I sit in the chair opposite Killian in his office, propping my feet up on his desk much like I did in General Sage's office. He raises an eyebrow at me but otherwise ignores how informal I am.

"So why were those two pups fighting?"

"Some girl problem or something," he shrugs.

"Why do you think letting them go at each other is the best way to solve their problem?" I press.

"Besides the Warriors, my pack is the strongest pack out there. I can't let petty problems come between us, other packs would tear us apart in a second if we don't present a united front. So we fight it out until there's no longer a problem. My pack gets valuable training time out of it, and they become stronger both mentally and physically," he responds.

He starts fidgeting with a pen from his desk, completely unaware of how distracting such a simple motion is to me.

"Any reason in particular you feel the need to train them so young?" I question, feigning nonchalance.

"Oh, no no no," he chuckles. "No need to get down to business just yet, you just got here. Besides, I think we have much more interesting matters to discuss."

I groan, slapping a hand over my eyes dramatically.

"Actually, we won't be discussing anything other than business. It's what I'm here for, that hasn't changed," I insisted.

"Come on, Rey. We're mates, that's no minor thing! Even the most hardened Warriors have mates. You can't be as unaffected by this as you're pretending to be."

"Mates are a weakness I don't think either of us can afford right now," I cross my arms across my chest, daring him to disagree.

Wordlessly, he gets up and walks around the desk so that he's standing in front of me. He grips my thighs firmly, pulling my legs down off the desk so he can stand between them.

"I'm twenty six years old. Most wolves find their mates by twenty. I've been looking for you for years, Rey, for my mate. Are you really this heartless?"

I turn to stare out the window behind his desk, chewing on my nails nervously, unable to look him in the eye. Looking him in the eye would surely mean my defeat.

"Look, I... I'm the best Warrior there is. And that's not me being cocky, I'm just good at what I do because I've trained my entire life for this. I eat, sleep, and breathe my training, so yes, I'm as affected by all of this as you are. But I can't be. If I want to continue being the best, I can't have a personal life, I can't have feelings. So can we please just get back to business?" I ask desperately.

He clears his throat and removes his hands from my thighs, looking anywhere but at me.

Just as he's about to reply, Patrick bursts through the door.

"Alpha Killian, your guests are here and- Oh," he stops short, looking between Killian and I suspiciously. "I can come back."

"No, it's fine. We were just finishing up here," Killian says, using his alpha tone.

He motions for Patrick to go grab his 'guests' while also coldly dismissing me. Patrick quirks his eyebrow at me with a shit-eating grin on his face. I stick my tongue out at him childishly as I walk through the door.

A younger pack member leads me to the spare room they set up for me and I start to unpack my things, everything I own shoved into one tiny duffle bag. When exhaustion finally hits, I lay down and hope for sleep, but I'm never that lucky.

I stare restlessly up at the ceiling, unable to get those honey gold eyes or that intoxicating scent out of my head.