These last few days have been horrible. My eyes are barely managing to stay open throughout the day, and I can always feel Tate's worried eyes on me. I know he has been watching me more than usual lately. The urge to just dive back into his arms and feel him kiss me is stronger than before. My anger at him is slowly fading, and I know that I have been ridiculous these past two weeks.

It was almost as if I couldn't help myself. The weird feeling inside me that pushes me to be close to Zalo has been driving me up the walls crazy and the pain has been unbearable. So much so that I decided that I had to do something about it, and I know my decision has been hurting Tate. Every time I am near him, I can see the hurt on his face. My heart feels like it is being pulled in two whenever I see his face fall, and I know that I need to get over myself. Especially since he is leaving soon.

Tomorrow.

My face scrunches in displeasure when I think about him not being here with me, instead out there with all the monsters of the world. A knock on the bedroom door draws me out of my musings.

Hopeful that my thoughts had somehow made Tate appear, I call out. "Come in."

The door opens up just enough for the knocker to come in, and all of my hopefulness falls away. It's Zalo. He limps in using a cane that Jesse had made for him out of a fallen tree branch. He's been using it now for the last two weeks or so, and honestly, I find it a little bit irritating that I can no longer escape from him just by going up the stairs.

"Hey," he says, giving me a wide smile.

I give him a tight one back. "Hi."

The feeling inside of me pushes me to move closer to him, but it is different this time. The feeling isn't as strong, and it's as if something is holding it back. Whatever it is, I'm grateful for it, and this realization causes my tight smile to turn into a more genuine one.

Zalo must think that my smile is because of him because he takes a few steps towards me. Well limps. Same thing. "What are you doing up here all alone? Liam just finished up lunch and has been calling your name for the last five minutes."

Wow. I had been so deep in my thoughts that I had not even heard Liam calling for me. My gaze leaves the alpha to instead look out on the yard. It's the height of summer right now, meaning most of the wildflowers out there are in full bloom. A source of beauty during a time of sadness. "Just thinking about some stuff."

"Care to share?" His voice comes from right behind me.

Startled, I whip around to see him standing less than a foot away from me. I try to take a step back, but I am met with the window against my back. Zalo follows the movement anyway, effectively closing the remaining space between us.

"Not really, no." The conflicting emotions in me flare up again. This time, the feeling to be close to Zalo is weak, greatly overpowered by a draw to be near Tate. Having Zalo this close to me makes shivers run across the surface of my skin and not the good ones.

"That's alright, you don't have to tell me." He reaches a palm up to cup my cheek, and I am too slow to pull away before he is doing the same with my other cheek. His cane clatters to the floor as he traps me between the window and his body. "I've been wanting to do something for a while now."

Before I can respond, Zalo presses his lips to mine. Shocked, it takes me a minute to register that he is kissing me. His tongue tries to gain entrance into my mouth, but I keep my lips tightly shut. His hands on either side of my face make it impossible for me to escape, no matter how hard I try.

A wounded sound comes from the doorway. Finally, Zalo lets go of me, and I roughly shove him away, glaring at him the entire time before looking over at the door. The very open door with a very distraught looking Tate.

"I-I just came to see what was taking so long. L-lunch is ready." Tears spill over his shining eyes and trail down his face.

Something inside of me clenches so tightly that it is difficult for me to say his name. It ends up coming out more like a gasp as if someone has punched me. "Tate..."

He doesn't say anything, instead, he turns around and walks away, but not before I see the vast amount of hurt on his face.

"Tate, wait!" I call out, running over to where he was standing before.

Zalo's hand shoots out to grasp onto my wrist. "Taylor, maybe you should just let him go."

My eyes harden into a glare when I turn around to look at him. "You knew he was there, didn't you?"

He doesn't answer me, instead flicking his gaze around the room, refusing to meet my eyes. That's all the answer I need from him.

I rip my arm away from him, my glare never lessening. "Fuck you."

"Taylor," he says, trying to grab onto me again, but I slip out of his reach. He almost falls flat on his face when he overreaches in his effort to grab hold of me, and I barely restrain the dark chuckle wanting to slip out of my mouth.

"I don't need any more domineering and narcissistic alphas in my life. I've already dealt with too many of those in my lifetime." I move away from him, but just as I am about to walk through the door, I turn around one last time. "You ruined the most important thing in my life right now, and you have been trying to do this ever since you got here. Too bad I am just seeing it now."

"I-I don't know wh-" he tries to stutter out an excuse, but I cut him off.

"Enough, Zalo. Fuck off."

With that parting remark, I run out of the room and try to see where Tate had gone. I decide to try the kitchen first, seeing as that is where we were supposed to go in the first place. Liam looks up at me when I come charging down the stairs and into the room.

"Taylor?" he asks hesitantly. He puts down the plates he was holding and makes his way over to me, reaching out a hand to brush my hair out of my eyes. "What's going on? Are you alright?"

"I'm a horrible person," I say, hiccupping at the end. The tears that I had been trying to hold back while I was telling Zalo off are starting to fall.

Liam shushes me, reaching up a hand to wipe away my tears. "Don't say that, Taylor. We all know that isn't true."

"It is, though." Liam opens his mouth to say something else, but I interrupt him before he can try and rebuke me again. "Did Tate come down here, after he came up to get me?"

"No," Liam says, dropping his hand away from his face. "He didn't come back downstairs. Why?"

I don't bother to answer him, instead moving back over to the stairs and climbing the miserable things. Liam calls after me, but I don't slow down, not until I reach the top and bypass my now empty room.

Low murmuring coming from the other side of a closed door makes me halt in front of the room a few doors down from mine. With soft steps, I walk over to the room that Micah is staying in. I press my ear against the wooden door and try to make out the softly spoken words.

"I-I saw them t-together," I hear Tate say through hiccupping sobs. My heart breaks even more than before at his words and his crying. More tears slip down my face when I think about how much he must be hurting. "They w-were kissing."

"I'm going to kick his stubborn ass," Micah says, the anger clear in his voice. I didn't even know the two of them were close. That goes to show how much I have been paying attention to the man I love over the past two weeks.

"N-no, don't hurt him. B-besides he would p-probably kick your ass." Tate lets out a weak chuckle, but then the sobs start up again.

I can't take it anymore; I have to talk to him and tell him the truth. Raising my fist, I bring it down on the door, only stopping in my knocking when the door swings open.

Micah looks up at me, his blue eyes hard as they meet mine. "What do you want?"

"I-I just want to talk to him."

"Haven't you hurt him enough?" My lip trembles at his words and I can't keep his gaze, instead staring at my feet.

Micah lets out a long sigh before the door swings open a little wider. Looking up at him, I can see some of his anger slipping away. "You two talk, but I swear to god, Taylor, if you hurt him even more..."

"I won't stop you if I manage to hurt him again," I say, eyes not wavering from his, which narrow as he looks me over. After what feels like a full minute, he nods his head before stepping away from the door and letting me walk in before closing it behind him as he leaves.

Neither of us says anything for a while, me standing by the door and Tate sitting on the bed. Both of us crying and unwilling to look at each other.

Finally, after what feels like forever, Tate whispers, "I understand why you did it."

That causes my head to snap up, and I am met with the bloodshot eyes of Tate. He has tear tracks down his face, looking out of place next to his dark beard.

Sniffling, I take a few hesitant steps forward until I am at the edge of the bed. Only a few feet separate the two of us, but I am too much of a coward to close the remaining distance. "Whatever you're thinking, you're probably wrong."

Tate shakes his head, dropping his gaze away from mine and looking at where his hands are clasped on top of his lap. "No. I could tell that you have been pulling away, and I know it's because I am leaving tomorrow." He reaches a hand up to wipe his eyes. "I just never thought..."

Before I can help it, a sob slips out, and Tate's head snaps up. "It's all my fault." Tate lets out a wounded sound, and I hurry to correct what he is thinking. "No, not the kiss. That was all that asshole Zalo. But everything else, that was all me."

Tate has a confused look on his face, and I can tell that he has a lot of questions floating through his wonderful mind right now, he just doesn't know how to phrase them. I decide to put him out of his misery and just explain as best as I can.

"I'll just start from the beginning. The very best place to start." Tate cracks a small smile at my Sound of Music reference, but it doesn't stay for long. "When you guys came back from searching for the claiste, something changed. It's hard to explain because I don't really understand it myself."

I gesture at my chest as I try to put my thoughts into words. "This... feeling in my chest started up when you guys got back. It took me a little while to pinpoint the source, and for whatever reason, it seems to be Zalo." Tate tenses up when I say his name. I lift my hand to place it over his in comfort but think better of it and let it drop back down by my side.

"It was like a string attached to something inside of me was pushing me towards him. I hate the feeling, and no matter what I did, I couldn't get it to stop. It was getting overbearing, but I managed to ignore it as best I could."

"Then that whole thing with you being chosen to leave-" my heart clenches tightly "-made that draw to be close to the alpha stronger." I look up at Tate, my tears flowing faster. "It was becoming so strong, Tate. It was starting to hurt me. My chest felt like it was going to collapse in on its self. At times it was just so hard to even breathe. I didn't know what to do."

Some of the sadness in Tate's face is replaced with the softness I am used to seeing. "Why didn't you tell me that you were hurting?"

Shaking my head, I try to look away from him, but he keeps his palm on my face, gently urging me to not hide away. That's the difference between him and Zalo. Tate has always been gentle, while Zalo has always been too much. "I was so angry at you." My lip trembles as I try to keep talking. "I just decided to give into the feeling. It was becoming too much."

"That's why you have been so close to Zalo." He doesn't phrase it as a question, but I nod my head anyway. "Then why did you kiss him?"

"I didn't kiss him, but I'm not there yet." He waves his hand for me to continue. "You know that feeling?" He nods his head "Well, for whatever reason, it started to lessen over the past couple of days. It's not nearly as strong anymore, almost just a brief brush against my chest, not the aching pull it used to be."

"What changed?" he asks, his eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

"I have no idea, but I am so happy that it is practically gone. And then, all the hurt I had been causing you came flooding back, and I have been too much of a coward to say anything."

Tate moves his hand from my cheek to my hand, pulling me down onto the mattress next to him. His hand doesn't leave mine as he waits for me to continue talking. "I was going to talk to you tonight, but then Zalo cornered me. He backed me up against the wall and caged me in. I tried to pull away from him, but he wouldn't let me. When he kissed me," my lips turn up in disgust, and I can see Tate's doing the same, "I tried to get him away from me, but his hold was too strong. It was only after I heard you that he lessened his grip so that I could push him away."

"He forced himself on you?" Tate all but growls. The sadness that had once been on his face is replaced by stark anger. The hand that isn't holding mine clenches on his lap and his blue eyes turn steely.

Nodding my head, I try to keep myself from letting any more tears slip out, but it is useless.

"After everything you have been through, that bastard would force you into something you didn't want?" His voice becomes deeper, and he is practically spitting out each word. "I'm going to kick his ass."

"Tate..."

"He hurt you. No one is allowed to hurt you." Hope blooms in my chest when he says that. He wouldn't be saying that unless he still cared about me.

"I am so sorry about everything, Tate. I wouldn't blame you if you never wanted to see me again. But, I love you so much. You deserved to know the truth about what was going on with me."

Tate's eyes turn soft again when he looks at me. Before I know it, I am being wrapped up in his arms, my cheek resting against his chest as his hand rubs up and down my back.

"Everything you said to me makes it sound like it practically wasn't your choice. Every couple has fights, Taylor, but we have to able to work through them." He places a kiss on my hair. "The thing that hurt the most, honestly, was you ignoring me."

I open my mouth to apologize again, but Tate just talks over me. "But, now I understand why. We'll get over this hurdle, lovely. I think it just took us both some time to accept that we are going to be away from each other and that we can't change that."

"You really forgive me?" I ask, wrapping my own arms around Tate and pushing us both so that we are lying down on the bed.

"Yes. Do you forgive me for agreeing with Ethan and Erik without talking to you?"

"Of course I do, especially after how much of a dick I have been these past two weeks."

Tate lets out a brief laugh. "Would you forgive me if I beat up Zalo?"

A laugh bubbles out of my chest before I can help myself. It feels weird after all the crying. "We both know that you wouldn't beat him up. You would just sick Ethan on him."

"Hey! I could beat him up if I wanted to," Tate says. Looking up, I see that his bottom lip is sticking out in a pout.

"Sure, lovely, you keep telling yourself that." I pat him on his chest, giving him a mock sincere face.

A knock on the door startles both of us. "Can I have my room back yet?" Micah calls to us. "Please don't have makeup sex in my bed."

"Oh, makeup sex. That sounds wonderful right now," I say. Tate's chest vibrates from his laughter.

Micah swings open the door, his hands on his hips as he glares at us. "Do the do in your own bed, now shoo."

Tate pulls me up out of bed after him, keeping his arm around my waist as he guides us out of the room. He gives Micah a pat on the back when we pass the narrow eyed omega. As soon as we make it back to our own room and the door closes behind us, I back Tate up against the bed. "I've never had makeup sex before."

Tate lets out a soft hum, a smile spreading across his face as I rid myself of clothes. "Let me change that for you."