Recap: ...The door in the far corner blowing off of it's hinges. It flew across the space and collided squarely with Ansel's chest, sending them both sliding backwards, trapped underneath the massive piece of metal.

I screamed and immediately rushed to go and help Ansel but a loud growl froze me to my spot. There in the shattered doorway stood a rather angry looking brown wolf with all too recognizable amber eyes.

Matteo had come for me despite our last exchange.

He was a little too late though because as it turned out, I didn't need his saving after all.....

"What the hell is your problem?" I shouted over at Matteo as he was in the middle of shifting back into his human form while I took the opportunity to walk to Ansel. He was unconscious and I honestly didn't know if that was a good or bad thing in the moment.

Most likely bad.

I crouched down beside him and attempted to lift the metal door from his lifeless body when Matteo grabbed me by my forearm from behind and tugged me away from Ansel.

"What the hell is my problem?" He hissed venomously, "I spent all this time trying to track you down and save you from that maniac who kidnapped you, and this is the thanks I get?"

My eyes narrowed automatically, this was the Matteo I was most familiar with. "For the record, people who do good things for the benefit of others and not for themselves, don't need validation for their good deeds." I retorted and tried to removed my arm from his grasp but he only tightened his grip, "And Ansel is not a maniac, he needs help!"

Matteo laughed coldly, "Right, like that's going to happen. We are leaving, Olive."

My lower lip trembled as I stared up at Matteo, I searched his face for any shred of the other version of him, the nicer one who actually gave a sh:t about me. He met my gaze in full force and in that moment I felt every ounce of his alpha title. Matteo was making a silent display of his authority, daring me to say otherwise.

I was the first to break the stare, my eyes dropping to the floor, "If there is even the smallest part of you that genuinely cares about me please let me help him."

For a split second I felt Matteo's grip on my arm lighten and I knew I had him. The next time I tried to pull away, my arm broke free. Immediately I rushed back to Ansel's side and began to try and lift the heavy piece from him.

The muscles in my arms felt like they were going to tear apart from the effort I was exerting and yet the door would not budge, I wasn't strong enough. I groaned nervously as I looked back down at Ansel and saw that he was slowly beginning to stir and come to which only pushed me harder to keep at my efforts.

I shoved my shoulder into the side of the metal and suddenly the door miraculously lifted with exceptional ease. My small smile of accomplishment faltered as I looked to my side and saw Matteo standing above me, lifting the entire metal door with a single hand like it was made of paper. He tossed the hulking piece of metal aside and as if on cue Ansel coughed awake, Matteo reached around me and grabbed Ansel by the neck of his shirt effectively lifting him from the ground to his own eye level.

"Stop, let him go!" I pushed off of the ground and protested against his treatment, "Ansel wants to help us, he wants to get rid of Lysander too! He didn't hurt me, Ansel doesn't mean any harm."

Ansel began blinking slowly, clearly struggling to regain complete consciousness and wrap his head around the sudden change of events at the same time. He immediately began thrashing around in Matteo's grasp but his efforts were useless, Matteo was far stronger than Ansel. A concept I was all too familiar with myself.

"Drugging and kidnapping you, Olive, constitutes as harm." Matteo growled out as Ansel looked over at we with a terrified look in his eye before his body began shaking in Matteo's hands, bones breaking and muscles moving as he gave into the shift.

Ansel fell to the ground on all fours as a silver wolf, snarling in front of Matteo. He lunged at Matteo and I ran in front of him, Ansel's wolf collided with me and sent me flying backwards across the room and into the far wall.

Even in his wolf form, I could see the shock and then the immediate remorse flash across Ansel's features. The breath was knocked clean out of me and I struggled to push myself off of the floor, attempting to rush and signal that I was alright because I knew that what was going to come next would not be pretty if I didn't.

"Olive!"

Even in my current breathless and sore condition, Matteo's concerned call resonated with every fiber of my soul. He sounded frightened, terrified even. I leaned my head back against the wall I'd just slammed into and blindly nodded my head, composing myself as I finally managed to push myself off the floor.

He stood between Ansel and I, his stance protective and demanding as he prevented an extremely worried Ansel from getting close to me.

"It's fine, I'm alright." I breathed out, "He didn't mean anything, you frightened him is all." I wrapped myself around Matteo's arms, trying to pull him away from Ansel and get his attention away from what had just happened as a result of him not listening to me the first time.

Matteo resisted and kept trying to get at Ansel, I finally forced myself around him and placed my hands on Matteo's chest. "Please, please listen to me." I leaned my forehead against his chest, partly from exhaustion and partly from the killer headache I now had.

And in a blink of an eye I was suddenly dealing with an entirely different man. Matteo relaxed the moment my face made contact with his skin, his arms lifting and wrapping themselves around my body.

He pressed his lips against the top of my head, murmuring soft words of assurance against my hair. I didn't know if they were for him or for me but I didn't budge. From behind I heard Ansel shifting back but Matteo's embrace prevented me from turning.

"I'm so sorry. I--I didn't mean to hurt you, you've got to believe me." Ansel's choked voice came out rushed, desperately trying to defend himself while still conveying remorse.

I closed my eyes tight against Matteo's bare chest, waiting for him to toss me aside and tear into Ansel for good but it never came. I felt him nod against my head, slow at first and then with much more confidence.

He then slowly peeled me from his body, gently untangling us at an arms length distance. Matteo's hands cupped either side of my face, "Are you alright?"

Fervently, I nodded into his hands and it was like we were the only two people in the room. "I'm sorry, Olive." Matteo then leaned forward suddenly and captured my lips in his. It was soft and sweet, the complete opposite of anything we'd shared before and over all too quickly. Like his apology, for the first time it all felt genuine.

Matteo stepped back, looking over my head at Ansel. "So Lysander, yeah?"

Ansel quickly nodded, "We want the same things, I didn't see that at first but I want to help in any way I can."

Matteo nodded once more in return, before turning his burning eyes back down to me. He wrapped an arm around me and began walking us out of the room. I confusedly went with him, looking over my shoulder wondering what Matteo's plan with Ansel was but when I stepped outside into the fresh air I was met with familiar faces and it was obvious.

Fran, Devin and Amias all stood lined up waiting for me. Amias was the first to rush forward and embrace me, Matteo was keen to release me from his grasp to give Amias the space he needed with me.

Amias pulled away, "I've got to go take a look at this guy, promise me you won't go wandering off with a death wish while I'm in there?"

I rolled my eyes and playfully shoved him away from me to which he smiled cheekily as he ducked inside of the bunker like shelter. Fran smiled warmly at me and gently squeezed my forearm as she followed Amias in with Devin close behind her. He offered me a short nod that wordlessly said something along the lines of 'Hey, Olive, glad you're not dead but we don't know each other that well so I'm just going to nod and everything will be good'.

Once they'd all filed into the room, I let out a breath I'd unknowingly been holding and Matteo was quick to return to my side. He pulled me into his arms and I was content to rest against his chest once more, listening to the rhythmic cadence of his heart beating and not worrying about anything at all in that one moment.

"You jumped in front of Ansel for me." Matteo said after a while. "You don't have a wolf, you knew what could happen to you and yet you still tried to stop him." I looked up at him from my spot in his arms, Matteo's eyebrows were pinched together in intense thought. I'd never seen him so perplexed and deeply confused before.

"Why would you do that for me?" He finally asked.

Why would I?

Pulling my lip between my teeth I mulled over his words, replacing my face against his warm skin. I knew why. The answer was there already, I was just struggling with admitting it myself.

I sighed softly and said with a small smile, "I guess when you really care about someone, you do some pretty stupid stuff."