"It's been a long time, Alpha Grayson."

Ace and Xavier looked at me proudly with small smirks on their faces. Grayson stood from his seat and came towards me. He glanced down at the hand that was holding Xaviers tightly.

I squeezed his hand suddenly feeling lightheaded from his scent. Stupid mate bond. Aria looked between us all, confused as Graysons eyes shifted from our hands to the little girl in my arms. She squirmed under his gaze causing Ace to clear his throat. Grayson snapped his gaze towards him before turning back to me. "Alana," he simply said. I never realised how much I actually missed him (even though we rarely spoke) until I heard his deep husky voice.

"Alpha Grayson!," Xavier exclaimed, feeling the awkwardness. "Welcome. So what brings you here?"

Grayson looked at him before speaking. "Didn't your Alpha tell you?," he asked.

"I must've just forgotten," Xavier shrugged.

"I think I'll remind you," Grayson replied with a small smile on his face, it was sort of unusual to see but he looked happier. He stared at me for a moment too long before tearing his eyes away and speaking to Ace and Xavier. "I'm here to get my mate back."

"Excuse me," I scoffed out. "Your mate doesn't want to go anywhere with you." I have no idea why I spoke in third person.

"My mate, a warrior, who would've thought?," he said in disbelief but he sounded as if he was proud of me. I couldn't help but feel like I'm misreading the whole situation because this isn't like Grayson. Or at least this isn't like the Grayson I knew. "One of the best in the whole world too."

I didn't say a word causing us to stand there awkwardly as Ace and Xavier ushered random people out of the room. Suddenly, a gut feeling hits me. A feeling of something heavy weighing me down. I have a choice to make. Do I want to be with him or do I want to accept the rejection?

"So how have you been?," Noah asks happily, breaking the awkward silence. My head snapped towards him as my lips curved up in a smile.

"Oh you know the usual. Dying then coming back to life," I shrugged. I watched as Noah's face fell. "So how's Olivia?"

"She's perfect," he sighed out happily making me give him a small smile.

"Zane," I said flatly, addressing him. "Where's Isla? You could've brought her, we haven't seen each other in years."

"Travelling isn't good for a baby," he shrugged. "And Toby doesn't like being in the same spot for hours." Toby is their child; he's almost 3 years old. I haven't seen him in person only pictures.

"She's pregnant?" He nodded his head.

"We wanted to wait a while before we started telling people."

"Congratulations," I told him with a small smile.

"Thanks."

"I need to pee," Aria muttered as she looked at me.

"Alright, let's go," I said wanting to go with her as I began to walk out of the room with Aria still in my arms. I needed to get away.

Ten minutes later, we slowly walked down the stairs. When I heard them talking in hushed whispers, I instantly stopped and sat on a step. After telling Aria to be quiet and to not move, I focused on their conversation.

"She's doing a lot better," I heard Grayson say. "Thanks for giving me updates on her. I owe you."

"No problem," Ace replied. "She's your mate and you belong together. I have no idea what went down between the two of you all those years ago but I can tell you now that she's still not fully healed. Whatever happened fucked her up big time."

I didn't need to hear anymore. I sent Aria back into the room before I headed towards my bedroom. I grabbed the bag that Xavier packed for me before slowly walking down the stairs. I debated going back into that room and revealing what I know before deciding to just do it. I have more balls than all three of them combined.

I walked into the room they were all gathered in with my bag in my hand. I wasn't taking a lot. Most of my stuff is replaceable. "Can I just ask how thorough these updates were?," I asked sarcastically.

"Ala-," Ace began.

"Were you updating him on when I went to pee, what I ate and what I was wearing?," I asked sharply.

"I knew nothing about it!," Xavier rushed out, defending himself.

"Assho-," Ace began to curse him before I shot him a deadly glare.

"Updates, huh?," I scoffed out. "I can't even believe I fucking trusted you."

"I did it because you're mates and you're not together. And you haven't fucking been together in years. I don't even fucking understand how both of you still have your wolves and you're not dead yet."

Some mates who've had to live without their mate have died. They literally died from a broken heart. The body and our wolves get tired and depressed and don't feel the need to live.

"What the fuck does that mean?," I asked angrily.

"It means you need to get your shit together," Ace spoke sternly.

"I need to? Why don't you tell that to the asshole that fucking rejected me or did you forget that little fact?"

He let out a deep breath. "I didn't forget. But to me it seems like you're not ready to let go of this relationship."

I let out a scoff. "Oh shut the fuck up," I rolled my eyes. "Want me to move forwards then?" Ace nodded his head. I cleared my throat. "I, Alana Reid, accept-."

Before I knew it, Grayson had used his werewolf speed to cover my mouth and stop me from talking. He stood behind me and pulled me back onto him as his hand covered my mouth causing my skin to feel all tingly.

"You're not gonna say it to me in anger. You'll decide when you've got a clear head and when you can think straight," Grayson said, making his chest vibrate causing the sparks to explode all over my skin. "Because once you say it, we can't go back."

Because he rejected me and it hasn't been accepted and the fact that we've been away from each other for around five years, makes the tingles light and not as bad as they used to be when we first met. Our bond has become weaker.

Growing impatient at the fact that he never made the move to move his hand, I bit down on it hard. He gritted his teeth as he glared down at me. "Don't fucking touch me," I spat out as I pushed him away from me.

"Where are you going?," Aria asked me as she eyed up the bag I was still holding onto tightly. I glanced down at the bag, realising I had forgotten that I even had it on me.

"Yeah where are you going?," Xavier asked me confused, especially after knowing that earlier I refused to leave.

"Away from all of you," I shrugged, not really having a plan.

"Don't leave," Ace spoke up. "I'm sorry for going behind your back but I was just trying to do what's best for you."

"If you really were trying to do the best for me, you would never have done this. I told you time and time again that I wanted nothing to do with him yet you still fucking thought it was okay to do this. You don't know half of the shit he put me through."

"Alana-," Grayson began to speak.

"No," I snapped. "I don't want to hear another word from you. Instead you're gonna listen to me for once. You fucked me over mentally more than once. I got stuck with an asshole for a mate. I got stuck with you. All I fucking wanted then was to be a normal werewolf couple but you had other ideas, didn't you?"

"Alana," Xavier said. "Don't do it. Don't leave." My head snapped towards him.

"You knew too, didn't you?," I asked him, realising he lied to me. He stayed silent. "I thought you guys were my friends. My family. But I was wrong, wasn't I? Friends don't do this. Fuck friends, family don't do what you two did."

"Alana, please-," Grayson spoke.

"Didn't I tell you to shut up!," I yelled at him, interrupting him. "You're poisonous. Everything you touch, you damage it! Like this friendship. You got involved and you broke it!"

"It's not broken!," Ace tried to say.

"Yeah, it is," I scoffed out, restraining the tears that wanted to fall. Xavier and Ace mean too much to me but they've broken my trust. To me, trust is huge. It's everything. "You guys were there for me through everything. Through every heat I had. Every night I cried myself to sleep. Everyday I couldn't eat. You were there through it all! Helping me! Supporting me! Did you just forget to mention this everyday we were together?"

"I-I'm sorry," Ace tried to say. "He reached out. He found out where you were. He just wanted to know if you were safe. I would want to know that about Emily."

"Yeah, you would," I said to him. "Because you're a good mate. You didn't lock her up for days. You didn't kidnap her. You didn't ignore her. You didn't force her to live with you!" Xavier and Ace looked me in shock.

"Okay, when you say it like that, it sounds way worse than it is. Technically, I kidnapped you from your parents house. I did lock you up but that was in your bedroom, not the cells-."

"You know what," I said, getting annoyed. "I'm leaving."

"You're coming back with me," Grayson stated.

"No, I'm not," I told him. "Grayson, I'm done with this. I'm done with you. I've given you too many chances already and I'm just getting left broken."

"Don't," he told me. "Please."

"Why shouldn't I leave? If I go back with you, I'm just sentencing myself to death and I don't want to."

"You're really comparing this to a prison sentence?"

"Yeah. Living there with you was torture. I can't do it again. I won't do it again."

"You're coming back with me," he shrugged, making me realise he hasn't changed at all. "Things will be different. I promise."

"Fuck you and your promises!," I sneered.

"Alana," he said calmly. "You're my Luna and the Luna of our pack. Thing will be different, I promise."

My eyes widened in shock as my previous opinion of him vanished and was replaced with something better. Him calling me his Luna shows the amount of respect he carries for me. The way he said it sort of implies that to him I mean a lot to him. He's practically saying my role in his pack is greater than his and for an Alpha to say that is really fucking rare.

"Can we speak in private?," he asked, giving the others a hint to leave the room. When they didn't move, he continued. "Do you mind...?" Now getting the hint, they stumbled out of the room and soon it was just Grayson and I.

"I don't want to give you a chance again only to get burnt," I spoke. "I've fixed myself and I can't have you or anyone else pull me back down. That means I have to leave."

"The stupid mate bond is making me feel like this and Zane. Seeing what him and Isla have makes me wish I had the same. But I realise that I fucked up and let you go. I never wanted a mate but five years away from you was filled with fucking pain and regrets on my choices."

"Grayson, I can't keep chasing after you because that's what I was doing all those years ago. You were just pushing me away. I can't do that anymore."

"I understand," he said. "I was stupid. I've grown. I've matured. I've got my priorities straight now and I've realised that I want a mate. I realised I want you back and all that's left for me to fix now is my relationship with you. I get that you probably don't believe me because you knew me as some asshole that didn't give a fuck about you but I have changed. I have to admit that I'm still that asshole but only when I'm acting as Alpha."

"I'm still scarred by everything you ever did to me. And I'm traumatised by other things. Things you wouldn't be able to handle. You couldn't even handle having me back after I was kidnapped and look at what you did. You rejected me! Do you even know how that feels? How that felt?"

"Of course I know!," he said exploding. "I had to reject you. I thought that if I did reject you, you'd be safe. Safe from me, safe from all the darkness around me. I was thinking of you. I was trying to protect you from all the pain that was bound to come instead of protecting you from the pain that I was causing then."

"I didn't need to be safe from you. I didn't need to be safe from the darkness. I have my fair share of darkness and I know you do too. Everyone has baggage. You acting on impulse showed me you wouldn't be able to handle mine," I told him truthfully.

"Please, Alana. Just come back with me and you'll see that I've changed. Please," he begged. "I won't stop you from leaving but all I'm asking for right now is a chance. A chance to prove that I'm a changed man now." I stayed silent for a moment as I thought over what he said.

"No," I spoke softly. "I can't go through all that shit again."