"Hey!" I heard a voice call as I was walking across the campus. I turned back and was shocked to see Riley jogging up to me. I had gone numb to everything upon hearing about Torrance's a coma, but that was what shocked my senses.

"I'm not in the mood," I ordered before turning back around.

"Wait," he called. I turned around.

"Aren't you supposed to be in jail or on death sentence right now?"

"I think the Council has other priorities at the moment," he shrugged.

"I doubt it," I grumbled before walking around him.

"Speaking of Council—" Riley said as he followed me, "did you hear about Chase?"

"Why would I?" I asked. What now? I wanted to really say.

"Well because...never mind," he replied. "But anyways, he's getting married. Isn't that great?"

"Yup," I nodded without a care in the world. I experienced a secondary response after the fact that made everything within me pause, but my feet didn't and my face concealed it.

"Wait. You don't care?" he asked.

"Not really," I sighed even though I felt a turn in my stomach chastising my lie. I don't know why Fate or whatever dictated this bond wanted me to feel bad or jealous. Maybe this meant Chase was finally moving on and would allow me to do the same...if I could. "Well, I'd say 'see you around,' but I think you've and enough of me for a lifetime so bye. I really do wish you the best."

***

"Babe...I love you, I love you, I love you," I whispered. "Just please open your eyes."

I looked over his face as I rubbed the back on his hand. And suddenly, I felt him squeeze back. I immediately called his doctor and Torrance was under observation. Almost a month had passed by as slow as possible. It was my birthday was in two days and it had grown more meaningless than it had in the past. I had gone to the hospitaleveryday to sit and wait for Torrance to respond or at least open his eyes.

"We'll call you when he's fully conscious," his doctor said after a few minutes as he walked me out.

"Thank you so, so much," I said in nearly a cry to him. He gave me a faint smile and departed from me.

I took the bus home and was too excited to tell Jasmine.

"Jasmine. You're never gonna guess it, but Torrance—" I started to tell before I even made it through the doorway of our dorm. I paused when I saw the four tall boys in our room as well.

"Sit down," Wes ordered. I did as I was told and looked up at them.

"What's this about?" I asked.

"Chase left again. Did you know that?" Wes asked.

"Okay? And?" I asked.

"He's getting married in two days and you're sitting on your ass not doing anything about it," Mason accused. I didn't know he was getting married in two days though. It felt like a punch to the gut for him to marry someone else on his mate's birthday. I didn't want them to know that though.

"Um first of all, I'm attending school so I can't just hop up and fly off to wherever he is. And secondly, I'm waiting for my fiancé to wake up from a coma that was caused by Chase," I corrected. The guys sighed in stress.

"Chase isn't why Torrance is there," Wes scoffed. I trusted it more coming from him than Chase, but it still wasn't enough for me to totally believe it.

"Then why is it that the marks on his chest match the scars on my back?" I asked. I knew the memory hurt him, but at least it shut him up.

"And you never considered that someone framed him?" Mason asked.

"No?"

"You're stupid," Mason decided.

"Hey," Eli warned him for the insult.

"Well he didn't do it," Wes informed as if defending Mason on account of my assumption.

"First my fiancé talks about people being mythical creatures and he ends up in the hospital and then you guys are trying to defend the person who caused that," I groaned before laying down.

"And you didn't just trust your own fiancé about Riley being a vampire and us being something else?" Jackson asked.

"It's not like I don't know your secrets anyways," I mumbled. "I don't know how he figured it out, but I wasn't gonna confirm it and—"

"Torrance was telling the truth about us," Eli interrupted. "We were fighting with Riley and Riley caught him spying on us."

"Look, either way, no matter what shit happened, you are not letting Chase get married," Wes said.

"Um yes I am," I contradicted. "I've moved on and now he gets to too."

"No. Again, are you stupid? It's an arranged marriage," Mason said.

"And? Obviously he's agreed to it," I shrugged.

"No. He didn't," Mason immediately denied. There was anger and aggression all over his voice.

"What's it to you guys anyways?" I asked. Nothing about them was changing anyways.

"He's our Alpha," Jackson said.

"He's my best friend," Eli added.

"He's my cousin," Wes said.

"And more importantly your soul mate," Mason concluded the list. I was reminded where his aggression came from. He had only ever been about his mate Tori. He only ever wanted every other imprinted werewolf to be as devoted to their respective mates as well. Chase had royally screwed that up.

"He's getting married for a reason—to keep his title," Wes continued. "And by marrying someone from there, he's staying there. I sure as hell am not running this pack again by myself. Not to mention that he'd have to spend eternity with some girl he can't love."

What was I supposed to do? Even though I tried harder than anything to just get over Chase and live my life separately, I couldn't do that. At the end of the day, maybe he was right all those years ago when he said the imprint would just want us in each other's lives even if it wasn't romantic. In that case, he would have to be friends. And even if we weren't, we were still humans (one of us more than the other, obviously); that meant I should care about him getting in a situation that would last his whole life. Now I was understanding his reservations about me marrying Torrance. But this was different. This marriage was to a girl he doesn't love.

Jackson dropped an invitation that was addressed to him, on my lap.

"What is this?" I asked.

"An invitation," Jackson answered. "Be my plus one."

"I'm not going," I slurred. "It's my birthday and Torrance just got out of a coma. I'm staying here."

"Torrance has nurses..." Wes grumbled. I shot him a warning look.

"And you don't do anything for your birthday anyways," Jackson reminded.

"Adding 'watch Chase be forced to marry some girl' isn't happening either," I notified.

"Exactly," Wes said. I gave him a questioning look. "He knows he doesn't want this. No one wants this. If you tell him that you don't want it, then he won't go through with it."

"Um. The council does—"

"Who cares?"

"I'm just saying!" I expressed. "I'm not ruining someone's life."

"By not stopping this wedding, you're ruining more than one life, Alicia," Wes said with something flickering in his eyes. I rolled mine and crossed my arms tightly.

"It was his choice. I don't have any kind of power on him like that. So stop being selfish and let the boy get married and live his life," I ordered.

"You're so—"

"Fine," Eli spoke up before starting to leave. "You're gonna regret it, Alicia, but fine."

They all left orderly and I bit my nails as I thought.

***

By the time I was forgetting the encounter with the guys, Torrance's doctor called me to tell me Torrance had progressed and was back to talking. As soon as visitation hours began the next morning, I was there. I just didn't know the urgency would be for bad news.

"It's not curable, Leese," Torrance whispered. I combed my fingers through his soft and yet sweat-filled hair as I grabbed his locks. I placed my forehead on his.

"I don't want you to die," I whispered with my eyes closed. Aside from the trauma that ruptured an organ or two, they had found a tumor that had progressed enough in conjunction with his sustained injuries. It seemed to get worse exponentially and the doctor's didn't know how.

"Me either," he managed to laugh. If I was in his place, I would not remember how to laugh.

"But what about..." I could fill the black with a bunch of answers: finishing college, being a journalist...marrying me.

"About that..." he started. "I'm gonna be in here for a long while before I..."

"If you say it, I will kill you," I threatened for the use of die, which was very ironic.

He cleared his throat.

"I don't think we can get married," he came out and said it.

"W-what?" I knew it wasn't possible years down the line, but I thought that he of all people would still have enough faith to at least think positively.

"I can't have you sitting in a hospital every day, watching over me, Leese," he said, grabbing my hand. "I love you more than life itself, but I don't want to marry you if only one of us comes out in the end. It's cruel."

"Well...we can move the wedding to the end of this year or—"

"Leese," he calmed. "I don't want that for you. And I already told my family not to make a big deal about this because it would be a waste." This was breaking my heart. "Even if I do make it out in the end, I don't want you to be held down by someone like me," he said.

"Is that supposed to be an alteration to 'it's not you, it's me'?" I asked.

"No," he answered. "But it's exactly like that." Great. "You deserve to marry someone that you can go on adventures with and really connect better with," he said.

I started to slide the engagement ring off my finger, but he grabbed both my hands to prevent me.

"Keep it. I want you to remember me," he whispered. With one last kiss and one last look, I started to leave. "Wait."

I turned around. Not because I had hope he'd change his mind, but because I wanted to. I almost owed it to him.

"I know you denied it earlier, but...was there anything between you and Chase?" he asked timidly. I sighed and played with my ring. I slid it back on my finger. "I know that you lied about Riley and the guys, Leese." What? "Riley's the one that attacked me. His venom is enhancing the tumor inside of me, you know," he started. I felt low because I had accused Chase for it and was so passive with Riley even though he was the one I should've lashed out on and made him choke on the vervain charm bracelet I always wore. "So just tell me. You and Chase?"

"Chase and I are mates," I admitted without thinking to hesitate to preserve his feelings. "But things were complicated and we didn't have a relationship."

"But you wanted there to be," he assumed. I looked over to him.

"How do you know?"

"I love you and I know how you are. Even though you wanted to make it seem like you hated him, I noticed that you never looked him in the eyes, you always spared whatever the fight was when I came up, and you get nervous around him," he answered. "And I see how he looks at you. He'd do anything for you. Hell, he put up with me even though he loves you."

I stayed silent because I didn't feel anything. I didn't feel a turn in my stomach because I knew it was true. If anything, any discomfort would've been from my brain trying to reject the fact that he was right about all of it.

"I heard he's getting married tomorrow," he added.

"How—"

"Eli," he stated. I nodded, understandingly. "You should go after him."

I rolled my eyes and laughed. So now my ex-fiancé is telling me who to go after? This was rich.

"Why? It won't mean anything to him now that I accused him of doing this to you and I'll miss it anyways," I replied.

"Then I think it's time for you to hop on the next plane right now," he ordered. I gave him a doubtful look as I stood my own ground. "He loves you, Leese. It's obvious to everyone, but you. It doesn't matter if you've been with him or not, but he loves you. He proved that to me when I caught him and Riley fighting over you. I hate to admit it, but he loves you more than I ever could."

It was hard for me to hear him say all of this no matter how badly I wanted to know it and hear it coming from Chase himself.

"If you think I'm lying, ask him yourself," Torrance muttered. I bit my lip and made a decision.