DYLAN ||

"Hey pups." My beautiful, sweet, awesome mate greets me before noticing my panic-stricken expression. "What's wrong?"

GUILT. FEAR. PANIC. REJECTION.

I don't speak, I don't answer, I just stare into his eyes. Holding the distance between us, Raiden by the sink and me at the start of the hallway between the kitchen and livingroom.

Silence.

The word I've come to hate, the word that brought so much fear into my life, the word that's the most unfair, yet that's all I could offer in this moment.

Silence.

How could I have fucked up this bad..??

Silence.

I held onto it like I've never done before.

Silence.

I held onto it like I've never wanted to before.

GUILT. PANIC. FEAR. REJECTION.

I was guilty for my actions that held no truth behind them, I was panicking, I feared his reaction, he would reject me.

Silence.

Until he broke it.

"Pups, tell me what's wrong?" He asks, walking over to me, his eyes never left mine as he stopped right in front of me.

What the hell do I say?

I know he's innocent, not just a feeling, it's definite. My mate is innocent and I was the fool who someone got over on.

Who would want to blame all of these rogue attacks on a man like my mate?

Someone close to me, in my pack, someone right under my nose did this to him. There's no other way around it, this had to have been done by someone in my pack.

There's nobody else that would be able to fill out a report and file it within pack order, then bring it to my attention, unless it was someone in my pack, but who??

Who would want to do this to my mate?

Who would want to hurt him and why did I believe it like such an idiot? Why didn't I check over the files? Why didn't I check over the reports before jumping to conclusions?

I did this, this is my fault, my mate would have never known such pain at the hands of his own mate if it wasn't for my stupidity.

I don't know what to say to him. What do I say?

"The only thing that makes sense Dylan, say you're sorry."

Maddox was right, he said he wouldn't get involved with my bond until he thought it was necessary and at this moment, it was and I was thankful for his advice.

"I'm so sorry Raiden." I hold onto his gaze as I breathe out my weak version of an apology.

"For what, Pups?"

I swallow again before closing my eyes and hanging my head. How could I have been so stupid?

"I'm so sorry for not believing you, I'm sorry for not looking into this before I mistreated you." Opening my eyes, my mate held a confused expression.

Releasing a shaky breath, I let it all out in the open. I had to be honest about why I was apologizing, it was because I was wrong and I didn't do my job correctly before I decided to punish someone, to punish my mate.

"I'm sorry for not believing you about the rogue issues Raiden, I should have looked into this before I rushed and punished you because I was wrong.." I paused before I grabbed his hand. "I was wrong for assuming you were killing rogues and causing issues for the pack, but I reviewed the reports, something I should have done a long time ago and I noticed the timeframes just don't match."

Raiden nods but then shakes his head and frowning, clearly showing how confused he still was.

"What reports pups and what timeframes? What's got you so upset?" He asks as he reaches up to wipe my tears.

"I can show you better than I can tell you."

• • •

Raiden looked over all of the reports on the desk as we sat in my office. I watched him as he quietly took in each report, before gently setting it down to move onto the next.

He never said one word as he read each report, the only emotion I could decipher from his silence was confusion as he shook his head constantly and frowned.

"Everything in here is a lie, I wasn't even in your territory then and I can assure you that Onyx never left any rogue wolves in a tree, that's just weird.." He pauses as he sets a report down to grab the next.

"Leopards only leave our kills on our perched branches if we intend to enjoy it, but when we killed those rogues, their bodies were left on the ground and we moved along. They always attacked us first and they were always by your border... like always. Who the hell would file these and why choose me?" He asks, throwing the reports in his hands back onto the desk before standing up and pacing the office.

"I don't know babe, that's what I need to figure out and I need your help and Roman's help to do that."

"Why? What can we do to help?"

"I'm not sure exactly, but it's obvious someone wanted to blame all of this on you. Did you ever stumble onto another packs territory while roaming?"

"No, I never stayed in one place for too long and it was always unclaimed territory before I found the waterfall."

"Ok, what about making any enemies? Did you piss anyone off?"

"Not that I know of, I mean I had the occasional fight with other shifters who were roaming as well, but I never had any serious issues until I found your territory... That's when the rogue attacks started happening."

"No babe, that wasn't your fault, the reports show that the rogue attacks started a month before you showed up."

"That's not what I mean pups, I was trying to say that when I came onto your territory, I noticed more rogues than I've ever seen in all my years of roaming..." He pauses before turning to face me. "It was like they were waiting around your borders and when I showed up, they attacked.. it was constant and I never found a moments peace until I found the waterfall."

I pondered his words.

What if the rogues were actually stalking my borders and waiting for the right moments to attack, but why attack Raiden?

They had been attacking my pack for a whole month before he showed up, I didn't have gates around my territory, so they could have continued to attack as much as they wanted, so why attack for so long just to stop and then attack again after seeing Raiden?

"This whole thing doesn't make sense, why me? What did I do to the rogues that they would want to blame me for something so terrible? What did I do to them to make them attack me so many times?" Raiden asks, while shaking his head and slumping back down into his chair.

I shook my head listening to my mate cause himself more emotional turmoil. None of this was his fault, he didn't hurt anyone first, they attacked him first and it wasn't the rogues that filed these reports, it was someone right under my fucking nose.

"It wasn't a rogue to file these, Raiden." I clenched my jaw as his eyes met mine once again.

"Well who would have filed them then?"

"Someone in our pack." His chest rises and falls heavily as he takes in my answer.

"Why would someone in the pack want to blame everything on me?"

"I don't know, but we're going to find out."

This was a lot of information to handle and I could see the annoyance all over his face, I hated causing him so much stress, but he needed to know what was going on.

He also needed to know that this wouldn't be the only thing I confessed to my mate today.

The extreme guilt that ignited every vein in my body was telling me that I needed to do something about the way I've treated my mate.

I needed to make him aware that I was beyond wrong and I also needed to be punished for committing such a serious crime.

Wrongful imprisonment.

That's exactly what I did to him and I almost lost him in the process, all because I didn't do my job correctly.

If Raiden did to me what I've done to him, I would want him to know how much he's hurt me. I would want him to know how miserable it was down in those cells, especially knowing I was innocent of the crime he accused me of.

This whole thing terrifies me, but how could I earn his trust back if I can't fully own up to my mistakes and hold myself to the same laws that I hold my pack and my mate to.

How could I call myself a fair and good Alpha if I'm not willing to subject myself to the same punishments I can hand out?

I have to do this and he might hate me for it, but this has to be done and I'm not the only one who would receive this punishment.

Everyone involved in his capture as well as the ones who brought the reports to my attention without looking over everything would be just as guilty.

Three weeks.. it has to be done.

"Babe, you might hate me, but I need to tell you what's going to happen next."

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