"Even a white rose has a black shadow."

It was a warm summer day and the teenagers of Blood Moon had decided to spend the day at the lake. On the trek towards their secret spot on the lake, a few of them had slipped and their bodies slid down the dirt.

Zane watched as Alessandra rushed to help them. There was no need for her to be the Good Samaritan, werewolves healed rapidly. Yet the youngest Romano quickly scaled the fall and began to make her way down. She helped each and every one of the few people who had fallen.

Zane was conflicted. On one hand, what she did could be considered admirable and to most, it would be, but to him, it made her a loser. What was the point? They could have gotten up without her help and learned to be more careful next time, yet Miss Goodie Goodie had to go out and make herself seem better than everyone else.

His eyes always lingered a little too long on Alessandra but she seemed to never pay him any attention. He didn't blame her, after all his favorite childhood pass time was getting a rise out of her. It seems that she had not forgotten even though they were both almost adults now.

Zane shifted his attention to Isabel whose eyes were already trained on him. His dad had been on his ass lately about fixing his "whore like behavior" so it seemed like a good idea at the time to pursue Isabel. She was always following him around but she was strong, resilient, and slightly manipulative. She seemed as broken as him and that appeased his insecurities because Zane De Luca would never give away his heart.

He always chalked it up to his mother's gruesome death and his father's downward spiral that followed. He never considered that he had left his heart in the palms of a little girl all those years ago. The one with the big brown eyes that did not speak to him but offered her condolences with her eyes along with a white rose, his mother's favorite. Then she shifted into her little wolf and trotted away.

When Zane had looked into those eyes, he had forgotten that his mother was torn limb from limb and that he had watched and was unable to do anything as the attackers held his small body down to the ground.

If he could help it, he would never fail anyone like that ever again.

He had run away. In typical Zane fashion, he ran from the problem instead of facing it head-on. A man who was already feared by many could not get his personal affairs in order. Could you believe it?

I see the desire in his eyes when he looks at me. I saw the fear when I had been attacked by spirits in Italy. The constant hate that boils around the edges of both of our eyes has now turned into something less sinister. How ironic, I had pledged to hate him and now I wanted him with everything I had. Sort of. I wanted to fuck him all night long but a part of me wanted to strangle him.

Great now my thoughts are confusing me.

More thoughts swirl in my head as I try to figure out his deal. Did he still love her? If so I need to hear it straight from his mouth because I refuse to compete with Isabel. Everyone who has gone up against her has always lost and I was not going to ruin the last remaining bits of our sisterhood.

"Alessia! Get over here! Donata gave me the herbs to help your heat," my mother yells from the shore. I swim over to her and when my body breaks through the surface I smell pine. I couldn't see him holding me but I could feel it. It was enough to ease the pain radiating throughout my body. Now that he was gone, I could begin to feel the itch of pain slither up my back.

I take the herbs and am instantly met with relief.

"Be careful Alessia, they won't last for long," my mom informs me. I give her a weak smile in response.

Lilia comes up to me and entwines our fingers. She gives me her warm smile as a way to comfort me and I try to return the gesture but I'm sure it just looked forced. I look at the ground with a blank stare and wonder how I got to this point. This is what I did not want to happen. This exact feeling is the reason I prayed the goddess would not give me my mate so soon.

At this point, I can barely remember who I am. My thoughts are filled with Zane, my heart beats for him, and it all makes me want to rip my hair out strand by strand.

"I've never seen him like that," Lilia speaks.

I lift my head and a confused expression graces my face.

"I always thought Alpha Zane was more animal than man. He's always been so nonchalant like nothing affects him and occasionally I've seen him get angry but today it was like he was a different person," Lilia says.

"It's true, I've never seen him look so fearful," my mom adds.

"He held you like you were about to disappear," Callie tells me, her voice full of awe.

"Sure that's what you guys saw. I saw a man who ran away instead of having sex with me. Isn't that the whole point of heat? He won't even touch me when he is supposed to," I add with a pout. It's hard to resist your mate, after all, they hold a part of your soul in their body. But resisting your mate while they are in heat? That's damn near impossible and he still accomplished it.

Fuck him.

"It doesn't matter I'm done trying to figure out that man," I say as I walk away. My mom begins to protest but I assume Lilia and Callie back up my decision as I retreat into the forest.

I don't care if I die during my heat, the next time I see Zane he better be willing to give me some answers. I find myself lost in my own thoughts when I stumble upon the pack's old training facility. Calling it a facility might be a stretch, it's more of a shack now with some punching bags that are a couple of punches away from death.

This place is abandoned and a borderline shit hole, no one is going to be here. The old wooden walls look like they might collapse any second and quite frankly the scent is putrid. I walk over to one of the bags and start doing my usual routine consisting of some punches and kicks to get warmed up. I quickly realize that it's a bad idea because I can barely land a punch even though I took the herbs.

I hear a door close and chalk it up to the wind but then footsteps follow and I whip around to see who it is.

"Alessandra?"

"Jaden?"

God my stupid heat is ruining all of my senses, I should have smelled him a mile before I actually got here.

"W-what are you doing here?" Jaden asks, his breathing is heavy and it's almost like he is in a daze.

"Oh well I just needed to be somewhere alone and I thought no one would be here," I tell him. I notice that he is wearing a jacket and sweatpants while I'm still in my sports bra and spandex. Maybe this was a bad idea.

"I'm always here, shit Alessandra, get out of here!"

His sudden change in tone shocks me.

"Excuse me? Have some respect, I'm your luna now," I tell him. He paces the floor and mumbles a bunch of curse words before whipping his head at me.

"Alessandra I am going crazy the need to push you up against that wall and fuck until we can't anymore is so strong," his last couple of words come out as a rasp.

"I took some herbs they suppress the heat."

"For you! I can still smell it, please Alessandra I do not want to be killed by the alpha," he begs.

Heat was a curse. The whole point was to make mates come together as one, AKA have sex. However, every unmated male can smell the scent of a fertile woman who has not been claimed completely. The scent was strong and seductive but most of all it was addictive. The need to smell more and be completely consumed was like a drug.

"Why don't you just run?" I ask. I can barely walk and he wants me to run away.

"Because if I run, I'm going to run after you," he says. I give him a nod and turn to walk out when a flash of heat hits me.

I drop to the floor with a moan of pain. The sensation is something I cannot explain. It's like an itch around my entire body that is followed by an ache and holy fuck my breasts feel like they are about to explode.

"It hurts," I try to say, but it comes out as more of a whisper. Then the worst part hits, the sting. It's like someone is poking a thousand needles into every centimeter of my body but they are pushing it down until it reaches my bone.

"Zane," I whisper.

"Send him a message through your mind link!" Jaden tells me. He's backed away from me now, holding onto the wooden wall like it will keep him grounded enough to stay away from me.

"I can't, I've been away from the pack too long!"

It was true. The distance and the time had put a rift between my wolf and the others, it could be mended, but there was no way I would be able to mind link Zane.

"Please," I whisper. He nods his head and does something for me that might get him killed because Zane's sanity is questionable. If I did not feel like I was being burned alive, I would smile.