After Thane kissed me in the training center, I ran away, like the coward he turned me into. I have been to war, I have spilled blood and watched it run through my fingers and felt nothing. But as Thane spoke to me in that room, I have never known such terror.

I have to leave. I have to go back to Red Crescent, back to being myself. I have never felt so naked, so exposed to anyone, and I would rather die than feel this way.

Sprinting back to the Pack House, I collided into Thane's Beta, Leo upon opening the door.

"Goddess above, why are you running like a bat out of hell?" He laughs as he steadies me.

"Fuck off," I hiss, and shove past him. He's lucky I didn't do worse.

Leo snorts, unbothered by my piss-poor attitude. "I take it the date didn't go well?"

A harsh snarl is my only response as I run up the stairs, skipping three at a time, all but flying into my room, locking the door behind me.

I throw what few belongings I brought with me into my bag. I'm about to leave when there's a knock on the door, and I freeze.

"Ares, open the door," Thane orders, and I ignore him. "You know I can get in here if I want to."

I swear under my breath, and go to the window. My best chance at escaping is to leave through the window and hope I can outrun him. So, I punch the window, shattering the glass into pieces, and cutting my knuckles in the process.

I hear a loud banging sound, and I make the mistake of pausing as I'm halfway out of the window to look at the broken down door. Thane steps through, and looks bored as he says, "I really wish you didn't make me do that. It's going to be a real hassle to repair."

He looks at the glass on the floor. "And that."

I look out the window, one of my legs hanging over the edge, and I estimate that the drop is at least thirty feet.

"What exactly is your plan here, Ares?" He asks as he takes a step towards me, his green eyes glowing with amusement. "Even if you jump out the window, at the very least, you'll break an ankle or two, and that would make it very difficult for you to run."

I shrug. "Worth it," I say, and jump out the window.

I'm falling through the air, and I'm about ten feet away from the ground when a white mist wraps around my ankles, and instead of being pulled to the ground, it drags me back through the window.

"Bastard!" I yell at him once his stupid magic dissipates around my ankles after placing me on the floor in front of him.

"Interesting way of saying 'Thank you for not letting me break my ankles, Sexiest Alpha alive'" He muses.

I snarl, summoning a knife. "You can't keep me hostage here, Thane."

He raises his eyebrows. "Is it so awful for you to be in Blue Moon? Are you treated so terribly here you feel the need to run?"

My eyes narrow. He knows damn well that the Blue Moon wolves have been exceptionally welcoming and kind. Including him.

"That's what I thought," He smirks, and my grip on the hilt tightens, and I want nothing more than to cut his lips off. "I have to say, I didn't expect the notorious Gamma of Red Crescent to be so... cowardly."

Anger courses through my blood, boiling it. "What the fuck did you just call me?" I hiss, taking a step towards him, my blade extended.

"You're a coward," He says simply. "You use violence to keep people from getting close to you. You incite fear because you believe it to be safer than love."

"I will cut you into pieces," I say, and I wish my voice didn't shake as much as it had.

My comment just seems to propel his amusement. "Even now, you threaten me with a blade, in hopes that I give in to your violence, and respond with my own. You want me to attack you, so you have an excuse to hate me," He calmly states.

I laugh sardonically. "You just think you have me all figured out, don't you Alpha?"

His head cocks to the side bemusedly. "Did I miss something, my love? If you want, I can keep going."

"Shut. Up." I threaten, and when he takes a step towards me, I hold the knife far enough out in front of me, it's mere centimeters away from his chest.

It doesn't stop him from speaking. "You fled the training center because the kiss scared you," he continues, his voice even and unwavering. "You're scared that I know you. That I see you. The kiss scared you because you liked it, and I'd even go as far as to say you like me."

My breathing is unsteady as he grabs my hand holding the knife, and gently picks it out of my grasp, and tosses it to the side, sending it clattering to the floor. My fists curl into balls at my sides and my heart beats erratically against my will.

"But do you want to know a secret, my love?" He whispers, and his eyes darken as he tucks a stray piece of hair behind my ear. "Kissing you is the only thing I've thought about since I first met you."

His hand moves towards the side of my face, cupping my cheek, sending electricity into my skin from the contact. I want to say something, but my brain and my mouth are disconnected, thrown off by the intensity of his gaze.

"Do you want to know something else?" He asks softly, and I try to shake my head, but I'm paralyzed. "I'm going to kiss you again."

He gives me a few seconds to protest, and I want to, so badly, but no words leave my mouth. He leans over, and puts his other hand on the other side of my face, tilting my head up, and places his lips softly on mine.

Of course, my body chooses now to unparalyze, and I kiss him back, losing the war against my wolf. He growls against my mouth, deepening the kiss, and I gasp slightly as one of his canines punctures my lip, drawing blood. He uses this to have his tongue gain entry into my mouth, and resisting against my wolf, and his, is futile.

We kiss passionately, and his hands move from my face to my waist, and he picks me up, and as I wrap my legs around him, my arms snake around his neck. I can hear rumbling from his chest, and his hands wrap in my hair as he moves us to the bed, and without breaking the kiss, he sits down, and I roughly shove his shoulders so he's pinned on his back.

My wolf is elated, and I'm not sure I could stop the kiss even if I wanted to. Which I definitely, definitely did. I bite Thane's lip, and the taste of his blood sends my wolf into a frenzy.

Thane groans, and flips us so that now I'm pinned underneath him. My claws descend, and I shred his shirt into pieces, exposing the muscular plains of his chest. His claws aren't out, but he uses his hands alone to rip my shirt in half through the center, leaving me exposed in my bra.

His lips leave my mouth, and I can't help the frustrated noise that escapes me, and he smirks against my skin as he places feverish kisses along my jawline, kissing along me until he reaches the base of my neck.

If I thought that his hands touching me was electrifying, it was nothing compared to what I felt as his lips kissed the most sensitive part of my throat. I gasped, my back arching up so my chest was pressed to his.

Suddenly, the warmth from his touch was gone, and cold air hit my flesh in his absence.

Thane was breathing heavily from across the room, his messy brown hair disheveled, eyes dark, and cheeks red. "I have to go," He says abruptly, and my confusion must have shown on my face, because he looks at me sadly. He slowly stalks towards the bed, and I gulp as he takes my face in his hand.

"You're not ready for me to Mark you yet," He says softly, stroking my face with his thumb. "And if I don't get away from you right now, I can't stop myself from claiming you, and you'll hate me for it."
I nod, trying to catch my breath, and my wolf is internally howling, begging me to tell him to Mark me.

"Goodnight, my love," He murmurs as he pressed his lips to my forehead.

Before I can blink, he's gone, and the room suddenly feels much colder without him.

I gasp, sitting upright in bed, and I'm relieved to see that Cain's side of the bed is empty. Exhaling in relief, I run my hand through my hair, which is drenched in sweat.

Rage suddenly flows through my body, and as I punch the crap out of my pillow, tears begin to fall from my eyes, which only intensifies my anger.

I feel frustrated, unexplainably mad that I can't stop the dreams, that they continue to terrorize me night after night.

Even watching Cain or Wilson kill my pup was easier than whatever the fuck this was.

The worst part? Knowing that Thane experienced the same thing I did, and I had no doubt he was waking up from the exact same dream.

Stopping my assault on the pillow, my stomached turned as I wondered what Thane was thinking about the dreams. Whatever he was feeling, it couldn't be anywhere near the amount of guilt I felt. He was lucky that his mate left him, while I had to look mine in the face every day and pretend nothing was wrong.

Unplugging my phone, I exhaled in relief when there were no notifications. Perhaps I was successful in convincing Thane that he's just crazy.

Sighing, I get out of bed and shower, but the water does nothing to clean my conscious. I get dressed, throwing my fur cloak on over my clothing, since I could see snow falling outside from the window.

I mindlinked Zach, telling him Gwen and I would be by soon to talk to his mate. When I told Gwen last night about it, she was considerably more excited than I was at the prospect of trying to make Zach's mate hate him less.

"Where's Cain?" I ask Axel once I'm downstairs.

He shrugs, getting off the couch. "Probably doing a perimeter sweep."

I roll my eyes. "I assume that means you're on babysitting duty?"

Axel sighs. "Always."

Laughing, we walk outside, the snow crunching under my boots. Snowflakes fall from the sky, and Axel tries to eat them as we walk to Gwen's house.

Once we arrive, I knock on the door, but there's no answer. I frown, and Axel asks, "Did you tell her when we would be here?"

I nod, checking the time on my phone, and we're even a few minutes late. I mindlink Gwen and ask her where she is.

She responds almost immediately, Shit, I forgot. I'll be back in a few minutes.

"She's coming," I tell Axel, who's still distracted with trying to catch the snow in his mouth.

I smile slightly at the sight of the Blood Lake Beta, one of the most feared men in the continent, behave so childishly.

True to her word, Gwen arrives a few minutes later. My eyebrows raise at her appearance. Her red hair is messy, and her makeup is smeared. She's wearing the same clothes she wore yesterday.

"Where were you all night?" I interrogate.

Her eyes pop out of her head. "Um, nowhere," She quickly says.

Axel stops his antics and his eyes run over Gwen. "You look like you just got fucked," He blatantly states.

Gwen swears and fumbles in her purse for her house key. "Just give me a minute," She mutters, opening her door.

Naturally, I follow her inside, leaving Axel in the snow, not that he seems to mind. She runs upstairs to her room, and I'm close behind, plopping down on her purple comforter.

"Was Axel right?" I ask quietly as Gwen changes in her closet.

"No," Gwen quickly answers, emerging from her closet in fresh clothing. "I just lost track of time, that's all."

My eyebrow quirks up. "You were wearing the same clothes yesterday."

"Just drop it," Gwen snaps at me, surprising me. She sighs as she sits in the stool in front of her vanity, and removes her makeup.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you," She apologizes. "I just don't want to talk about it."

I nod as she reapplies her makeup. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. But if you do, I'm here. You know you're, um, my friend," I awkwardly say.

She grins. "Well I'll be damned. The Blood Luna does have a heart."

I throw a pillow at her, hitting her in the back of the head. "You're lucky my hair was already messed up," She warns.

After she brushes her hair, we go back outside, where Axel is building a snowman. Gwen kicks it, and they bicker the whole way to Zach's house.

I can hear yelling coming from the house before we even reach the doorstep. "Oh yeah? Well if I'm so horrible, you shouldn't have taken me from Crimson Shadow!" I hear Cassia scream, and there's a crashing sound.

"Have you just tried not being so horrible?" Zach yells back.

Gwen laughs as she knocks on the door. "Thank the Goddess for this. Things were getting terribly boring around here since you and Cain started getting along."

I'm about to shove her face-first into the snow when the door swung open. "Please, come in," Zach politely says as he steps to the side to let us inside, his voice notably calmer than it was a few seconds ago, though his eyes are dark, and I can see that his wolf is close to emerging.

It's a look I remember all too well from my early days with Cain.

I walk in first, followed by Axel, and then Gwen, who looks wayyyy too eager to witness the drama firsthand. I look around the small cabin, and see a few shattered plates.

Zach sees where my gaze is focused, and awkwardly scratches the back of his head. "We've had a rough morning," He mutters.

"I'll say," Gwen says, running her hand over a fist-sized hole in the wall. "Where is she?"

Zach sighs. "Locked in my room, as usual. Good luck trying to get her out."

Gwen shrugs. "How fond of your door are you?"

Zach looks at her blankly, blinking twice.

Gwen begins to go upstairs, and I follow her, and when Axel is about to go up the first step, Gwen turns around, looking down at him. "Not you," She says to Axel. She points at him and Zach. "You both, outside. Now."

Zach nods, but Axel looks at me for final confirmation. She's unstable, I shouldn't leave you unguarded, he mindlinks me.

I roll my eyes. I think I can handle a hormonal she-wolf, Axe.

He sighs, and the two of them go outside. Zach slams the door behind them.

Gwen knocks on the door. "The boys are gone, Cassia. Let us in, we brought alcohol."

"We did?" I whisper, and she nods with a grin, pulling a bottle of rum out of her thick coat.

I didn't even want to know when she put that in there.

After a moment, I hear footsteps, and the lock clicks, and the door opens.

Once she opens the door, Cassia walks to the bed, and takes a seat on the edge. Her brown eyes are bloodshot, and her golden hair is matted. Her eyes are puffy, like she's been crying nonstop since she came here, which I suppose she has been.

"I'm Gwen," Gwen says cheerfully, holding her hand out. Cassia reluctantly shakes it. "This is Ares," She jerks her head to me. "She doesn't talk a lot, don't take it personally."

I roll my eyes, and take a seat on the ground, pulling off my cloak, already feeling overheated in the house. Gwen sits next to Cassia on the bed, and Cassia scooches to the edge of the bed away from her. Gwen just moves closer.

"Gwen doesn't really respect personal space," I say, glaring at her.

"Does anyone in this pack?" Cassia asks, her voice stoic.

I shrug. Gwen offers Cassia the bottle, and I see her smile for the first time. "Zach dumped out all of his bottles after I drank all of one the first night he kidnapped me, and threw up for hours," Cassia takes a drink.

"My kind of girl," Gwen grins in approval, taking a swig for herself.

"So are you here to punish me?" Cassia looks at me seriously.

I raise my eyebrows. "Did you do something I should punish you for?"

Cassia shrugs. "I threw glass plates at one of your wolves."

I laugh. "I stabbed my mate multiple times upon arriving in Blood Lake."

Her eyes pop out of her head. "You've stabbed Alpha Cain?"

I nod.

"And you lived?"

I nod again.

"Blood Lake isn't the pack you think it is," Gwen says gently. "The men- they aren't as bad as the rumors claim."

Cassia's eyes water as she takes another drink. "He took me from him."

Her boyfriend. "Xander?" I ask, trying to make my voice sound soft, but if there's anything I'm bad at, it's trying to make myself non-threatening.

Cassia nods, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. "I know you must think it's crazy. To fall in love with someone who isn't your mate."

"I don't think it's crazy," Gwen says, and her eyes glaze over.

Cassia begins to sob openly, and Gwen pulls her into her arms, and I'm glad I told Gwen to come, because I'm no good at the comforting thing.

"Zach is a good guy," Gwen says as she strokes Cassia's hair. "You're lucky to have a mate that cares for you."

Cassia stops crying. "Do you? Have a mate?" She asks curiously.

"He died," Gwen says flatly.

"I'm sorry," Cassia apologizes.

Gwen shrugs. She doesn't say anything else about Jax, no doubt not wanting to launch into the whole story.

"Just give Zach a chance, okay?" Gwen says softly.
"He won't be like Xander, because he's your mate. Your other half. There's no male on earth that could be as perfect for you as him. The Moon Goddess doesn't make mistakes."

I hope she's right about that.

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