Tyler's eyes were worried when Kane opened the door to his car. He didn't miss that, but he didn't acknowledge it either. Instead, he motioned for Tyler to get out.

"What?" Tyler asked.

"I'll drive," he replied.

Tyler nodded quickly. He got out of the car and walked around the back. Kane sunk into the driver's seat. He waited for Tyler's door to shut before he sped out of the parking lot, the tires screeching beneath them.

"What happened?" Tyler asked tentatively. Kane sped up. Tyler pulled at the seatbelt around his chest. "Something bad must have happened for you to be this upset."                                                                                    

Kane eased off on the gas. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Did Wyatt find his mate?" Tyler asked, his words slow and careful.

"Why would I care about that?" Kane spat out. He glanced over at Tyler, and the look in his eye surprised him. He knew instantly that he had been caught out. He sighed. "When did you find out?"

Tyler shrugged. "You really think that I didn't know? I'm Wyatt's best friend. I'm yours, too."

"He did find his mate tonight," Kane practically whispered, "and he's some omega. I haven't seen him before."

There was a long pause before Tyler spoke again. "You love him, don't you?" Tyler asked.

Kane turned his head and growled at Tyler. Tyler's eyes widened. Kane forced himself to calm down. "I'm sorry," he said, knowing that he had just scared his friend. Kane blinked fast. He took a deep breath. "I didn't mean to growl at you, Tyler."

Tyler nodded, but he didn't meet Kane's eyes. "It's, uh, It's okay."

Kane sighed. He hated the Beta in him sometimes. "I'm sorry, Tyler. I truly am. I didn't mean it."

Tyler nodded again, but this time he sent an understanding look in Kane's direction. He felt like a monster, he couldn't control his growling when he got upset. He tried to calm his mind.

"Where are we going?" Tyler asked in a small voice.

Kane had been driving them towards the woods. He had wanted to run free, in his wolf form, to clear his head. However, looking at Tyler's face changed his mind. "Let's go get hot chocolates," he said.

Tyler's eyes lit up. "I'd like that."

It was his friend's favourite thing to do, Tyler had quite the sweet tooth. Kane drove them to the diner just on the outskirts of their town. He pulled the car into the parking lot. He looked out at the empty spaces around them. "Shouldn't be much of a wait for the drinks," he said, motioning to the empty parking lot.

"Even better for us," Tyler replied.

They walked into the diner and were greeted by a white-haired woman. She straightened out her brightly coloured uniform as she led them to a booth. She promised their drinks wouldn't be long.

"Hot chocolate fixes everything," Tyler promised.

Kane reached for the sugar packets and tossed one around his hand as he spoke. "I don't know if it will fix this."

"Can I be brutally honest with you?" Tyler asked.

Kane nodded slowly. "If you must."

Tyler looked around them, as if making sure no one was listening in, but there was definitely no one around. "You love Wyatt now," he whispered across the table, "and it hurts now, but things will change once you meet your mate."

"Why does everyone say that?"

Tyler smiled. "It's true, that's why."

"How are you so sure?" Kane asked. He ran his fingers through his hair. "How do you have so much faith?"

"I just know. I know because I can't even imagine loving someone who isn't my mate, and if I did, it wouldn't be real love."

"What if I don't have a mate?" Kane wondered out loud.

The question didn't faze Tyler in the slightest. "You have a mate. He is out there somewhere, I know that just as much as I know that mine is out there. I just know, and maybe I'll be wrong but I'll think about that if it gets to that point, and not a second earlier."

"How do you do that, Tyler? How can you put so much faith into something?"

Tyler tilted his head at him. "You're seventeen, why are you acting like it's the verge of your twenty-fifth birthday?"

"I just have a weird feeling about it." Kane didn't know how else to describe the crushing weight on his chest when he thought about the uncertainty of his future. He didn't feel the hope and certainty that Tyler obviously felt.

Tyler sighed. He reached for Kane across the table. He squeezed his forearm. "He is out there and the Moon Gods will bring you to together one day. I hope that day is soon."

Kane nodded. The waitress brought them their drinks.

As he sipped, Kane wondered if masses of people would flock here after the ball finished. He decided that it would be a quick hot chocolate. He pulled his phone out to check the time and was accosted with message notifications and missed calls. Amelia had called and messaged him, asking where he was. Adam had called him three times. Heath had messaged him.

He read Heath's message. Amelia said you left the ball! Where are you? Message me so I know you're alive. He replied that he was okay and would be home soon.

"I'm going to step out the back for a moment," he told Tyler. "I have missed calls from Adam."

Tyler nodded quickly. "Yes, call him back. You don't want him to worry."

Kane walked down the hallway, towards the bathrooms. He pressed the phone to his ear. Adam answered almost instantly.

"Are you okay?" he asked quickly. "What happened?"

Kane sighed. "I'm fine. I just got upset at the ball, Tyler picked me up."

Adam was upset. He could hear it in his voice. "We thought rouges might have gotten you!" he huffed into the phone. "Why didn't you tell Amelia where you were going? She called me, crying, saying that you were missing."

"I'm okay, I'm safe. You don't need to worry."

"Where are you?" Adam asked. "I'll come get you."

Kane shook his head against the phone. "I'm with Tyler, we are a bit of a drive away. I'll come by in the morning and I'll explain the whole thing."

Adam's voice calmed down. "Why did you get upset?"

"Wyatt found his mate."

"Oh," Adam whispered.

"Yeah."

"Are you okay?" Adam asked. "Did you talk to him?"

"I don't know if I'm okay. I didn't talk to him. I just didn't expect this to happen tonight, so soon."

"I'm really sorry, Kane. I honestly am."

Kane didn't know if he could speak about it anymore. "I'll see you tomorrow," Kane told him.

Adam sensed that the conversation was over. "I'll see you then. Message me when you get home."

Kane sighed as he walked back out towards Tyler. He just wanted to go home, where he could forget about all of this. He squinted as he walked towards their booth. A girl was standing in front of the table, her back to Kane. She was speaking animatedly, her hands flying around her face as she spoke. Tyler handed her a piece of paper.

Kane wondered what was happening. He looked at the girl, her light blue dress standing out against her dark stockings. He knew, by smell, that she was a werewolf, a beta to be exact. He wondered what she was doing in this diner, when everyone else was at the ball.

"You made a new friend, Tyler," he said as he approached the table.

The girl turned. Kane's heart almost leapt out of his chest. The second that her piercing blue eyes met his, the world tipped upside down. He gasped, his eyes not leaving hers. Mate, his brain screamed, she's your mate!

"Oh my gosh," she uttered as her cheeks turned red.

Kane felt it like a punch to the chest. The connection was there, almost like he could reach out and touch it. She was his mate. This girl, with bright blue eyes and red lipstick and light brown, wavy hair, was his mate. He didn't understand. Confusion clouded his mind, but the bond pushed through the fog. He suddenly felt the urge to protect this girl, to wrap this girl in his arms and press his lips to hers. He wanted to wrap his hand around her waist and feel her soft lips- "What is happening?" he wondered out loud. His words disrupted his thoughts. He was glad for the distraction. He had never thought about kissing a girl in his life, and here he was, imagining making out with one in the middle of a random diner of the side of the road.

"What's going on?" Tyler asked in confusion. "Do you two know each other?"

Kane just stood there, staring at the girl in utter disbelief. The girl, on the other hand, had a huge smile on her face. Her entire face was lit up, her eyes bright and wide. She stepped towards him, her hand out. The girl's expression held no doubt that he would grab her hand and pull her to him.

He stepped back. The connection screamed at him. It wasn't real words that came from the connection, just feelings, but Kane knew exactly what they meant. Grab her hand, it was saying. He felt the urge to kiss her. He had to step back again.

The girls face dropped. She blinked at him. "What's wrong?" she asked, her voice fragile and vulnerable. He suddenly felt guilty. He wanted to tell her that it was going to be okay, but he stopped the words from forming. Things were not going to be okay, not by a long shot.

A horrible, sickening feeling suddenly filled Kane's veins and he thought he might throw up. He grabbed Tyler by the arm. "We need to leave, now."

He threw a ten dollar bill at the table before darting for the exit. As they ran, Tyler's eyes were wide. He heard the girl calling after him, but he didn't look around. He couldn't let himself. Instead, he flew into the driver's seat the second he opened the door. The moment Tyler was beside him, they were off.

"What h-happened back there?" Tyler stammered as he rushed to put his seatbelt on.

Kane pushed his foot hard on the gas. His eyes were focused on the road, but his mind was all over the place. He didn't know what happened back there. He didn't know why his mate was a girl, or better yet, why he had run from her.

"Kane!" Tyler exclaimed.

Kane didn't even look at him, his eyes were focused on the street that was rapidly disappearing ahead of them, houses passing by faster and faster by the second.

"You're going too fast," Tyler said, his voice rushed.

Who was that girl? Kane thought. This must be a mistake.

"Kane!" Tyler screamed. "Slow down!"

Kane looked at how fast he was going. He slammed his food on the brake. He breathed quickly in short bursts. "Sorry."

"What's going on?"

Kane shook his head. He had to force himself to keep at the speed limit. His eyes glanced at the speedometer every few seconds. Tyler stayed quiet.

After a few minutes, Kane finally felt like he could breathe. "She's my mate."

"That girl back there?" Tyler asked in disbelief. "That girl back there was your mate?"

Kane nodded. "I don't understand either."

"She's a girl," Tyler muttered. "Do you like girls now?" he asked, his voice a mixture of scepticism and confusion.

Kane shook his head. "No, no I don't." He'd never liked girls in the past, but he remembered the way he wanted to kiss her back there and it made him second guess himself. He stuttered, "I-I don't think that I do. I don't know now."

"I don't understand," Tyler told him. He pushed himself forward in his seat and twisted so that he was almost facing Kane. "Why did we run from the diner? Didn't you want to, I don't know, find out who she is?"

Kane didn't say anything.

"Say something," Tyler whispered.

"I don't know, I don't know why I ran, okay?"

Kane wasn't lying. He wasn't sure why he ran. That feeling he got seemed to override the connection that bound him to that stranger back there. He had the overwhelming urge to leave, to get out, and so he did.

"Okay," Tyler replied, his voice quiet.

"I need Adam."

"Okay."

Kane watched as Tyler sat back in his seat. He tried to keep his eyes on the road and his mind on driving from that moment on. He needed to get to Adam. Adam would know what to do. Kane couldn't help but wonder where that girl was, if she was following him down the road right now or if she was crying back at the diner. The image of her upset was enough to almost make him turn the car around, but he forced his hands to keep the wheel steady.

As he drove, one thought kept bouncing around in his mind.

There's been a mistake.