of them knew that his mark would never stay. He could mark her as many times as he wanted in the next few days but when the week ended Jana would leave and the mark would begin to fade.

Just like their bond.

Mating hadn't been the smartest thing but they needed this, she needed this.

A short moment of bliss to hold close to her heart on the days that being without him got too much because it would.

No matter how hard she fought the bond and refused to let it define her choices, it would always be there.

Niggling at the back of her mind and clinging to the outskirts of her heart. Reminding her that Simeon would always be there.

Just like she would always exist in the deepest recess of his soul. He would always remember what it was like to have her and never forget what it felt like to loose her because the bond was permanent.

It was forever even when it wasn't.