"Discipline is doing what needs to be done, even if you don't want to."

Selene stood in front of her fountain. Its water showing her children on Earth. She was observing the soon to be alpha of the Blood Moon pack break his mate's heart.

"You look disappointed," Artemis, goddess of the hunt, said.

"It's because I am," Selene responded. Rafael and Leya were the wolves she had failed so many years ago. This was their second chance but it was all going wrong. This was the lifetime made for them.

Rafael and Leya were the wolves of Zane De Luca and Alessandra Romano, but a long time ago, they were the wolves of Lorenzo Moretti and Rosanna Belluci. They never got their happily ever after. If anything they got the opposite.

"It wasn't your fault Selene," Artemis said.

Wasn't it though?

Selene had only seen it as an empty threat. All wolves reacted differently when they lost their mate. Some would act as if nothing had happened when they were really breaking inside, while others would become depressed. Few would become enraged but it was normal.

She later learned that she should have listened because she went from failing two wolves to failing thousands.

I could see the anger on her face. She wasn't sad like most would be, she was angry, and she had every right to be. 

"Are you serious right now? You can't handle me being your mate so you are sending me away?" Alessandra yelled.

I motion at Hiro to leave the room. 

"We can't control ourselves around each other Alessia! How long will it be before one of us marks the other?"

Even now, her scent was nearly killing me. It was taking all my restraint to not walk over there and sink my canines into her slender neck. 

"You're being selfish! You just don't want to deal with me being your mate. You want to have a line of whores at your beck and call!"

I laughed. Is she serious right now? 

"Fucking hell Alessandra, if I wanted a line of women to fulfill my needs, I would have one!"

"Really? Well when I'm in Italy, I'll have a line of men-"

I didn't let her finish her sentence. I took my right hand and wrapped it around her throat. I spun her around and backed her up until she was against my desk. Pushing her down to the desk was easy since she wasn't resisting me. Her breathing was quickening and her heart was beating rapidly. 

I lean down to her ear, my hand still around her neck. 

"If a man touches you, he will die amore. Do you want the death of somebody on your hands?"

Her eyes glow gold and she bites down on her bottom lip. I can feel myself losing my restraint.

"Don't do that Alessandra."

I try to hold back, I really do, but before I can think I'm feasting on her neck. I stroke my tongue from the base of her neck to her jawline. Her back arches and she lets out a moan. Her scent overwhelms my senses and it's all I can focus on. My hips move against hers and before we know it we've built a rhythm.

"Oh my god," she pants.

"Stop me," I tell her.

"I can't," she lets out breathlessly. My canines elongate and it's like we are in her room after her birthday all over again. I drag them down her neck, almost salivating at the thought of her bearing my mark.

Stop yourself, Zane. The blood, remember the blood.

The thought clears up my mind and I use my wolf speed to get to the other side of the room. My chest heaves as I try to calm myself down.

"Oh shit," Alessandra whispers.

"Do you see what I mean? We can't control ourselves!"

"I know, you're right."

"Wasn't it always your plan to leave the pack and travel? You wanted to have your own medical practice too. You can do that now Alessia."

"But don't you even want to try being mates? I know we hate each other, god I can't stand you sometimes, but there must be a reason the goddess put us together."

"The bond brings us together Alessandra, it doesn't make us love though. That's up to us. Do you think you're capable of loving me?"

She looks at her feet.

"I can't focus on a mate right now. I'm going to be alpha soon and that takes training."

"So who will be your luna?"

"Isabel."

"But you just broke up with her?"

"I know. When the time comes, I will inform everyone that we are together again that way I have a luna, and my power is not questioned."

"How are you so sure she will agree?"

"I'm not sure if you've noticed, but she is a power-hungry woman, and now she's an omega. She will jump at the chance to have authority again."

"What about me? I can't stay in Italy forever."

"You won't, you can return once I mark Isabel, our bond will be broken then."

"Why not just reject me right now?"

My wolf growls at the thought.

"Rejections are painful Alessandra. We would have to go to the council for it, and I would prefer it if no one knew we were mates, and I'm sure you want the same." 

"You're right, I don't want anyone knowing."

Her face falls when she realizes the gravity of the situation. It's not easy saying goodbye to the person who should have been yours forever. 

"About what I said earlier, it's not fair for me to ask of you to be with no one when I am making another my luna, I overreacted."

She gives me a forced smile and leaves. Hiro comes in behind her, a determined expression on his face.

"You're making a mistake Zane," he tells me. 

"I spent the majority of my life loving a woman who cheated on me, and then her fraternal twin sister ends up being my mate. The same girl who I have hated since we were kids."

"Bullshit, there has to be more to it."

"Well, there isn't! Actually, I can't think of a better reason to reject someone. I already hate her and I was in love with her sister for years. Can't you see how fucked up that is?"

"So what? Love always finds a way, you could have figured it out."

"Stop making me sound like the bad guy. She doesn't want me either!"

"So you're going to let her go to Italy and with someone else?"

"She won't be with anyone else."

"You just told her she could!"

"Yes I told her she could, but do you think her overprotective brother will think the same?"

Realization dawns on him as he understands why I am sending her to Italy specifically. Ricardo Romano is my future beta and he is training in Italy right now at our original pack lands. He was always protective of his sisters, but he accepted Isabel growing up. The same cannot be said about Alessandra though, to him she will always be a baby. 

"You're an asshole."

"Yes, a smart one."

Hiro shakes his head at me and leaves. I don't blame him for not understanding. I don't think most would. As wolves, we are taught that the mate bond is everything. It's our reason to live, a gift from Selene herself. But they don't know my situation. 

Blood, there was so much blood.