When I came upon the hallway, I could see the office doors ahead of me. It took absolutely every part of my body to push myself forwards. I didn't stop walking or slow down, because I knew that I would have never opened that door if I had hesitated for one second.

Using as quick movements as possible, I rushed myself inside the office and found it empty. No wolf, no Chase, in sight.

However, there the office phone was; sitting right on the large desk. That was the one thing I needed.

Again, I didn't let myself take the time to hesitate. I couldn't hesitate for one moment. It was like I shut off my thoughts completely as I briskly walked around the desk and sat on the office chair. As soon as I was sitting, I was reaching for the phone. However, the masculine sent that hit me had me stuttering in my movements.

The chair smelled so much like him. It was just plain intoxicating. It made me shiver just intaking the scent and I had to rub my eyes and try to refocus. My body started to get hot again and I felt another need to get to my mate run through me.

My mate? No...just another man. Just another wolf.

Even my thoughts sounded unsure, which I hated. I wanted to be able to be sure of myself again. I doubted too much lately.

Just make the call!

I snatched up the phone in one hand and hovered my fingers over the buttons. It made a small beep in my ear every time I pressed a number. Towards the last four digits, I began to get nervous.

What if Kane could tell I was lying? He would call me out on it and immediately demand to know where I was. He would find me, I had no doubt about that. He would destroy every last wolf.

"What are you doing?"

My head snapped up to see Chase standing in the doorway. He didn't look angry, but he did look weary. I couldn't tell what he was feeling or if he would yell at me.

I felt like a deer in the headlights.

"Macey, why are you in here?" Chase had closed the door now and was looking at me expectantly.

You are supposed to be strong. You are supposed to be 'in love' with him.

I put on a shy smile and placed the phone back down. "I wanted to call my brother."

"Are you sure that's safe, Macey? I understand you don't want him to worry, but I will not risk my pack getting hurt by anyone." The tone of his voice was cautious as he walked closer to me.

I was about to say something but he suddenly stopped walking and closed his eyes. "Macey, perhaps you should leave."

"I want to call him. I promise, I will only tell him that I am fine. That it was a false alarm and that-"

"False alarm? What was a false alarm?"

A deer in the headlights, once again.

"Macey, tell me what you mean. If my pack is in danger, I deserve to know!" The slight anger in his voice didn't quite cover all the panic.

The Alpha was not great at hiding his emotions.

Again, I couldn't speak. Guilt was starting to pace in my veins. I had put this pack in danger by sending that signal. I wasn't able to protect and defend myself.

My desperation is going to cost lives if I don't keep Kane away.

"I don't know if he even got it," I started out, wincing when I realized how horrible of an excuse it was. I had no excuse.

I had been trained for that night and I immediately turned into a coward when it happened.

"Got what, Macey?" Chase took just a few powerful strides towards me. I could barely react whenever he snatched the phone away and set it back on the receiver.

At this moment, whenever Chase's disappointed and worried face scowled down on me, I began to realize something. The feeling I got every time I did something wrongful in terms of this pack, and of Chase, a horrible feeling settled over me. I didn't like how it affected me, but continuing to deny it was tiring for everyone involved. I had already accepted that Chase was telling the truth about us being mates, but I was just now taking in that I was in on this as well.

Hurting Chase, in a way, hurt me too. Disappointing him made me feel less than successful in my actions. Putting him and this pack in danger sent guilt and worry throughout my body.

"Macey, whatever is going on in your head right now that you're not letting me know is irrelevant in comparison to the danger that may be on us at the moment," Chase snapped. He grabbed at my arms to haul me off the chair and to my feet. I dodged his grip by childishly pushing against the floor so the chair rolled away. The disbelief on his face had me speaking up quickly.

"It's not irrelevant!" I basically shouted as I quickly stood up in an escape method. I may need to run after I speak my thoughts and sitting wouldn't give me a head start.

"Macey-"

"Chase, I think this is really important and I want to say it before I allow myself to refuse the concept once again." My panic was starting to set in again but I swallowed it down. "I..."

Wolves will never hesitate. They will attack and it will be without mercy. You can't hesitate.

My dad's words rolled through my memory. I swallowed the lump in my throat as Chase tensed up and stepped towards me.

"Macey, just say what you wanted to say," He ordered softly.

"I flooded your bathroom," I rushed out. After the words were out, Chase stood there looking confused. I took that moment to try to walk away as quick as possible. Again, cowardice was taking the best of me.

"No!" Chase quickly grabbed me by my forearms. When his hands touched my skin, my entire body immediately went on high alert. I could practically feel my hormones kick into drive.

"Macey, don't run away again. Say what you want to say. Don't be scared; I know you aren't a coward," Chase rushed out. His eyes became a window straight to his emotions. He was hopeful and nervous and he wasn't going to let this go.

"Please, Macey." The desperation in his voice was overwhelming.

"I feel the sparks when you touch me, like right now. I like them. I feel the guilt at the thought of putting this pack in danger, even if I have always been taught that you were all monsters. I'm terrified that my brother will come with more hunters and attack you. I don't want to be responsible for the death of anyone here."

The room went quiet even if I did say barely anything. But now that I started, I found that I didn't want to hesitate on anything at the time. I was going to say how I had been feeling lately.

"I'm worried about you. I feel guilty for everything I do that in anyway hurts you or any other wolf here. Legitimate fear and confusion is like the only thing I've felt for the past couple of days. Also I'm tired of hesitating over every move I make. I have always been so confident in everything I've done, but you make me hesitate."

Chase still hadn't said a single thing, but he hadn't let go of me either. His hands were still gently gripping my arms, but now his fingers started to move in slow circles.

Once I was done speaking, I was aware of everything. I had spoken really fast and Chase was still staring at me. I had said things that I probably shouldn't have said to a man I practically just met. My hands were clammy. Butterflies were eating at my stomach. I didn't like this feeling at all.

"Please say something because I'm two seconds from backing out again," I warned. A tug in my mind and chest had me wanting to reach out to him and connect in some way.

"I really want to kiss you right now."

His comment had me scowling, even if I did feel like smiling. "Can you take this a little more serious? That was really hard for me to get out."

"I've never been more serious in my life."

Again, I was deathly quiet and achingly still. If I moved, it felt like I would just lose this moment forever. Even if I was terrified, I was starting to like the rush of the moment. The sparks on my skin where he touched me helped with that a lot.

"Please, Macey, let me kiss you. Your heat is still affecting me even if you are not hurting at the moment," Chase pleaded.

His words had my fantasy crashing straight into hell.

"My heat? Is that the only reason you are being so...I don't know!...however you are being right now? I just spilled out my thoughts to you and you want to fuck me because of it?" Rage. Pure rage, but it was mixed in with something else. I was hurt. I was disappointed. Some part of me wanted Chase to say something meaningful back to me, but he had only said that this heat that I was in was turning him on.

I couldn't get a single reassuring word from him, could I?

A growl escaped Chase's lips and he stopped me from pulling away. In fact, he stepped closer, so I was practically on his chest and he had to look down at me. My head was tilted up in order to watch every movement of his face. If he said a word, I wanted to make sure that he didn't lie to me.

"Macey, I have been feeling all of that ever since I met you. Everything you've said, I have been dealing with in ten fold. How hard for me do you think it was to find my mate, only for her to be my packs' largest threat? Most werewolves dream of their mates for their entire life, and I was no acceptation. I didn't care that you wanted to kill me. I still don't. That part of you was created by your father, not you."

Chase's speech lingered in the air. He was breathing a little heavier and his hands had trailed up my arms to massage my biceps. He was very close to me and I wasn't too much shorter than him.

And I couldn't take my eyes off his lips.

"I want you because I adore you. I want you just as much now as I did when I first found you. The heat has very little factor in this," Chase stated. His voice was so calm and soothing.

My mouth and lips were getting dry, making me reflexively lick my lower lip. It only resulted in Chase groaning and pulling me closer. I was now flush against his body.

I could run now. Maybe I could still get to safety.

God, I was tired of my thoughts being so 'hunter mode' all the time. That was all I had known for my whole life, but it was getting tiring. Who was I if I didn't take any risks?

"Please don't run from me, Macey. It sincerely hurts me more than anything I've ever experienced," Chase pleaded in a husky whisper. His face was so close to mine and one of his arms was wrapped around my waist. This was an intimacy that I hadn't had in so long.

This is so much better than anytime with Leo.

"Wait." I tried to pull away, but Chase didn't let me. "Chase, how did you know that I had that thought?"

My mind began racing and I struggled more when he remained quiet. I wanted out of here.

"What thought?" Chase quickly asked. His entire being was tensed up.

"About running. You asked me not to run after I had thought about it."

"Macey, your body language gave it away. I am too used to you wanting to run from me. It has become an instinct for me to assume that is your reaction." His explanation was poised and cautious, making me feel foolish.

What had I been thinking? There wasn't a way for Chase to read my mind, he was only a wolf. Not a superhero. How much more childish could I possibly get?

"Now I have a question," Chase muttered slowly. He frowned and leaned his torso back. We locked eyes.

"Macey, I need to know the truth. Is my pack in danger?"

Back on this horrid topic.

"I don't know. My phone may be getting tracked."

"You mean the phone hidden in the waist band of those sweats?" Chase inquired, making me almost blush at getting caught. "You must have found it when taking more of my clothing to wear."

"Don't get distracted," I snapped, noticing the darkening of Chase's eyes along with a more predatory grip on my body.

"Too late." The mumble was met with an eye roll. "Your phone has been disconnected. I made sure of it when Kane would not stop calling."

"My brother has lost both of his parents. He needs to know that I am okay," I insisted.

"When we find a way to contact him without harming my pack, then you can tell him that you're fine. I will not risk it," Chase pressed back. "There is no reassurance that he will not find a way to track any phone used by me or a pack member."

I understood his caution. I understood his need to protect his pack over my want to contact my brother, but I didn't like it.

"Chase, Kane thinks I'm in danger. The night you attacked my house-"

"We did not attack you!" Chase quickly corrected me.

"Fine. The night you kidnapped me," I scowled, "I sent a signal through my phone. It alerted my group, specifically Kane, that I was possibly in danger and needed help. Kane will go insane until he finds me, or at least until he knows I am safe. I can tell him that I escaped, but that I'm in hiding. I won't give this pack to him, I swear. Chase, I think these wolves mean something to me. I think you mean something to me, and I don't want to put you in danger."

Chase, once again, was still and quiet. He never once loosened his hold on me, and that was my only reassurance.

"Do you really mean that? Macey, I need you to tell the truth right now." So much hope in his voice. "If it's not true, I really need to hear it right now." His hands got tighter around me.

It was entirely true. Every bit of it was, but I was entirely uncomfortable with saying it again. I had actually accepted this 'mate bond' thing and it was hard. It was hard for me to let Chase hold me like this, let alone for me to voice things so casually. Kane had been my regular social contact since Dad died and that got me in a state of keeping my feelings in. This was a whole new world to me.

"Macey?" Chase whispered. He leaned closer and my panic mode began to set in. I was overthinking again, I knew that, but I couldn't get my mind to slow down.

"No. No, stop, I'm not comfortable with this." Again, I was pushing against his chest and trying to get away. "Let go!"

"You're running again?" His voice was laced with disbelief, and anger.

"No! Just let go!" Dad would have cried. He would have cried if I just vanished after that signal, and Kane was so much like Dad.

Chase slowly released me.

The minute I was free, I bolted for the door. I could barely breathe now. The panic only raised tenfold whenever Chase shouted my name and blocked my way out the door.

"Macey, I will regret it the rest of my life if I let you run again. I am tired of all the fucking pain you have caused me and you've finally opened up to me. I'm not going to lose this just because you got scared again." He refused to lose eye contact with me and I refused to turn my back on him.

My heart beat was in overdrive. My mind raced with the possibilities of escape and I forced myself to start to calm down. I couldn't lose it in an enclosed room with a wolf.

"I'm panicking right now," I voiced. For some reason, I clenched my eyes shut but snapped them open a second later. He hadn't moved.

"I want you to calm down, Macey."

"I want to go home," I whispered in the weakest voice I had ever heard myself use. The amount of hurt on Chase's face had tears gathering in my eyes.

"I don't know how I feel right now. I flooded your bathroom earlier. I actually expressed my feelings to a werewolf- of all people!- and I just want a little time to rethink everything," I listed. Chase suddenly got a soft look on his face adorned with a gentle smile.

"Macey, you flooded my bathroom?"

~~~~

I am so behind on updates. I am so behind on school work. And I have no excuse besides

PROCRASTINATION!

Sorry bout that.

THANKS FOR READIN, FOLKS!