Jack and I were laying on the couch in his house, watching TV. We were laying down wrapped in each other's bodies. Jack turned in my arms, so he was facing my body.

"Hey, Matthew?" Isaac asked me.

I looked up at Jack's dad. "Yeah?"

"Your dad just texted me. They need you over there for a couple of minutes.. alone."

Jack looked up at me and nodded. "I'm okay, just wake me up when you get back."

I smiled, kissing his cheek. "Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

He smiled, letting his eyes close again. "I love you too."

I got up without moving him a lot. I set Jack on the center of the couch, covering him with the blanket. He smiled up at me and went back to cuddling a pillow. I walked into my house, freezing when I saw Alex sitting on the couch.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I snapped.

"Your dads just left. I wanted to talk to you."

"Well, I sure as hell do not want to talk to you." I said and tried to leave.

I tried to open the door, but Alex had run over to me and slammed the door shut. He breathed out and I could see sweat on his forehead. "Please, I need to explain what I did."

"Fine, but don't you dare think you're leaving this house until you explain every little detail of why you hurt my mate."

"Okay, just.. sit down." He whispered.

I sat at the couch across from him and he sighed, running his hands together. I could tell he was nervous and I didn't understand why.

"What's going on, Alex?"

"I know you notice how I say stuff without thinking and I do things without thinking and-"

"I think everyone notices that." I whispered.

He sighed. "I know. I didn't tell my parents that I went to the doctors."

I sat up straight. "Why'd you go?"

"Well, I had started to notice that what I was doing started to get more extreme and that I started to.. feel things I knew would only hurt myself in the future."

"What'd the doctor say?"

"He diagnosed me with bipolar depression." He whispered.

I was shocked. All those times he's blurted stuff out, fucked a different guy, and started a fight.. it was because he had this. He had this disease that he didn't want to get checked out.

"I-I can't afford the medicine because my parents can't know. I'll tell them, but I can't now. I need more time. And as your beta, you can't tell anyone. Not even Jack."

"I can't hide anything from my mate!" I snapped.

"Please, Matthew, please. Don't. I need more time."

"I won't tell him if you take the medicine."

"I can't afford it-"

"I'll pay for it. You need help and let me help you."

He smiled up at me with tears in his eyes. "Thank you, Matthew, thank you."

He got up and put his hand out to me. I shook my head and pulled him in for a hug. "You're my beta, Alex."

He nodded, smiling at me. "Okay."

"We can go to the doctor's tomorrow and get you prescribed the right medication, okay? I'll tell Jack that we have pack stuff to do."

"Okay, thank you. I'll see you tomorrow. I'll text you the address and the time."

I nodded and he left. I walked over to Jack's house and he was pacing the living room with his parents looking at him with scared expressions.

"Jack, what's going on?" I asked him, closing the front door.

"I felt your worry, Matt, are you okay? I wanted to go over there, but you told me to stay." He said and I saw that his fingernails had blood underneath them from him biting them with worry.

"Jack, calm down. I'm okay. Alex was at my house and he told me about pack stuff we're about to do."

I tried to walk over to him, but he backed away from me. He held his hand out from me. "You're lying."

"What? No, I'm not." I said in shock.

"You are. I know you, Matthew. You're lying to me."

"I can't talk about it, Jack, okay? I promise that I will tell you what happened, but Alex's my beta. I promised him something and I have to keep it."

He nodded, shuffling his feet. "O-okay."

"Don't worry, baby, everything's okay." I whispered.

"Are you sure?" He whispered and I saw tears in his eyes. I gathered him into my arms and swayed us back-and-forth to soothe his emotions.

"Yes, everything's okay. Come on, Jack, let's clean your fingers."

He looked down at them, just realizing they were bleeding lightly, some worse than others. I gave his parents light smiles as I pulled him to the downstairs bathroom. I picked him up and set him on the counter. I started to clean the blood as he looked down at the ground.

"Jack?"

"Yes?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I-"

"Think about it for a second. Think about what I just asked you. Is your mental health okay? Are you scared? Depressed?" I hesitated for a second. "Suicidal?"

The conversation with Alex had petrified me. What if Jack was feeling depressed or unsafe and he was just scared to tell me? I wouldn't be able to live with that.

"I-I'm confused." He whispered, looking me in the eyes.

"Tell me how you feel, baby."

"I m-mean.. I'm scared. I feel like there's always people trying to take me now."

"I need you to listen to me, Jack. No one is going to take you. If they do, they dare go through me. You will never be alone, unless you want to be."

"Promise me, Matt, I need you to promise me."

"I promise you, Jack."

He wrapped his arms around me, sobbing into my shoulder. I rubbed his back. I put my hands underneath his thighs, picking him up. His legs wrapped around my waist as I carried him to his room.

I laid him on his bed and he reached out for me. I smiled, lightly, and climbed into bed with him.

"You're okay, Jack." I whispered, stroking his hair.

I held him close to my body, so he could cry into my chest. Over time, he loosened his grip on me as his sobs died down.

"Jack, I love you."

"I love you too, don't leave me."

"I would never dream of it, but I have work that I have to do tomorrow with Alex."

"Is that some part of your lie?" He whispered, running his hand through my hair.

"No, baby." I whispered, which actually wasn't a lie. We are technically doing work to help Alex be a better person.

"O-okay. Can you make me food?" He whispered to me.

I smiled down at him, nodding. "Yeah, come on."

We went down to the kitchen and I picked him up, setting him on the counter. I started to make him us some grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. He smiled at me as I buttered the bread.

"Hey, Matt?" He whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Can you tell me something?"

"I'll tell you anything you wanna know."

"Why'd the hunters take me?" He whispered. I froze. I knew that this conversation was gonna come up. I didn't want to talk about it, but I know he wants to know.

I turned the stove off and set the bread back onto the plate. I walked over to him, setting my hands on his thighs. I opened my mouth to say something, but closed it, not knowing what to say.

"Matthew, tell me, please."

"I don't know why, Jack, I really don't. We've been working on that ever since you came back. We're trying to see if other hunters are after you."

"T-there might be more hunters after me?" He whispered and I could see the panic rising in him.

"Jack, I'm right here, okay? I promised you that no one is going to take you from me again, okay?"

"O-okay."

"You alright?" I whispered.

"I-I'm not that hungry anymore, actually."

"Okay, that's okay." I said, pulling him off of the counter. He landed on his feet and I threw the somewhat cooked food away because I wasn't that hungry either.

I pulled Jack up to his room and he curled up on his bed. I slid next to him and wrapped my arms around him, holding him to my body. His head rested on my chest.

"I love you, Matthew." He whispered.

"I love you too, Jack."