"Why are you wet?" Garret asked as I settled into his body, not knowing what else to do in my state.

"Bath," I state weakly. "Cold bath."

With nothing else to say, he quickly brought me to my room and into the bathroom where the ice was halfway gone from my overly hot body from earlier. Without so much of a word, he put me back into the tub, robe and everything, and I gasped at the sudden contact but also welcomed it.

I groaned out of frustration and placed my head on the rim of the tub. I could tell Garret felt guilty and not being able to do anything, well not being able to do the one thing that could get rid of this burden. I understood the morals of wanting to do it the right way but I had less than five hours till sunrise and couldn't wait that long.

"Isn't there a spell or something you can use?" he asked rushed. "To take the heat away."

Looking over at him, my eyes now icy blue, I say while growling. "Personal... gain." He looked confused. I fought for dominance to explain it further. "Performing... a spell... to do something for me... is considered personal gain... Witches- good witches- can't perform personal gain spells."

"But it's not-"

"Yes, it is," I growl. "Every she-wolf goes through this, I'm not any different." I looked at him. "I'll just have to suffer." It was below a whisper and I didn't mean to say it out loud for him to feel any more guilty but I did. "It's okay," I say to lessen the guilt. "This has happened before."

He looked at me confused again. "What do you mean?" he questioned.

I looked straight ahead, the heat still rising but I remained still since I couldn't do anything about now. "I've had hot flashes ever since I came here, to Texas."

"But... that was six months ago... How..."

"I don't know. They'd happen every day and then once a week. They stopped recently though... I almost forgot about them..." I chuckled. "Selíni must really be getting a kick out of this."

"Wait... when you first came here? I-"

"I'm tired," I interrupted, suddenly feeling the tiredness of fighting this, fighting Lilly, settling into my bones.

I began to get out of the tub, but I was too weak. I could barely pull myself up. Noticing this, he helps me out of the tub and once I was on the tile flooring, I disposed of my soaked robe and wrapped myself into a towel. I dried myself off enough before heading to my bed, still naked, just wrapped in this towel now and laid down.

"You don't want to change?" he questioned, following me.

"Too hot," I said weakly. "I just want to sleep." Moving the comforter back, I settled in, leaving the blankets back and not covering myself. My eyes were closed but I felt Garret standing there, not sure what to do it. "Lay with me," I say to him, my eyes still closed. "I get skittish when you're not with me." Without a second thought, he undressed himself to the boxers and laid next to me. I could feel him feeling unsure of what to do. "Just hold me," I whisper.

He easily wrapped his arms around brought me into him. I sighed at the contact, it not lessening how I felt but put me at ease. He kissed my forehead and I eventually was out cold.

Through my deep state, I heard him whisper-

"I'm so sorry mon chéri."

I woke up with a start.

I could faintly hear my alarm clock blaring but that wasn't what woke me. It was my dream. It was so vague yet so real and left me in a confused state.

As I began to fully awaken, the dream began to seep away. One thing remained though. And it was eyes. They looked like snake eyes to me, them being the only thing I could compare them to. Vertical, golden yellow, inhumane.

Reaching over Garret, I slammed my hand on the off button of my alarm clock. Sitting up straight, I ran my hand through my still slightly damp hair, trying to remember as much of my suppressed dream as possible. But with no such luck.

"Emmy," says a groggy Garret. "What's wrong?" When I didn't respond right away, I felt him sit up and take my face in between his hands to look at him. "Your heart is racing."

"I... I don't know," I answer unsure.

"Well, what do you feel?"

I blinked unsurely. "I'm... I... there's something wrong. And I don't know what it is."

"Okay, okay," he said, bringing me into him as my heart still kept racing. "Whatever it is, we'll face it together. I promise."

I felt it before I asked. The uncertainty feeling was weighing heavily on Garret's shoulders, as if he wanted to tell me something but didn't know how. I got out of his embrace. "What is it?"

"What is-"

"Garret, you're keeping something from and it's bothering you. What is it?"

He sighs, knowing not to lie to me. "I'm the reason for them."

"For what?" I asked confused about his vagueness.

"For your hot flashes."

"How are the reason for them? We didn't even know each other."

"You apartment is two miles from me," he responds. "You could feel what I was doing."

"What you were..." I stopped.

He continued. "I didn't know you were here. I didn't feel you enter, nothing."

"I teleported in," I say softly. "I never crossed a border so there was no shift..."

"I... I slept with a lot of women before I met you. And as my mate, you felt it. Each time."

I would be a fool to think that this gorgeous man didn't have a track record. I wasn't stupid. But the fact that I got hot flashes every time he had sex, that didn't set easy with me. Because it would happen every day at one point. It would go on for hours. I felt as if I was on fire and wasn't sure when the next one would happen. I thought I was crazy.

"Emmy, I-"

"I can't," I interrupt, feeling the hurt settle in. Lilly whimpered. I ached. "I can't bear to look you at you right."

Tears welled up in my eyes. "Emmy please," he continued. "I didn't know you were on the territory, I-"

"You had sex every night," I yelled, getting out of bed. My towel was discarded but I quickly went into the bathroom where my now dry robe sat on the sink. "Was it the same person or different every night?" I questioned. He was silent so I knew it was the latter. I scoffed. "Were they apart of your pack or human?" Silence. I laughed. "I can't do this."

"Emerald," he says quickly, getting out of bed and coming towards me. He reached out but I flinched away. "Please don't reject me."

I chuckled darkly, the tears falling at this point. "I could never reject you. Lilly loves you, I still love you... But even so... I can't look at you right now. I don't care that we didn't know about our bond, it still hurts." He was silent. "Just as possessive as you are when it comes to another male talking to me, that's how I feel. But the difference is that you fucked them."

"Just tell me what I need to do and-"

"Leave."

He sighs. "For how long?"

"Just... leave."