It had been several dragged-out days since Kai spoke those alarming words in Tee's ears when they were making love. Until now, Tee couldn't come up with the right answer to his mate's whispers. Countless times, he forced himself to forget about it. It lingered far too often at the back of his mind, though, almost eating him from the inside out every time Kai's welcoming arms were wrapped over him. He tried coming up with many answers, too. Had his alpha had a previous lover? A woman, perhaps? Had his alpha slaughtered this woman lover?

So many senseless thoughts, but none of them seemed remotely realistic since Kai favored only men. One idea stuck out to him though, and although he tried — oh how he tried — to rid it from his mind, it returned as haunting dreams when he slept at night. His grandmother.

The old woman visited him in his dreams. She wasn't smiling at him with warm dimples, or cheerful eyes though. She seemed rather gloomy. Always hunched over. Always weeping. There always seemed to be darkness lingering over her, too. And whenever she opened her mouth to speak to him, she disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Her words were left unspoken time after time.

Tee knew his grandmother wanted to tell him she'd been murdered — but he knew this already! He knew someone, an alpha, had slowly poisoned her. And now... An unnerving voice inside of him screamed out to him every time he caught Kai's wicked watchful eyes on him: It was Kai's doing, the words were hissed angrily into his ears.

It was so terribly wrong to accuse his alpha of murder. Tee couldn't think of any other logical thought for Kai's whispers though. And although he prayed it might've been mere speculation, his heart clenched with a growing pain whenever Kai' gentle fingers brushed against his flat stomach, secretly hoping this time Tee was carrying their child.

____________________________________

Kai crept up behind Tee as the omega tended to the garden herbs. His footsteps were quiet and his eyes were devious, ready to pounce on Tee — something he enjoyed doing. When he pressed his warm lips against his omega's scent gland from behind, Tee flinched back, nearly recoiling against himself as if the mere touch of Kai scorned him. It made Kai's lips twitch into a snarl and he gritted his teeth with force while he buried his face in Tee's neck to hide his growing irritation. His eyes flashed black a couple of times before turning to normal, too. "What is wrong?" he questioned, grabbing Tee's waist in a punishing squeeze.

"I..." Tee swallowed thickly, his throat bulging, and Kai resisted the urge to capture it between his teeth. Perhaps suckle on it until it burned red. Although tense, the omega let himself melt against Kai's embrace before saying, "You scared me... I didn't notice you came back... Did you catch anything?"

"A baby deer," Kai whispered, pressing his growing cock against his omega's backside while his irritation slowly morphed into a growing hungry lust. "And I picked you some berries... You can paint your lips red with them if you want. I'll pick you some more, mm?"

Tee squirmed out of Kai's grasp before turning around to look at him. Kai took a step back to get a better look at his omega. Was that fear in Tee's eyes? No. It couldn't be. Right? Of course not. Tee could never be scared of him — not anymore. Tee loved —

"You should go inside and get cleaned up," Tee said with a tremble in his voice. "I have... I have things to do."

Kai furrowed his eyebrows as he watched Tee quickly turn his back to him and move to the garden's gate, leaving a trail of bitterness behind.

For the past couple of days, Kai had sensed something had changed in Tee. The omega smelt bitter, like burnt coal, making the air taste like ash every time Kai opened his mouth to speak. He always seemed tense, too. Always jumped at any quiet noise. His eyes seemed to wander — always searching through the shadows, fearing something might jump out to snatch him whole. Kai had known omegas were strange creatures. However, Tee seemed more so. And there always seemed to be some words lingering on his tongue, ready to tumble out at any given moment.

Kai had always been patient about it; he was a patient man. He wanted to wait for Tee to speak his mind, to talk about what must've been bothering him. Yet, each time when it never happened, when Tee chose he tightened his lips and left, the wolf's instincts clawed inside Kai; begging to burst out of his chest and force this prey into submission — to make him finally say what he'd been meaning to...

It was the wrong thing to do though.

Perhaps if Kai had been the same wolf he'd once been before he'd met Tee, he would've done exactly that — he would've taken what he wanted without a care in the world. However, since the omega came into his miserable life, and had showered him with this abundance of welcoming warmth, the mere thought of harming so much as a strand of hair on Tee's head made him want to rip out his canines and his eyes and his claws if he must to protect his precious omega. Still...

He needed to know why Tee had been so troubled.

"Tee..." he trailed off, marching after his omega inside the cottage. "We need to talk. Something's wrong — what's wrong?"

Their cottage was small. Having only two bedrooms parted by layers of tree branches, everything else lay open. He found Tee sitting on the floorboards in an area where the omega's grandmother used to stitch for them. Wanting to honor the old witch, Tee had been trying to stitch, too. And although he wasn't any good at it, he never gave up.

Tee had his back turned, ignoring Kai — or he hadn't heard him — while he fidgeted with a piece of red string, trying to stitch up a nasty tear he caused a week back to the red cloak his dead grandmother gifted him.

Kai stepped in front of the omega. "Tee, I said we need to talk."

Tee looked up at him with a stiff, unreadable face. "What do you want to talk about?"

"There's something wrong," Kai repeated. "Something's bothering you — tell me what's wrong?"

After a long pause, Tee sighed. "Kai, please... There's nothing wrong."

"That's not true," Tee bit out in a whispered tone. He knew when Tee was lying — he knew everything about the omega. He knew all of Tee's scents and what they meant. He knew Tee's smiles and his frowns: whether they were fake or genuine. He knew so much more, too. He just couldn't figure out what was wrong this time.

"I'm just really tired," Tee answered with a deep sigh, still refusing to look Kai in the eyes. "That's nothing for you to be concerned about. I —"

"Stop saying there's nothing wrong!" Kai growled.

Before he could think straight, he snatched Tee's wrist and yanked the omega to his feet. His fingers burned into Tee's wrist like fire.

Taken aback, Tee gasped at Kai's raised voice and he recoiled in on himself. He looked scared; like a frightened prey, or a newborn calf, trembling on his legs while he searched Kai's face with glassy eyes for something. Perhaps humanity, or mercy... Or both.

"Kai," Tee's voice wobbled with confusion as he tugged on his wrist, trying to pry it off Kai's grip. "You're hurting me."

"You're lying to me," Kai gritted his teeth, his fingers digging deeper into the omega's flesh with a passion. When Tee winced from the ache, he refused to relent. Stupid omega. Why was it so hard for Tee to see he just wanted to know what was wrong?! " I know you are. So you either tell me what's wrong... Tell me what's wrong, or I'm going to ... You remembered the night when I used my alpha's command on you?... I can do it again — so just tell me dammit ."

Tee's breath hitched, and he stopped struggling and stopped trying to remove the alpha's grip. He just stared with absolute blankness — absolute disbelief. "Kai?" he said in the softest of voices.

So innocent, so pure and loving...

Immediately Kai's eyes swelled with realization at what he had done, and he quickly released his grip on Tee's wrist before taking a step back. Yet, Tee 's frightened eyes continue to stare into his wolfish ones as if he might've been some feral, strange alpha. A monster, perhaps.

"Tee," Kai said, barely above a whisper. He didn't mean to raise his voice. He didn't mean to hurt Tee, either. Why couldn't Tee see he just wanted to know what was wrong?! "Tee —"

Tee sounded broken and wounded when he said; "You promised you wouldn't."

Quickly Kai nodded, stretching an arm to touch Tee. "I... I didn't mean to — I wouldn't, okay?" his voice trembled. "Just believe me —"

"I don't believe you!" Tee yelled, backing away before Kai could touch him.

Kai didn't realize tears were streaming down his face until he tasted the salty liquid when he opened his mouth to plead; "I'm sorry. Baby... You know I would never hurt you? Don't you know this? Tee?"

Tee's eyes bore with anger while tears pooled in them, threatening to spill. "Leave me alone," he declared.

Kai tried to touch him one more time. "Baby?"

"Just stay away from me! I don't — I don't want you to come near me."

What do you mean? Kai wanted to ask. And though the words wouldn't leave his mouth, he tried; "Tee —"

Tee stomped a foot on the floor. "Stay away!"

"Okay Tee, okay." Kai took a step back. "I'm sorry."

The room fell silent afterward... So silent, Kai could hear Tee's heartbeat. It sounded wounded... Kai craved to touch it, comfort it.

Tee's shoulders were hunched over in defeat. "I just want to be alone for a while," he said in a calm voice after some time passed. "Can you please just leave me alone? I need... Space. Please."

Carefully, Kai nodded. He could do that — if Tee needed space, he could give him that. "Anything," he said with great difficulty. "Anything for you."

"Alright," Tee sighed deeply... And he just left.

With hooded eyes, Kai watched as Tee simply walked off. He felt empty, suffocating.

Tee needs space, the beast inside of Kai tormented him as he watched his treasure walk away into their shared bedroom and closed the door, locking Kai out. Why does he want space? The beast went on... He wants time to think — he wants to leave you Kai! He WILL leave you.

"No," Kai mumbled out, frantically nodding, trying to rid those false thoughts. You are wrong, he inwardly snapped back to the beast inside his mind. It wasn't true. Tee would never leave him. Tee loved him. They fought — that was all. Every couple fought — Tee would never leave him. Tee loved him with his whole heart and his whole soul. Tee loved him.

LIES, the breast snarled in retaliation.

Like a flick of a switch, Kai's eyes morphed to blackness, desperately wanting to break the room door down and force Tee into obedience. However, before he could do something so wrong — something so sinister to his precious omega, he sank his canines into his arm until he tasted his own blood, and stormed outside; racing for the woods.

He needed to stop the madness from taking over. He needed to rid the beast of his thoughts, too. And although the beast raged at him to return to Tee, he raced into the dark forest, knowing just the place to go...

Home.

His old home... The place in the dark forest where he'd left abandoned for Tee. A giant wooden structured frame house that towered seven times over the tiny cottage where he now lived. Only, unlike the blossoming heat of the shared cottage, it housed darkness. Nothingness. Loneliness. It was the perfect place to return to calm his wandering thoughts. The place had always quenched the beast's thirst... And hopefully, after so many moons of absence, it would do the same. Hopefully, before the sun peeked come morning; he might turn sane again.