Kane stared at Mason from across the table. Mason had been staring at the menu for ten minutes. Kane hadn't even glanced at his own. He had just been waiting. He couldn't think of anything other than the fact that Mason was hiding something from him. It made him feel unsettled.

Kane glanced around the diner that they were in. It was small, with brightly coloured walls decorated by images of teenagers drinking pink milkshakes. It was too happy for how he was feeling. He had picked a table right in the corner so that they could talk privately. He had hoped that the truth wasn't going to be hard to pry from Mason, but his silence was worrying. 

"Are you ready to order?" Mason asked from behind his menu.

"Mason," Kane said. He hoped his deadpan tone would show Mason that he wasn't giving up in his search for the truth.

Mason lowered the menu. "Yeah?"

"Are you going to explain what happened?"

Mason shrugged. "Can we do this after dinner? I just want to enjoy a night with you."

Kane shook his head. "You're worrying me. Just tell me."

Mason placed the menu down on the table. He blinked a couple of times, his eyes cast down at it. "I don't want to have this conversation, Kane. You have to believe me."

Mason lifted his head, his eyes filled with sadness. Kane felt a wave of fear hit him. He reached his hand out over the table, willing Mason to take it. "Whatever's going on, just tell me. We can work it out together."

Mason gently clasped his hand in Kane's. "I believe Rita. She's the one who cast the spell to begin with, and if anyone would have been able to fix the bond then it would have been her. I believe what she said about the bond being unbreakable."

Kane shook his head slightly. "Mason-"

Mason cut him off, "Please just let me finish."

Kane nodded.

"If there's no way for the bond to be fixed, then me being around is only going to cause more pain and heartache. I'm a liability as it is. The rogues are hunting me, they might even know where we live. I'm not safe there anymore."

"You know that we will protect you. You don't have to leave Burlington. My father said on the phone that he and the Alpha want to protect you. They won't cast you out."

Mason only considered that for half a second. "For as long as I'm with your pack, I'm a liability. Me being there endangers everyone as long as those rogues are still out there. I need to leave."

Kane squeezed Mason's hand. He wasn't going to let Mason face that alone. If Mason truly believed that he wasn't safe at Burlington then he wasn't going to force him to stay there. An idea came to Kane's mind. "Then I'll go with you. We can run away together until the rogues aren't looking for you anymore."

Kane had expected Mason to be happy with his response, but Mason only looked more upset. "It's not just about that," Mason admitted.

"What is it about then?" Kane asked.

"Me being around every day causes Nora so much pain. I see it on her face. Every time we touch, I see the pain in her eyes. I can't live like this anymore, Kane. I am the reason that you and Nora aren't together. If you have your mate ceremony with her, then the bond would be fixed between you. Rita said that."

Kane couldn't fully comprehend what Mason was trying to say. "Rita said a lot of things to my mother eighteen years ago that weren't true either. We can fix the bond, Mason. I don't know why you're saying these things."

Mason was silent for a few moments. The air was heavy between them. Kane didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to convince Mason that he was going to find a way to make it right between them.

"I'm leaving you, Kane."

Kane let his hand slip out of Mason's grip. "What?"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you. I'm leaving and I don't want you to come with me. I want you to be with Nora."

"I love you, Mason. We are meant to be together, its destiny."

"I love you, Kane, and that's why I can't stand by and watch you destroy your only chance at happiness."

"What happiness?" Kane asked. He felt anger and confusion building up in his veins. Mason wasn't making sense. "With Nora?"

"Yes. Once you have a mate ceremony with her then you will save your pack, you'll fall in love with her for real because our bond will be gone. You won't think of me anymore. You can be happy."

Kane couldn't understand how Mason thought that was what he wanted. He never wanted the bond to be stronger between he and Nora. That wasn't the reason they had come all this way. He didn't want to fall in love with Nora. He didn't care about saving his pack if it meant he lost the love of his life. There would be other ways to save the pack. "That's not what I want. You don't get to decide my future for me."

"That's true, but I get to decide my own, and it's not with you."

Kane couldn't imagine a world without Mason in it. He closed his eyes for a second, willing time to turn back. He wanted to be back in the Rosemont pack house with Mason, cuddling in bed while they spoke about their future. It had seemed so perfect back then. He didn't want to be in this diner. "You're saying this because you're upset. You're in shock because of what happened with Rita. You love me, you won't leave me."

"That's what you don't understand," Mason told him as tears fell down his cheeks, "I'm leaving you because I love you. One day when you and Nora are bonded with children and you've saved the pack you'll understand that."

Kane shook his head. "No. I don't accept this."

"If what Rita said is right, then that means that I do have a mate out there. Once our bond is gone then I can truly bond with them. Maybe that's the only way that I find happiness. Would you really stop me from finding a love that I can enjoy? A mate that I can kiss and touch?"

Tears burnt at Kane's eyes. "That's not fair. You know that's not fair."

"I don't want to do this, Kane. I really don't."

"Then don't do it. We can forget this ever happened."

"I can't do that. I know you. I know every bit of you and how you work, and that means I know you will never give up on us. Even if it destroys all of us in the process. That's why I have to be the one to end it. I can't let you throw away your future for me."

"I'm begging you here, don't do this."

"We did our best. We tried so hard to make it work, and I'll never, ever forget you. You changed my life, Kane."

Kane's phone buzzed on the table. He saw his father's name on the screen and declined the call. He looked back up at Mason. "I'll fix this with or without your help."

Mason reached across the table with his hand out. "Please don't waste your life on this."

Kane stared at his outstretched hand. "I promised you I'd make things right and unlike you, I don't break my promises." Kane stood from the table. He threw his phone into his pocket. "I'll be in the car when you come to your senses."

Kane had to force himself to not run out the door. He found himself leaning up against the side of his car, his head in his hands. He couldn't believe this was happening. He pulled his phone from his pocket, knowing that he needed to call Adam. Adam was the only one he wanted to speak to. His father's name was on the screen again. He'd texted him.

That's good to hear son! I didn't call the hotel, though.

Kane read the text over again. His father didn't call the hotel. If his father didn't call the hotel, then who did? Nora's father didn't know they were on this trip. Mason didn't have a father. Who called the hotel claiming to be his father?

Kane dialled Nora's number with shaky fingers. He paced around the car as it rung out. He left a message. "Call me back right now. The hotel isn't safe."

Kane saw the door to the diner open. Mason stepped out.

"Get in the car!" he called out to him.

"I haven't changed my mind," Mason called back to him.

"Nora's in danger. Get in the car."

Mason ran the distance between them. "What happened?"

Kane threw himself into the driver's seat and quickly reversed the car as soon as Mason's door was shut. "When I checked into the hotel the guy said that my father had called that afternoon to see if I'd checked in. It wasn't my father who called."

"What about Nora's father?"

"He doesn't know about any of this, let alone where we are staying."

"Oh god. You don't think it was the rogues, do you?"

Kane couldn't say it out loud. "We need to get back to the hotel."

Mason held his phone to his ear. "I'm calling her."

Kane waited anxiously while the call rang out again.

They pulled the car up to the hotel and ran into the lobby. They took the stairs, running up the flights until they reached their hotel room door. Kane's heart dropped when he saw that the door was slightly ajar. He pushed it open quickly, running into the room with his fists ready. However, he didn't find Nora or the rogues. Instead he found the sofa turned over on its side, a glass smashed against the wall and a note laid on the edge of his bed.

You have our wolf. We have your girl. Let's do a swap.

Kane picked up the note with shaky fingers. He turned the note over and found an address scribbled on the back with the words '3pm tomorrow' written underneath.

Kane turned to Mason, who was standing in the doorway with wide eyes. "They have her. We were too late."