Megan had been crying her heart out for the last couple of hours, that was obvious to Zach. Only in someone else's arms was the truth he had yet to know.

"It's Mike. He just turned eighteen and the mating bond clicked once I saw him." Megan explained as her hands shook with every hiccup.

Zach didn't know what to think or say. Should he tell her about Katie now or would he seem like an asshole, he wondered. "And?" He couldn't help but ask.

Megan stared in Zach's eyes for what seemed like a year before she shook her head. "And I love you. You know I love you. But he's right there and I feel my heart breaking, Zach."

Zach blinked in confusion. Yes, he understood what she meant, having his own heart break for weeks, but their decision and their promise were clear. Weren't they? "What are you saying, Megan?"

"I don't know what to do. I know we made a promise and I know I barely know him but the pull the mating bond has on me is so strong, Zach. I know how bad this sounds and my heart is breaking at the mere idea, but I don't know if I can be without him." Megan sniffed as she walked closer to him, as if preparing him to what she was about to say. "I'm not strong enough to reject the bond."

Zach felt the whole world turn upside down on him in a matter of seconds. No, there was no way Megan was breaking up with him. "Megan, we said we were each other's forever, don't you remember that? We've talked about this before and we said we were it."

Zach didn't need to remind her, because that promise had been ringing inside her head the second she walked in and saw Mike and the bond clicked. "I know." She cried harder. "I know, and my heart is breaking at the thought of ending that promise, Zach, but it's dying at the thought of breaking the bond. I don't want to do this, I really wish I hadn't, but I can't not be with him. It feels like I can't even breathe right when the idea of being far from him crosses my mind. You don't get it, Zach. You don't know how it feels."

She hated herself for saying those words, for rubbing the fact that he was mateless in his face, but when she turned eighteen and the bond hadn't snapped between them she was too far in love with him to acknowledge the fact that the bond still had a year left to click with someone else.

Staring at her, Zach felt his world crumble to ash. She couldn't be serious. Not now, not after everything he had lost for her. Not after he broke his own heart along with Kat's just to save hers from breaking, along with their promise.

"I'm so sorry, Alpha. I know it's almost impossible, but I still hope that someday you'll understand how it feels. I hope that one day you'll meet your mate and you will know how strong it is; how unbearable the thought of spending a single minute without your mate by your side is. I know you don'tunderstandme now, but we can't lose hope that the moon goddess will still find you a mate." Megan thought she was convincing him, but she only made matters worse.

"But I have! I have found her and I have rejected her. For you! For the promise we made, Megan! I chose to break the mating bond instead of my promise to you! And you stand here now and tell me that your heart couldn't bare the possibility of losing your mate? How could you?" Zach pulled at the roots of his hair, still trying to wrap his mind around the bitter reality he was just shoved into. How cruel was the goddess to punish him like that for not accepting Katie? How cruel was Megan to speak those words to him, after everything?

"What? Oh my God, Zach." Megan cried into her palms, trying to figure a way around this disaster. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, I didn't know. When?"

"And why should you? I thought I'd spare you the guilt of finding that out. How naive of me, right?" Zach couldn't help but laugh at his own stupidity, at the humiliation he had found himself facing.

"I don't know what to say. I..." Megan shook her head in disbelief, unable to fix what she had broken.

"Save it." Nothing she would say was going to make this okay. This was not okay, not on any level.

As he turned to leave, Megan whispered, "It's Katie, isn't it?"

He knew he didn't need to confirm her guess, so he just stormed out of the balcony only to be greeted by a nervous looking Mike.

"I'm so sorry, Alpha. I--" Mike started, pushing his glasses up his nose, but Zach only snarled at him.

"Shut the fuck up." Zach interrupted, clenching his fists in anger as he moved past him and made his way to his ride in a hurry. He wanted to beat him to a pulp, yes, but Zach was smarter than that. He knew it wasn't his fault. Just like Katie, he was an innocent. Only he got his happy ending, while Katie got nothing but a broken heart and bittersweet memories.

****

"Morning, killer." Katie teased Jessica as she walked over to the bench the twins were at with a coffee in her hand.

"Is that coffee? Give me that." Snaching the cup from Katie's hand, Jessica grumbled at the pain of her headache. "Why did you let me get this drunk last night, you guys?"

"Trust me, we've tried telling you to slow it down, but you wouldn't listen." Jared stated with a shrug before turning his attention to Katie and wiggling his eyebrows. "And where did you run off to? Were you having a private moment with Mike?"

Pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear, Katie sat down. "Actually, not with Mike. With Alpha Zach. And not as private as you seem to think. We just talked." Zach's words kept replaying in Katie's head all night. She couldn't forget the way he held onto her arm as he told her how his heart was about to jump out of his chest at the simple touch. She couldn't stop thinking about the way his eyes spoke to hers in a language of their own, as if they were begging her to pull him out of his own agony, and how she wished she could.

"What did he say?" Jessica asked with full attention and Katie only shrugged.

"Nothing important. He just wanted to apologize for breaking the bond and I told him that he didn't have to and that I needed some distance." She explained briefly and they nodded their heads before Jared's eyes widened so much that Katie was afraid his eyeballs might fall off and as she was about to ask he cleared his throat.

"Incoming." He muttered under his breath and Katie frowned. She turned around to see Megan make her way over to their bench.

"Good morning." Megan greeted before directing her attention to Katie. "Can I have a word with you?"

Katie wondered what she wanted to talk with her about. Was she going to ask her to stay away from her boyfriend? Because if so Katie would gladly give alpha Zach an earful. She was not going to be scolded or ashamed for his unwanted attention. That was his problem and maybe Megan's too, but not hers.

Nodding her head, Katie got up and followed her to another bench nearby. "What is it?"

"I don't know if you know this or not... but I have found my mate last night." Megan fiddled with her cell phone in her hands

"Oh." That was not what Katie had expected. Frowning, Katie started putting two and two together. It wasn't hard to figure out that Mike was probably her mate. His birthday was last night, it made sense to Katie. However, she just nodded for Megan to go on.

"And we have accepted the mating bond." Megan swallowed the lump in her throat and Katie's frown deepened. Zach, was her first thought. Oh, Zach.

"Why are you telling me this?" Katie couldn't help but ask. That was none of her business still.

"Because I know what happened between you and Alpha Zach. I know that he rejected you for me, and I wanted to tell you that I'm truly sorry." Katie watched as Megan wiped a tear that had fallen down her cheeks and felt her heart ache. Once again she was put in a situation that she dreaded. And there she thought her heart would be fine as long as Zach was happy. It seemed like misery was written in both their fates no matter the road they chose to take.

"I'm not the one you should apologize to." Was all Katie said.

"I've tried calling him, but he wouldn't pick up the phone." Megan sniffed as she explained. Last night was a disaster for her too. Yes, she spent the night in Mike's arms but her heart was still breaking for Zach and Katie as well. What they had lost was something irreplaceable, Megan now understood that. "I wish he had come and talked to me about it before--"

Katie interrupted, feeling her temper rise at that comment. "Why? Would you have honestly told him to choose me, Megan? Don't blame him for choosing you. Never blame him for choosing you, not after everything. You broke his heart, so I assume it's gonna take a little more than a couple of voicemails to amend."

"I couldn't reject him, Katie. I know I made a promise to Zach, I know, but I just couldn't." Megan cried harder and even though Katie knew she was not to blame, she still couldn't give her the satisfaction she wanted.

"I'm sorry, Megan, but it is truly none of my business. As I told you, I'm not the one you should be apologizing to. Excuse me." Katie got up and walked back to her friends, yet her mind and heart were somewhere else. So it had all been for nothing, then. How heartbroken was he?

"Holy shit." Jared stated once Katie sat back down, indicating that they had heard the whole conversation between her and Megan.

"Karma is one bitter bitch, isn't it?" Jessica's eyes were as wide as her brother's and Katie felt even worse.

"Has either of you seen him today?" Katie couldn't help but ask. Both twins shook their heads and Katie sighed as she stood up once again.

"Where are you going?" Jared asked her in a hurry.

"I'm going to look for him. I have to make sure he's okay." Katie spoke her heart. She knew how hard it was for him to let Megan go, and now she knew how easy it was for her. He was devastated, Katie was sure. She needed to see him, talk to him. She had no idea what she could possibly say to make this better, yet she couldn't help but try.

"Honey," Jessica pulled a strand of her hair behind her ear, "I know this is not the nicest thing to say, but he got what he deserved, Katie. He left you for her and now she left him for someone else. This is how things work."

"How could you say that?" Katie looked at her best friend in horror. "No one deserves that, Jess. Not him. Remember how heartbroken I was, and I had only known him for a few weeks. Imagine if it was two long years." Shaking her head, Katie grabbed her backpack, "I'll see you guys later."

No, he definitely didn't deserve that, Katie decided as she walked around campus, looking for him among the students. After almost an hour of searching she finally spotted him sitting alone on one of the bleachers looking at the football field. Katie's heart ached at the sight. He looked devestated alright.

Zach smelled Kat's scent and turned his head to the left to see her make her way to him. She had heard about Megan and Mike then. She wouldn't have come to him otherwise, he thought.

Taking a deep breath, Zach forced out a smile. "So you've heard."

Katie frowned at how small his voice was but only nodded as she took a seat next to him. His presence alone calmed down her heart, and she found herself wishing her presence did the same for him. "I've heard. I just wanted to say I'm sorry, Alpha."

Barking out a laugh, Zach looked her in the eyes. "What could you possibly have to be sorry for, Katie?"

She frowned when he called her by her name. To him she had always been Kat, and she liked that he was the only one she ever let call her than. "I, out of all people, know how much you truly loved her. And I'm sorry that after everything you've done for her, you were still the one to pay the price."

Zach stared into her hazel brown eyes for eternity, and he clenched his Jaw. He could feel his temper rising as he said, "We, not I. We are both paying the price because I was so stupid to think that the promise she and I made was more important than our mating bond. We are both paying the price because I was pathetic and naive and a goddamn idiot, Katie."

"Don't say that," Katie scooted closer to him on instinct. "Don't you dare ever say that, Zach. What you've done was out of love. Not because you're stupid or naive, but because you're an honest decent lover. You made a promise and you intended to keep it, that doesn't make you pathetic, it makes you loyal. You chose to break your own heart instead of hers, and if that isn't the purest kind of love, then I don't know what is."

Zach blinked at Katie with his mouth ajar, wondering how she could be so kind to him even after everything that had happened between them.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Katie frowned as she asked, tugging a strand of her blond hair behind her ear.

His lips broke slowly into a smile as he answered, "You just called me Zach."

Her eyes widening briefly, Katie felt a blush run its way to her cheeks. "Sorry, Alpha."

Zach groaned in annoyance, shutting his eyes and Katie couldn't help but giggle at his reaction. Feeling his heart a little lighter, Zach couldn't help but stare at her. How he wished he could turn back time.

"Katie, I'm--"

"Please don't say you're sorry. We've been over that already. I just came here to make sure you were okay." She explained softly and Zach felt his heart beat at her comment.

"Were you worried about me, Kat?" His eyes softened as he asked. And even though Katie's eyes widened a little, she was still fighting a smile. He called her Kat again, and she found herself glad he did so.

Katie cleared her throat, before shrugging a shoulder, her heart beating loudly in her chest. "Maybe a little."

Placing an elbow on his knee, Zach forgot all about his pain as he smiled at the beautiful woman next to him. "A little is more than enough for me."

They were flirting, that much was obvious to Katie now. She came here to make sure he was alright and offer what little she could of comfort but instead her heart was racing with happiness because he was flirting with her and she was flirting back. This was a disaster. Deciding to change the topic, Katie looked ahead at the football players on the field. "Why did you choose to sit here out of all places?"

"Well," Zach turned to the field, "I thought I would try to clear my mind and if I was unsuccessful and found myself even more pissed off than I already was, there's always Rick McCarthy right there." He pointed.

Katie's head tilted to the back as a beautiful laugh escaped her, and Zach felt his heart jump with happiness knowing he was the cause of it. "You're abusing your power, Alpha."

Zach shook his head with a smile on his face. "Not after he tried to touch what's min--" Zach stopped midsentence and his eyes widened at his slip-up.

Katie froze at what Zach had just called her and her wolf winced in pain of not being his right now.

Clearing his throat, Zach shook his head. "I apologize."

Katie smiled before standing up, shrugging it off. "Don't worry about it. Anyway, I have a class in five minutes so I should go."

Zach nodded, still over the clouds that for the first time since he knew her they had a good conversation. They both had smiles on their faces, and both their hearts were actually happy. "Alright. Have a good day."

Smiling sweetly at him, Katie turned to leave, adjusting her backpack over her shoulder.

"Hey, Kat." Zach called and she turned around once again to face him. "Thank you."

Katie smiled at Zach before tiliting her head to the side. "What for?"

For not saying this was what he got for rejecting her. For not saying this was what he deserved. For not basking in his pain. For not rubbing it in his face. For not making him feel worse than he already did. For comforting him by her mere presence. Zach had a lot to be grateful for when it came to Kat. "For being you."

Katie's smile widened at his response before she turned to leave, her heart as light as a feather. For once, a conversation with Alpha Zach hadn't ended in a disaster.