I watched her leave with a stormy expression on my face. How can she expect me to feel nothing towards the girl who owned my heart for three years? It's impossible I've been here nearly two months and we've only just started getting closer. I growled shoving the table to the side causing it to go crashing into the wall. My parents came running into the room, worried looks on their faces.

I looked at them before I sighed I slumped down onto the chair with my face pulled down into a scowl.

"Jerome? What happened." Came my mother's soft reply. I scoffed at the question.

"She expects too much of me," I mumbled, "I'm never going to be good enough so I should stop trying."

"Who Bridget?"

I growled, "who else would I be talking about." I snapped. My father glared at me.

"Do not talk to your mother that way." He scolded. I glanced at my mum and managed to pull the side of my mouth up into an apologetic smile. Sort of.

"Sorry." I said sheepishly.

"Boy, you are blind. That girl loves you."

I looked up at her, shocked. That's not true. She still loves Tony, I know that for sure. "No, she loves her other mate and then she got upset when I didn't answer her questions about me having feelings for Autumn. She's a hypocrite." I protested my mother rolled her eyes.

"Of course she does. He was her everything, and he died leaving her all alone. Autumn didn't die, she rejected you. Which was horrible, yes, but that pain doesn't even come close to loosing a mate to death! When you're fully mated you feel your other half's pain, even if it's something as minor as a damn paper cut. She felt her love being ripped apart as he was. The fact that she is still breathing right now is a miracle because I know I wouldn't be if your father was killed. Now get your ass up and go apologise." She growled as she poked me in the chest.

Ow!

I let her words sink in, trying to imagine that pain, the pain of someone I loved dying. And I couldn't. I could feel the pain of rejection and though it hurts to breathe when I think about it, it's probably not even a fraction of what she felt. This sinking feeling in my chest was getting worse.

What is that?

"It's called guilt, you idiot! Now go find mate!" My wolf growled, snapping at me. I was in shock. This was the first time he had spoken to me since Autumn rejected me. Granted, he was yelling at me, but still. He was back.

I stood to my feet and pulled my mum into a hug. "I love you." I said kissing her temple. She squeezed me gently.

"I know I love you too, sweetie. Now go find her and apologise." She ordered, and I nodded. I pulled open the door and stopped.

I needed to get dressed. I turned to my dad, "can I borrow your jacket?" I mumbled. He rolled his eyes and tossed it at me, I thanked him and turned around rushing to the pack house. I got there a lot slower than usual, the pain in my chest was proving too difficult to ignore, but I got there. I waited for the elevator, impatiently tapping my foot. Once it had arrived, I pressed floor three.

Once I was there, I rushed to my room and threw on some clothes I then opened Bridget's door to her room not caring if she minded. I needed to talk to her. She wasn't. I sighed. And turned around as I got to the end of the hall, I saw her little sister. Rose. She glared at me, her dark eye burning holes into my skin.

"Hey you!" She called out, storming up to me. "How could you do that to her! She is a wreck because of you. In all seventeen years of my life, I have only seen my sister cry twice. Once was at her mates funereal and twice yesterday when she was upset because she thought you died. But today! Today I had to hold her while she broke down because you told her you love some other bitch. How could you?!" She yelled, shoving me backwards. Pain flared all over my chest and I had to hold back a groan.

This chick is strong. I stared at her, stunned. "I...I..." I didn't know what to say. She had just confessed that Bridget was so hurt by what happened, she broke down in the arms of her seventeen-year-old sister. I was speechless.

"I promise you if she hurts herself again this time because of you I'll break your neck." She spat, pushing past me. I stared at her retreating figure until what she said fully sunk in.

If she hurts herself !

I rushed outside looking for her, panic filling me. I could try mind linking her, but I don't think she's going to let me in. But I tried anyway.

"Bridget!"

"Bridget, where are you!"

"Please! I need to talk to you."

Nothing. Blank. It didn't even connect. I ran my hands through my hair before I started running; I wasn't looking where I was going and I crashed right into something- well, someone. Fire exploded in my chest and I groaned out in pain before I stumbled back and saw Seth. I gripped his shirt, "have you seen Bridget. I-I- I can't find her." I said frantically. He stared at me wide eyed.

"Dude she's fine. She wasn't the one who was killed, she's in her office."

Killed?!

"Killed?" I questioned and his eyes dropped to the floor and he nodded.

"Two warriors were killed by hunters this morning, I found them and called Bridget. Though I think she knew because it was so very obvious that she had been crying. Her eyes were all puffy and her cheeks were red and slightly wet. I thought it was best not to ask." He told me, and another stab of guilt worked its way through my body. I nodded. "Wow, man, you were really worked up for a sec there. I can literally smell your fear. Calm down, okay." He mumbled slightly worried.

"I just err needed to see her. To make sure she was okay." I mumbled and nodded towards the north side of the pack, "is she over there?" I asked he shook his head.

"Dude, I just told you she's in her office."

I tuned back towards the pack house and took off into a sprint. I ran all the way to her office without pausing for a breath even though my lungs were screaming at me to stop and slow down.

I knocked on the door. And there was no reply, so I opened the door. And she wasn't in here, I turned down the hallway only she was lying on the floor not moving. I rushed over to where she was lay on the floor, my hands shook with fear as I pulled her into me.

She's breathing. I thought a tidal wave of relief washed through me. I then noticed the bottles of liquor that surrounded her. I sighed she drank so much she passed out. It takes a lot for a wolf to get drunk. She much have been throwing them back I thought as I picked her up walking back to her office. I placed her on the small black couch in her office and placed a blanket over her. I then sat on the floor beside the couch.

"I have never had anyone in my life who infuriates me like you do, nor have I had anyone who cares for me like you do." I started, but paused to make sure she was actually sleeping.

She was. So I continued.

"From the first day I laid eyes on you I knew that it was going to be hard to not know you, to not want to know you. To not acknowledge what we are but I was prepared to do it not because of you but because I didn't want to drag you down and burden you with my tortured past but then despite everything I got to know you, I got to know how deeply sensitive you are, how caring you are, how much of an amazing leader you are. You have hundreds of people to look after and you do it so well. I only have one person in this entire world that I want to look after, and it's you. It's always going to be you. Autumn had me, but not like you do. She had my desperation that I confused for love, I was just trying not to end up alone. That's why I clung on for as long as I did. I was terrified of being alone. But you, you have my heart, my mind and my soul. You have all of me. I wish I could be telling you to think and you actually hear it, but I'm also terrified of rejection. I sometimes feel that you pretend to care because you feel like you have too, since the gods and goddesses above have you this second chance at love and life. I don't mind being your second love as long as I'm your last. I want you to want me for me. I'm going crazy. I can feel the effects of the rejection and what it has done to my mind I obsess over everything and I overthink things and plant seeds of doubt in my mind so then if it happens I can admit I knew it was going to. But that's not the point. The point is I'm sorry for being a jerk and hurting you and I need you to forgive me because I don't know what to do without you. When I think of you. I think of a future for us, we'd spend our days running the pack and then we'd go home to this house that I built us and we go home and spend time with our kids. Every dream I have involves you. Every single one." I confessed looking at her.

Her face was soft and I know she didn't hear a word of this, but I feel better knowing I got it all out in the open. Sort of.

"That's some deep stuff Romeo." A voice calls out, and it travels through me like an electric shock. I wheel around and see Rose. She was standing there as I stammered, looking for a response.

"How much of that did you hear?" I questioned. She smirked at me before answering.

"I have never met anyone in my life who infuriates me like you do." She recites my first sentence with a grin. I sighed. She heard everything. Somehow it made me feel better knowing Bridget would wake up and know I said these things.

She ran her hands through her dark brown hair before she sat down next to her sister.

I managed a soft smile, "If she finds out what I said I'll know it was you who told her." I joked as I walked over to Bridget and kissed her on the cheek.

I walked over to the door and turned back to her, "make sure she's okay." I said lowly. She looked at me as if it was the first time she was really seeing me.

"Why don't you just tell her this?" She asked, I chuckled at her.

"I have abandonment issues."

She rolled her eyes "I'll say." She sassed.

I laughed at her.

She's an alright kid, really.

😢

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