***Ryker***

Tamara humorously chuckled. ' Of course that was the only convenient excuse you could come up with.'

'It's not an excuse. '

'You're right. ' She nodded, taking a few strides to where I stood.

'It's not an excuse, it's a freaking lie. ' She whispered the last part in a shaky voice. Pain was potent in her words and it was all my culpability.

'I'm telling the truth. '

'The same truth you told when you said you were going to delve in searching for Addanc? ' Her hands were now stubbornly placed on her hips, legs apart and eyes affixed to me in a glare.

'Tamara please, can you at least let me talk. ' Only equanimity could stop the situation from exacerbating. She had the absolute right to flip a wig, but disbelieving me? Now that hurt my beast and I.

'No, I am not going to stand here and listen to one more cock and bull story. ' She stomped away leaving me standing there in stupor before finally resulting on following her. She made urgent steps, flailing her arms angrily and mumbling to no one in particular.

'I swear I will explain everything, but how will I do that when you are being evasive? ' I matched her pace, walking beside her. Her concentration remained on the trail, with short swift strides thudding in the grass path.

'You wouldn't be asking for time to expound your story had you left our mind link open. ' She stopped for seconds, her chest rising upward as she took in deep gulps of air.

'But you left me out, me Ryker. ' She pointed and tapped her index finger in the middle of her chest.

'Your mate, you lied to me and now you want to explain. ' She pulled her mouth downwards.

'How about we go take a look at Theo then go to our place and talk? ' My suggestion earned a harsh derisive laugh.

'Unbelievable. ' She whispered to herself, with a lone tear leaving the inside of her eyes and falling off her cheek when she blinked. I knew what I was doing when I left, I just didn't expect her to make a big deal out of it once I explained. Looked like I played my cards totally in the wrong way.

She shook her head yet again. ' You don't want me to access your thoughts and neither do you want me to relay my own to you. Even when you're here right now, you still have the damn barrier raised up. Makes me wonder, do my feelings really matter to you? ' She turned around and continued her way to what I could assume was the infirmary.

'What the fuck are you looking at? ' The onlookers scrammed, leaving me standing alone in the middle of the path with nothing but a heavy heart. Our argument had apparently garnered attention from the teens. My miscalculations and the despairing need to find about what happened to my baby sister had turned me into a selfish mate. I was utterly abashed of my self.

If she was going to be stubborn then I was going to match her obdurate attitude. Still feeling the void in our bond, I willed myself to lift the barricade. A barrage of emotions instantly flowed and deluged our bond. I could identify pain and betrayal and in between a tad bit of sadness and...compassion? The rest were pretty explanatory but mercy?

'She must be at the infirmary already. ' My beast awoke, still mad at me for blocking out our mate.

'What does that have to do with whatever is going on? '

'And I get a dumb human as my partner. You dumb ass, weren't you just wondering why there's mercy from her end? '

'Yeah? ' I still didn't understand how her being at the infirmary would bring forth such emotions.

'Did you see the state your cousin was in? ' Oh yeah, she must have been attending to him. I rushed to where they were, following our thread that connected us together to her location. The corridors were deserted, with nothing but the double doors and the lights standing silently and steady.

'Alpha. ' I met Jayson at the furthest end of the infirmary where Janette had nursed her injuries months ago. He threw a nod my way before continuing with his steps to wherever he was going. To have Jayson paying no heed to me only confirmed the stupendous screw up I had done. He was mad at me for leaving Tamara hurt and alone. I couldn't help but wonder where my sanity was when I made the stupid decision.

'But I told you to talk to her first, but what did you do? You left saying you'd be back and that you wanted to take your mind off the news about your sister by scouring for Addanc yourself. ' My wolf mocked, letting out a victory back when I let out a scoff.

'I'm so glad you are here Alpha. ' A pack doctor, Bashir rushed to me at the ward entry. I could feel the emotions that had been flooding our bond coming to a stand still almost instantly.

'It's Tamara, she collapsed. ' My heart stopped, then jolted as I stepped inside almost knocking the doctor down on the tiled floor.

'Where is she? ' He pointed inside, and I moved in such a brisk speed to where she lay. There was no sign of Theo, only her pale face with nothing but an hospital blanket draped up to her shoulders.

'Why the fuck isn't she under IV or whatever you call them? ' Brewing, swirling round and ready to blow up in steams, my anger grew at their incompetency to keep my mate and their Luna safe.

'She just used a lot of energy, she will be up in an hours time. ' The doctor stuttered, his body shaking at the presence of my raging beast.

She had channeled her healing onto Theo, that son of a bitch had made her faint. It didn't matter how sick or injured he was, he didn't deserve any of her kindness.

'Careful what you conjure or think in your hateful mind, even when she's unconscious, her wolf will tap your thoughts and store them for her. She will access them when she is awake and it will only make things worse for you. ' Janette's calm voice filtered through the room, snapping me out of my ideations.

'How did you know..'

'Your face is sour, what is going through your mind can't be good with your face scrunched up like that. ' She was observant, kinda like my mother.

'I messed up big time. ' Bashir had long exited, leaving Janette and I to our conversation.

'Oh you made a right decision for yourself and your family, but it affected your mate negatively. ' She stood beside me, observing my mate on the stretcher. Her chest rose gently, her breathing was levelled and no stress could be detected whatsoever.

'She doesn't want to listen to whatever I have to say. ' I couldn't believe that I was pouring my heart out to my friend's mate. I felt comfortable telling her and I knew she wasn't the type of person to spill to other people.

Ever since she came into this pack, she had always kept to herself much like Tamara. She was however quite fond of my parents and they would sent her for errands. My mother would sometimes ask for her help with dinner and even gardening.

There was something about her that my wolf pretty much liked. He was easy on her and so was I, even during her attempted training. She had joined the pack training as a requirement, but she was too fragile and we did something we've never done. Mercy, we had let her go with a promise she would be careful.

'She was scared when you didn't show up last night. She was pretty excited to talk to youp when she tried getting through to you, only to hit a tall wall. She even came to our place around 2.am to ask Jayson to mind link you and see whether he could get to you. Then Jayson had to walk her back at your place and at 4.am she was at the training grounds. ' She paused, touching Tamara's cheek gently.

I hang my head imagining my mate in the dead of the night alone searching for a way to communicate with me. How awful was that when I had deliberately closed off our way of talking. I couldn't even begin to imagine what she had gone through the whole night, sleepless, sleep must have abandoned her.

'She is hurting, what she feels inside is nothing shot of rejection from her mate, the one person who is supposed to be there for her no matter what. Give it time, work for her forgiveness patiently even if it takes weeks. ' She exited just as my mate began to stir awake.

She opened her eyes looking at Janette's retreating figure. Her eyes then landed on me briefly, then shut tightly, forming small wrinkles on her eye lids.

'Get out.' Her voice was rough and low.

'No, I am not going until you listen to what I have to say. ' I crossed my arms, legs apart and eye brows raised looking at her.

'I don't want to argue with you please. Leave me alone. ' She coughed twice, then clutched the blanket.

'I blocked my thoughts because I did not want to risk you following me. ' I was going to expound my doings whether she allowed it or not.

'I didn't entirely lie about Addanc, I asked about him when I travelled through the night to the Mountain pack. I gathered if my sister was stolen, somebody ought to have seen someone with a baby, either on their pack lands or neutral grounds. '

'Did you think about me while you travelled with your mind void of my thoughts and the bond empty without my emotions? Did you ponder on my state as you cruised to search for answers? Was there any particular time you almost turned back just to come and make sure I was okay? ' She struggled with the words, uttering them very slowly and in such a leaden manner.

'Tamara I... I just wanted to try my luck sooner and come back to you. ' She stiffened on the stretcher, then let out a loud sigh.

'Of course, an alpha, leaving his mate and the pack unprotected for egotistical reasons. What would have happened had Addanc appeared again? Did you think about that? ' The more she got inquisitive the more I realised what a fool I had been. Like my mother used to say, an alpha without a Luna is prone to making hasty and stupid decisions.

Had I involved her in my ideations then she would have helped me make a sane decision. But I had to up and leave on my own, without so much so thinking about the people around me.

'I'm sorry little witch, I am really sorry for my carelessness. ' Regret surged through me, my eyes were incapable of meeting hers.

She attempted to sit up but soon the back of her head connected with the material of the bedding.

'Tamara. '

'Help me up, I need to go see Theo. 'She ignored my apology, lifting her hand for me to grasp on and pull her up. Instead, I lifted her up in bridal style in her protests. Theo was in the next room awake, chatting with his father. He seemed okay, save for his drooping eyes and barely audible voice.

'Thank you so much Luna. ' He rarely smiled and yet his lips stretched widely as I helped my mate on her feet.

'It's my duty to make sure every pack member is comfortable. ' A smile of her own formed.

'What happened to you and where were you?' Something wasn't right, especially since my wolf was skeptical about him and his mysterious disappearance.

'The only thing I know is that I had been locked up in a cabin at the very edge of the neutral grounds by masked men and a woman. I still don't know how I got there but I do know the drink that I took the day I was taken was laced up with some type of poison. '

'How do you know that and who prepared the drink? '

'I felt dizzy minutes after taking it and...' He paused.

'Mrs Kagwe gave me the cup of coffee that incapacitated me. '