-" ill adly o own o ake ou mile ikehat,y riend."

"Excuse me?" Seneca snaps, crossing her arms with a glare marring her once happy features; all traces of humor gone.

My mind stops working for a second.

Did he just say what I think he did?

"Wh-What?"

"You shouldn't have been born at all, you bastard!" He exclaims accusingly, and I can see the way his fists are clenching, showing clearly what his thoughts might be in this second. His eyes blaze with anger and hatred, making me almost step back at the intensity of his emotions, at the raw negative energy he's emanating.

"Beta Xavier, refrain from raising your voice at my Mate . . . " Seneca informs him coldly, not moving an inch as she glowers stonily with the power of an Alpha in her stance and expression, but half-way through her sentence, I stop focusing, my mind rushing with the possibilities of his sentence.

All the pieces slowly fall into place.

He's that mystery man.

The one who rejected my 'mother'.

The one who took his son away.

Which would be...

"No way," I breathe out, cutting my Mate mid-sentence, as my head whips to meet the familiar pair of blue eyes.

That is currently wide with shock.

Now I realize why they're so familiar.

They're my eyes as well.

The eyes of my mother.

Ours. Not just mine.

"Fuck," I curse, as Beta Ezra's shocked blue eyes flit quickly between me and his father. He looks confused for a second, before finally locking his eyes with me, looking so lost.

Fuck, no. Just when I thought I found a person to count on...

But then, the lost look in his eyes morphs into hurt, reflecting the pain and the emotional turmoil he's going through. He clenches his jaw as he swallows heavily, and the way he's looking at me, the way he looks so betrayed; like I just ripped his entire world from underneath him, breaks my heart.

"Beta Ezra, I . . . " I start, feeling the need to say something, anything to defend myself, that it wasn't my fault, but my tongue feels tied, unable to form any words.

He presses his lips together as he regards me with hurt eyes one last time, before spinning on his heel and sprinting out of the room. My hand reaches out instinctively, and I take a step forward, the same time Seneca does.

I turn to her side, only to find her looking torn.

She doesn't know whether to comfort her best friend or her Mate.

"Go," I say, looking down at the tips of my shiny shoes.

"What?" She asks absently, and I look up to see her scanning the still swinging door, her expression anxious.

"He needs you right now. Go." I repeat, swallowing.

"No. He'll be fine—" She shakes her head rapidly as she turns to me, clenching and unclenching her fists.

"Seneca, listen to me, please. I'm alright." I cut her off, grabbing both of her hands in mine. "Just go." I look deep into her eyes, showing that I'm indeed alright, that she has to take care of her friend.

She purses her lips, glances at the door behind me, then looks back into my eyes. "But..."

"Seneca...please." I plead, squeezing her fingers.

She searches my eyes, looking for something. She then seems to find that something, because she nods hesitantly. "Okay..."

"Now, go." I pull my hands away from hers as I lean forward, pecking her cheek.

She gives me another nod, and then removes her heels, taking them in one hand as she's off, in search of her friend.

I sigh once she's out of hearing, turning back to Beta Ezra's father warily.

But he seems shell-shocked, and his once tan complexion seems extremely pale.

What did Seneca say to him?

'Our Mate would've threatened his manhood.' My Wolf jokes, trying to obviously lighten the mood.

'Knowing our Mate, she would've probably threatened his life.' I reply with an internal shake of my head.

"She—she—" He stutters, and the woman beside him, who I now think is his wife, puts a hand on his arm.

"Don't worry, dear. She's just a silly little girl. She doesn't have the guts to do that." The now increasingly annoying woman says, making me frown.

"Whatever it was, I have no doubt that she will do it," I say, rolling my eyes. Xavier opens his mouth to say something, glaring at me now, but I put a hand up, stopping him.

"And don't you dare come to my own Pack, and threaten me. It wasn't my fault that my 'mother'—" I make air quotes with my fingers, "—decided to sleep with Parker. And it was not my fault that I was born. If you were really in love with Victoria, you should've had the heart to forgive her, or move the fućk on. You rejected her and robbed Beta Ezra and me off a mother."

At this, he looks confused, so I clarify icily, "Yes, she went insane and she was diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder. Our Pack doctor said that it was because she couldn't handle the pain. So she acts like she's happily married to you half the time, and like a rejected Mate half the time. All because of you." I jab a finger at him harshly, "Not me. So if you want to blame anyone, blame yourself."

His jaw drops.

"I—"

"Don't bother." I snap and turn around, not waiting for that...that bastard to say anything.

It's not like he's gonna tell something useful anyway.

On my entire way to our room, I curse him out in all languages I know.

How could he blame me?! He was the one who rejected her for Goddess' sake!

I shut the door behind me loudly, not caring that I'm being noisy, as I rip my tie away, running my hands through my hair in frustration.

I don't want to lose Beta Ezra as a friend. Please, Goddess. I can't handle losing another friend.

But even as I think it, I know that it's useless to hope, because I've lost him.

I just know that things will never be the same between us.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

"Go away, Alpha."

"Ezra." I call, trying to get him to turn.

"Go and cozy with your Mate. He's probably shocked too." He snaps, turning further away.

When I'd finally relented to Cage and left in search of my Beta, I'd known that I'd find him in one place.

Just as I'd predicted, I'd found him in The Ship, the hollow trunk of a fallen tree by the banks of the lake in our territory, that we'd named Ship, while we were kids.

Don't ask why we—or more exactly Ezra, named it that. It's a long story.

"Ezra, don't." I sigh as I sit down beside him on the trunk, placing my shoes on the sandy ground.

"Talk to me."

He laughs humorlessly, turning to meet my eyes quickly, before he looks away. "All these years I've been hoping you'd say that, but just when I don't want you to say anything, you come and say something like that."

I try not to flinch at his hurt tone, feeling guilty even when I know that he's not hurt because of me.

'You're guilty because you were speaking to Xavier, despite knowing that Ezra doesn't like him,' My Wolf, the ever wise one, says helpfully.

That just makes me even guiltier.

"It's not Micajah's fault, y'know?" I say, looking at the dark waters, as the swish and flow lightly in the breeze.

"If you're here to defend him, you can leave." Ezra says hotly, his jaw clenching and his nostrils flaring in anger.

I sigh once again. "Okay, okay, I won't."

We remain in silence for a few seconds.

"I hate him," He says after a few moments, startling me.

"Him?" I repeat in confusion,

"Xavier. I hate him." Ezra says bitterly, shaking his head with a frown.

That little crease between his brows looks so out of place in his always smiling face, I can't help but feel a stab of pain for him.

"I know, I'm so sorry," I apologize, hoping that he's not angry.

"It's okay, I know he's helped you a lot." He says seriously, pulling his eyes away from the water to meet mine.

"But still, I should've taken your side—"

"He didn't exactly hit me or even yell at me directly, Seneca. If someone asks me why I hate him, I can't even tell them that he did something to me. At least Micajah can tell that his mom used to hit him, but me? I can't really say that he used 'indirect' words to hurt me. People will laugh." He swallows thickly with a wry smile, but no matter what he does, I know what he's feeling deep down. He can't hide that.

And I know he's feeling hurt.

The same hurt my Cage felt when he found out the truth about his father.

"Oh, Ezra..." I say, and in a moment of impulse, I lean forward, wrapping my arms around his neck.

He stiffens and his spine tightens like a rod, as he tries to pull away from me. "What are you doin—"

"Shut the fuck up." I say into his shoulder, and I feel him chuckle at the familiarity of my words. He then hugs me back all of a sudden, squeezing his arms around me tightly, and something in his facade cracks.

He lets out a shuddery breath, and his pain feels like my own through the strong link we have.

I feel him shivering in my arms as he struggles to control his emotions. I curb my own urge to cry, closing my eyes tightly.

"I-I..." He swallows, "I always k-knew that he left my mother and my brother, Seneca." He hiccups drily, but I know he's managed to keep his tears at bay, "I knew that he h-hated me because I reminded him of my mother, and t-that made me hate them. I hated my mother and her son because they were the ones who destroyed my relationship with my father." His voice cracks slightly, and I hug him impossibly close, feeling his pain and hurt seep through his skin and into mine. "And now, I know, I know that Micajah didn't do anything, that he's as much as a victim as me, b-but—" He exhales loudly, not even trying to hide the quiver in his voice now, "the worst part is, I know, but I can't not hate him. All my life, I've been b-blaming him for ruining my childhood, but now, even after knowing that he isn't at fault, I can't do anything about my feelings. What kind of a person does that make me?" He pulls back, looking at me with dry, red eyes.

"It makes you human," I say firmly, "It's okay to feel angry in a while, Ezra. It's not your responsibility to always smile and cheer everyone up. It's okay to let go and be angry at the world. It's okay to be the one to yell at me for once. It's okay," I enunciate, looking at his eyes intently, in a way to drive my point home, "And, I'm sure Cage will understand. He will wait for you, you can take your time." I assure him, searching his expression for some semblance of acceptance.

But he still looks torn. Like, he does not know what to feel.

"Oh, what the hell." I shove him hard against his shoulder, and he staggers back in surprise. "Who says you can yell at me? No way, I'm the boss here." I push myself up from the fallen tree, bringing my hands to my front as I get into a stance, bouncing lightly on my feet.

"W-What?" He stutters, confused.

I shove his other shoulder this time, hard again, "Losing your touch, Ezra? Not able to anticipate my moves, I see." I mock, rolling my eyes.

He seems to catch on, as a slow, but weak smile spreads across his face. "Oh puhlease." He stands up, removing his shoes, "Ever since you became the eye-rolling-Alpha, you've been losing your touch, not me." He gestures to himself with one hand, and then gets into stance as well, smirking slightly.

Ah, there's the guy I know.

"Eye-rolling-Alpha?" I roll my eyes once again, just to spite him, "As if." I shake my head and go for the first move—which I usually don't—swinging my arm in an uppercut.

Ezra easily anticipates my move this time, leaning backward quickly and making me miss. "See?" He mocks, and just when I grin at the cheer returning to his tone, he catches me off-guard by landing a blow to my gut.

Fuck, that hurts.

I almost lose my balance and fall, but catch myself in the last second.

Game on.

"Big mistake." I warn, slowly exhaling to not bring pain to my poor muscles. I lunge at him, but miss once again, punching at thin air as he jumps away.

Crap, Seneca. Be quicker next time!

"You are so going down this time, Alpha." Ezra taunts with a full-on smirk, and I internally grin, cheering myself up for successfully taking his mind off the dark subject.

I will gladly go down to make you smile like that, my friend.

But never in a million, trillion, gazillion years would I admit it out loud.

"Let's see about that."

⚜ ⚜ ⚜