The swelling of my bruised jaw and pain of my broken nose was nothing compared to the pain in my heart and soul. By the time that I had picked myself off of the floor of the store, Kyle had already dipped out the doors.

My wolf let out a pained cry in my mind as my heart clenched painfully. Fingers reaching up, the felt around on the swelling of my face and I hissed when I nudged my broken, bloodied nose.

"Fuck, that hurts." I hissed, feeling around and being forced to reset my nose before the fracture settled. And as I did, my stomach sank even more.

Because I remembered grabbing onto Kyle's wrist in a desperate attempt to halt him, to explain myself before he ran away.

It was very clear from the surgical scars and multitude of stitches that he had multiple surgeries done on his wrist and fingers. And even then, his wrist still looked crooked and abnormal at best.

"You did that..."

I swallowed thickly at my wolf's venomous snarl, without a means to defend myself because he was so right. I had let my emotions get the best of me, let rage cloud my senses as I had attacked my own mate.

"Don't. Fucking. Touch. Me." His voice echoed in my mind, the pure hatred and disgust clearly portrayed with his entire body language.

Feet approached and I looked up, surprised by the hostile aura of the wolf standing there. "Get out." Sneered the man, pointing at the doors. "I don't need anyone picking fights and harassing my employees here."

I wanted to point out that I hadn't meant to seek any fights, that I hadn't thrown the first blow... but, realized I had. Kyle's scarred wrist was the proof of that.

Wordlessly, I nodded and made my way past the wolf, who huffed and growled something about unwanted outsiders. I paused in the doorway, taking a whiff of the female behind the register and realizing she was human.

"I had to permission to come here from your boss." I stated before backing up in surprise when the man's eyes flared with annoyance.

"My boss is a nitwit not worthy his title. I'd advice against dropping Curtis' name around here, thinking you'll get favors. He only has a few loyal lackeys slinking around but even they know better than to go against the Council's orders."

The door slammed in my face as I paled, wondering what exactly Alpha Curtis had done to warrant a Council's inspection. Everyone had at least heard of the Council and respected them greatly.

To have one of Curtis' own pack members imply that their pack was under Council scrutiny was not a good thing. The Council wasn't known to just meddle in a pack's affair, but they would step in if they needed to.

As I wandered down the street, I stuffed my hands in my pocket, wondering what to do. I had already found it odd when I had been at Alpha Travis' pack, trying to find out where Kyle had gone off to.

Alpha Travis had been anything but forthcoming with information, stalling and crossing his arms at every moment. He had allowed me on his property at least but had also questioned me as to why on earth I was trying to find Kyle.

Why wouldn't I? He's my mate.

"Was. He used to be. Not anymore." My wolf whined pitifully, creating a frown on my face. As I tried to press further on the matter, my wolf refused to respond, huffing simply in annoyance.

That was, until I tried to reach for Kyle, to try and find that pure, primal energy in the back of my mind, where I knew the Mating link laid.

... and there was nothing there.

I blinked, closing my eyes to search, growing more frantic with every passing second. Despite knowing he was alive, that I had seen him only moments ago, I couldn't sense Kyle in any shape or form.

"Not anymore." My wolf cried in agony, sending shivers over my body. It was only now that the full repercussions of my actions washed over me.

Rejections weren't unheard of among the were-community, but they are rare. A fated bond isn't cast aside lightly and back then, I had been convinced that Kyle had betrayed us, had guided rogues into the pack territory.

Had purposefully endangered the lives of so many innocent and defenseless children.

Now I knew that wasn't the case, but back then it had felt justified to cast him aside. Because I couldn't share my life and live side by side with a monster that would risk a child's life to rogues.

My wolf snapped his teeth, snarling venomously, "No, if there's a monster in this... former relationship, it's you."

Nausea pulsed through my stomach, warm and cold shivers following back to back as my wolf growled lowly, snapping its teeth in clear anger.

It made sense why Alpha Travis was so adamant on why I was trying to find Kyle. Why I was trying to fix something that couldn't be fixed.

Still... I wanted to talk to Kyle, to explain everything to him. To clear my conscious and tell him that I had been wrong to attack him.

I found myself stumbling through unknown territories until I found a small hotel that was willing to take me in. I paid the reasonable fee for the room and flopped in my bed, hoping that tomorrow would be a better day.

----

As I sat outside the store for the fifth day in a row, I realized that there wouldn't be a better day any time soon. Because of my actions, Kyle had changed.

My eyes swept over what I could see of his body and sighed, feeling the guilt burn in my chest, the wooden bench underneath my fingers groaning as they clenched tightly at the sight of him.

He lost weight. A lot of weight...

Those gorgeous blue eyes that had once shimmered with love and trust, were now a dull grey that gleamed with distrust, anguish and lethargy. My eyes rested on the dark rims underneath his eyes, wondering if he simply didn't sleep at all because of circumstance or if he actually couldn't.

I shuffled my weight on the bench, drawing his attention. He shot me a venomous and tired glare, as I had tried to talk to him every day and yet he kept ignoring me completely.

Trailing my eyes lower, I frowned as he turned around, giving me a clear view of his sunken cheeks, my mind unwillingly reminding me of a time when they had been full and a delicious pink.

A sigh escaped my lips, glancing at the clock and realizing that, once again, Kyle was working overtime. I wasn't certain if this was in an attempt to evade me, that I'd get so bored I'd leave, or if he was desperately in need of the money.

I did this to him...

My face fell in my hands as I sighed deeply, feeling an overwhelming wave of anguish, remorse and guilt. My wolf wasn't exactly helping, forcing its own sadness and anger unto me until I felt sick and exhausted.

"It's not even a fragment of what you've put our mate through!"

The overwhelming surge of emotions made me pant and gag before I slowly relaxed. As I looked up, I realized Kyle had left the store and was walking away down the road.

I only waited for a tad longer before I slowly followed him, aware that I was very much a stalker, but I couldn't stop myself. Kyle would stop by the next convenience store to get food for him and the little rogue pup.

Shaking my head, I waited outside the store, catching some looks of the local pack, who sneered at me before they huffed and moved on. After almost a week of observing Kyle, of waiting for an opportunity to talk to him, I had seen the little pup in his presence.

But I still didn't know how he became her guardian. Was he simply taking care of a rogue pup the pack found? Could Kyle had possibly moved on after I had rejected him... making that pup his daughter.

It pained my wolf to even consider that to be an option. But my wolf also never failed to rub that fact under my nose. The fact that I had been so self-obsessed, that I hadn't even realized how much time had gone by.

During those months of anger and betrayal, I had tried to push any thought of Kyle to the back of my mind; had even blocked my wolf out due to him persistently urging me to find my mate.

I had ignored the passing of time as I sat beside my brother, wondering if he ever woke up. After I called back home to my mom, I had been told that it was a common side-effect of rejection, or losing one's mate ; a warped sense of time.

For me, the seasons had melted into one continuous swirl of passing time. I hadn't kept a track of time until Gavin woke up, and it was only then that I realized it had been years.

Years that Kyle had roamed around with his injuries, struggling to survive. Years of living on his own in a constant fight of survival.

I sighed, letting myself shift as soon as Kyle and the little girl breached the forest. Settling into the moss covered soil, I watched and listened, keeping an eye out to make sure at least Kyle was safe in that old house.

Did he live here? Forced to stay in this shack because he couldn't trust anyone after what I've done to him?

A huff left my wolf. There was nothing that could be done about what happened, and all I could do was provide any help, if Kyle needed it.

I did this to him....