A dizzying knot twisted my stomach as it churned unpleasantly in response to the little bit of breakfast I had managed to eat. It was humiliating to sit here and be waited on, to have mom force to divide her attention between Gavin and I, while I knew my brother needed it more.

After all, he was the one who only recently woke up from his coma. Even with him being a were, there were still a lot of consequences of being immobile for so long.

His muscles had deteriorated quickly due to the loss of practice. Now that he was brought back home, I often heard him complaining of feeling like an old man, only being able to shuffle around the house while holding someone by the arm.

Gavin needed the support, otherwise his legs would crumble underneath him and sent him flailing on his ass. I huffed, shaking my head to myself. My own body was perfectly fine, it was simply my wolf who kept throwing fits.

The reason why made my stomach sour even more and it must've been visible as my mother paled and quickly grabbed the bucket and shoved it under my nose. My stomach heaved up the small bits and pieces of breakfast it was clinging onto, burning my throat painfully in the process.

"Enough already, I get your point!" I growled weakly to my wolf, who only snarled viciously and dug his claws in my mind. My head pulsed with the beginnings of a migraine as my stomach heaved once more, shame filling my body as my mother rubbed over my neck and shoulders in an attempt to soothe me.

"I. want. MY. MATE!" The wolf roared in anger as he attempted to take over, getting my body stuck mid-shift. Agony pulsed through me as the usually instantaneous shift now was stretched out. I could feel bones elongating, muscles stretching and snapping only to reattach to their new spot and do it all over again when my wolf forced me to shift back.

"Max..." Mother choked, dabbing at my sweat slicked brow as she eased me further up the bed. I panted harshly, disgusted with the fact that whatever I was going through paled in comparison to what Kyle had experienced.

I shivered again before slowly pushing my mother away. Shame and pain filled my being as I laid down, facing the wall. Movement sounded behind me before the tv was switched on and then I was left alone.

A sigh escaped me as tears wet my cheeks. I am such a fool.

Here I was, lying in bed sick and tired because of my own doing. And all I could do was wallow in self-pity. Even Gavin was working on getting better and he was coming from the brink of death. The door opened behind me before I heard a slight scoff.

"Really? You're just going to lay there and act all miserable? You think life is going to turn around because you act like a pup who's tail got stuck between the door?" Gavin grumbled, making me turn around in the bed with some effort.

I frowned at my sibling as he stood in the doorway with a cane, eyes squinted in slight pain. "You shouldn't be standing on your own Gavin." I mumbled, making him snort and take a limping step forwards, leaning heavily on his cane.

"And you shouldn't be acting like a pussy, but here we are." I rolled my eyes with a growl at his childish remark before pushing out of bed. Gavin walked slowly, snatching the remote and tossing it towards me before he dropped heavily on the space I made for him.

"Fucking hell, I feel like an old man." He grumbled as he manually lifted his legs, a true sign that he was feeling too weak to actually lift them himself. I shot a glance at the bared flesh under his shorts, swallowing at the unusually thin legs which were basically just drooping skin and bone, a vague reminder of how muscular it had once been.

"Looks disgusting, doesn't it?" Gavin remarked dryly as he poked his leg before frowning. "Feels kinda numb and tingly too." He shrugged before shoving them under the blanket and grabbed the remote once more. "Scoot."

I huffed as I moved over, frowning down as Gavin made himself comfortable and scratched his stomach with lazy nonchalance. "What are you doing here?"

He huffed as he changed the channel, flicking back and forth before settling on a nature documentary. "Watching tele, since there's nothing else to do. Plus I could hear you bitching and moaning all the way from down the hallway so decided to keep you company would at least stop the noise."

Gavin smirked as I groaned and halfheartedly shoved him in the back. "I wasn't bitching." I protested, only to have my brother snort and shoot me a glance over his shoulder. "You sure were moaning and whimpering around like a bitch."

"Asshole."

My brother chuckled. "Cunt."

"I'm not a cunt." I replied as my wolf snorted in my mind, in obvious agreement with my brother. "You Are a cunt. You cunt."

Gavin yawned and stretched out. "Then stop acting like one. Grow some balls and find out where Kyle disappeared off to. If I were you, I wouldn't sitting here bemoaning the fact that I rejected my mate. I would be halfway across the state trying to find where they are and grovel on my fucking knees if I had to."

The room was enveloped in a tense silence after that as I chose not to respond. I still found it odd that after all Gavin's anger and presumably hatred for Kyle, he was now defending the former rogue.

"And you still think of our mate as rogue. You can't see past anything except status, hierarchy and breeding." The wolf snarled viciously, making me flinch as it clawed at my mind to the point where claws were soon digging onto the palms of my hands to stop myself from screaming out loud.

"You don't deserve to be mated. Not now, not ever."

I cringed and panted, sloughing back against the wall when my wolf suddenly backed off.

Silence pressed down against my senses before Gavin grabbed the remote to amp up the audio a bit, drawing my attention to the old story of Romeo, the friendly wolf from Juneau, Alaska. I relaxed and watched along with him, already knowing the sad tale of the wolf.

Hunters had shot him down, poaching on wolves and bears alike as they were from different states. They had only received a minor slap on the wrist, seeing as even though Romeo was a beloved member of the Juneau community, he was still a mere wolf.

I frowned though when the documentary continued after the wolf's death, mentioning the return of the wolf. Curiosity bubbled, as I knew that Romeo was dead and nothing could return from the dead.

"Though there has been no sighting of Romeo's offspring for the last few months, townsfolk remember the black wolf fondly. As you can see in this homemade video, the wolf can be seen accepting food from locals exiting the pub."

My heart pumped painfully and stopped all together at the shaky video made from a mobile device. I ignored the voice of the woman droning on in the background and instead focused on the all too familiar black wolf.

My eyes trailed from the white mark on his chin, a trait I had fondly joked about when I had first seen it. Sadness and pain filled my heart as the wolf visibly limped, scars littering its body and its hind leg pulled up awkwardly against his body.

Kyle...

Gavin too recognized him, as his muscles tensed, the remote in his hand squeaking in protest as his fist clenched around it. We watched the images as Kyle caught the slivers of food tossed his way, forced to beg for food like a common dog.

Whimpers filled my mind as my wolf flooded it with overwhelming sadness, snatching the remote out of Gavin's hand to pump up the volume.

He's so skinny...

I hadn't even noticed I moved over Gavin to get out of the bed before my hand rested on the screen, fingers brushing against the pixels that made up my mate. An audible whine slipped from my lips as I sat back, at least grateful he was still alive.

Juneau, Alaska... that's more than three thousand miles away...

Bile filled my throat as the image switched, a gasp rasping through my throat as I watched the wolf, Kyle, limp over the street. His hind leg dangling behind him and blood frothing at his muzzle.

"These are the last images we have of Romeo's son, as the locals have dubbed the wolf. Nobody has seen the wolf ever since and locals fear that just like Romeo, his son has become the victim of poachers. We asked our local wildlife experts what they feel of Romeo's son's condition and they fear that if he still is alive, the wolf might not make the winter due to his wounds."

"Shit! Mom, Dad! Come help me!" Gavin cursed before shouting, stumbling to get his cane as I collapsed on the floor, my wolf replaying the image of Kyle's broken body over and over again.

"You did this to our mate! He's all alone out there, in pain, dyingbecause of you!" the beast screeched in agony and misery, pouring all its pain and hate in my body until it seized and trembled uncontrollably.

"I will make you pay, even if it's the last thing I can do!"