"Wherever it's going

I'm gonna chase it

What's left of this moment

I'm not gonna waste it

Stranded together

Our worlds have collided

This won't be forever

So, why try to fight it?"

••

"Don't ever think like that," he growled and hid his face in the crook of my neck. Breathing my scent, trying to calm himself down.

I sucked in a deep breath and patted his back awkwardly. Oh my my.

He seemed to be using my scent to calm his wolf down. It's common in werewolf community. Your mates scent is everything to you.

I could smell Chance's scent too. My senses weren't as developed yet. But for this close, I could smell him. It was very manly. Like spices. Something I couldn't quite place. But it was addictive.

Very addictive.

I found myself closing my eyes and wrapping my arms around him too, but before I could, the door of my room slammed open and chance was suddenly in front of me.

He hid me behind him and growled loudly, like he did a few minutes ago.

What's with him and this new overprotectiveness?

"Why are you hiding Livy from me, Chance?" A familiar voice said.

I gasped. Ryder!

I placed a hand on Chance's shoulder, trying to ask him to move but he didn't budge.

"Chance, I need to talk to Ryder." I told him.

He just growled, "No!"

I sighed. "Chance, I didn't ask you. I need to talk to Ryder."

If Chance was offended and angry at my disrespectful tone, he didn't show it as he moved.

Instead he grunted in annoyance and stood by my side.

Once, was out of my sight, I could finally see Ryder.

"Hi, Ryder," I smiled, awkwardly at Ryder. But he just frowned, as if asking me why chance was here.

Chance didn't get a hint though, he wrapped an arm around my waist, he pulled me to his side. His eyes looked at Ryder challengingly.

It was like marking a territory. I rolled my eyes.

Boys.

"How's Mark?" I asked Ryder because he didn't respond to my greeting.

Ryder's eyes turned to me and he smiled. "He's okay now,"

"All thanks to me?" I asked, grinning goofily.

Ryder snorted. "Yeah right. That, and you managed to hurt yourself."

Ryder's lips turned down into a frown at the sentence and I sighed.

"I'm sorry, Ray. I didn't know that would happen-"

"What are you guys talking about?" Chance suddenly asked and I looked at him to see a dark expression on his face.

"You came to the border and risked your life because he asked you?" He completed his sentence and I noticed how his eyes turned darker.

I bit my lip and looked down. I didn't want to answer that. I was scared of the consequences.

Chance took that as a yes and suddenly his entire body started shaking with anger and a ferocious growl left his throat.

"You motherfucker!" He growled at Ryder. He had Ryder by his collar in seconds and pulled him up to meet his eyes because Ryder was the tiniest bit shorter than Chance.

"HOW DARE YOU! YOU KNEW IT WASN'T SAFE FOR HER, YET YOU CALLED HER!" Chance's voice came out more hateful and malicious than I had expected and that made me shudder in fear.

I saw his fist was shaking and his face was red with anger. Oh my god. I had to stop him before one of them kills the other.

"Chance!" I Exclaimed, clenching his shoulder, "Please don't do anything. It isn't his fault. He just wanted to save Katherine's little brother. He didn't want to hurt me."

My pleas to stop fighting might have come out as me defending Ryder because Chance's face turned towards me in a second and I could see hurt in his eyes.

"Why on Earth are you defending him?" His voice came our harsher than I had expected, making me wince.

"You have no right to speak to her like that!" Ryder finally said as he tried to remove Chance's hand from his collar.

Chance's stormy eyes turned to him and he his jaw clenched in anger.

"I have every right to tell her what's right for her because I'm her—"

"GUYS!" I interrupted them, because I felt like one of them was close to killing the other, and looks at Chance. "Chance, please look at me..."

My pleading voice seemed to have worked as he looked at me, trying to look calm, but I knew that he was anything but calm.

While his face was still in my direction, I decided to play the mate card to make him calm down, because I didn't want him to go ahead and hit Ryder. They are beta and gamma. They should get along and not fight like this. I can't be the reason for dispute within the pack.

"Chance, baby, please listen to me," I whispered and placed both my hands on his cheeks, making him look directly into my eyes. I knew my touch will affect him.

"I know you are mad at him for calling me, and you think that I nearly lost my life because of him. You are blaming him for my 4 day blackout, but that's not true. Ryder didn't ask me to come alone. He asked me to bring Katherine with me. She knows how to fight and can shift. But I didn't and I was stupid for that. If anything, it is my fault that this happened. Not his."

My eyes turned watery in the end and Chance's expression softened. He stared at me for good 10 seconds before he let Ryder's go and stepped back.

"Don't blame yourself for anything babe," he whispered as he stood in front of me, "it wasn't your fault."

In seconds, his arms were around me and he hugged me tightly against his chest. I shut my eyes tightly to prevent from crying as I wrapped my arms around his shoulder too.

From the corner of my eyes, over Chance's shoulder, I saw Ryder. He looked like he wanted to say something. But I lightly shook my head, telling him not to.

I didn't want a civil war inside the pack because of me.

Ryder looked like he wasn't convinced but after a few puppy looks, he sighed and left

I just kept my head on Chance's shoulder and closed my eyes.

It didn't feel so bad after all.

We were sitting on my hospital bed for sometime after that Ryder incident and he fed me soup as I played games in his phone.

He was literally babying me rightnow. Asking me if I needed something every 10 minutes, feeding me food, not letting me go to the bathroom alone (he just took me to the door, don't take your mind there kids) and I won't lie— it felt good.

We were once again on the bed, just sitting and I was playing Candy Crush on his phone when suddenly it was pulled away from me and Chance wrapped his hands around me instead.

I tried to protest but Chance pulled me to his side of the bed and placed me on his lap. I gasped and tried to get off but he just growled lightly and pulled me closer.

"Chance, what-"

"Shhhh," he said, his lips were on my neck and tried not to shudder under it.

I placed a hand on his shoulder and tried to steady myself as he breathed slowly as if trying to control something.

"Olivia?" He said, in an unusually husky voice and I shivered at how nice he made me plain ole' name sound. And good it felt when he said my name.

"Y-Yeah?" I almost slapped myself for stuttering but maybe he was too preoccupied to notice because he didn't smirk or made a remark.

"Can Lupus take over? He's been budging me lately, he wants to talk to you himself and make sure you're okay. He was very disturbed and panicked when you got attacked."

His eyes were flashing and shifting between black and grey furiously, telling me he's fighting his wolf.

I smiled, nodded in affirmation. Of course I wanted lupus to take over. I liked him a lot. Atleast, in a wolf form- I did. Besides, I never met him in human form. So why not? He seemed to like me lot more than Chance anyways.

Chance took in my nod and closed his eyes for a few seconds. Meanwhile, I slipped out of his lap and settled myself back on the bed.

When he opened him up, they were black and it wasn't chance anymore.

It was Lupus.

At first he blinked a few times before looking at me. His gaze was intense, warm, feared and worried as he took in my features. His eyes hurriedly and desperately searched my face and body for any sort of injuried and once he was done, he sighed in relief.

His eyes were bluer than Chance and when they met mine as he gave me a warm smile.

"Oli..." He whispered, his hand reaching out to touch my face. I smiled too, but his smile quickly turned in a frown as he took in the distance between us.

I gulped at his expression. It was too hard to read. He looked like he was mad and indifferent at the same time, but if you looked closely, his eyes actually held hurt and pain.

"Olivia tell me one thing," he said. Lupus' voice was almost no different than Chance. His voice was just a little bit rougher and stronger than Chance- which I loved.

It's not like I am go'nna tell him though.

"Are you my mate?" He asked, his facial expressions holding seriousness.

I nodded slowly, I feel like I have been nodding a lot lately.

Huh. It might get me rid of my double chin then. I always get a faux, temporary one when I look down to study or use my phone.

"We are?" He asked as if teasing and I rolled my eyes, muttering a 'Duh'.

"Good. Then this distance is not needed between us." He comcluded and I squealed as he pulled me back to his lap.

Strkng arms were wrapped around me, as he practically hugged. I huffed and looked away, trying to act mad.

"You played!" I said and he smirked.

That god-damn sexy bastard!

"Maybe this is a game of chess then," he said, lacing his fingers between mine as he entwined them. "A king will be ready to fight to save his queen with his life. But the queen is always stronger. More rational and intelligent."

I stared at him open mouthed and shocked.

"Will you fight for me?" He whispered, gently caressing my temple. His tone held so much vulnerablility and sadness that it broke my heart.

I close my eyes and leaned into his touch as he caressed every feature of my face, as if memorising it.

"I want to fight for you. But sometimes it feels like I am in the battle alone." I replied, running my hands through his hair.

He closed his eyes and let out a sound of approval as I continued running my fingers through his hair. He leaned forward and rested his hand in the crook of my neck.

"Then why don't we start all over again? Try to live like mates do?" He proposed. His fingers in my hair now.

He played with my short curls and I smiled at how he wrapped his fingers around them and absent mindedly made me feel like I was in heaven.

When I didn't answer for too long, he pulled back and looked at me with panicked and desperate eyes.

"Please? For me? For us? Give us a second chance? I won't let him ruin it this time. I won't let things go bad. I will try my hardest to us. You're mine, Oli. My mate. Mine to love, cherish, keep and take care you. I am supposed to sleep hearing your voice and wake up to your gorgeous face everyday. I am supposed to be walking in the corridors with your hand in mine and kiss you in front of horny unmated males. We are supposed to be young and in love. I need that. Don't you, Oli?"

His tone was so filled with vulnerablility and hurt that my heart couldn't take it and I hugged him. Tight.

Smiling, he wrapped his arms around me tighter and rested his chin on my head. I kissed him on the chest where his heart is and he visibly shuddered.

"I do, Lupus. But I have a clause," I said, pulling away.

His eyes turned confused again and I squeezed his palm, reassuringly.

"You'll have to court me. Like normal people do. Ask me out. Take me on date. Wait a few dates for me to become your girlfriend. I want us to rebuild our relationship. I want you to find out more about me. And me to find out about you. We have to establish a lost connection. And see if we are it for each other or not. We have to start from the scratch, Lupus. And we have to grow into something so beautiful."

A smile found it's way on his face even though he know that mates don't need to do that. I had a feeling he didn't like it very much, but at least he smiled for me.

"Will that make you happy?" Was all he asked.

I nodded my head furiously and gave him a Cheshire grin.

He smiled warmly at me and caressed my cheek with his knuckles with a loving look in his eyes.

"Then I'll do it."

❤️