I keep my eyes lowered which is typically uncharacteristic of a Luna. The humiliation is just too much to stand.

He places himself at the head of the table and I place myself next to him. Zyon lifts a hand as a gesture for everyone to continue their conversations.

As the omega's enter to place an assortment of foods at the table, I lift my gaze to sweep the room. I am grateful for the pack trying to act as normal as possible, but I can tell they're bothered.

A collective feeling of discomfort runs through my body. As Luna, my instincts towards the emotions of the pack are heightened. To a large degree they are uncomfortable with what their Alpha has done, but to a small degree they understand why he did it.

My eyes land on Xander, who sits adjacent to Zyon. He is least bothered by what Zyon has done. If anything, he seems somewhat smug. Like I had it coming- like I deserved it.

I look away, losing my appetite and my need to react. But I won't let the pack know how much this has affected me. How much it has devastated me.

I had to make amends to them as well. Their trust in me had declined at a rapid rate- I had after all released ten prisoners just to get one to safety. It went against basic wolf instincts. I put a human before the pack. It didn't matter who he was to me. All they understood was that I betrayed them.

Where the pack was concerned, I knew I had to make amends- make an effort. I would try, starting tomorrow.

At least with the pack, my thoughts and plan of action were clear. I knew what I had to do. I knew what I wanted to do. With Zyon, it was the complete opposite.

I'm shaken from my thoughts, with Zyon shaking my shoulder.

He asks. I can tell from his tone, from the rigidness of his body language. He wants me to act like the mark doesn't affect me in front of his pack. If I can feel the discomfort coming from the pack, as Alpha, he could feel it too.

Perhaps, the gravity of his actions was finally starting to dawn on him. But Zyon had proven all my assumptions about him wrong before and I didn't want to jump ship before I was absolutely sure.

I shrug my shoulders, and push the food around my plate. He feels my discomfort, my sadness, my humiliation. His gaze stays on me but I keep mine focused on my plate. I feel his hand reach over, grab my hair and place it over my mark. Covering my shoulder.

But the damage had already been done.

So while I'm surprised at what he does in his attempt to make me more comfortable, it doesn't lessen the emotions he feels coming from me.

Though the rest of the pack chats, Zyon and I finish our dinners in silence. I feel his gaze turn to look at me multiple times. His eyes feel like they're going to burn a hole into the side of my head.

The process of dinner moves excruciatingly slow. I'm tired of pretending to eat. I'm still exhausted and all I can think about is going to sleep. So when the pack finally finishes and begins to leave, I can't help but feel overjoyed.

I feel him move closer to me. He whispers.

I nod my head, still not looking at him. I move my chair back and walk rapidly out of the room. To anyone else, it probably looked like I ran away from him because of the speed at which I moved.

I'm halfway up the stairs, when I hear Xander behind me.

I turn to look at him questioningly, as he continues to follow me to the Alpha's wing.

He says gruffly.

As we enter the door, he makes his way in front of me, halting me in my footsteps. His hand reaches out to remove my hair from my shoulder.

He scoffs.

I ask.

He spits out.

I want to pretend like his words don't affect me, but they do. He is my mate's brother and I spent my life feeling like I wasn't worthy of Zyon, like I didn't deserve to be his mate. Feeling secondary to Aly and now I was being placed second to the pack's previous Luna.

He rambles on, but is cut off as the door to the Wing swing opens and a fuming Zyon stands at his entrance.

Before I can blink or process that he was listening at the door, he has Xander pinned to the wall with his hand around Xander's throat.

He spits out, with fury I've never heard in his voice before.

I can tell Xander is a little taken aback. It takes him a moment to recover as he shoves Zyon away, but Zyon pins him to the wall again with double the strength he used before.

He says.

Xander looks at Zyon with an expression that is unreadable to me. But he slowly lifts his hands up in surrender and Zyon removes his hand from Xander's throat.

Xander says.

He says.

Xander nods.

He walks out of the wing.

I turn away from Zyon and walk into our room- my thoughts racing. Never did I think he would defend me. That was unexpected from him- but something ordinary that mates did do from each other.

I realized that I expect so little from him now, that even minimalistic actions seemed large to me. I don't know what to make of that. Nonetheless I did appreciate him putting his brother in place.

Just not enough for me to forgive what he had done. Not that he was asking for my forgiveness. It was clear he felt guilt. The realization of what he had done, came from his pack's feelings. He expected validation of his actions from his pack. He didn't expect discomfort or disapproval of his actions from them.

What I was starting to realize was that Zyon, as Alpha, looked to his pack for validation. He was used to being respected and admired by them so much that when their emotions had differed from what he expected for the first time, he was able to see what he had done, and understand the gravity of what he had done.

For a minute there, Zyon had functioned as a mate normally functions. His defense of me made me feel like a normal mated couple. My body warms, the discomfort and humiliation leaving me for a while.

He follows me into the room. I grab a book of the nightstand, placing myself on the couch, wordlessly.

The room is filled with a deafening silence.

I know he's looking at me, but I can't get myself to look back. As disappointed and hopeless as I felt, my body craved him. The period that we were separated had effects on the bond. It was trying everything to get us to move closer together.

My wolf was back, but we still hadn't completely unified. We kept making deals with each other to do certain things- unlike how other werewolves functioned. They worked in unity, which only drew me to the conclusion that the reason I wasn't jumping onto him, forgiving him or being overly physical with him was because the effects of my mate bond weren't as strong as his. So I know it was taking everything in him, to not talk to or touch me.

I hear him move towards me. He sits on the L-Shaped couch, near my legs. I keep my eyes focused on my book, though I can see him from the corner of my eyes. He faces forward, not bothering to make eye contact either.

He says.

I blink. Did he just apologize? Never in a million years, did I think those words would come out of his mouth. But what exactly was he apologizing for?

He says.

I shrug.

He says, still looking ahead. Not at me. My gaze now settles completely on him, watching the way he leans forward, his hands clamped together and arms resting on his knees.

He states.

He doesn't wait for a response from me, as he gets up and exits the room. But I think he feels the way my heart warms to his words.

I'm angry at him but satisfied that he's protected and defended my honor. Happy that his brother doesn't come before me in his life.

If I am to spend the rest of my life with him, if I have no escape, his words give me hope for a better future.

But that's all it is for right now. Hope.

Zyon doesn't return that night. When I wake the next morning, his side of the bed is still unmade. Not once since, I've been in this room, have I slept without him. The thought is unsettling, but I push it away.

With a new-found resolve to adjust to pack life, and gain back the trust of this pack, I make my way downstairs, to find the training grounds. It's still early, therefore the pack must be training. Not only is going to training a way to engage with the wolves but perhaps would encourage my own unity with my wolf and help me gain back some of the warrior fighting skills I lost, when I lost my wolf.

I smell Zyon before I see him, as I make my way over to where the female wolves train. The spot I choose gives me a direct view to him.

My eyes zero in on the way his body moves as he spars with another wolf. His strength and speed are truly unmatched. His opponent is pinned down before the fight even begins. And as he stands back up, his eyes make contact with mine. Almost as if he knew I was watching. But he turns away, not sparing me another glance, as I feel a wave of guilt hit me that isn't my own.

But as fast as it hits me, the guilt vanishes as I feel him put up a block so I can't feel his emotions.

His actions only serve to infuriate me further. He places a second mark on me, uses it against me, takes me down to dinner and humiliates me, then defends me, apologizes and is now shutting me out?

I don't even know what to make of this. He sends mixed signals all over the place.

Not that I'm begging for his attention. I hear my wolf scoff when I say that. Why's she scoffing? I don't want his attention. I don't care.

I train for a bit on my own, talking to the female wolves around me. Sometimes I feel Zyon's eyes burning into me, when I'm training, but as soon as I look his way, he looks away.

After training, I make my way over to one of the pack's strongest female warriors.

I say.

She bows her head. Sarah is blonde, tall and renowned in many packs for her fighting abilities. She's one of the best, yet extremely intimidating. Her body is almost like a canvas and the scars that litter her body represent the battles she's fought. She wears them proudly.

I say.

She gestures towards the trees a little away from the training grounds and while we walk, I speak about the dis-unity with my wolf, the way I lost my skills and ask for her help to gain back my fighting ability.

I say.

She says,

I say.

Sarah says.

I say.

Sarah turns her piercing eyes back to me and raises an eyebrow.

I nod. I say weakly.

What have I even gotten myself into?

A/N- Hey guys, I just got done with my exams four days ago and was finally able to take out some time to write. Please don't forget to vote and comment.

I hope you enjoy and can foresee the coming change in Zyon and Katherine's relationship.

Stay tuned. x