The car ride felt less tense after that and thankfully, Eli and Dan kept Kennedy occupied.

She had been colouring in some flowers that she had drew, when the sound of her stomach rumbling echoed throughout the car since we never got to eat our lunch at the café.

Within a mile or two, Gabriel spotted a McDonalds, pulling into their parking lot. Dan jumped out first after unbuckling Kennedy's seat belt as she followed him. She leaned at the end of the seat, her arms reaching out to Gabriel, who now stood in front of her, next to the door.

I see him look to me for permission, I agreed not wanting to disrespect or ruin a potential relationship between father and daughter. I couldn't allow my feelings to reflect onto Kennedy's, she had her own mind and should be allowed to figure it out on her own.

Gabriel held his hands out before tucking her onto his hips, Kennedy's arms wrapped around his neck as Gabriel shut the door behind him.

I followed closely behind, watching on as Kennedy leaned her head into his neck, clearly tired and exhausted from today's events.

She soon began gushing about her favourite teddy bear to Gabriel. With him intently listening ensuring that he intakes every word she had said.

It was a strange feeling, like being stuck in limbo. It was frightening yet complex, heart-breaking yet intriguing, it wasn't something you could ever explain. A mate connection was nothing but vigorous, I wanted to hate him, but I couldn't.

It wouldn't allow me too, but it did allow me to feel betrayal, to still feel the same overwhelming feeling of sadness that I felt the day he rejected me. It wasn't something I was willing to forgive so easily.

I had always told myself that if this situation ever arises, I wouldn't object to them having a father and daughter relationship, I couldn't hurt my child that way. His rejection was for me, not for her.

I shook my head, following them through the restaurant as we headed towards the counter. Gabriel had already asked Kennedy what she wanted before turning to me with the same question.

I simply replied no, not wanting anything to eat. My appetite no longer there, but he returned a frown before ordering me a cheeseburger and fries.

He pulled his wallet out of his jeans, handing the money over to the human girl serving him at the cash register. I observed as she stared fiercely at Gabriel trying to capture his attention by flashing him a flirty smile while batting her eyelashes at him.

Gabriel paid her no attention, only focused on listening to Kennedy gushing on about god knows what. The girl soon realised that I was watching her with an amused smiled on my face, causing her to change her demeanour to an unfriendly one, shooting me daggers.

I scrunch up my face at her, my own attitude coming to light as I raised my eyebrows. Gabriel quickly catches on and frowns at the server, only for her to batter her eyelashes at him once again, until Kennedy realises what she is doing.

"Have you got something in your eye? Because you look really weird doing that." Kennedy comments out loud, her tone completely serious while curious. I couldn't stop myself from laughing as Gabriel smirked. The girl's cheeks become bright red from embarrassment and quickly hands us our food before calling the next customer over.

I grabbed onto our tray, walking towards the guys who were already occupying two booths. I sat down on one end, Kennedy in-between Gabriel and I as we all ate.

Kennedy was dipping her nuggets into ketchup when she suddenly spoke up, whispering not so quietly in my ear. "Dan reminds me of hulk mommy, I just need to colour him in with a green pen."

We all laughed at her silly suggestion as Dan smiles and shakes his head in amusement at being compared to hulk by a four-year-old.

"So, Kennedy, what does that make me? Superman." Eli enthusiastically comments, his posture changing into a different position as he moves his arms into the superman pose. He had a huge grin on his face, nodding his head and wiggling his eyebrows as if he was correct.

His response only made Dan scoff, taking a large sip of his coke.

"Donald duck." Kenny chirps, a wide smile on her face.

Eli's expression was met with disgust, not impressed with the four-year olds suggestion. His face completely dropping with his voice stuttering, reminding me of a minion from despicable me as he shouted "What?"

Dan choked on his drink, making us all laugh harder, even when we all thought we had gained our composure back, we hadn't. "Quack, quack bitch." Dan whispers lowly, so everyone but Kennedy could hear.

Once we had finished our food, we threw our empty packaging away in the trash and headed towards the car.

Kennedy and I had both found ourselves fast asleep, the sound of my phone ringing loudly, waking me up as I searched through my bag, looking for my mobile, hitting the accept button before bringing it to my ear.

"Hello?" I answered, my voice slightly groggy from just waking up.

I looked up, to find Gabriel looking at me as he drove down a long driveaway, it looked familiar and I assumed it led down to the pack house.

"Lara, where are you? You were supposed to meet me at mom's house ten minutes ago." Dylan was concerned, his tone distressed from my lack of presence.

"I'm with Gabriel," I said warily, unsure of Dylan's reaction. "We bumped into each other at the Café. We've just arrived on his territory; we have a lot of things to discuss as you can imagine."

The line went quiet, silence stretched between us for a moment. "Dylan?"

"Do you want me to come get you?" He questioned, his tone strained, he wasn't pleased with my admission. He had witnessed what Gabriel's rejection had done to me.

"Not yet, I will later." I began to say. Gabriel's own body language changing as he tensed up, his breathing becoming laboured as he concentrated on the road. His wolf had clearly not appreciated that answer either.

"I'll call you later Dylan." I promised, quickly hanging up the phone before he could contest. I needed to do this for Kennedy and Kennedy only, I couldn't allow anyone to control the situation other than myself.

"Gabriel, I can see that you're unhappy about that, but I want to make it clear that me being here is for Kennedy only. To discuss how we go about co-parenting for her, this isn't about you and me. You made that abundantly clear four years ago."

He stopped the car as he entered the garage, his eyes trained on Dan and Eli, who silently took Kennedy out of her car seat and out of the car. Leaving Gabriel and I alone.

I suddenly felt nervous in his presence, being alone with him caused me to feel vulnerable but never weak. His eyes were pitch black, his wolf dominant and at the surface.

"I wanted you." Was all he spoke, it was his wolf speaking, fully in control of Gabriel. I turned my head, looking the other way unable to hold his intense gaze, the words hurting me as if the rejection was yesterday.

My wolf was whimpering in my mind, she had always felt Gabriel's wolf, she felt his want and need for us, but our wolves didn't control us. It was our humans which disagreed, our wolves couldn't force us together, our human nature was superior in this situation.

"I can't play this game with you Gabriel. You can't keep hurting me because that's all you're doing."

I held in the whimper that so desperately wanted to escape. Gabriel battled for control, his wolf and his human side flickering within his eyes, Gabriel's emerald green eyes appearing.

"I want you as much as my wolf does Lara," He began, his hand reaching out for mine only for me to open the car door, stepping out. Tears welling up in the corners of my eyes. "I understand that you don't want to hear that, but it's true."

I shook my head, standing at the door, staring at him. "No Gabriel, you don't get to do this. You can't reject me and then suddenly change your mind, you broke me. I was pregnant and alone, scared and mate less."

I slammed the car door, not wanting to hear what else he had to say. I walked towards the garage door but was stopped when Gabriel's hand grabbed mine.

I wanted to curse the mate pull, the sparks and the connection that only a mate could fix. Your mate could break you, yet they were the only one who could fix you, they were the only person in the world who could comfort you and make you whole again.

"I know what I did and I'm not asking you to forgive me right now. I just want you to be open to the possibility."

"Why should I Gabriel, you were never open to the possibility in the first place. Why should I give you a second chance of destroying me, of breaking me once more?" I replied, pushing him away from me as I walked into the house, following my daughters scent, and leaving Gabriel standing there alone.