Katie heard a deep growl pull her out of her slumber.

She was in danger, Zach dreaded. Once again his Kat was threatened and in pain and he could do nothing. He had promised to protect her so many times before, yet here he was, tied pathetically to a chair, unable to shift or break through. The only thing he could do was watch helplessly as they tore her skin open and listen to her deafening screams kill him slowly.

Hearing another growl, Kat opened her eyes and carefully looked around, her vision still blurry and unclear.

Zach fought desperately against the silver chains, but they were unmoving. He watched as wolf after wolf, rogue after rogue, moved closer to his Kat and bit her, not enough to kill but enough to cause agonizing pain. Her eyes met his as she laid on the ground receiving her fate, and his heart broke into a million shattered pieces. Blood fell from every inch of her skin, tears poured out of her eyes, her throat went dry from all the screams, but her eyes never left his. And they were torturously full of disappointment and betrayel that Zach howled in agony too.

Kat looked at Zach whose arm tightened around her waist and saw the frown on his face along with the sweat dripping from his forehead. Reaching her hand to caress his cheek, Kat lifted herself up on an elbow. "Zach, wake up."

Zach could hear her whisper his name as if it was the only thing she still remembered. She had stopped screaming, had stopped fighting, but never looked away. Her eyes never left him as she kept whispering his name in a weak attempt to remind herself that he was still there. She was withering away before him and he could do nothing but watch. Fighting once more against the chains, Zach had never felt so excruciatingly useless.

Kat felt Zach's pain as he laid next to her, groaning in agony at the nightmare he was stuck in. Shaking him softly, Kat tried to pull him out of it again. "Zach, you're having a nightmare. Wake up."

Zach didn't want to hear her voice calling him again, didn't want to watch as the rogues ate her alive bit by bit. He shut his eyes and focused on nothing but their good memories, hoping they would help him out of this never ending disaster he was shoved into. Yet all he saw was every time he promised to protect her. Just like a movie, a thousand scenes played inside his head on repeat, him promising her and her trusting him.

"You need to wake up, Zach. You have to get up." Shaking him harder, Kat spoke louder than before when she felt the hand around her waist end in claws instead of human nails. He was shifting in his sleep. "Get up, now."

Zach suddenly heard her again, screaming out his name over and over like a mantra, everytime louder and more painful than the one before, until he could no longer take it. Roaring loudly, Zach pushed against the chains with all he had got, finally breaking free, and let his wolf take over.

Kat saw his eyes snap open for a mere second before she was suddenly pulled out of bed and pushed to the floor with five claws wrapped around her delicate neck, ready to kill.

"Zach, it's me!" Ignoring the pain of her wounds, Kat held onto the black paw that was ready to crush the bones of her neck and looked at the same crystal blue eyes she had spent days and nights thinking about. "It's me. It's Kat."

Zach's wolf growled loudly, his teeth visiable, dying to taste flesh and blood, as his paw squeezed her throat harder. Whoever was responsible for this Zach was going to enjoy tearing them apart.

"Zach, look at me. It's me." Her voice coming out as a whisper, Katie gasped for air, as she felt Zach's claws pierce her skin. "You're okay. It was just a dream. You woke up, Zach."

Blinking rapidly, Zach let his eyes scan his surroundings to find himself back in the familiarity of his bedroom. He moved his eyes to the body beneath him with a frown only for his fast beating heart to come to a stop. Instantly shifting back, Zach scattered away from Katie like she had put him on fire.

Coughing rapidly, Kat whimpered at the pain of her stomach and wrapped a soothing hand around her bruised neck. "It's okay." She pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked at her hand to find a few drops of blood like she had expected. "It's okay."

Zach couldn't look anywhere but at Kat as she rubbed her neck and tried to catch her breath. "What the fuck did I do? Did I hurt you?" Zach asked although he already knew the answer.

Meeting his eyes, Kat felt his agony once more. "No. You didn't. I'm okay." She spoke as affirmatively as possible. Bending her legs beneath her, she tried to push her weight up but only moaned out in pain.

With a curse Zach was instantly by her side. Lifting her up easily, he carefully laid her back onto the bed, his heart squeezing at the sight of her neck. "You're bleeding." He did this, he knew he did.

"It'll heal in a minute." Kat fought with her eyes to remain on his face and not wander south at his naked glory. "It's okay, Zach. You were having a nightmare."

Ignoring her, Zach lifted her shirt up enough to see if the white wrap had turned red. "Did I open your stitches? Are you in pain?" How could he hurt her? The one person he was willing to die protecting he had almost killed a few moments ago.

Kat reached for both his hands and held them tightly. "You didn't. I'm alright, I swear. Please calm down." She knew he could feel her pain, but his mind was elsewhere and unable to concentrate on that.

"I fucking hurt you." Zach breathed in disbelief as he pulled his hands out of hers and took a few steps back. Running to his closet, he took out some shorts. "I almost killed you."

Katie's heart beat loudly fast in her chest when she saw him get dressed. There was no way she was letting him go believing he had hurt her and hating himself for it. "You didn't. And I swear to God if you do leave this room I will get up and follow your scent until I pass out from excessive bleeding."

Zach's hands dropped his shirt to the floor as he heard the serious tone in her promise and his eyes met hers. "Kat, I..."

Pushing herself into a sitting position again, Katie locked her gaze with his. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the evident amount of fear and agony his eyes shone with. "You are not leaving me alone. You are going to come back to bed and you're going to gather me in your arms because I need you to."

"Fuck, you're scared." Zach was instantly by her side again, pulling her into his embrace and hiding his face along with his shame and guilt into her neck. Seeing how the five small cuts on her delicate skin hadn't healed yet, Zach groaned. "I'm so sorry, Kat. I'm so sorry."

Wrapping her arms around him as tightly as humanly possible, Katie breathed in his scent, calming them both down. She tried to ignore the fact that he was not wearing a shirt, and the contact of her hands on his bare shoulders alone had sent her heart into a frenzy. "I'm not scared of you. Never of you, Zach. You'd never hurt me. I'm worried about you, that's all."

Zach pulled her as close as he possibly could, afraid to let her go. "They were torturing you." He breathed. "They were killing you slowly and they were enjoying it and I couldn't do anything but watch you scream and bleed and just die right before my eyes."

A terrifying shiver ran along her spine and she couldn't help but clench on his body harder. "You'll save me. You'll always save me." As if it was her promise and not his, Kat spoke the words with confidence and certainty.

Zach wondered where she got such faith in him from, since last time he checked she was still ripped open and bitten only a couple of days ago and he was too late to help at all. "How do you know that?"

"I know you. My heart knows you." Kat rubbed his back in a soothing manner, ignoring the electricity that shot inside her core. "I'm the safest when I'm in your arms, Zach. I trust you enough for the both of us, b..." she trailed off with a sigh. She wanted to call him Baby, as he once did her, her heart fluttering at the idea, but she was worried it would sound too weird, too soon.

She said everything he wanted to hear, her words calming and soothing and perfect. "I'll either protect you or I'll die trying." He made an eternal oath and he'd be damned to break it.

Frowning, Kat pulled back enough to look him in the eyes. "No one is dying. Don't say things like that. We still have a lot to look forward to."

His heart started beating again with that promise. Oh, the things he felt for her. He wanted to speak them all, to shout them to the whole world, but he had promised her to give her time and be patient, so instead, he only pushed his face back in the crook of her neck and pulled her down the bed to help her go back to sleep.

****

With a big yawn, Kat opened her eyes to welcome the new morning. Looking beside her she saw Zach smiling down at her, still shirtless and still so damn hot. "Morning, handsome." God was he breathtaking.

Chuckling at her sweetness, Zach felt his demons hide when they saw her smile. "Morning, love."

Kat felt her heart skip a beat as he looked at her like she was a treasure he was so keen on saving for himself. "Did you sleep well? Anymore nightmares?"

Zach sighed as he shook his head. "I didn't go back to sleep." He couldn't. The mere possibility of having another nightmare that would make him lose his sense of reality long enough to hurt Kat had stopped him from even considering getting a shuteye.

Kat frowned, understanding why he hadn't. Reaching for his hand, she sighed. "You can't just stay awake, Zach. That's not the answer."

No, he knew it wasn't. "I can't take the risk either, Kat. I'll sleep in a different room." He hated how that seemed to be the only solution he could find. He hated how once he had finally tasted heaven it was taken away from him.

Kat's eyebrows shot up as she registered his words. Nodding her head, she sat up easily. "You had a single nightmare and now you want to stay away? Who even said you'll have another?"

Zach sighed again as he rubbed his forehead. "I shifted in my sleep, Kat. Do you know how dangerous that is? I almost crushed your neck. I don't know if I'll have another or not, but it's a risk I'm not willing to take."

"So you'll just run? Is that seriously your answer? Now who is pushing whom away?" She shook her head in annoyance. Yes, she understood that he was trying to protect her but what he didn't understand is that she was safest and happiest with him near her, not away.

Zach took a deep breath, his head spinning to find a way out of this new mess that threatened their peace. "It's not like that, and you know it. Your neck is healed now, but I saw the blood last night. What if the next time it happens I'm too deep in it to gain back control in time? I could fucking kill you, do you understand that?"

He might as well be doing exactly that right now, Kat thought. "I'll pull you out of it. Even if you have a nightmare every single night, I'll bring you back in time, Zach. Trust me." She knew it was dangerous but she trusted herself to have a hold on him strong enough to snap him back to reality in time, and now she needed him to trust her.

Looking at her in disbelief, Zach felt his heart break. For the first time since he met her, she was asking him to stay by her side. She was asking him to give it a shot, and he wanted nothing more than to do just that, but the risk at hand was not one to take lightly. "You know I trust you, but I don't trust myself when it comes to you, baby. Not when the risk we're taking about is this dangerous. I can't hurt you, Kat. I just can't."

Taking a deep breath to calm down herself, Kat nodded. "Fine. Go ahead and find yourself somewhere else to sleep. Healed or not, I'll knock on every single door in this mansion until I find you and I'll drag you back here myself."

Zach couldn't help the loud chuckle that escaped him. "God, Kat." He looked at her and she gave him the sweetest grin he could ever get addicted to. "What do you do to me?"

Feeling her heart suddenly jump in her chest, Kat swallowed as she saw his eyes darken with desire. "Just stay, okay? We'll deal with it together. Don't run from me, Zach."

Zach groaned in pleasure when he heard the words he never thought he would coming out of her delicious lips. And just like that he was a goner. "Say my name like that again and I'll show you just how badly I want to stay."

Kat's heart was beating so loudly she feared everyone could hear it. But seeing how Zach's eyes were begging her to just give him the chance to devour her already made her involuntarily clench her legs together. Gladly taking the bait, Kat moaned out, "Zach."

Letting out a roar, Zach hovered above her in an instant, hard as a rock with growing need. "You're fucking killing me, baby."

Kat's eyes shone when she looked at his full lips, and licked her own. There he was, above her, willing to give her everything she would take. And she wanted desperately to take. Locking her gaze with his she wondered if he could feel how hot she was for him, how equally as desperate.

The sight of Kat beneath him squirming as she clenched her legs together and looking at his lips like she couldn't wait to taste them broke what little of control he had left. Slowly, he inched closer to her lips, enjoying how she instantly shut her eyes, impatiently waiting for him, and just when he was about to finally touch her lips with his own a knock on the door froze him. With a curse, Zach roared in anger.

Kat's eyes flew open and she couldn't help but giggle at how pissed off Zach looked. He was ready to kill whoever was at the door. Looking away shyly, Kat rolled her bottom lip between her teeth.

Letting out a furious sigh, Zach got off her and grabbed his shirt from the floor. Taking a deep breath to calm himself as he put it on, he wondered how inappropriate it would be to open the door with a hard on. "Fuck it." It wasn't his problem that whoever's at the door interrupted them anyway. "What?"

"Good morning, Alpha." One of the maids bowed her head. "Your family is waiting for you in the garden. Breakfast is ready."

"Thanks." He said resentfully before shutting the door. Sighing, he made his way to a blushing Kat. "Breakfast is ready."

Giggling at his bad mood, Kat nodded before carefully getting up on her own. "I'm almost done healing. I can stand on my own now, and walk too but slowly." She flaunted.

"I'm glad." Mumbling, Zach made his way to his closet before rushing to the bathroom. He was in desperate need of a cold shower.