"Hey, Old Spice, you haven't got"...someone guarding the door because she's on his dick. "oh."

"Wait, why don't I feel this?" Jodi? Jodi, you freaking prick, you could have just told me this was going on! "Oww! Either in or out, bitch, but don't just shunt the pain at me, fuck!"

Trace wasn't in a rush to react, but Layla was. He was still adjusting himself back in when she started fussing, "You told me surrogacy, not a potential mate!"

And then she burst into tears.

Eva and Trace shared an uncomfortable glance over her reaction before Eva shook it off. Stepping up to the other woman, she handed her the food, "Wolves eat their emotions. Go on, and I'll square everything away with you after I deal with the coward over there."

Blubbering hysterics, a touch of laughter, perhaps rage? All of it made for a woman who was incoherent, but was easily pushed out the room to leave the mates alone.

Eva walked back over to lean one hip against his desk and cross her arms. "So...."

Trace looked down at his hands, wondering what he should do with them. He had been in the middle of correcting one mistake, but it was so unbelievable that bringing it up wouldn't help. "Clotilde, I re..."

The blow to the side of his face was unexpected, the pain woke a fiery rage that enshrouded him. The Alpha pushed himself out of the chair to tower over her, breathing raggedly. He looked down, willing her to stare back at him as he met out punishment for...

Trace couldn't do it. Yes, he raged, as no Alpha takes a hit lightly. But looking down, truly seeing her, reminded him of all their failures--at least one was his. There was no doubt where his dick had been.

And mates were not supposed to harm each other--which was the problem. He killed the first one, and now he's doing this.

Eva kept an unholy smirk in place. "You will not hurt me or my wolf any further. You owe me an explanation. We can either do that now and reject each other safely or we can put this aside while I finish what I left home for, talk when we've had time to think about it."

Glancing at the ceiling with an eyeroll masked Trace's aversion. "I want this over with."

She cupped his cheek to jar him into looking back down. "Too many wolves make the mistake of thinking their bond is solely from the Goddess or basic biology. It is tied to the core of you, the longings you suppress, your fears, your secrets. When you give up on a mate, it's with giving up on yourself. How much of your soul are you selling, to be rid of me?"

Her stare demanded a reply, but he didn't have a cohesive thought. It took a moment to find anything to say. "Haven't I sold enough of me?"

Eva sighed, stepping back. "I know you have--some of which I've walked in on today. Problem is that everyone has....so, are you sure you want to end us?"

Trace lost himself in the moment, noticing things he wouldn't normally because he hadn't taken the time. Her feral smile masked exaustion--not just from being up most the night, but that haunted look of someone carrying a bigger burden than they should. Secrets of this nature could age a person. He couldn't tease everything in her apart, not yet. It hinted at her being someone who acted out to hide herself.

And werewolves are intuitive; he should have seen that from the start. Had he really been too caught up in her behavior to be this blind? Did he regret his decisions this quickly?

No! Trace refused to believe that some core part of himself craved an anarchist who would burn the work of his hands down.

But he had been ready to walk away from the work, just to be rid of her. So he did want to tear it down--oh, not all of it, just the past three year's worth. And she was right to say they needed some time because he had something to change. It needed to be about himself, not tied up in rejection.

But Alphas are Alphas--that is, assholes. "If we were to end it now, what would you want from me?"

She lost the smile, not giving a damn that she looked drained. "What I'd want is for you to properly fuck me and reject me during climax."

That wasn't what Trace expected. He blinked. "That's a bit kinky."

"Pragmatic. Least painful way to end it according to surveys, and frankly, your ass owes me after last night."

Trace had almost claimed her. If she thought he could reject what belonged to him during sex, she's crazy. Perhaps that was her angle, too. "I owe myself time, more."

She laughed at him. "You're a bit of an ass." Then she turned to leave.

"How can you take this so calmly?" He called out to her back.

She glanced back at him before exiting. "Who said I was?"