How had we not seen it coming? Perhaps we were so caught up in the fact that Mattheus was Malthus, Claudius was Orcus, Diego was Dimitri that we hadn't even realised that there was another of the syndicate on Titan land. But Jed's mother was right – Titan was home to the syndicate all along.

Keep your friends close, enemies closer, they say. And Jed had done just that.

His jaw was clenched in anger as he stared at Azazel now, fingers curled so tightly around the chain that his knuckles were almost white. Everyone around us was silent, an equal blend of wariness and shock surrounding us. Azazel's friends, in particular, the ones who'd worked with him and respected him were all looking extremely betrayed, while Bianca was coolly watching the proceedings from her seat by the counter. But all I could focus on at that moment was how Azazel was beginning to curl in on himself in a frighteningly familiar way, his posture entirely defensive as he tried to pull away from Jed.

"Adrian – Azazel." My voice sliced through the tension and his dark eyes immediately snapped over to me. I swallowed at how predatory he looked all of a sudden and forced myself to meet his gaze evenly. "Don't shift."

"I'd listen," He mused calmly. "But you're forgetting one very important thing." Without warning, he raised an arm to elbow Jed square in the chest, the impact momentarily throwing Jed back a few steps, amidst surprised gasps and the occasional angry mutter from the others surrounding us. Then he fixed his gaze on me, his eyes almost obsidian as the corner of his lips tugged up in a wicked grin. "You're not my Luna."

Then he shifted.

Bones cracking, fur sifting, limbs stretching – until he was that same brown wolf I'd seen the night of Spike's funeral. It was instinct that made me take a quick step back, my fingers flying to the chain on my neck as I searched for the silver blade within my pendant. But I didn't have to. Because just as Azazel lunged at me, a mass of black fur rammed right at him from the side, knocking him right off course.

I hadn't even realised that Jed had shifted during the time elapsed, but he was tackling Azazel to the ground, his larger form looming over the latter as he bared his teeth at him. There wasn't a doubt that Azazel was one of the best fighters that Titan had, and I saw it now, the way he snapped threateningly at Jed before twisting out of the way, circling Jed in a manner that put him on the offense, Jed's posture entirely defensive as he stood rigidly, green eyes sharp as he anticipated for Azazel's next move.

Pandemonium had broken out at the sight of the fight, and in the background, I heard several people begin to shift, only for Vaughn to stop them just in time. It was never a good idea to intervene in a fight this vicious. There were shouts and yells as people got up from their seats to get a closer glimpse of the fight, several older and younger ones evacuating the premises while furniture was dragged out of the way to prevent more collateral damage.

I was all but frozen to the spot, too confused and shocked by the turn of events to even comprehend it, but a hand snuck out at the last second to pull me out of the way when Jed and Azazel came a little too close. It was Lorraine. She kept her gaze firmly averted from me when I threw a grateful glance at her, but I was instantly reminded of the first time she'd pulled me out of a fight when a couple of rogues had first trespassed into the diner months ago. She'd kept me safe and it was no different now, in spite of all the tragedies that had occurred since then.

"We should help," Katya was saying to Brutus, as she stared at the wolves worriedly. Her concerns weren't unwarranted for. Jed was on the evasive track, ducking and twisting aside every time Azazel tried to launch an attack, and the latter was growing more daring by the second. "Alpha's pulling his punches and it's giving Beta the upper-hand."

"Not Beta," replied Brutus sharply. "Azazel. But unless Alpha gives us the indication, we're not shifting."

A sudden move from Azazel took everyone by surprise, an unforeseen manoeuvre that had Jed flinching back to defend himself when Azazel lunged forward, jaws open to sink his teeth into Jed's neck. Amidst horrified gasps, Brutus, Katya and Vaughn were already bracing themselves to shift whenever necessary.

But it wasn't. With a swift, deft move, Jed feigned a swerve to the right, leaving his back exposed once again. But when Azazel attempted to make another attack, Jed spun round just as quickly and pinned him to the floor. Growling, Jed stood with one of his front legs clamped down on Azazel's throat, until the latter was all but gasping for breath, futilely struggling to pull away.

Jed lowered his head, teeth bared and fangs sharp like knives, but the moment I realised he was about to kill Azazel by tearing out his throat, the same way he had with all those wolves he'd killed before, I immediately took a step forward.

"Jed."

My voice was barely audible but it was like hitting an off-switch. Jed stopped growling abruptly, blinking just once before he lifted his head to look at me. A flicker of awareness glimpsed his bright green eyes and he stilled, keeping one paw firmly pressed down on Azazel's throat until I shook my head in the subtlest movement.

Don't kill him.

Because as much as I wanted Azazel to pay for backstabbing Jed, some part of me knew that Jed was going to regret it if he actually killed the man. Killing Claudius, the man who'd tortured him all these years was one thing. Killing Azazel, the man whom Jed had always treated as his best friend was a different thing altogether. And Jed was already struggling to breathe in the drowning waters of guilt after Spike's death and losing Lance.

Jed paused, his gaze darting between Azazel and me for a second or two, before he finally backed away. Leaving Azazel a gasping, breathless mess on the floor, he disappeared to the back of the diner, presumably to shift back and get himself dressed again. Brutus and the others were already standing in a tight circle around Azazel, bracing themselves for any further attack. But once it was clear that the man wasn't making another move, his brown fur disappearing as he gradually beginning to shift back as well, they took a step back.

When Jed came back out, he was wearing only his jeans and looked perfectly calm. He stepped up beside me swiftly, his eyes cold as he stared at Azazel on the floor. I wanted to scan him for any injuries, really I did. But having him standing there half-naked next to me was doing positively naughty things to my head and this really wasn't a good time.

Jed suddenly snapped his gaze back to me, quirking a brief eyebrow in my direction. That was when I remembered the emotional connection we now shared and, feeling a surge of embarrassment flood through me, I promptly flushed. His eyes gleamed, his lips tilting up in a fleeting smirk of amusement before he deliberately turned back to the situation at hand.

Azazel was by now dressed and his jaw was clenched as he stared impassively at the rest of the pack, who were by now all looking at him with hostile expressions on their faces. Katya was speaking angrily to him, something about him being a backstabbing traitor who deserved to die all kinds of death, but he'd tuned her out, instead fixing his blank gaze on us.

Jed met his gaze evenly, and when I saw Azazel's jaw tighten in defiance, I realised that Jed was probably giving him specific orders through the mind-link, which he was no doubt going to sever with Azazel from this point on.

Then Jed glanced over at Brutus, who seemed grim all of a sudden and nodded firmly. "Azazel is no longer part of this pack," He announced in a clear voice to everyone else. "If you see him, you are not to show him any mercy, much less attempt any form of communication with him. Alpha will kill him if he so much as sets foot on Titan-land again."

There were murmurs of agreement at this, and several people began to clear out of the diner once they realised that there was nothing else left for them to see. Jed stepped away to retrieve the rest of his clothes from one of the chairs, but the moment he turned his back, Azazel made his move.

I could see it coming before it even happened, and I took a quick step forward in horror to pull him aside. "Jed – "

But before the rest of my warning could leave my lips, Jed had already spun round, the look on his face such a deathly calm that I knew he'd already pre-empted Azazel's attack. He had a hand wrapped around Azazel's throat in the blink of an eye, roughly slamming him back against the nearest wall. Several people stepped forward to help, but Jed had it all under control as he tightened his fingers around Azazel's neck, nails digging into his skin, slowly but steadily squeezing the life out of him. For a fleeting moment, there was a flicker of genuine fear in Azazel's eyes but it was gone in a flash and he futilely reached up to pry Jed's hand away from his throat.

Jed's gaze was steady as he looked at Azazel. And when he spoke, his voice was deadly quiet. "Leave."

Then he wrenched his hand away from him and took a step back. The place was entirely silent, varying looks of shock on everyone's faces as they realised that their Alpha had finally spoken in front of them – not to me, but to Azazel.

Azazel fought to catch his breath, fury glinting in his eyes as he stared at Jed. But he seemed to think the better of it when he saw how the rest of the pack would willingly run him out of Titan if he chose to attack Jed again. With one final parting glare that promised nothing but revenge, he spun on his heels and strode out of the diner.

He was gone.

The relief I felt at having him leave somehow wasn't entirely whole. A part of me still felt unsettled, and I swallowed, watching Azazel's figure slowly but surely disappear out of sight.

After a quick nod from Jed, Brutus and the others headed out of the diner after Azazel, presumably to make sure that he kept his word and left Titan borders. Several people inquired after Jed, offering to treat the various cuts and bruises on his body, but after politely waving them away, he retrieved his clothes and motioned for me to follow him out of the diner.

I bid the rest of the people remaining a quick goodbye and followed him. The sun was bright out, a cool breeze stirring the still air and an overall perfect day in spite of what had just transpired. Jed waited until I was beside him before resuming a leisurely pace, reaching down to loop his fingers through mine as we walked.

I smiled when I felt the comforting warmth of his hand, and couldn't help but sneak several glances at him. He'd retrieved his clothes but he was still wearing only his jeans, holding his thin white shirt and jacket in his other hand. I really didn't want to draw on clichés, but saying that he looked like an absolute Adonis with his skin hued the most delicious shade under the sunlight and his side profile cut in a way that made me want to catch my breath wasn't an exaggeration, but the complete truth. Jed seemed to sense that I was staring at him a lot as we walked, and he finally cast a sideway glance at me, his lips curving up in a smirk that seemed almost satisfied.

I narrowed my eyes at him in an almost defensive manner. "If you want me to stop staring at you, put on some damn clothes."

His smirk widened and he tugged his phone out of the pocket of my jeans, making my breath catch once again when I realised how low his jeans were hanging on his hips, the curve of his hipbones and the trail of hair leading down his tanned stomach in the most teasing way and disappearing beneath his jeans –

My eyes flew up to meet his when Jed deliberately cleared his throat. He bit his lower lip to maintain a perfectly composed expression, even though the hot hunger in his green eyes suggested otherwise, and held out his phone to me.

I threw him an indignant glare, only to rethink my game plan when I caught the challenging glint in his eyes. "I think it works both ways," I mused, my tone sugary sweet in a way that he immediately caught, because I felt his fingers tighten fractionally around mine. "If I were to, say, take off my shirt right now and walk around with just my bra and shorts and cheeks all flushed until I've tanned to that perfect sun-kissed skin – " My smile stretched when I heard him let out a distinct growl from beside me, but I simply kept my eyes fixed on the sandy path ahead and continued breezily, " – I think we could have additional data to prove that hypothesis, don't you think?"

It was his turn to glare at me now, and he looked so torn between annoyance and frustration that I couldn't stop myself from laughing. Stepping closer, I lifted his arm so that he'd had it wrapped around my shoulder. He seemed surprised but pleased with this new development, and instinctively pulled me closer to him, curling his arm around my shoulder in a way that made me feel entirely protected.

"I like it when you're happy," I said honestly, glancing up at him and feeling my heart flutter when I saw the way he was smiling, not smirking, just a tiny smile playing on his lips and he looked entirely relaxed now, without a care in the world. "Not grieving or angry or guilty. Just happy, with me, that's all I want."

He swallowed, the smile slipping off his lips as a troubled frown creased his forehead. "It's my fault," He said quietly after awhile, averting his eyes from me as he stared numbly down at the road.

His tone was entirely broken and I felt my heart clench when I realised what he was talking about – trusting Azazel, letting him rise through the ranks of Titan and eventually selling the pack out. We hadn't confirmed what Azazel did, not fully anyway, but the worst-case scenario was clear as crystal – that Azazel was not merely part of the syndicate, but was all along working with Malthus.

I knew what he was thinking: If he hadn't trusted Adrian, then maybe there wouldn't have been so many perimeter breaches. Maybe the packs surrounding us would've never been attacked. Maybe I never would've been captured. Maybe we wouldn't have lost Lance and Giles. Maybe Spike would've still been alive.

I took a deep breath and reached up to catch his fingers in a loose but steady grip. "It's my fault too." I mused, shrugging when he glanced at me in surprise. "If I'd told you about Azazel sooner, maybe Lance and Giles wouldn't have been captured. Maybe Titan would've won. Maybe we would've defeated Prometheus – "

He shook his head firmly before typing a quick message and holding out his phone.

I smiled when I read those words. "Exactly," I said, meeting Jed's gaze squarely. "Azazel did all that. If our suspicions are right, he did all those things. Helped Malthus do all those things. Our mistake was trusting him. But everything else he did isn't our fault because he chose to do them all."

I could see that I was getting through to him, because Jed looked like he wanted so desperately to believe in my words. He hesitated, a clear internal conflict within him. It was his innate sense of responsibility for all of Titan that warred with his deep-seated desire for redemption – the assurance that the bad things that happened wasn't his fault; that the path his father and brother had taken wasn't going to be the same one that he was heading towards; that he was, somehow, better than what the rest of the world thought of him.

We were almost nearing our home by now and, once we were close enough, I took two quick strides forward so that I was standing on the step of the porch, turning around so that I could face him. He seemed surprised by my sudden actions, especially when I placed both my hands on his shoulders so that I could look him in the eyes.

"I do love you, you know, regardless." I said gently, smiling when his features softened and he slowly wrapped his arms around me, pulling me in so that I was pressed flushed against him, not a sliver of space separating us. "I always have."

Recognition flickered across his face as he realised that I was repeating the words he'd said to me. His eyes were bright and happy now, even as his lips twitched up in a wry smile. "Always will?"

He looked so heartbreakingly hopeful and unsure all at once that I felt my heart twist. Blinking back the tears that sprung to my eyes, I cradled his face between my palms and felt his breath warm my skin like sunlight on the clearest summer's day.

"Yes," I whispered, because it was the truth and there was no other fancy way to say it, before pushing myself on the tips of my toes to seal my promise with a kiss.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Jed didn't leave his study until late that night, and I found him sitting at the large mahogany desk, his laptop propped up in front of him and files and files of documents spread out in front of him. He had his old iPod chucked on the table, earphones plugged in. It was the same one he'd handed over to me the day he found me, and I remembered him telling me about it sometime later – how his mother had given it to him on one of his birthdays, carving his name across the plastic so that it would be solely his.

I stood by the doorway and watched him for a moment. Just looking at him made everything else seem to fade away, if only for awhile. He was just a regular guy so hard at work that he'd all but forgotten about the time, I was waiting up for him and making sure he didn't overwork himself and we were just a regular couple.

If you took away the world of lycans, all the dangers we were in and all the inevitable deaths this war would eventually bring about, then everything seemed normal. Perfectly normal, and I was reminded of what Spike had once told me. You took normalcy for granted until you weren't, and that was when you realised how much you missed the version that you once were – the version of you that was safe, uncomplicated, normal.

But I knew that if Spike were alive now, he'd still choose danger, complications, his mate over everything. So would I.

Jed seemed to sense that I was nearby, because he soon turned, throwing me a brief glance over his shoulder and raising his eyebrows when he saw me. His work seemed all but forgotten, especially when he noticed that I was wearing his jumper, and a faint smile flitted across his face at the sight of that.

"You eat all my food, I figured I'd wear all your clothes," I said lightly, with a teasing smile and a faux-innocent look in my eyes. "That's not a problem, right?"

He maintained a straight face as he shook his head, even as his lips twitched. My gaze travelled to his laptop, where he'd had both Lance and Giles's photographs attached to an email he seemed to be sending out to the other packs. For them to keep an eye out, just in case Prometheus turned them loose.

"Mind-link still not working?" I asked sympathetically, feeling my heart sink when he shook his head again, this time more sombrely than the previous.