I saddled up Tobias and let Brylee ride him around the corral. Well, riding might be an overstatement.

Toby has his head hung, ears back contently and he plods along at a slow walk. He flicks and ear over to me, a brown eye following, as if to tell me this was very degrading to him.

I almost laugh, leaning against the gait with a smile as I watch the golden horse lead Bryn in circles.

Her adorable curls peak out from the white helmet I made her wear, and she flicks the reins, giggling.

I feel a pair of eyes on my back, and I turn, letting my smile drop.

Mark stands in the doorway of the barn, his arms folded with a scowl on his face.

I swallow, bracing myself for what is most likely to come, and I turn back to Bryn, giving her a smile. "Hey, I'll be right back." I tell her. "I gotta go talk to someone. I trust you with him, so don't fall off!" I joke, making her laugh.

"Otaay!" She says, then giggles again and continues to walk along.

As I make my way over to him, his dark eyes rake my body, and I think how strange it is that I would have relished the feeling if I loved him.

I pass by him to pick up a bucket from Del's stall, and I walk to the end of the barn to the hose.

I look out the door on this end, looking to the house. I feel Mark walk up behind me as I fill the water bucket.

"So what, are we not going to talk about this?" He asks, his deep voice sounding angry and hurt.

I watch a piece of hay swirl around with the current of the water as it reaches the brim. I swallow, realizing that I can't stall much longer without overflowing the bucket. I lean over to turn the hose off.

I pick the bucket up and turn, glancing up at Mark as I pass him.

He follow me to Dell's stall, and watches me lean over to set it back on the hook on the inside.

I give him a pat and then sigh before turning around to face Mark.

"Why do you want me to leave?" He asks, unfolding his arms.

I swallow. "I... Don't love you. And... I don't think that we should combine packs any more."

I stares at me. "And why not?"

I narrow my eyes. "Why not what?"

"Why not everything."

"Why don't I love you? It's not like I can help that. My wolf is head over heels, but I'm just not, plain and simple.
Why do I want you to leave? I don't love you and I don't want to combine packs. Why not? Because I find that I don't trust you as much as I thought." ones I start going, I find it all just spills out easily.

He lowers his head and looks into my eyes. "Why don't you trust me?"

Bryn gives a high pitched scream, and I look over, immediately ready to fight for her, but she's only laughing and squealing happily as Toby moves to a slow, plodding trot.

"Answer me Annabelle. Why don't you trust me?"

I look up at him, and shrug. "Because... I kind of find you a little bipolar. At first, your wolf tries to kill me." He seems to flinch at the memory, a grimace coming to his face."And then your all super nice and wanting to get to know me. Like, what the hell?"

He lowers his eyes, his brow furrowing a moment before he looks up at me again. "I... My wolf doesn't love you, but I do. I do love you.I realized that ones I saw you as a human. For some reason, ones I saw you in the hotel... When I was chasing you I wanted to hurt you. I did. Until you turned around and looked at me in the stairwell. It was only from the corner of your eye, but I saw you. You looked at me, and the chase stopped being about killing you, and about finding you.

I wanted to make sure that I could find you again. I wanted to keep you safe after that, after I saw the terror in your eyes, the terror that I put there... Something changed in me. I wanted to be the one to chase all of that away, to protect you. I promised myself I would."

I look up at him, unsure of how his words make me feel.

He keeps his gaze trained on me. "But... If it isn't what you want, then I will give you what you do want."

I lower my eyes, not sure how to respond to him. He loves me enough to let me go. "I-... Sorry." I say eventually.

He gives a sad smile. "Don't be." He leans forward a bit. " so long as I can do one thing first." Then he gives a more quirky smile. "I think you can give me this one thing, after all, you do kind of owe me."

I smile a little at this. "I suppose that's alright."

He looses his smile, trading it in for a serious face as he leans in, so close that our noses touch, and then he slowly but gently kisses me. He wants it to last, and I let him linger a while longer than necessary.

I know that he would like to take it further than that, but he restrains himself, and pulls away.

He sighs and looks down at me. "You really don't love me, do you?"

My kiss must have convinced him the most.

I know he's looking for a hopeful answer, but we both know that the truth isn't that.

I smile sadly. "No. I'm sorry."

He smiles back, his eyes still sad. "Nothing to be sorry about. And you're sure about the no pack combination? I still think that we would be pretty unstoppable."

I shake my head. "Sorry, but I think we're equally awesome with our own packs. But how about alliances? We could still use your help with this little rogue infestation."

He smiles, a real gesture of joy, a rare sight with him. He must really want to have contact with me still. "I would love to assist you're pack." He swoops down and steals a peck on the forehead before heading out of the barn.
"I''ll always be in touch." He says over his shoulder. "You know how to reach me."

"So we're even now?" I call after him, smiling a little.

He laughs, tossing an uncharacteristically playful wink behind his shoulder at me. "We're even."
And with that, he's gone.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Okay guys, so I guess you deserve an explanation for the confusion of the last chapter. Sorry if that threw you off! I'm hoping this chapter cleared some things up.
First off, don't worry Mark fans, he won't be completely out of the picture! But as some people have pointed out for me, I needed to redirect the love away from Mark, as I realize that I led you all on that Zael would be her love... But please, be patient with me! I promise, I will get there! :)
Second off, sorry if any of you are disappointed or confused, so if you have any questions, please, ask in the comments or feel free to message me personally, I don't bite, promise... Well, not that hard anyways... Also, a big thank you goes out to soychica for letting me know about her questions, and for some ideas!

Love you guys, (i'm just thinking of how over used that word is, loved... So from now on, I will say, stay amazing people!)

So, stay amazing everyone, as always, thanks for the reads! And please continue to vote, and comment! :)

~ Alpha A.