It takes me a minute to snap out of the shock of seeing Jesse with wolf features. He looked as if he barely had any control over himself, and that is the only thing keeping me from being upset from him running away. To not have control over oneself is one of the worst feelings. Though, Jesse must be suffering even more than I did. While it had been the Warriors who had been in control of me, Jesse does not even have the ability to control his own body.

After a few minutes of sitting on the warm rock, my eyes still fixed in the direction that Jesse ran, I force myself to stand up. It takes a little bit of struggling and interesting maneuvering, but eventually, I am able to push myself to my feet.

Too many thoughts are running through my mind right now, fighting for dominance. The one thing that is more prominent than all the ones, though, is how worried I am for my mate. Things start to make a little more sense now, like why he has been behaving the way he has.

Jesse has always been a stubborn ass, never asking for help when he needs it. I can remember the time a few years ago when he got stuck on the roof because my older brother, Levi, decided to play a prank on him. He stood up there for five hours, refusing to beg Levi to allow him to get down. Eventually, Alexis had to put the ladder back up and drag him back down, not listening to his arguments about how he could get down by himself.

A brief smile flashes across my face when I think about our life before this goddamn apocalypse. Back then, my biggest problems had been getting my mate to notice me. Now, though, there are so many more problems.

My hand gravitates towards my stomach on its own, resting on the small bump. There still isn't much there, only looking as if I had a big breakfast, but I know the real reason behind the small pouch, and now Jesse does too.

My heart skips a beat when the instant that I had told Jesse about the baby runs through my mind. He hadn't seemed upset with me. In fact, before the fear took over his face, I could have sworn I saw a bit a happiness. It is hard to know what Jesse is thinking, though, the way he is always so reserved about everything.

But now, everything inside me feels like one big knot, all my emotions tangled together so tightly that it is hard to decipher each one.

Before I can stop myself, I start to walk in the direction that Jesse ran, knowing that by the time I get there, he would have enough time to calm down. Then, I can finally get him to tell me what is going on with him. Maybe after he tells me, we can figure a solution out together.

My feet are beginning to ache by the time I finally start to worry about Jesse's whereabouts. I have been walking for probably a little over half an hour, but I can see no sign of my mate. Looking around, I try to take in my exact whereabouts. My eyes widen slightly in shock when I see that I have managed to walk all the way to the fence line but still no sign of Jesse.

Something inside me clenches, my worry starting to grow with every passing minute that I don't catch a glimpse of him. My heart beating rapidly, I rub at my stomach in a calming motion, a habit that I seemed to have taken up ever since my bump appeared.

"Jesse?" I call out, my voice shaking slightly.

There is no response, only the chirps of the birds in the trees and the leaves rustling in the summer breeze. Walking towards the fence, I touch the warm wood, hoping that getting some contact with the material will maybe give me some insight on the location of Jesse. But nothing happens once I lay my fingers on the surface of the scarred fence. Shaking my head, I rip my hand away from the wood in frustration. What the hell was I expecting the wood to do? Whisper to me what direction I should go?

The blame for my sudden bout of lunacy is going to be blamed on my pregnancy hormones, and no one is going to find out about this.

Cocking my head to the side, I hear what sounds like footsteps coming towards me. My heart gallops in excitement, and I don't hesitate to walk towards the approaching person, knowing that they have to be Jesse.

Except they aren't. My feet falter as my eyes take in the person in front of me, the person who is most decidedly not my mate.

Alpha Seren closes the distance between us, laying a comforting hand on my trembling shoulder. I hadn't even realized that I was shaking, but the feeling of contact seems to ground me a little bit.

"Micah, what are you doing all the way out here?" the Alpha asks, worry etched onto his face. "And you're shaking, is everything alright?"

It takes a minute for me to process his words, my mind still focused on finding Jesse. "I'm fine," I say, my voice not coming out as strong as I hoped. Looking up at the alpha, I realize that if he is out here, he may have seen Jesse. After all, Jesse may have run a different route than the one I followed, and Alpha Seren may have come from a different direction than where I was standing. There is a chance that he may have seen my wayward mate.

"Have you seen Jesse?" The question slips out before I can stop it, but once it is out in the air, I look up at Alpha Seren.

His brows crease slightly, but that is the only indication he gives that he heard my question. It is enough though because that little slip in his expression tells me all I need to know. He knows where my mate is.

I pull myself slightly away from him, trying to gain some distance so I can get a better read on him. "You do know where he is, don't you?"

Alpha Seren doesn't say anything for a while, but I stay still the entire time, not giving into the desire I have to fidget. "Yes, I do," he eventually says, meeting my gaze head on.

"Well, where is he? I need to see that he is okay and actually talk to him about what the hell is going on."

Alpha Seren takes a deep breath before letting out a long sigh, mumbling something under his breath before looking back over at me. "That won't be possible for a while."

My heart stutters in my chest at his words. "What do you mean?" I force myself to say past the lump in my throat.

"He isn't here anymore."

It feels as if someone has reached into my chest and ripped out my heart. An ache starts to spread across my body and before I know it, I am falling. Someone catches me before I can fall, cradling me in their arms.

"Micah, he isn't dead, he just isn't on pack lands at the moment, and most likely won't be for a while."

His words barely register, but when they do, it still makes no difference. My mate is still gone. Left me when I need him the most. This isn't the Jesse I have known my entire life, the one who never ran from a problem, instead who stubbornly took it head on.

Alpha Seren lets out another sigh before he starts walking, the rocking motion making my stomach turn.

"Did Jesse ever tell you what was going on with him?" Alpha Seren asks. When I don't respond, he takes that as an answer. "I didn't think so. That beta is one of the most stubborn wolves I have ever known, maybe even more so than my mate, and that is saying something.

"Anyways, he came to me a few days ago, asking for my help about what is going on with him, and since he isn't here to tell you and will be gone for the foreseeable future, I'll let you in on the beta's health."

My ears perk up at his words, desperate to know what was bad enough to drive my mate away. Usually, I hate hearing someone else's business from a different person, but I will admit that in this instance, I am willing to overlook my morals.

The Alpha continues talking after a second, cutting off the rest of my thoughts. "Jesse is losing control of his wolf, something that is very rare, seeing as our wolves are more in spirit than physically a part of us. His wolf is becoming desperate to bond with his mate, and the longer Jesse goes without completing the bonding process, the stronger his wolf has become."

This makes me blink open my eyes, my brows crinkling in confusion. "What are you talking about? Jesse doesn't want to be tied to me in that way."

Alpha Seren shakes his head slightly, his face one of contemplation. "I wouldn't say that exactly." I open my mouth to respond, but Alpha Seren talks over what ever I was about to say. "From what I understood, he didn't want to push you into something you may not really want. He wanted you to make the decision for yourself, not because of what your own wolf spirit was telling you. But he has been waiting too long, and the both of you are too stubborn to realize what is going on between you. Now, his wolf has decided to try and force the mating, so it has been becoming stronger."

"Why wouldn't he tell me about this? We could have done something to stop his wolf," I croak, my voice as unsteady as the rest of me.

"The only way to appease his wolf would be for the two of you to complete the bonding process, exchanging bites."

"We could have done that! I have no problem being mated with him, he has always been the martyr, saying that he knows what is best for the both of us, and now it is hurting him."

Alpha Seren's brow crinkles even more as he thinks. "Jesse seemed like he wanted you guys to be together because you actually wanted to be in a relationship, not because of the mate bond. A little strange for a wolf, but I respect him wanting to test the waters before completing the bond instead of jumping in full force."

"I do want a real relationship with that stubborn ass. He was always pushing me away, saying that I was too young to be with him."

"Have you always wanted to be with him, Micah, as a mate? Or have you even thought about just being together because you wanted to be with each other, despite the fact that you have a mate bond?"

"Of course I would want to be with him without the mate bond," the anger leaves my words though when I think about us when we were younger, how I was always following Jesse around because I knew instinctively that we belonged together, that our souls were two halves of a whole. But I was always so caught up with the idea of us being mates, how we are destined to be together by fate. I always thought we would soul bond and then do the actual bonding afterward. That is how most wolves do it. Most of the time, people barely even know their mates before they soul bond with them, trusting for their relationship to develop once they are stuck together.

But that isn't what Jesse wants, according to Alpha Seren. Now that I think more heavily on the issue, I should have known that Jesse would want to go against the norms of wolf society. He always has to be the one questioning the reasoning behind everything, curious about the hows and whys of every issue, instead of just following along with what everyone else was doing.

"He didn't even give us a chance, though," I whisper, my heart sinking in my chest.

"I don't have an answer for why he kept his distance for so long, but I would guess that it had something to do with how you were both stuck in the infatuation stage for so long that he didn't quite know when he shifted to love. He probably thought you were still stuck and was waiting for you to move past it, as well."

"But why would he just leave?" And that question has been burning in my mind ever since Alpha Seren told me about Jesse's departure. I know that he was losing control of his wolf, but we could have done something here, on pack lands. It doesn't make any sense for him to go out in a world that has only become more dangerous with time.

"Like I said, he is losing control of his wolf. It wants him to bond and it will take him over if it feels it needs to in order to mate with you. If he were to even attempt to bond with you when his wolf is this riled up and close to the surface, there is a very good chance that he would kill you on accident. He has to be away for a while in order to get his wolf back into spirit form before coming back. That way, when you guys actually communicate properly, instead of acting like a bunch of angsty teenagers, the two of you can exchange mating bites without the threat of one of you being killed."

We both stay silent after that, and I am grateful. Every part of me feels exhausted like there is a heavy blanket sitting on top of me, and all I want to do is sleep. The fact that Jesse is out there, all alone, is enough to cause a surge of panic to run through me. Being outside of these lands is dangerous. So many terrifying creatures out there: infected, werewolves, claistes, and now humans. Who knows what Jesse may encounter, and with a combination of curiosity and stubbornness, I don't trust him to not get into any trouble.

Alpha Seren is just climbing the porch steps when I mumble, "He better come back."

The alpha shifts me around in order to open the front door and then closes it behind us once we are inside. "He isn't alone, so with the combination of both him and his sister, I don't have any doubt that they will make it back."

Footsteps run down the hallways, and soon enough, I hear a worried Taylor and Liam asking Alpha Seren what is wrong. He explains to them what happened while following them up to my room. After setting me down onto my mattress, Alpha Seren leaves me and the other omegas alone.

My shoes are gently eased off my feet, as well as my jeans, leaving me in just my baggy t-shirt and boxer briefs. The bed dips on either side of me, and then arms are wrapping around my body.

"Oh Micah," Liam says, his voice soft, "it will be alright. Jesse will make it back and then you two can work this out."

Taylor squeezes my side. "You just have to keep yourself and the baby healthy, that way Jesse has something to come home for. I have no doubt in my mind that once he comes back, you two will be able to work things out."

Cracking open my eyes, I see Taylor watching me, the worry clear in his eyes. "Do you really think we can work this out? We have both been through so much, how can we possibly fix things?"

"Because now you have someone who will need both of you." Liam's hand brushes against my stomach before moving back up to my chest. "And with how stubborn the both of you are combined with how much you clearly love each other, there is no way this couldn't work itself out."

"You just have to keep moving forward, and both of you will eventually get where you need to be," Taylor says. "And that is how you will heal from all the shit the world has thrown at you."

"You'll heal because it is fate for you guys to end up together. You two are two pieces of one soul, and eventually, what is broken will be fixed."

"Fate will heal me?" I question, the dubiousness clear in my voice.

Liam laughs while Taylor cracks a smile.

"Well fate did decide for me to be with the twins, even when I didn't think we were even a possibility, and even with all of our differences, our relationship is one of the best things in my life." The happiness shines clear in Liam's voice, making some of my doubt melt away.

"And even though I was soul paired with Zalo, I felt more of a pull for Tate, and love him more than I could ever imagine. It was fate for me to not be with Zalo, despite being mates, and instead, I got pulled towards Tate. He was like a lure, pulling me in, so you could say it was fate who attracted me to Tate in the first place."

"So you will heal, Micah. You just have to stay strong," Liam whispers. "Everything will work out."