"What's wrong with you?" Wes asked as I marched into school on Monday.

"I need to talk to Chase," I declared.

"He's walking to school so it might be a while," Wes informed. I walked around the back of the school by the gym and waited for Chase there. I saw him from the other side and grabbed his arm to pull him into the wall.

"What the hell is your problem?!" I yelled, referring to what happened last night.

"Says the person throwing me into a wall?" he responded. I narrowed my eyes and he continued walking.

"You kissed me and then left," I muttered, awkwardly crossing my arms because it wasn't something that anyone needed to overhear.

"I'm sorry..." he apologized, "...for kissing you. I shouldn't have done it."

"No. It's not that—"

"I shouldn't have kissed you because not only do I feel guilty, but now I want to kiss you all the time when I know I can't," he said, looking away from me.

"You have nothing to feel guilty over," I assured.

"Yeah I do. The only reason I did that was because my urges took over," he informed. "Honestly, they're so strong that my wolf side would've done a lot worse if you hadn't directly told me to stop. Which ties into the whole you wanting me to stop kissing you thing so...there goes that guilt again."

"I only wanted you to stop kissing me because you almost made my lip bleed and I didn't exactly want to go that far with you," I reasoned.

"Then I'm sorry," he apologized. He looked to my mouth and lifted his hand to my lips to examine it as if he knew it was sore this morning. The whole time I had an eyebrow raised in interest at his behavior. He dropped his hand after a moment and then shrugged. He turned on his heels and started to walk. He made it to the corner before I grabbed his arm to turn him around.

"Wait," I called. He looked down to me, but not long before I grabbed the back of his hair to pull his head down to mine. His soft lips moved with mine and I didn't care about my sore lip. The world stopped as I enjoyed the kiss as I felt the same shock through my body as before. His tongue touched lightly on my lip and then he pushed me away from him.

"Are you stupid?" he yelled at me like he hadn't liked it or as if it was a crime. I wished it was because he was embarrassed with the public affection, but he said it as if it was outlandish for me to dare make the gesture. Tears pricked my eyes idiotically because this was confirming how pathetic I really was. It didn't matter if he was my mate if he was acting like this.

"I must be," I agreed. "For being friends with you and sticking around, giving you chances, coming back to you every time and lo—"

I stopped myself from saying the one thing I had power over. I wiped my eye and bumped into someone as I walked off.

"What's wrong?" the familiar voice asked. I looked up into Jackson's changed eyes and didn't answer. He looked over my head at something before breathing heavily in anger. He flashed his eyes to me before walking off. Chase was striding off the front of the school campus and Jackson met him half way.

***

"Before you say anything, it's all his fault," I said to Wes, Eli, and Mason as they stood over me. Jackson got in a fight with Chase and now they both had ISS and after school detention—where Chase would also make up his missing work from all his absences that somehow got excused.

"Why the f*ck were they fighting in the first place?" Mason asked.

"It better be a legit reason because I'm sick of doing all the Alpha work while he's skipping town and sneaking out," Wes added selfishly.

"I don't know what it was about," I mumbled in a partial lie before shutting my locker and walking off.

"You obviously know, Alicia," Wes insisted as he judged my discomfort, but I continued walking and left them to their own thoughts until English class.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked them during English. They all looked up at me so innocently you wouldn't have assumed their beloved leader was apprehended this morning. "What happens to you guys' urges on a full moon?"

"What do you mean?" Wes, ironically, asked even though he was easily the most affected by the moon in my opinion.

"We act like sex dogs depending on what happens," Mason plainly said because he knew what my question really was. My face twisted as he smirked.

"He means that we have enhanced urges in that department, but it depends," Eli clarified.

"On what?"

"Who it's directed at...shit that's going on..."

"We're like normal teenage boys with hormones, just enhanced," Mason dismissed. "So that whole 'boys can't go thirty seconds without thinking of sex' is probably cut down to ten," he laughed and then paused. There was a promiscuous glint in his eye. "Maybe five if you're with your mate."

"Oh."

"Why do you ask?" Eli asked. I lightly shrugged and looked down to my work. It seemed to be enough for Eli and Mason to dismiss, but Wes wasn't easily convinced.

"Did Chase sneak out to your house last night?" Wes assumed. How was he always so good at guessing? I stayed quiet, but I was starting to think being quiet was a major giveaway. I don't think it would've mattered considering how dark and intent Wes' eyes were. "What'd he do?"

"He kissed me," I answered. "Rather roughly actually."

Coincidently, the bell rang and the boys all shared a look before Eli and Mason left together. Wes gathered his things but he wasn't looking down enough for me to notice the concern and discomfort on his face. I grabbed Wes' arm as he exited the classroom.

"What's wrong?" I asked even though he knew enough that I would immediately ask him once we were alone.

"He shouldn't have kissed you," he expressed in a huff that was cloaked with way more than mere jealousy. "Mates or not, he could've taken things too far, especially since it was the first time you two—" he cut himself off and now instead of concern, it was heart brokenness in his voice for acknowledging Chase and I had kissed. I looked over to him in apology but he kept walking with his eyes forward. "Considering it being a full moon and our heightened aggression, I'm not surprised he got in that fight this morning, but with you is another story. He didn't hurt you did he?"

"I mean he kissed me a bit harder than I'd like, but..." I began with a bunch of detail as if I was a proud mate, but immediately stopped myself for his sake. I knew he only wanted to know if Chase had hurt me. "I told him to stop though."

"Then what happened?"

"He stopped," I replied.

"Wait what?" Wes double-taked and actually stopped in the middle of the hall.

"He stopped. He literally flew to the other side of the room," I repeated. I was only confused why Wes was so shocked. "But it's not like he would've kept going—"

"If he did, I would've killed him," Wes immediately interrupted but then chastised himself silently before looking at me. "I mean good," he restated. Before he would force himself into suffering through this conversation any more, he bit the inside of his lip and walked off.

"What the hell?" I said to Chase as I found him in the pack's house office in the evening.

"What?" he mumbled as his eyes flew over papers of work. He chose now to catch up on work?

"Why the hell did you go to Alicia's last night?" I asked furiously.

"That's none of your business—"

"Yes it is, Chase!" I yelled. He looked up at me.

"No. It's not. Nothing about her is your business," he said calmly. "Anymore."

I had to push past his insult in order to stay on focus. "It's my business when Alicia's life is put at risk because of you."

"I didn't do anything."

"Because Sharon did, right?" I responded and it caused him to look up at me.

"How do you know about that?" It was a ridiculous question for an Alpha like him who seemed to be in everyone's business. Sharon was in her lower twenties and we had all grown up together. Sure, she was part of a long lineage of witches, but she was still a millennial who needed to make ends meet and occasionally found her way to our pack's house every few full moon occurrences...considering werewolves never knew when they'd want to purchase "forget-when-I-mauled-you" potions or magic "un-rip-able" clothes or protection spells.

"Maybe because I thought it was odd that you managed to kiss her last night and not do anything else on a full moon," I answered. I wanted to fill an upturning of my stomach or throbbing of my brain for what I had admitted of their behavior last night, but it didn't happen. It didn't happen because it shouldn't happen. I only had those possessive thoughts when it came to April. But if anyone knew about what Chase did, they'd easily feel protective. She didn't deserve it. "You can't just put both of your lives in danger. It makes you an ass—"

"I'm not being an ass. I'm being an Alpha," he corrected. "I did that for the pack."

"You did that for yourself," I corrected. He confirmed my words by saying silent. I retired into sitting onto the couch and sighed.

"I thought it was the right thing to do," he suddenly whispered out of guilt.

He didn't want to give into anything in regards to the imprint, but he claimed he wanted to bind her safety. He got a witch—Sharon—to put a protection spell on him and Alicia. It was a charm of protection that wasn't exempt from werewolves, meaning Chase himself. Any other mated werewolf would've known boundaries and still would've laid with her or been as close as possible for comfort...not put as much distance as possible between them. It was situational protection for Alicia to have control over her interactions with Chase. I knew Chase must've done it to protect Alicia from physical threats like vampires or assholes like Dane, but he knew the risks. It was like taking antibiotics—sure, it ridded the body of toxins, but it also got rid of the good bacteria too. And worse than that, breaking the spell would be a step below breaking a bond and it would affect them both.

The ex-boyfriend in me wasn't opposed to Chase's physical distance from her, especially if it was in a moment when she felt uncomfortable or hurt, but that was the principle of the thing. The cousin and Beta to Chase was opposed to the spell because I knew mates shouldn't be apart and they were actually well matched for each other once they decide to put away their stubbornness and be together. As a mated werewolf, I knew that deciding to be together and just let Fate allow the pieces to fall in place, it would be enough protection over Alicia for a lifetime. Chase knew that too and that's why it didn't take much convincing for him to call Sharon and ask how to break the spell.