I stepped back and frowned, my head whirring at a hundred miles an hour. "What do you mean 'I know'? You've known all along that he's your brother?"

Luke looked down at the floor.

"I don't understand..." I said, running my hands through my hair. "How could you keep this from him? You know where they are, don't you? Your parents, his mum." I gasped as I realised something. "Did you arrange all of this? A mysterious lead on Marcus' mum so he'd go away and leave me alone with you?"

He snapped his head up and frowned. "What? No. I had nothing to do with him leaving, Cat, I swear."

"How am I supposed to believe that?" I shook my head and backed away from him towards the door. "I only found out you were a werewolf because Marcus told me, so it's not like you're particularly forthcoming with secrets, is it? Seems a little convenient, and very unlike Marcus, that he'd leave me at such a time." The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. "You did, didn't you? You set it up so he'd leave!"

"No," he replied, taking a step towards me. "I didn't, Cat, I swear on my life."

Tears pricked at my eyes as the penny dropped; I couldn't trust a word he said. "I don't believe you," I said, turning my head to see where the door was. Seeing it was only a few steps away, I turned back to him. "How could you lie to me? I thought we had..." I motioned my hand back and forth between us "...something, Luke. Now you're making me question everything."

"I didn't lie to you. There is something between us, Cat. You're my soulmate, my world, the love of my life. I—"

"Don't!" I yelled. "Just shut up. For all I know that's a load of crap. You've probably manipulated this entire situation. I don't trust you, Luke. I'm done."

I turned and ran out of the room, but I barely made it two steps before he grabbed my arm, whirling me back around to face him. The pain and fear in his brown eyes shocked me to the extent I almost choked on my own sobs.

"I would never lie to you," he said, his voice low and gentle. "I couldn't do that."

"You're lying to me by saying that," I said, anger boiling in my veins. "You have lied to me. More than once."

"Cat, I haven't."

I yanked my arm free and squared my shoulders, fixing him with a steely glare. "Just because you haven't physically uttered the words, it does not mean you haven't lied. You lied by omission, Luke. You're not getting out of this on a technicality."

"I'm sorry," he said, raising a hand to cup my cheek. "I never meant to hurt you."

"Don't touch me," I said, batting his hand away. "There are hundreds of things that have caused harm in the world that were never meant to happen, but guess what? They still happened and they still hurt people. Prevention is better than cure. You could have prevented this entire situation, but instead you thought you'd try and deal with it once the secret was out. Wrong move."

"Ok, I'm sorry." He stepped back, holding his hands up in a surrender sign. "I understand, Cat, I do. I thought I was protecting you. After everything you've been through lately—"

"Exactly!" I yelled, my voice breaking as I screeched at him. "That is exactly why I expected you of all people to be honest with me. I..." I couldn't hold back the fresh bout of tears that sprung free and flowed down my face "...I feel like I could face anything with you by my side. Anything."

Guilt bit at me, taking chunks out of my soul. I shouldn't have been saying things like this to another man, not without knowing the full extent of my situation with Marcus, but in the midst of an argument about honesty, I realised I hadn't even been honest with myself about my own feelings. Deep down, I knew me and Marcus weren't meant to be, but that didn't mean I had to forgive Luke just because we were apparently written in the stars.

"And you can, I promise you. I would crawl on my hands and knees to the moon and back for you, I would walk over hot coals for you..." He lowered his voice and said "...I would die for you. You are my sole reason for existing, Cat. I would literally do anything for you."

I looked up at him, pity and sadness drowning me. "Except tell me the truth."

He glanced away, his own tears now rolling down his smooth skin. "I made a bad decision based on my need to protect you, that's all."

"Luke," I said, my voice quiet and tender. I took a step towards him and grabbed his hand. The warmth seeping from his skin pierced my heart, making my next words all the more painful. "My idea of soulmates is they tell each other every little thing. All the skeletons are out in the open. If that is really what we are, then this is not what I want. I can't even think of being with someone who thinks lying by omission is ok. You don't protect me by keeping secrets, you protect me by being there for me no matter what."

He looked back at me, his eyes bright red and wet. "And I have been, haven't I?"

"Yes, you have, you have really been amazing, but you have also been lying to my face for every second of it. That is not ok."

He nodded. "I know. I made a poor decision. I'm sorry for that."

Tears streamed down my face as I sucked in a deep breath. I forced myself to break the contact between us. I couldn't help the tremble in my voice as I said the words that shredded my heart and soul in two. "I'm sorry for the best decision I'm making now."

With that, I turned and left, galloping down the stairs as fast as my legs could carry me.

I half expected him to chase after me, but he didn't. Part of me screamed to turn around and go back, to heal the widening chasm being carved into my heart with each step that put more distance between us, but my head wouldn't allow it. I felt betrayed, deceived, lied to, and that only turned the widening chasm into a dark abyss filled with despair and anguish.

My mind wandered to the story of Aron Ralston for a brief moment, leaving me likening my situation to his. How had he coped with such agony? I felt sick to the bottom of my stomach, a heavy ache lumbered in the centre of my chest, and I craved nothing more than comfort from the one person who had caused me to feel like this. This wasn't physically cutting my own arm off, but it certainly felt like I was amputating something that was a part of me, someone who had become such a part of me.

I knew the only way to survive was to sever this connection, regardless of how much I didn't want to and however much pain it would cause. I had to keep going.

When I neared the end of the road, I realised I had just over a two mile walk ahead of me. Sighing, I debated calling Sophie or Joanna. However, I'd not even finished arguing with my own stubbornness before I heard a car crunching along the road behind me.

When I turned and looked back, seeing Luke driving towards me in the Audi, I became even more at war with myself than before. My heart skipped a beat and I had to fight with myself not to run to him for a much-needed cuddle. I didn't want to do this, but I couldn't bear the thought of him lying to me like he had done. I felt nothing short of a fool.

He pulled up alongside me and opened the car door. Stepping out, he pointed inside and said, "Take the car, please."

I allowed myself to make eye contact with him for the briefest of moments before shaking my head. "No, I'm fine."

He looked up at the dark clouds hovering low in the sky. "It's going to rain. Please, take the car."

I bit my lip in an effort to stem the flow of tears threatening to spring free. "I don't care. I'm fine. Just leave me alone, Luke, please."

As I turned my back on him to carry on walking, he blurted out, "I bought it for you."

I froze. Even my heart stopped for a brief second. I spun around to face him, blindsided, and confused. "What?"

"No more secrets, right?" he said, shrugging his shoulders. "I bought this car for you, Cat."

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. What was I supposed to even say to that?

"You loved it, I could see it in your face, so I bought it, for you."

I shook my head. "Why are you telling me this now? I don't know what to say, Luke." I glanced over at the car, its beautiful black paintwork gleaming at me, beckoning me to it. As I remembered how comfortable the seats were, I struggled not to dive inside and enjoy them.

"I'm not expecting you to say anything," he said, walking towards me. "I'm just laying it all out on the table, no more secrets, no more 'omissions'. I don't know where my parents are. I haven't told Marcus about our mum because I knew he didn't know she was with someone else. That fact could have hurt him more than anything."

"More than thinking she's dead or being held hostage? By wolves, might I add."

"Potentially, yes, it could have hurt him more. You've seen how he hates me, Cat. What do you think he'd do if he knew the truth?"

I couldn't answer that because I genuinely didn't know what Marcus would do if he found that out. "Ok," I said, sighing and calming down, slightly. "I understand why you haven't told Marcus, but you could have told me, Luke."

"I know," he said. "And I can only apologise that I made a terrible error in judgement."

I pressed my lips together and sighed. "I need some time, Luke. You're going to have to give me that."

He pressed his lips together and stared down at the ground.

I sighed and fought back the swell of emotions swirling around inside me. "I'll speak to you when I'm ready."

He looked back up at me. "I've been watching you," he said, his eyes full of desperation. "From the minute you got here."

I didn't know how to take that. I hesitated for a moment before asking, "Are you telling me you've been stalking me?"

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Stalking is a strong word. More like making sure you were ok."

I frowned but let the technicality go. "Why? When? I never saw you."

"At nights, I'd watch you sleep. When you were with Marcus, I'd make sure he wasn't trying to hurt you. I had to do it, Caitlyn, I had to know you were safe when you weren't with me."

I thought back over the first few weeks of my time up here. I remembered waking up in the night with the feeling of someone in the apartment, more than once.

"That night I got out of bed, that was you in there, wasn't it?"

He nodded. "Remember when Marcus kissed you on the balcony?"

My heart skipped a beat. How did he know Marcus had kissed me on the balcony? I thought back to that night, when I'd been so swept away in the moment and Marcus had suddenly stopped an amazing kiss before suggesting we move things inside. "That was you?"

"I needed to know he wasn't draining you dry. This thing between us, Cat," he motioned his hand between us "...I let it in years ago and now you're actually in my life, it consumes me day and night. You consume me, twenty-four seven. Even though we're not together I can't stop how I feel about you. You're like a magnet, pulling me towards you. I don't have the strength in me to stop it, I couldn't. I wouldn't even want to stop it."

His words washed over me, making me feel warm and loved. These were words I'd wanted to hear from someone, what any woman daydreams of being told, but this wasn't exactly how I'd ever pictured it happening. If anything, I'd imagined it being Marcus saying these words, not Luke. But the fact it was Luke, my heart cracked in two. Everything felt so...natural with him. Deep down in the core of my soul, I knew it was him, and always had been him. But that didn't take away the sting of his betrayal.

He held up a glass vial full of a dark coloured liquid. "Don't forget this."

I held my hand out for the glass vial. When he placed it on my open palm, a violent shudder ran through me, exciting every cell inside me. I knew this was my power. "I know you had good intentions, Luke, but what on earth made you think you could do this? You were playing with my life. You can't just go around messing with people's lives like some sort of God."

He sighed. "I did what I thought best at the time. I knew we would be in each other's futures at some point. What if I'd left it there and someone else got hold of it? Someone who didn't have pure intentions."

I laughed. "Don't paint this as anything other than you helping yourself. The only pure intentions you have are for yourself."

His eyes glazed over with water. "My only intentions are for you. Everything I do is with you in mind."

His words hit me square in the chest, filling my heart with a deep yearning. The things he was saying to me would have melted me normally but hearing them now, whilst I felt so betrayed and angry, only meant they were tainted with his lies.

"I'll take the car," I said. When his eyes lit up, I held up my hand. "But I want you to come and collect it tonight. I'll leave the keys on the inside of the front wheel. Please don't disturb me, Luke. I need some time."

He pressed his lips together and looked away. He closed his eyes then let out a long breath. "Ok," he said, opening his eyes. The hurt and despair flooding through them made my heart ache but I couldn't give in. He nodded. "I'll do as you've asked."

I brushed past him as I got into the car, trying my hardest to ignore my body craving to have his arms around me. "Thank you," I said.

I closed the door and drove off but even in the midst of everything, I couldn't help but glimpse at him in the rear-view mirror. Shoulders slumped, hands jammed into his pockets, eyes watching me, my heart shattered into a million pieces.