"Lara? Lara, are you in there?"

"Silas! I'm in here!"

I hurried to the door and slammed my fists against it as I called his name. I fell silent when nothing happened. Footsteps faded, making tears fill my eyes. He was leaving without me.

"I'm in here! Please don't leave me. Come back!"

I jumped away from the door when someone slammed on it. I held my breath and listened for more sounds. It was dark outside with only a few stars decorating the sky. I had watched the sunset from the window—it was all I could see. Wherever we were, the building wasn't surrounded by any other buildings. Tall grass stretched on for miles, so even if I somehow got out of the building, I had nowhere to hide and nowhere to run.

At least in the room I had a way of drinking water and I get food from time to time.

My attention snapped back to the present when I heard the lock click. I stumbled backwards until my calves hit the edge of the bed. My heartbeat increase when the door slowly opened. Relieve flooded me as my eyes locked with peculiar but familiar eyes.

"Silas," I breathed.

He smiled at me. "I came to rescue my princess from the big bad dragon."

A shaky laugh fell from my lips. He was here. Silas stepped into the room and closed the door behind him before he turned again to face me. He took one step before I rushed forward and threw myself at him. I breathed in his scent as I clung to him. He was here, he was really here.

"I m-missed you."

His arms tightened. "I missed you too baby."

I didn't even care that he called me baby. He had come for me and that was all that mattered. Silas lowered me to the floor and took a step back. His eyes darted over my face and then down my body.

"Did he hurt you?" I shook my head. "Good."

"Silas—"

He leaned down and pressed his lips against mine before I could finish my sentence. I clung to him. It was important for him to understand what I felt for him. As I slid my hands into his hair, I realized that something had changed. The body pressed against me wasn't so firm and muscled anymore. His hair was shorter too.

I broke the kiss and stared up at Silas. But it wasn't Silas anymore. Silas had changed into another familiar face—a man I feared. He smiled. I stumbled away from him as fast as I could and he let me go. His smile was pure evil. Slowly, he stalked closer like a predator about to catch his prey.

My eyes darted to the door. It wasn't locked; I hadn't heard him lock it again. I'd rather be out there than inside the room with this man. The moment he was far enough from the door, I made a dash for it. He reached out but his fingers only brushed the skin of my arm as I passed.

The door opened easily. I ran out into the hall but came to a sudden stop. The scenery changed to a familiar room. I stood in the middle of the living room of Ethan's house. My confusion intensified when I saw Ethan sitting on the couch. I took a step forward and then froze when Avery entered the room carrying a squirming baby.

"Can you take him for a moment? I need to finish dinner before Silas gets home," Avery said as she handed the baby to Ethan.

"I just talked to him. He'll be here in ten minutes."

Ethan smiled down at the baby. He made a face and then laid the baby against his chest. I closed my eyes as pain shot through me. How long had I been gone for? They had a baby! My eyes snapped open when I heard the front door open. I turned and waited. Silas entered the house not long after. He dropped something onto the couch as he walked right past me.

I turned to keep him in sight. Silas walked over to the couch where Ethan was sitting. He leaned down and picked up the baby.

"How's my little baby girl?" he asked the baby.

"She's been busy today," Ethan answered. "She's going to start teething soon."

Silas cuddled the baby close to his chest. "Sleepless nights, here we come. Where's Dalia?"

"With mom." Ethan stood. "They went to the pack house to help with the baking."

"Baking? For the celebration?"

"What else?"

Avery entered the room and walked right over to Silas. He leaned down and pulled her against him. My eyes filled with tears when they kissed. So she wasn't mated to just Ethan but to Silas too. This couldn't be true. How could they do that to me?

I crumbled to the floor as pain shot through me. They walked away laughing as if I wasn't there. Maybe I wasn't. They had a family. They chose her over me. I wasn't good enough for them. Me and my baby. My eyes dropped to my stomach, making horror flash through me. My stomach was completely flat. There was no baby. I had lost my baby too!

***

"Wake up!"

I jerked awake and instantly shot up on the bed. My kidnapper loomed over me with his hand held out towards me. I stared at the phone for a few seconds before glancing up at him.

"Talk to your husband," he ordered, thrusting the phone towards me.

I reached out with a shaky hand and took the phone from him. Licking my lips, I pressed it to my ear.

"S-Silas?"

"Are you okay, sweetness?" he instantly questioned.

I swallowed. "I'm fine." My eyes darted up to the man. "He's been feeding me and he made sure that I'm comfortable while I wait for you."

Silas was silent for a few seconds before he spoke again. "I'm picking the money up in an hour then I'm coming to get you, okay? I need you to listen to him and not try anything stupid. You need to be unharmed when I come get you. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Is he still there?"

"Yes." I dropped my eyes to my lap. "Silas? I'm sorry. I realized that I'm no better than Avery. What I did was wrong and I didn't realize it until now. I—"

"Lara—"

"I love you, Silas. When we get back home I'll be the best mother to our child and a good wife. Ethan isn't important. I won't ever talk to him again if you'd like that. Please don't hate me for what I've done."

"Lara, I don't hate you. I could never hate you."

"But you don't want to marry me anymore," I whispered, clutching the phone a little tighter. "Wait! No, please!"

The man ripped the phone away from me and ended the call. I scooted away from him when he took a step towards me. It looked like he wanted to say something, but he turned and stormed out of the room. I winced when he slammed the door closed behind him. There was no sound of the lock slipping back into place. Silas was on his way. I lay down and gripped the pillow to my chest. All I had to do was wait for him to come get me.

***

Silas

"I love you, Silas. When we get back home I'll be the best mother to our child and a good wife. Ethan isn't important. I won't ever talk to him again if you'd like that. Please don't hate me for what I've done."

My eyes shot over to Ethan when she said that. Pain shot through his eyes but he quickly lowered them. Nobody knew how badly her words affected him. This was much worse than what had happened with Avery at the cabin. We loved Avery—or we thought we did—but nothing could compare to your true mating rejecting you.

I lowered my eyes back to the phone that was in the middle of the table. It was placed on speaker so everybody could hear what the kidnapper said as I made the arrangements. I reached out and picked it up. After switching it from speaker phone, I pressed it to my ear and turned away from them.

"Lara, I don't hate you. I could never hate you," told her with as much conviction as I could through the phone.

We needed to have this conversation face to face instead of over the phone.

"But you don't want to marry me anymore," she whispered.

My lips parted but before I could get a word out, I heard Lara speak again.

"Wait! No, please!"

"Lara?"

Panic hit. Was he hurting her? Had he forced her to tell me that she was okay? Was she in pain and suffering because of me?

"Get me my money and you get your wife," the man sneered through the phone before he hung up.

I sighed as I lowered the phone. There was no guarantee that he wouldn't hurt her. At least he was reasonable enough to know that it would take time to get the money together. In half an hour he would call again and I would get to talk to Lara, but until then, I needed to make sure that everything went according to plan or I might get Lara and my baby killed.

"What happened?"

I turned and gave Devon a grim smile. "He hung up."

As I glanced around I realized that Ethan was no longer leaned against the wall. I dropped the phone on the table and went in search of him. Ethan was outside, sitting on the porch steps and staring off into the distance. I hesitated before I joined him. He bossy instantly tensed, but he didn't chase me away.

"She didn't mean it," I told him. "She—"

"She meant it," he interrupted me. "I could hear it in her voice."

"Ethan—"

"Don't," he whispered.

"She loves you too, you know?"

Ethan turned towards me. I gave him a small smile.

"You should see the way she looks at you when she thinks no one's watching. There's no doubt in my mind that if you made a move, she'd encourage you."

Ethan rolled his eyes and glanced away. "And you'd just accept it?"

I shrugged and glanced up at the sky. Would I just accept it? Ethan was a part of Lara whether I liked it or not. They belonged together just as she belonged to me. I might not be able to change the past but maybe there was a way for me to change the future.

"Isn't it funny?" he asked. "When we were younger, we'd always talk about sharing a mate. Then Avery happened and look how cruel fate is, we both get one woman that was truly made for us, but we both can't have her."

"Why?"

Ethan turned towards me. "For as long as Avery has that video, there isn't a chance of Lara becoming my mate."

I studied him silently. Ethan wasn't hiding his emotions like he usually would. I could see everything clearly and it was tearing at my heart. Most of his problems were caused by me. I made a lot of mistakes—the biggest one was killing that boy. We should've handed him in but I was so fucking angry for what he had done. I saw red when I heard him laughing as the animal cried for help.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I'm sorry that you're suffering because of me."

Ethan quickly glanced away. "We went over this, Silas. I would do anything for you."

"Even if it means rejecting your true mate?"

"Even if it means that I can never have Lara," he repeated.

I swallowed. "Why?"

He got up and I quickly followed him. Every time I asked him the question, he pulled away. Why would he throw away everything for me? Why wasn't he being selfish? This went deeper than what he wanted me to believe.

"Ethan, why? I need you to tell me why."

"Fuck off, Silas," he growled.

I gripped his shoulder and spun him around. What I wasn't expecting was for him to throw a punch at me. I barely dodged it. I stumbled backwards and glared at him. He flashed sharp teeth at me. My eyes narrowed. He wanted to fight, I'll fight him.

"Walk away Silas. I don't want to hurt you."

I scoffed, and raised my hand to gesture him to come closer. His eyes narrowed. Ethan growled and then moved. He actually turned around and headed back to the house. No way was I allowing him to walk off without answering my question.

I tackled him around the waist. We both went down with a groan. Ethan reacted fast—he rolled onto his back and punched me. My head snapped back as pain exploded on the left side of my jaw. I knew he could've broken bone if he wanted to.

Ethan rolled on top of me. He gripped my wrist and forced my hands down to the ground. I trashed underneath him and managed to get a leg free.

"What the hell are you boys doing?"

My eyes darted over his shoulder and Ethan was stupid enough to fall for it. The moment he glanced in the direction I had, I managed to manoeuvre us around. It was my turn to punch him. I got two hits in before he punched me in the ribs.

"Stop them!" mom yelled.

"Walk away," Ethan muttered. "I don't want to fight you."

"Liar," I breathed. "You've always been a liar. It's what you're best at. Lying and getting away with it. You've always been their favourite."

"Shut up!"

The air was knocked from my lungs when he tackled me. I grunted when his body came down on top of me. Ethan gripped my collar and leaned down. He growled at me. My eyes darted to his fists as he raised it. Before he could hit me, Alark pulled him off me.

"Why?" I yelled. "Answer my fucking question!"

"Because I'm the reason you can't shift!"