*****

*Corey*

"You kissed Jayden?" Sean asked, shocked. Damn wolf.

"No... I mean... Not really." I shrugged casually.

"'Not really'?" He gave me a flat look, "What the hell? So you two are together now?" He asked.

"No." I said.

"But you made out him!" Sean exclaimed.

"I make out with a lot of people – girls," I replied, "And he sort of asked me to, so I did," I said nonchalantly.

"He asked you? And then you just do it?" Sean said, "This being your first kiss with him and you just do it because 'he asked'?" Sean asked.

"Of course not, it wasn't the first... time." I cursed in my mind as I realised that now he knew. Shit, I should have taken a second to think before I spoke.

"Not the first time?" Sean asked shocked, "What else have you been doing? And why are we still here looking for this witch if the two of you are cool now?" He asked.

"Because we're still going to the witch to do what we came here for," I said.

A growl had us both turning to the wolf.

"Sorry," Sean sighed. "Follow the scents of our friends through the forest, tell them to wait for us. If you hurt anyone or are planning to, I will kill you." Sean said to the wolf.

'Fine, but if I don't you take me back with you and we speak to your Alpha... Maybe he will let me into the pack.' The wolf growled.

"I am Alpha, this is my Beta. We'll see." Sean smiled.

The wolf let out a growl as he bowed his head slightly. Of course, he couldn't argue with that statement. Sean and I did look like we held our positions.

After the wolf disappeared through the trees Sean looked at me.

"So, you've been leading him on?" He asked.

"No. I've warned him," I said.

"You've warned him?" He gave a dry laugh, "You're using him, then?"

"No. Why are we even talking about this? Let's get back –" I was saying as I shoved my gun into its holster.

"Are you in love with him?" Sean cut me off and I pretty much choked on air before I began laughing.

"It-It was a fucking kiss, I'd hardly say that spells out love." I chuckled.

"What's so wrong with it? He's your mate. You're supposed to be with him and we all know you feel something for him or you wouldn't have gotten so angry when that guy tried to hurt him at the hotel, when his father hurt him or when you saw him with Finn." Sean said.

"And what if I do?" He looked surprised at the question, "Of course I feel something, it's not like I have a choice with this pull thing." I said.

"Is it really only the pull, Corey?" He asked. It was more of a rhetorical question because he clearly knew the answer. I didn't need to reply, but I did anyway.

"No, but it doesn't matter. Why the hell are you asking me all of this?" I asked frowning at him.

"Because he's your mate! You can't just 'fix' it! You're making a fucking mistake and the pack will notice if you get a fake mate, Corey! You're our Beta." He said.

"I'm doing it for the pack," I said.

"Bullshit. No, you are not." He said. "You know you're not. The pack will be fine with it. Some will take some time to accept it, but eventually, they will and others will from the beginning. It's not the pack, Corey. You know as well as I do that they would love us no matter what we do or who we're with. And really, it's impossible not to like him, all of us love him, everyone's going to accept him. So why can't you, Corey?" He finished.

"I don't want to be put in your position, okay?!" I snapped as my annoyance bubbled over.

"My position?" He asked looking a little confused.

"At first... I was afraid because I'm not... I didn't think I was gay but-but then... When I began to like him... Izabella... She hasn't accepted you yet, even though she can't reject you, she can still leave. With the way you act around her, I'm pretty sure you would die if that happened or if she got hurt and I won't do that to myself." I said, "And... even if we... I won't always be there for him, I can't be mated to an Omega when every other pack wants to kill us so they can take over ours. All I'll be doing if I accept him is putting him in more danger that I don't know if I'll be able to protect him from everything, I mean what if I'm not strong enough or I'm not there when something happens? We all know he has enough of danger to deal with with his father around, I can't add to that." Sean seemed surprised at what I was saying, probably more so the fact that I was admitting it to him. I held my breath feeling overwhelming fear in my chest at just the thought of what I was talking about, "And-and I don't want to get dumped or... abandoned when he realises that he's sick of me and everything I've done to him. I wouldn't forgive that... why would he? Why should he?" I finished.

I swallowed trying to calm down because my mind was reeling and my throat felt completely closed up. I lifted my trembling hands to run them through my hair but froze when arms circled my waist from behind.

I slowly dropped my arms to my sides looking down at the hands that had settled on my stomach. "Izabella... Why are you here?" I mumbled.

"I wanted to check on you two because you were taking forever... Corey, Jayden won't leave you. He likes you so much. If you apologise to him, he would accept it and he would accept you." She said, "Not strong enough to protect him? Are you kidding me? He'll be safest with you."

"Yeah?" I cleared my throat, "Well, I'm not willing to take any chances. We should get going. We have to be there before dark." I said pushing her arms away from me before I made my way through the trees where the others had gone through, leaving them behind to follow me.

-----

'We're here.' The wolf, whose name we had learnt was Zeke, growled.

I looked up and my eyes landed on a cave. Perhaps I should have noticed earlier, but I had been so caught up in focusing on the ground and playing over the things I had said to Sean that until that moment I had not even admitted to myself yet.

"A cave... That's not... Creepy at all." Hayley mumbled and I could help but chuckle as everyone laughed.

My laugh died as I stared at the rock that blocked the cave's entrance. There was a heavy, nauseating feeling of dread at the pit of my stomach. I shut my eyes sighing telling myself that it wasn't a mistake. I needed to do what we come for. I was a terrible mate for him, he deserved better than me.

"Let's go." I faked a smile and ignored the look on Jayden's face as he glanced down before he looked up faking his own smile. It made my chest physically hurt.

"Yeah." He said.

*Jayden*

"Who's there?!" Someone snapped as Corey knocked on the front... rock? Door? Yeah...

"Friends of Marcus," Corey replied pretty strongly, I guessed the cranky snap didn't faze him at all.

"Marcus?" The rock slid to the side and a beautiful blonde woman stood before us in a green summer dress. I cannot say I was expecting that by the way she had snapped at us when we knocked on her door... I expected an old lady with uncombed hair wearing a thick grey blanket and a black cat on her shoulder...

"Yes," Corey said smiling at her.

"Why are you here?" She asked.

"Well... Marcus said you might be able to... change my mate for me." He said.

Even after everything that had happened, despite knowing that our entire journey was to get to this woman so she could swap our mates, it still hurt hearing him talk about it.

"Corey, right?" She ran her eyes over the rest of us before they landed on me, "And you're his mate... Jayden?" She said. Wow.

"That's amazing." Sean voiced our thoughts.

"Not really, you Novulaní Galaxy wolves could do it too." She said.

"Why do I have to be an Amarelo from Inferno?" Trent whined. We laughed.

The woman introduced herself as Bianca before she invited us in and gave us a lot of food which she insisted on because we 'looked like we needed it'. She was right. I tried to eat despite having no appetite because I knew I needed some sustenance. It was hard.

"So, what exactly is it that you want me to do?" Bianca asked.

Corey looked up from his food which had barely been touched, it appeared as though it had just been pushed around a bit. He glanced at me clearing his throat. "Well... I would like you to give him another mate."

"Just him?" Bianca asked raising her brows.

Corey shrugged. "It really doesn't matter. It just has to be done fast."

"Why? Are you afraid of something?" Bianca asked. Corey gave a dry laugh making me concerned about whether he was okay. He had taken a while with Sean earlier, had something happened?

"Does it really matter?" Corey smiled.

"No." She laughed.

"Can we do it now?" He asked.

"But you haven't even touched your food." She said.

"I'm not hungry," Corey said. "Jay?" He looked at me.

I was starving and had only managed a few bites so far. "Same."

"Would you like to do it now?" She asked me.

I shrugged. "Sure," I said. As long as we got it over with.

'We will.' I bit my lip. That was Corey linking to me. For the last time. I blocked him out of my head then.

"Are you sure?" Izabella asked both of us.

"Yeah," Corey and I said simultaneously as we got up. We followed her into a room and I admitted to myself that this was something I wasn't at all sure of. Actually, I was sure of one thing. I didn't want it... but it didn't matter. He wanted it so badly.

"You have to think it at the same time..." Her words drifted from my mind as I looked down, studying the floor beneath my feet until it blurred.

I didn't want to. I really didn't want to. And someone obviously needed the wish more than I did...

I didn't want to force him into mating with me... but I didn't want another mate either. I felt a knot growing in my throat as my eyes burned with tears I was desperately trying to hold back.

"Are you ready? Close your eyes." Bianca said having mixed some herbs and mumbled a spell over them already before setting them alight.

I blinked to clear my eyes and glanced at Corey, his eyes were shut, fist balled at his sides. His face emotionless. I shut my eyes tightly.

"Clear your minds. You both need to be thinking about it at the same time or it won't work properly, focus on nothing else." She said.

I sighed internally. I didn't want to. I wanted to be selfish. Completely selfish and yet not be at all. I couldn't do it. I couldn't. I felt a tear run down my cheek as I gave up trying to fight myself. He was going to hate me but I was hoping that one day... I clenched my fist and decided to link to him even though I knew he wouldn't hear me.

'I'm sorry, Corey.'

*****