I drifted in and out of consciousness only to hear a few distorted voices now and then. Everything seemed hazy, their voices, their movements and even the thoughts in my head.

Feeling a hand on my wrist, I turned my head to look at the person next to me.

That turned out to be a mistake because a sudden pain shot through my spine and I let out a groan.

"Alpha? Are you okay ?" an anxious voice asked me, and I shook my head painfully, trying to indicate I needed help.

The person whoever that was, understood my mime and held my arm as I struggled to get myself into sitting position. The pain seemed to reduce when I sat up. I rubbed my neck wearily as I took in the sight around me.

White wall. White ceiling. White curtain. White bed... Where in the wide world was I ?

"I'll just inform the doctor. He'll be coming in a minute." The nurse informed me and I nodded wordlessly.

So I was stuck in the hospital ...

The door opened again and my gaze fell on a girl in front of me. Messy hair. Tear stained cheeks. A complete zombie look on her face.

My sister, Stella.

Her face, however, lit up when she saw me.

My lips curled into a frown as I took in her appearance. How long has this girl been starving herself?

"Aden!! You are finally awake!!" She squealed as she launched herself on me. I winced at the pain in my spine when she squashed me in a bone breaking hug.

"Now, now, Miss Carter, " the nurse reproached her, "That's no way to greet a patient whose just woken up."

I shot her a relieved smile.

"Oh! I'm sorry!!" Stella apologized as she stood up and straightened her clothes. " I wasn't thinking. It's just that seeing my brother alive made me go a bit crazy."

The nurse nodded as she smiled kindly at my sister. " I'll call the doctor. You can stay with him till then. Just try not to kill him."

Stella grinned. "I'll try. No promises though." she said.

I rolled my eyes as the nurse chuckled and shut the door behind her. Nothing would ever change Stella. She'll be crying over me one second and irritating me to death the next.

"How long have I been here? " I asked her after a few moments.

"Three days." she replied, her face drooping again.

My facial expression must have asked her my mental question, because she nodded. "Yeah. Three days. We've been worried sick. Mom was hysterical and was crying her eyes out when they said you weren't responding. But then, so were we all."

"I wasn't responding? What do you mean?" I asked her confused.

"Well, by the time we brought you to the hospital, you had already lost consciousness. Plus you hit your head pretty bad when you fell. So when the doctor looked at you, for an instant he thought you were almost gone." She told me.

The look on her face told me how scared they must have been, when he said that.

"But I'm fine now." I reassured her. "Don't worry."

She gave me a small smile. "Really? Even after everything that happened? Even after Kiara ...?

I stiffened at her name.

"Are you saying this is because of Kiara?" I asked her after an awkward pause.

"It is though, isn't it? She left you and joined a new pack. That's what caused you to end up here today."

My eyes widened in horror. "She didn't accept the rejection, did she?"

Stella shook her head. "No. But when she joined the new pack, all her bonds to our pack broke. The only reason the Mate bond is still present is because it is much stronger than just a pack bond."

My brows furrowed in confusion. "Why then did I undergo all the pain then?"

"That is because Kiara is actually the true Luna of the pack and you are her mate. But I don't know if the distance might affect your mate bond too."

I let out a shaky breath as I imagined Kiara being free from our mate bond, in love with someone else and living a happy life of her own without me.

The image, sure as hell did not make me happy.

She may think, I had forgotten all about her, but that would never happen. In spite of everything, I would never hate her. She was my mate, my other half.

Stella was watching me with a small smile. "You still love her, don't you?"

Always ...

But the question was would I be given a second chance?

It had been three days since I had been discharged and though I was completely fine, they wouldn't allow me anywhere near my office.

I sighed in boredom as I looked up to watch the design in the ceiling for the umpteenth time today.

Stella sat in the corner reading another report to herself. She was doing two things at once. Babysitting me. Working on the latest reports from the Guardians.

Wow. Since when did an Alpha need babysitting?

I huffed in annoyance. There were tons of files pending and here I was whiling away my time staring at the ceiling.

Stella shot me an exasperated scowl. "Good Lord, Aden!Can't you stop grumbling even for a minute?"

I turned to her feigning a look of surprise "I'm not grumbling, sis. I was so absorbed in admiring the beauty of the intricate designs in the ceiling that I even forgot your presence. Pardon me if I offended you in any way."

Stella rolled her eyes at my drama."Alright, alright. I get it. You're bored."

No shit Sherlock.

"Why am I not even allowed to go out for a run?"

"Aden," she said as though speaking to a child, "You know, your wolf hasn't completely healed yet. You definitely need more time."

"Well I can still go out for a walk or something, can't I? This room is suffocating me now. I really want to get out of here and breathe a bit."

Stella shut the file with a sigh as she stood up. "Fine. We'll go. Just stop whining like a two year old."

A sense of calmness took over me as I walked along the edge of the forest with Stella next to me.

She had been quiet for a while now and I was puzzled about that. Stella was a girl who never shut up until she was forced to. In many ways, she was like Kiara.

Both of them were the same. While one was an endless chatter box, the other was a born prankster.

Had everything been fine now, Kiara would have been here and they both would have been irritating the hell out of me.

"A penny for your thoughts?" I asked her after a while.

She smiled as she turned to me. "I could ask you that too, you know."

I shrugged. "Nothing much. I was just thinking about how it would have been if Kiara had been with us. As much as I try not to think about it, it just keeps coming back to me."

Stella placed a hand on my shoulder. "I understand, Aden. It must be painful without her. But life doesn't stop because of one person, does it? She'll probably come back one day. After all, I don't think anyone can love her more than you."

I nodded and tried not to dwell on it more. Instead I changed the topic.

"So what were you thinking?" I asked her.

She frowned, as she realized what I was doing but then let it go. "I was just thinking about what Dad said. He seems hell bent on hating Kiara. And he hates her even more after all that happened."

My fingers curled into fists as I remembered his scornful words. Even after more than a month, I couldn't forget those terms he used for my mate. I couldn't make myself forgive him. That was nearly impossible.

"He still seems to believe Nicole would be a better Luna." She continued. "I have no clue how to show him her true bitchy nature. It's as though she's done some kind of black magic on him."

I was about to reply to her when a movement behind a tree caught my eyes.

I motioned Stella to be quiet as I stealthily made my way to the tree. Stella followed me and we stood a few distance away watching.

And boy, were we shocked.

Behind the tree, stood a couple busy in a hot make out session. They seemed so absorbed in eating each others faces, that I think they had even forgotten there were onlookers ogling at them.

My gaze shifted towards the girl as I took in her appearance. Blond hair, extremely tight fitted clothes, gaudy neon painted nails, it didn't take a genius to figure out who she was.

This bitch.

I smirked as a plan formed in my head. Looks like lady luck had finally given me a chance to pay back the bitch.

"What are you doing?" Stella whispered when I fished out my phone, fumbled for the video recorder and pressed the play button.

My lips curved into a diabolical smile. "Blackmail".

"You can't do that to me!" She snarled, leaning against the desk so far, her face was just inches away from mine.

I smirked, savouring her terror. She deserved this. And more.

"I'm sorry Nicole. I've no time to waste over petty matters like this. I've just got back to office and I've got a ton of projects to see. So it would be a relief if you cut off the drama."

"The drama?" She screeched, "You think this is some damn drama? Aden, you are ruining my life!!"

"Quit meddling in mine and I'll stop ruining yours."

Nicole glared. "I'm not meddling in your life, Aden. It's not my fault that your Dad thinks I'll be the perfect Luna!"

"Whose is it then?" I mocked her, "Mine?"

"I really can do a thousand times better than your stupid mate, Kiara. Your father just saw the potential in me." She snapped.

"For the sake of everyone's sanity, I'm going to pretend you didn't say that."

"Your mate is a narcissistic slut, Aden." She spat out. "She doesn't care about you. Never has. Never will."

My face hardened at the word she used for my mate. If it hadn't been for the desk separating us and the presence of other people in the room, my claws would have been at her throat now.

"Dad was just blind to the bitch in you. But not for long. He'll see what his so called worthy Luna actually is." I said, twirling my phone between my fingers.

She grit her teeth in anger. "What will it take to make you delete that video?"

My lips curled up into a victorious smirk. I had gotten her where I wanted. Finally.

"Confession."

She stared at me as though I had just asked her to hand over her kidney.

"I can't do that." She breathed finally, "That will be the death of me. I could die in shame. I admit that I kissed him, but that was because of the mate pull towards him. It happened once but I swear it won't happen again."

I shrugged. "It's either that or this." I said, motioning to my phone again.

Her eyes widened in terror.

"You only have to tell my father the truth." I continued. "Just tell him that you already have a mate, but you rejected him. Tell him that you broke up with me, though we were nothing in the first place, and you don't want to be the Luna anymore."

"But...but... I do want to be the Luna."

"That's what is wrong. You hung around me only because of the power. You and I never really connected like true mates . If there is anyone you really love, then it's Jayden, your mate. You still love him even though you rejected him."

My gaze fell on Jayden who is standing behind her and he gave me a small grateful smile.

Why he still loves her so much is quite beyond me. Maybe they had some kind of arrangement. Maybe love was blind. But it's not my business to interfere. As long as he's willing to take her off my back, I support him. Hell, I'll give him a raise.

Nicole pondered over it chewing her lip.

"I'm not sure." She said after a moment and I sighed. "Tell me you won't long for him even when you are the Luna. Look at him straight in the eye and tell him you don't feel anything for him and I'll believe you.", I said motioning towards Jayden.

She turned to face him hesitantly and looked at him for a long time contemplating. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. It was as though she couldn't say it even though she was forcing herself to.

"I... I can't. I think I still feel something for him. I can't help it ." She said brokenly and for once I could see the true Nicole beneath the bitchy attitude she displayed.

I saw Jayden give her a hopeful look from behind when she said that.

"It's called the mate-bond." I told her. "Try as you might, you can't resist it."

She looked at me with sadness and for the first time I could see her emotions were real. "But even though I love him, I still wanted to be the Luna. I was hoping you'd be my mate ever since I was a kid."

I sighed, "Sometimes, destiny isn't always the way we think it will be. You were made for Jayden while my heart belongs to Kiara. Positions, ranks and titles don't matter when you find your mate. All that matters then is what you feel when you're in each other's company." A pause. "I'm sorry, this forced relationship between you and I—it was doomed from the start."

She looked at me thinking. "I can see now why you long for Kiara so much. You love her in spite of everything."

"I may not be on best terms with your mate, and I doubt we ever will be, considering everything that has happened between us. But I know one thing, she's damn lucky." She said. "And in time she'll realize that too."

She smiled through her tears as Jayden held her hand supporting her.

"I'm sorry Jayden." she said as she faced him. "I'm sorry for everything I put you through. I was too blinded by power to notice that I was missing the most important thing in my life - you."

Jayden's smile was one filled with pure joy. "It's okay, sweetheart. I had always been waiting for you. Your mistakes don't matter to me. What matters now is that I've finally found you and you've accepted me."

And with that he placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

It tore me to see them unite while I was still longing for my mate, but I hid my sadness as I watched them.

Kiara. The only person I felt this way about was Kiara.

So what if she joined a new pack and was happy with her new family? I wouldn't give up on her. Because she's worth the wait. She's worth everything to me.

"I'll tell your father the truth. Don't worry." Nicole told me smiling with complete honesty this time." And you'll find her. You really will."