"I'm sorry, what?" I asked shocked, A) by his gentle tone, B) by his polite words, and C) by the fact that it was him!

"No, I don't think-" Nate started but Beta Andrew came out of nowhere and threw his arm around Nate's shoulders awkwardly.

"Nate, my boy! Look, we need to talk about training" Andrew said, dragging Nate off the deck. I could hear Nate protesting, but to no avail.

I was turned, looking at Nate go, but when I felt a warm hand touch my hip, I whipped around and faced Alpha Alex.

"Oh, hell no-" I started.

"Hear me out, I just want to talk" he said in calm, dulcet tones. I stared at him for a long time while thinking about the outcomes of this. In one instance, I get so angry I torch all of Clement County, leaving nothing but a scorched spot on earth. In another instance, we talk about how much of an ass he's been, he apologizes and my life gets easier. I decided to take my chances.

"Fine" I told him and put my hand hesitantly on his shoulder, making sure to put distance between us. The song that came on was, thankfully, a faster tune, so it was less intimate.

"You look nice tonight" he started off with.

"Wow, that was an actually compliment. I'm surprised you didn't say I looked easy tonight" I said back sarcastically. I said I would give him a chance, not make it easy.

"Alright, I deserved that" he said with a chuckle. He had a great smile...when he smiled.

"And I deserve an apology" I told him.

"You're right. I am sorry that I called you easy. I just don't take new people being on my land very well I guess" he said, loosing his smile.

"That's a wonderfully terrible excuse but alright. So what about why you have been so hostile lately?" I persisted.

He looked down at me, expressionless. "I was fighting against something that was far too difficult. So instead of fighting it, I decided to squash it". Hello cryptic answer.

"Squash what...how?" I asked in confusion.

"You'll never know exactly what I am talking about, but I am only going to explain this once. I am being nice to you right now, and then, from now on, you will not speak to me, look at me, or approach me about anything. You're going to pretend like I do not exist and I am going to pretend like you don't exist. We can live together if you follow these rules" he finished, then backed away from me, smiled, and walked away, leaving my awestruck in the middle of the deck.

* * * * * *

Alpha Alexandre Brutus's Point of View

Being so close to her was the hardest thing I had ever done. To have her in my arms, smelling like clean, crisp forest, all mine to hold? Seeing her dressed in those ridiculously tight workout clothes fighting like a warrior, then to see her dressed in that form fitting black dress. It was almost impossible. But like I've told myself before, I don't need her. I don't need anyone. And that's what made the impossible...possible. I knew I had to say those words to her. It was the only way to get closure, to get her out of my head. To stop my ridiculous, boyish jealousies. To see her with Nate; touching him, laughing with him, fighting alongside him. All those things triggered an anger so virile in my wolf, I had to clench my claws into my hands to keep a grip on reality. I cannot focus on my Alpha abilities if I'm thinking about a useless teenage girl. Now, I can move on. I said what I had to say, and now it would be better.

All I had to do was induct her into the Pack tomorrow, and then I would never have to speak to her again.

I made my way off the deck and headed through the crowd of jubilant people to the Pack House. I went to my room and locked myself in, stripping down to nothing. I opened the window and jumped out, shifting into my wolf in the process. I knew my solid black coat would hide me perfectly in the night, so I sprinted off past the backyard and into the dark forest beyond it. I ran a few miles until I reached my quiet, secluded, thinking spot. A tall ledge over looking a small drop off in the land below. A slow moving river ran through this part of the forest, up until the ledge, and then the water fell down the drop into a quiet, cascading waterfall. The water pooling at the base of the fall was so clear, green rocks could be seen at the bottom of the fifty foot drop. Although the water was tumultuous where the waterfall ended, the river had widened soon after that creating a tranquil pool about ten feet deep. I would come and sit on the ledge over looking the scenery or I would swim in the pool. Anything to escape reality and clear my head. I lay down at the edge of the ledge and put my head down on my front paws. I let the cascading water slowly put me to sleep, lulling me into fitful dreams...

I was running as a wolf toward something I desperately wanted, but no matter how fast or long I ran, it seemed like I never could reach my goal. I stop running in defeat, only to have the item I want materialize before me. I shifted into a human took a step closer to Terri. I reached out with my right hand to touch her face, and she asked me, "Why?" in a soft voice.

"Because mates do nothing but make you weak and vulnerable" I said with sorrow and regret in my voice and on my face.

"No" she said, and I noticed a small trail of blood run down the corner of her mouth, "Why?" she asked again, gently pulling her hands to my other hand which was near her stomach. I looked at her with confusion and worry and glanced down to see that my left hand, claws extended, was stabbing her in the stomach.

"Wha- What?! No! I-I didn't mean-" I pulled my left hand away and put both hands on her face. "No, I didn't mean that. Don't go! Don't go" but her eyes had lost their light and her lids were slowly closing. She fell backwards out of my hands and over the waterfall. I threw myself to the edge of the precipice reaching for her.

"NO!" I screamed but she sank into never ending blackness.

I jolted awake and found that it was early morning. Sunlight peeked through the canopy of trees and off in the distance a rooster crowed.

My heart was racing and I could barely breathe. Damn my wolf and his persistent mating bond. He refused to speak to me, but still imposed these irrational feelings of possession, rage, and desire on me. I shook my head and sent a message out to the pack through mind link that we would be doing Terri's Pack Induction tonight at seven. I then closed off the message to Andrew alone and told him that I was going to be doing work all day until then and that no one should bother me. After that, I blocked off my mind to everyone and slowly trotted my way back to the Pack House.

I jumped into my window and shifted back to my human form. I was dirty and filthy from sleeping in the forest and I desperately needed a shower. I went into my personal bathroom and turned on freezing cold water. I stood in the shower for a long while, palms against the wall, head hanging down, letting the water roll over my body. My wolf had been angry and testy lately with everyone but now I felt distanced from him. He was withdrawing from me, and if I wanted to run this pack correctly then I was going to have to have him at full strength.

"Get it together" I told myself, slamming my wet hand against the tiled wall. "We don't need her. All a mate does is create problems and weaknesses. She will not help us be stronger" I said with conviction.

I turned off the water and dried off. I put on my standard dark wash blue jeans and black shirt. I went into my office across the hall and shut myself in to work for the next nine hours.

* * * * * *

"Alex, open up" Andrew's voice came from the other side of my office door.

"I'm busy" I said gruffly.

"Look, Allison said that if I did not get you to open the door and eat food then she was going to come up here and drag you out of your office and force feed you herself. I don't want that" he said with a sigh. When he mentioned food, my stomach growled angrily. I put my pen down with a sigh and went and opened the door. Andrew came in with a tray of food consisting of a triple meat sandwich, French fries, fruit cocktail, and cake. He set it on my desk and then turned around and sat in one of the chairs in my office.

"The door works both ways. You go out the way you came in" I told him with a glare, still holding the door open. He looked up from his comfy position with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, is that how those work? Novel idea, but I'm actually very comfortable" he said throwing his arms behind his head. I glared at him for a long while but he continued to stare at me with a ridiculous, goofy grin on his face.

"I'm not leaving" he said without changing his facial expression. I glared at him for a second time then slammed the door shut, never breaking eye contact as I returned to my desk chair.

"What do you want?" I asked with narrowed eyes.

"I want to know why you haven't thanked me for playing wingman and getting Nate the Saint out of there so you could talk to Terri" he said blandly.

"Thank you. Get out" I answered him.

"And why you act like a raging asshole around her. And why you don't like Nate touching her. And why you don't like her wearing small pieces of clothing. And why-" he continued on annoyingly.

"Enough!" I interrupted him. He stopped speaking and stared at me with fake, innocent doe eyes. "Look, I can tell by the way you're acting that you know why, so stop jerking me around and ask the real question you want to know. Although like I said, I'm sure you already know the answer" I told him, going back to my paperwork.

"Alright, fair enough, is she your mate?" he cut right to the chase. I looked up to give him a condescending look before returning to my work.

"I'll take that as a yes. That being established, what the hell do you think you're doing? You're not supposed to call your mate easy and then criticize her every action. This should be the greatest discovery of your life. Although I am proud of you for jumping up there and cutting into her and Nate's dance. You better capitalize, because they're getting awfully close." he rambled on.

"I cut in with her to tell her not to speak to me any longer and to avoid me at all costs" I told him without looking up.

I could feel Andrew staring at me for a few a seconds and I knew it was coming.

"Are you freaking stupid?" yep, there it is. "You are denying your mate? Are you dumb?" he yelled and I growled at him. He may be a good friend but I was still Alpha and I did not like being disrespected.

"Alright, sorry, sorry. But seriously, she's a great person and unimaginably powerful. You say you don't want her but I've seen the way you look at her. You can't fight the pull forever. And you're just going to drive your wolf insane, teasing him with her existence and then not allowing him to be with her. You really think you're going to last two seconds around her and Nate when they actually start dating? Because trust me, the way they are going, they are going to be dating with in the next month. Can you handle seeing them holding hands, kissing, being intimate?!" He snapped and I openly snarled at him.

"You can act like your angry with my impudence all you want" he said standing to leave, "but I know it's because those mental images pissed you off. And you have thirty minutes to get the totem and head to the Rock for the induction ceremony by the way" Andrew said as he went out the door.

"Damn it" I growled, leaning back in my chair and pinching the bridge of my nose.

Thank you so much for reading! Vote and Comment please! To the right is a great song by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs I listen to often when writing and a picture of what I sort of imagined Alex's spot looking like.