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Kane watched Nora out of the corner of his eye as he bent over to tie his laces. "I'll be back in about an hour," he told her.

Nora sat at the desk in the corner of his room, her phone in her hand. "Okay," she mumbled out so quietly that Kane almost missed the word.

"Do you want to come with me?" he asked.

He wasn't sure if he wanted her to say yes or no. He was about to go for a run, and although he loved running alone, he really needed to talk to Nora. She had been avoiding the subject since the day before, when they got back from Maysville. Every time Kane started a conversation she would come up with some excuse as to why she couldn't talk.

Nora shook her head, not a word leaving her mouth.

Kane had to forcefully hold back the sigh that threatened to leave his lips. He didn't want to upset her, but he wished that she would talk to him. They seemed to be living in some strange limbo where they were together and yet not together. The truth was out there now and Kane didn't know where they should go from here, and from the looks of it, neither did Nora.

Kane wanted to sit back down on his bed and just have the conversation that he knew was inevitable, but now was not the time. The distant vibe Nora held in that current moment would undoubtedly make her a bad conversationalist. He needed to give her space to cool down or gather her thoughts or do whatever she needed to do to get her out of this mood.

If he was being honest, he missed the old Nora. The one who pretended to love him. At least she cared. At least they were able to talk about their problems, even if they didn't. Now, she was acting like she didn't care about him in the least. He wondered if she was just scared that he was going to leave her. He was scared that he was going to leave her too.

Kane walked out of the room. His thoughts were too much. He needed to be running through the woods, to be able to focus on anything other than the sad, distant girl in his room.

He saw Heath from the staircase. He had been watching a movie, but paused it when Kane reached the bottom of the stairs. Heath turned from the couch. "Where are you going?" he asked.

Kane nodded towards the front door. "Run."

"You're leaving me here alone with Miss Sassy Pants?" Heath asked with a roll of his eyes.

"Lay off Nora," Kane told him. He sat on the edge of the couch and lowered his tone. "We are going through a hard time."

"I'm going through a hard time," Heath replied, "your mate has not only ignored me, like, five times today, but she also ate all of my cookies, which is basically a crime."

"She did?"

"Yeah, I had at least seven cookies in the cupboard," Heath said exasperatedly.

Kane sighed. "Not the cookies. I meant, she ignored you today?"

Heath nodded. "Every time I try to talk to her she just pretends that I didn't say anything."

Kane bit at his lip. He didn't know what to do. Nora wasn't like this. She wouldn't be rude to someone. The bond sent a bad feeling into his gut that told him it was his fault. That fight the other night shouldn't have happened. He had turned Nora into someone she wasn't. "I'm sorry she was rude to you. I'll, uh, I'll talk to her."

"Don't bother," Heath muttered. "I don't know why she's here anyway. It's obvious that you two aren't right for each other."

Kane couldn't argue that. "She's here because she's my mate and we are trying to make it work."

"So, you admit that it's not working?"

Kane stood up. "I can't deal with this right now, Heath."

Heath's expression changed to one of guilt. "I'm sorry, Kane. I really am, but you know that I'm right."

Kane left the room without another word. He started running the second he was outside the house. He ran with the slowly setting sun bright in his eyes. His mind was a swirl of thoughts. He tried to push them to the side, but they bounced back into the forefront of his mind only moments later. He ran faster. He was upset that Nora hadn't told him the truth. He ran faster. He hated the bond and what it had done to them. He ran faster. His legs burned. A tear fell down his face. He wiped it away.

He focussed on every breath he took in and every step his legs took and slowly, those thoughts seemed to drift away. He ran until he needed a break. He huffed and leant against a tree, his chest heaving and a small smile on his face. His mind felt clear for the first time in a long time.

He saw something moving out of the corner of his eye. There was someone walking down a driveway a few houses ahead of him. The boy's bright blonde hair gave him away. Kane smiled and started making his way towards Mason. Mason was carrying a bag which he threw in the backseat of the dark car that sat in the driveway. It wasn't until he got closer that he realised that Mason looked upset.

He disappeared into the small house, and reappeared a few seconds later with a box in his arms. Kane jogged up to him. "Hey, philosophical boy!"

Mason's big, grey eyes looked up at him in surprise.

"Need help with that?" he asked, pointing at the box in Mason's arms.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I was on a run," he explained. "What's with the box?"

Mason shrugged. He dodged Kane's open arms and placed the box in the car himself. "I thought you were still in Maysville?"

"We only stayed there a night. I was going to call you tonight actually, to see when you wanted to hang out."

Mason sighed. "I don't think that's going to happen."

Kane tilted his head. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm leaving town," Mason admitted slowly. The sadness in his eyes suddenly seemed deeper.

Kane felt his eyes widen. "What happened? How long will you be gone for?"

Mason shrugged again. He turned towards the house, but Kane stepped in front of him.

"What?" Mason asked.

"Mason, why are you skipping town?" Kane asked carefully. "Does your Aunt know that you're leaving?"

Mason started saying something, but stopped himself. "I don't want to talk about it," he said.

Kane thought for a moment. He nodded towards the house. "Can you show me that painting you did of me before you go?"

Mason bit at his lip. "Yeah, come in."

Kane followed Mason inside. Mason told him to wait on the couch, and he did. He watched Mason walk down the hallway, presumably to his room. The living room that he sat in was filled with wooden furniture and warm colours. He stood from the couch when he noticed the family photos that lined the wall to his side. He recognised the woman who must have been Mason's Aunt.

One photo stood out to him. In the photo stood a smiling couple, an omega woman and a dark-haired man. In the arms of the woman was a child who couldn't have been more than four, with big grey eyes and the same sandy blonde hair that he had now. Kane stared at Mason's parents in the photo and wondered what happened to them. Mason had talked about his parents in past tense, but that was the extent of Kane's knowledge of them.

"Here it is," Mason said.

Kane turned. He felt like he had been caught out. His eyes travelled to the watercolour that was in Mason's extended hand. He took the painting. "It's stunning," he told Mason. It was exactly how Mason had described it over the phone. It was of his wolf, running through the woods. Kane was shocked by the detail that Mason had managed to put into the piece. "You're incredible."

He looked up, only to see Mason's cheeks turn slightly pink. "It's just a small thank you."

Kane stepped towards the wooden coffee table in the middle of the room and placed the painting down gently. He motioned towards the couch. "Sit with me for a second." Mason followed his lead, somewhat hesitantly.

Kane positioned himself so that he was facing Mason. "What's going on with you?"

Mason took a deep breath. "You don't want to know."

Kane didn't believe that for a second. "Yes, I do."

"You don't know that."

"Try me."

Mason was quiet for a few moments, but Kane waited.

Sadness overcame Mason's face as he spoke, "I walked into town this afternoon and I was at the diner when I overheard a group of people talking. They were talking about a pack not too far away from here that was attacked by the same rouges who came here a few days ago. Apparently, they did the same thing there as here, except some of their betas tried to attack them and two people got killed."

Kane reached over and put his hand on Mason's shoulder. "Are you afraid the rouges will come back?"

Mason nodded. "Yes."

"If the rouges killed pack members, then for sure there would be people searching for them now," Kane assured him. "They won't get away with this. It's only a matter of time before they are found."

Mason shrugged off his hand and cast his eyes down to his hands. "What if they aren't found?"

"They didn't find what they were looking for here, so they won't come back anyway."

Mason looked up at him, those grey eyes of his suddenly gleaming with unshed tears. "It's me that they are looking for."

Kane could only stare at him for a few seconds. Mason was the thing they had been looking for? Kane didn't understand how that could be. "What are you saying?"

Mason blinked back tears. "I told you that I was rare."

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Kane asked.

Mason shrugged. "I didn't know who to trust."

"I wouldn't have given you up to them, if that's what you think."

"No." Mason replied quickly. "I don't think you would do that, but others in your pack would have. If it would protect the pack, they would have."

"I would have stopped them," Kane said without a doubt in his mind. 

Mason smiled slightly. "You're too good to be true, Kane, do you know that?"

Kane didn't know what to say to that. Instead he said, "Why do they want you, anyway?"

"I'm the perfect blend of beta and omega. My wolf is the rarest in the world. There are a lot of wolves who want to possess someone like me in their pack or even kill me for my fur. My parents have been protecting me from packs and rouges like that since the moment I was born."

Kane took a moment before he asked the next question. He hoped that Mason didn't think he was crossing a line. "Did the same rouges who came here hurt your parents?"

Mason nodded. "That's why I need to leave. They will hurt anyone who stands in their way. I can't keep putting this pack in danger."

"Where would you go?" Kane asked. He couldn't imagine that anywhere else would be safe for him.

Mason shrugged. "Somewhere away from people."

The sudden thought of Mason, alone in the woods, plagued his mind and it almost made him shiver. He knew that Mason was fast, but he didn't know how long he would be able to evade all the rouges out there. Kane knew that he couldn't just let Mason leave, knowing he was going head first into danger. "That sounds dangerous. You can't be on the run forever, they will find you eventually."

Mason sighed. "I don't care."

Kane reached over and placed his hand on Mason's knee. He wasn't going to let his friend run off into the woods, all alone, at the mercy of whatever rouges he came across. They were friends now, and that meant something to Kane. "I care."

"Why?" Mason asked with wide eyes.

"I said it the first time we met, you're one of us, and not just that. You're my friend. I don't want anything bad happening to you."

"What if they come back for me?"

"Then we will deal with it," Kane said with confidence. "Our pack is strong, we can keep everyone safe. We can keep you safe." Kane knew that there were flaws in his pack, but he knew one thing for certain, he wasn't prepared to let any harm come to Mason.

"Are you sure?"

Kane nodded. "Yes."

Mason went silent.

"I don't want you to leave, Mason," Kane admitted. Kane was telling the truth, the thought of Mason leaving was more painful than he thought it would be. There was so much more to Mason that he was yet to figure out, and to lose his new friend after only a few short days didn't seem fair, not when everything else in his life was falling apart as well.

"I don't want to leave either," Mason told him. "I never wanted to go but I thought I had to."

"You don't have to. Will you stay?"

Mason seemed to consider his options. After a few long moments, he nodded. "I'll stay, for now."

Kane smiled. "Come on, let's go get your stuff out of the car before your aunt comes home."

As Kane helped Mason unload the boxes back into the house, he thought about what would have happened if he hadn't of stopped running right outside Mason's house. Would he have ever seen Mason again? The thought made him sick to his stomach and he pushed the realisation aside, thankful that he had probably just saved Mason's life for the second time that week.