"Honestly, I think the best way to keep Katie safe is for Zach to announce the breaking of their bond. If they're no longer mates then she won't be a threat to the rogues anymore." Kat's heart dropped once the words left Nick, and she instantly looked at Zach.

Zach's heart was squeezed inside his chest so tightly he thought it will cease to exist. He had to think; he had to find another way. But there wasn't, was there? The rogues wanted her dead because they were afraid of her becoming Luna. The power his pack would have then would be unparalleled. But despite the bond, Zach couldn't mate with her. A bite this deep to the neck would kill her instantly, they both knew that.

"No." Kat shook her head. It was bad enough that she had to relive those memories almost everyday as she and Zach got closer, but to announce it to the whole pack would be devastating. They would find another way. They had to.

Jared pursed his lips. "I hate to say this, but Nick's suggestion is the best we have right now, Katie. If the rogues know that you're not the Alpha's mate any more they will have no reason to hurt you, just like Megan."

Kat flinched and Zach shut his eyes tightly. That was not the right thing to say to her right now. "I'm not Megan. And I said no."

Zach noticed how his family had suddenly turned silent, watching carefully the chaos before them unfold.

"What are the options that we have, Katie?" Nick asked. "We don't know when or where the rogues are planning to attack you, and unless you're willing to stay a prisoner inside this house, then you'll always be a moving threat to them. We have only two roads to choose from. Either you two mate, despite the bond, which you can't even do now since you'd simply die if Zach bit you, or Zach can make a statement and say that you're not his mate anymore."

Kat was fuming, her cheeks red with anger and embarrassment equally. She knew Nick had a point, but she also knew they could find another.

"What do you mean she'd die? Why would you die?" Jessica blinked as she asked, her senses suddenly alert as if she was ready to fight off the Alpha herself if he wanted to hurt her best friend.

Kat remained silent and so did Zach. Why did it always have to come to this? Why did that one mistake never stop haunting him?

"Will you fucking answer the question?" Jared growled at Katie, his heart drumming in his chest at the threat he suddenly felt sitting right next to her.

Zach snarled at him loudly. "Watch it." No one was allowed to talk to Katie that way, not even her best friends.

Kat shook her head breifly before explaining, "We don't know why, but we can't heal if one of us hurts the other. I mean, we can, but much slower than usual."

"How is that even possible?" Ella asked confusedly, looking at her parents for answers.

"Witchcraft." Luna Mel though out loud.

Alpha Mark nodded. "It has to be. Someone must have put a spell on you both."

"How do we break it?" Zach asked instantly. If they broke it, then they could mate and Kat could become his forever. And she'd be safe.

"A spell that powerful can't be broken unless you kill the witch who cast it." Alpha Mark sighed, rubbing his forehead. He loved his son deeply, and his heart now ached seeing him living such a dilemma. Odds were not in his son's favor, but Alpha Mark had enough knowledge to know a way out of this. And now he wondered if it was time to share this knowledge, despite wanting to wait for his son to figure it out himself.

"And since we have never came across a single witch in our lifetime, I stand by my suggestion." Ignoring Jessica's glare, Nick voiced his heavy thoughts. He wasn't any happier about this than the rest of the company present, but it was the only way and they all knew it.

Kat shook her head again, and looked at Zach for support only to find him clenching his Jaw with a frown between his brows. Gasping, she felt her eyes go wide. "Tell me you're not considering this."

Zach let out a deep breath. "For your safety, I am."

He hated his words with every fiber of his being, but it truly was the only way to keep her safe, and Zach had promised her and himself that nothing would stop him from protecting her, from saving her from the fate the rogues wanted her to go through. Even if he had to shatter his heart in a million peices in the process.

Kat stared at Zach in horror for a few silent seconds before she got up and stormed out of the room. She was not going through this again. Not again.

With a curse, Zach rushed after her. He had to explain to her that the need to protect her was strong enough for him to try whatever was possible. He had to make her understand that if there was any other way to save her he would've never considered this. "Kat, wait."

Kat quickly made her way to Zach's bedroom and grabbed the first suitcase her eyes found, not giving a damn that it wasn't even hers. "We're not talking about this."

"What the fuck are you doing?" Zach asked as he grabbed the empty suitcase out of her hands before she could put anything inside and threw it across the floor.

Kat watched the suitcase land on the ground with a loud thud before she turned to him with tears in her eyes. "Are you serious right now? You want to tell everyone that you've rejected me?"

"I want to keep you safe!" Zach roared.

"Then find another way!" Kat yelled, her hands running through her blond locks, shaking at the anger she was feeling. What he was asking of her was too much to accept.

"There isn't! Don't you think if there was, I wouldn't have jumped right at it with everything I've got? There's no other way I can protect you." Zach's voice was loud and harsh, but she saw past that. She saw the pain his eyes shone with, and the regret that covered his tongue with every word.

"We'll fingure out another way, Zach." She said, already out of breath.

"When? Before or after they attack you again? Before or after they fucking succeed this time, Kat?" Zach stepped closer, trying to have her in his arms but she stepped away.

"I understand that the need to protect me is blinding you right now, but why can't you trust that I'm strong enough to fight back? Why can't you believe that even if they attacked I have a damn good chance of surviving?" Kat hated the doubt she saw in his eyes, the fear at the mere possibility of rogues even looking her way. She was an Alpha's daughter, the future Luna of her old pack, and the supposed one of his. She was strong enough to survive and she hated that he didn't believe that as strongly as she did.

"Did you forget that a couple of weeks ago you almost died?" Zach growled, his stare hard. "I watched you bleeding and I was too late to do a damn thing! But now I have the time and the plan to save you from that again. Yes, you took down five rogues on your own, and that shows how strong you are, Kat. But what if the next time they attack you they send twenty? Are you seriously blaming me for trying to keep you safe?"

Kat turned away from him, the tears in her eyes falling as she took a deep calming breath. "And then what, huh? You want to tell the whole damn world that we're not mates, then what, Zach?"

"Then I kill every last one of them." Zach spoke confidently. "But it will take time to hunt them down, and during that time I need to know you're fucking safe."

"And am I supposed to go live my life the way I want after you make that announcement? Am I supposed to just pretend that nothing is going on between us? That despite the bond, we never actually had something?" Kat's gaze found him again and he was staring at her in horror.

"What the fuck are you talking about? You're mine, Kat! You know that." Zach took another step closer, and she took another back, shaking her head.

"I won't be anyone's secret, Zach. Not even yours. And if I was yours as you like to believe then you wouldn't be pushing me away right now. You would be trying to figure out another way. One where we can fight this together, not apart." Kat's voice was low but every word she spoke was clear that panic once again clenched on Zach's heart.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you being so damn difficult right now? I just want to protect you!" Zach stared at the eyes he had fallen so damn helplessly in love with as if he was seeing them for the last time.

"And I understand that. I truly understand that you think this will save me, and hell, it might. But what will it do to us? Telling everyone that I'm not their Luna, that you and I have nothing but a broken bond, how is that going to help us move forward, Zach?" She asked, wiping her face.

"Why are you talking like it's forever? It'll only buy us time till I kill the rogues and it will keep you safe." Zach tried explaining again but she only huffed.

"You keep talking like I'm nothing but a liability. You want to push me aside and be the hero all by yourself. Yes, you're the Alpha and this is your responsibility, but I was supposed to be the Luna, and if we're gonna do this then we do it together. You can't just make a decision like that by yourself." Kat tried to make him understand that she would never be comfortable with the plan he had seemed to take a liking to. She was much stronger than to pretend that she felt nothing for him just so she could run and hide somewhere.

Zach understood what she said and he nodded. "That's why we're talking right now. Because we promised to talk our shit out, and now I need you to understand that I'd fucking die before I put you in harm's way, Kat. And if being my mate might get you in danger, then I'll gladly tell the whole goddamn planet that you're not."

Kat's jaw clenched as she nodded. She needed to be patient with him, she had promised. "Alright. Let's say I agree and you shove me to the sidelines where I'll live happily and safely until you kill the big bad wolves."

Zach growled at her sarcastic tone but she ignored him and went on. "What happens when another danger comes up one day? What happens if the pack is ever under another attack? Will you push me away then too, just to keep me safe?"

Zach frowned and Kat sighed at him. He honestly didn't know what to tell her right now. Possessive wasn't strong enough to describe Zach and Kat knew that. She loved that. But in cases like these she had to show him that being this possessive, this protective, would do them no good. "If we're in this we're in it together. If we fight, we fight together. Even if we die, we do that together too. And you need to accept the fact that I'm your equal, not your responsibility, because I can't do this with you if you don't."

Zach swallowed the lump in his throat and his heart threatened to jump out of his chest once and for all. Fear struck his body like it never had before and he almost winced at her words. "Don't say shit like that."

Kat's eyes softened but she didn't smile. This wasn't negotiable and she needed him to make sure he got that. "I absolutely love how much you want to protect me, Zach. I do. But I don't need your protection as much as I need your trust. I'm not made of glass, remember?"

Zach's frown only deepened as he looked at her walk right by him and to the door. "Don't leave, Kat."

Kat stopped and turned to him. She needed to let her wolf out for a run, to be able to think clearly and calm down, just as badly as she needed him to take that time to think as well. "I just need some fresh air."

****

Zach was pacing the floor of his bedroom, trying to wrap his mind around the mess they were going through. Kat's safety came first, he knew that. But he also knew that he couldn't go a single day without her beautiful smile, and if she was this furious with him for even considering Nick's plan, then she'd dump his ass for good if he tried to see it through. She had even said so.

But she had it all wrong. It wasn't that he didn't trust her. He knew she could take care of herself. Zach had never met someone as strong and brave as Kat. But despite that fact, the need that came from deep within him to protect her and keep her safe was as animalistic as Zach's nature. His wolf howled angrily whenever the image of their Kat in danger flashed in their head. His instinct to protect her was so primal, and being an Alpha only made that urge so much stronger to fight.

A knock on Zach's door stopped his pacing. "Can I come in, son?" Alpha Mark asked.

"Of course, dad." Zach sighed as his father made his way to the couch.

"She does have a point, you know." Alpha Mark smirked.

Zach rolled his eyes. "So you've heard."

"Everyone did." He laughed.

"I know she does. She's my equal and I know that. And I'm not trying to make her feel like she's a damn liability like she believes. I just want her safe. How's that too much to ask for?" Zach was glad that his father decided to join him because he desperately needed some advice.

"It's not." His father shook his head. "I understand how you feel. And as Alpha the desire to shelter her will forever be there, taunting you everyday. But you just have to find a way to live with it."

"How did you do it?" Zach asked, waiting eagerly to hear another Alpha's experience.

"I didn't. Not at first at least." Alpha Mark laughed as the memories flashed behind his eyes. "I remember the first time we went to war after your mother and I mated. There was another pack that wanted to attack. They believed they were strong enough to kill us and take over the pack, and I had almost went crazy trying to save her."

"What did she do?"

"Exactly what Katie just did. Handed me my ass and left me to sulk alone for a couple of nights." He laughed again before his eyes turned serious. "I, however, did a mistake that I wish you never do."

Zach rose his eyebrows, unable to think of what his father might've done. To him, his father could do no wrong. He has always been a great Alpha and even a better father.

"I promised her I wouldn't keep her in the dark. I promised her that I would treat her like my equal because I knew she was. And when the war came, I broke that promise. I waited till she fell asleep that night and locked her inside our bedroom."

Zach's eyes widened so much he thought they might fall off their sockets. Shaking his head, Zach denied what his father claimed to have done. "You didn't."

"I did. And do you know what she did when she woke up?" The grin on Alpha Mark's face gave Zach the slightest idea, but he shook his head. "She shifted, shattered the damn door into peices then hunted me right to the middle of the battlefield. And when she found me, she bit my leg."

Zach watched in horror as his father threw his head back and laughed his heart out. Unable to help himself, Zach laughed too. His mother has always been so calm and collected that Zach had a hard time picturing her so angry. Yet what made this even funnier was the fact that Zach could easily imagine Kat doing exactly the same.

"I roared at her to go back, but she only snarled at me then turned her attention to the fight. She fought right by my side so fiercely that I was amazed. And near the end of the war she saved my ass from the other Alpha. Pulled his spine out just when he was about to bite through my neck."

"I can only imagine she gave you hell after that." Zach shook his head with a chuckle.

"Two damn months she slept in a different room and gave me the silent treatment. I grovelled at her feet and asked for forgiveness more times that I could count, until she finally smiled back at me."

Zach nodded his head in understanding, his eyes moving to the darkness of the woods where his Kat was surely running.

"After that, I just had to shove my instincts far enough to let her lead and fight as powerfully as I did. And I actually never saw her happier than I did when she fought." Alpha Mark reminisced with a smile on his face. "Well, except for the day she learned she was pregnant with you."

Zach sighed. He understood the message his father was conveying and he knew he was right. Kat wasn't one to be left behind, nor was she one to be tamed. And Zach knew he would hate himself just as equally as she would hate him if he ever tried. "I just want her safe."

"Then protect her, but do it differently. What you two have is so unique and so damn strong, son. Your love for her will keep her safe, and hers for you will keep your head straight." Alpha Marked patted his son's shoulder, deciding that now was the perfect opportunity to put his son's heart at ease. "Let me ask you. How sure are you that the mating bond has broken?"

Zach blinked at his father. "What do you mean?"

His father shrugged, waiting for his son to respond. Zach let out a deep breath. "I felt it break. We both did. When I said the words, when I rejected her, something inside of me broke into peices and I've been trying to put it back together ever since."

Alpha Mark nodded. "But her scent still calms your wolf down, doesn't it? And you said yours helped her heal faster."

Zach silently nodded and his father went on. "And you told your mother that your control over your wolves falters whenever you two are near."

No, there was no way what his father was hinting was true. The bond was broken. Zach felt it break. His wolf did too. "Dad, I rejected her. I said the words loud and clear and we both felt it break."

His father nodded his head again. "In order to break the bond, a mate has to say the words aloud, that is correct. But do you know what the other requirement is?"

Zach stared at his father in horror. He didn't even know there was another requirement. Swallowing, he shook his head.

"The one saying the words has to actually mean them."