Chapter 3：2.

I pulled away from him slowly and sighed as he draped an arm across my shoulder and I started heading towards the house again. I tried not to think of the kiss, the way I could still feel the ghost of his lips on mine. I tried not to think about how badly I wanted his lips against mine once more. I knew that I shouldn't want him, that I should try my hardest to stay as far away from him as I possibly could, that I was jeopardizing my future with my mate, but I couldn't stop myself.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" He spoke then, interrupting the internal battle I was having with myself.

"Nothing." I sighed as we reached the clearing then and he pulled us to a stop, staring down at me with an intensity that I rarely saw on him.

"We could be together you know, we could choose our own destiny's. We can fight our bonds, reject our mates, we can be together, stay together, I'd never have to watch you leave." He said smally, his voice catching and wavering as he whispered through the darkness.

"We can't Ty. As much as I would love to say yes, to spend the rest of my days here with you, we can't. That would be selfish. Your mate is designed for you, to help you be a better alpha. Your luna will be an amazing she wolf Ty, and you'll love her more than you could have ever loved me. Deep down, you know that. I have a mate out there too. It's not fair for me to leave him mateless and rejected, and possibly without a luna, just because I want to piss off fate. We have to let it go. We have to walk away. You're my best friend Ty. I don't want to lose you because of this."

I didn't realize I was crying until I felt his fingertips brush the tears away gently before he crushed my tiny figure up against him. "You'll never lose me India. If I can't promise you anything else, I can promise you that."

I nodded and pulled away from him slowly then, staring into his deep chocolate eyes. There were so many emotions swimming there, things that I couldn't make out, but the most prominent was love. Ty loved me, I knew that, and because I loved him, I had to let him go.

I pulled away from him completely then and waved a small goodbye as I headed to my house, tears falling rapidly as I pulled myself up the steps and into the house. My vision was blurred as I climbed the stairs to my room soundlessly, opening the door and throwing myself onto the bed.

My wolf was restless, pacing inside of me, begging for release. I groaned and slid back from the bed, knowing I wasn't going to get any sleep anytime soon, especially with her incessant pacing. As soon as she realized we were going out my wolf was chomping at the bit for me to shift, ready to stretch her paws.

I rolled my eyes at her eagerness and hurried out the door, running into the cover of the woods and stripping quickly, leaving my clothes at the base of one of the bigger trees near the edge of the clearing.

I let the familiar burn shoot through my veins, my muscles tensing in anticipation. I focused on shifting, on becoming my wolf, and I felt my claws elongating, letting me know the shift was coming soon. Golden fur began pushing through the pores throughout my skin, my arms and legs contorting into paws. I felt my spine crack painlessly, though during my first shift the pain was excruciating, and my jaws grew longer, thinner as my snout took the place of my nose and my skull changed shape.

I shook my coat out then, smiling as my wolf treaded at the edge of my mind, wound up and waiting for me to release control to her. I let go moments later, pushing back into the recesses of my mind as she took the drivers seat and I simply watched through the windshield as the forest passed by me.

She ran quickly, pushing her limbs faster and further. I could feel the burn of my muscles as she pushed us, dashing last minute to avoid trees and brush. The wind whipped furiously through my coat as she ran towards the clearing that separated our pack from the larger pack in the area. I wasn't scared, I'd ran to the clearing a thousand times, the small lake that was situated on it was shared between our packs.

My wolf pranced happily to the waters edge, dipping her head low and lapping up the cool liquid as it snaked down her burning throat, chilling the fire in her lungs. My ears swiveled behind me, focusing on the grass giving way to paws at my back. Someone was stalking towards me, and the vibe they gave off had my coat standing up straight in warning.

I turned on my paws quickly, taking control back from my wolf as she stayed ready and waiting if I needed her. I growled towards the edge of the woods then, warning whoever was out there that I'd heard them.

Jessica's little auburn wolf emerged then, the glint in her eyes letting me know this was no friendly chat she'd come to me for. She'd followed me here to get me alone, and I knew the outcome of this would not be pretty.

What are you doing here? I asked her through the pack link.

She didn't answer, she simply pounced, something I hadn't been anticipating. Her wolf slammed into me harshly, knocking me off balance as my backside fell into the lake. She took the opportunity to snap down on my paw, pulling my front paws out from under me as my jaw hit the edge of the water with a splash. She proceeded to try and drown me then, my wolf thrashing inside, howling for Ty, for other pack members, but it was no use, she had blocked my link. Her father was the Delta of the pack, Jessica was just as strong as I was, and right now, she had more strength than I did. I felt myself slipping away, I felt my heartbeat slowing as she forced all of her weight on top of me, crushing my ribs as my lungs screamed for air, my wolf howling inside of me, begging me to try to fight back, for her, for us, but it was no use, as much as I wanted to fight, I couldn't move. I was going to die, all because a red headed whore didn't get the lay of her life. I would have laughed at it all, if I'd had the energy.

Without warning, the weight was suddenly gone, thrown off of me, as I sucked in as much of the sweet oxygen as I could, praising the heavens that I had somehow gotten through to the pack.

I laid in the water panting heavily as I finally took in the situation. Jessica stood a few feet away from me, her eyes locked with mine, the hatred and anger there letting me know this was not the end of this. Between us stood a snow white wolf, crouched near me protectively, his lips pulled up in a snarl that had me cowering lower into the waters edge in fear.

I looked up then at the wolf who had rescued me, his blue eyes fixated on mine in concern. I tried to stand, making it out of the water only to collapse at the white wolf's feet. I lay there panting as he stood hovering over me annoyingly, and before I knew it he had laid a huge T shirt at my feet as he dashed off to shift into his human form.

I was so tired I didn't bother hiding myself. It took everything I had to shift back as I crawled into the T shirt that fell past my knees. It smelled good, like home. I pulled myself up into a sitting position as I saw a figure emerging from the woods. My vision began to grow dark, my head swimming as I tried to focus on the man coming towards me quickly. I never saw him, my vision blacking out as I tumbled back towards the ground in darkness.