KINGSLEY'S POV

I wanted to feel her skin against mine so badly but I knew not to touch her. I wanted to feel those soft lips against mine and I wanted to taste her tongue but after all I've done I would probably never get a chance to kiss her again.

She goes to the first door she see's which is off the right from the stairs and it is my child hood bedroom. The same room that my mother killed me in by draining my body of it's blood and her disgusting vampire friend bought me back to life. I don't ever go inside of this room because of that very reason, I hated the memory of what my mother did to us but I'm sure if Ariel was clear headed right now she would of thought of  that. I slowly follow her in and close the door behind me. Flash backs of me as a child in my bed screaming flash through my head but I try to focus on my mates face to forget about it.

Ariel is shaking with anger and I can tell she can't wait to scream at me and let it all out. Her eyes are glossy as she folds her arms over her stomach through my long t-shirt that she's wearing. She holds her body firmly as her pink lips part themselves to speak.

"I hate you." Her words held truth, while her eyes pierced into mine. Her foot tapping on the floor is the only thing I can hear besides my heavy breathing. A weird feeling in my chest made it almost hard for me to continue breathing from just that one sentence. I searched her face looking for the love that I always saw there when she looked at me but I couldn't find it. It was gone. Her eyes scan my body and a look of disgust takes over her. "You literally make me sick." My mouth goes dry because I read her mind and she actually meant it. "You are a sorry excuse of whatever kind of mate and man that you think you are." She was right. No man in their right mind would leave the one he loves. No man who claimed to love his mate would keep her in the dark about things that she has proven she was well enough able to understand and comprehend. When Kale and I revealed to her who we really were, we should've told her everything in that same moment. She proved she understood, she proved she wanted this life with us and we denied her that. Most of all she proved that regardless of what kind of supernatural creatures we were, she was willing to be with us anyway with no complaints. That should've been enough for us at that moment but it wasn't. My jaw tenses when she walks closer to me. My inner wolf is scratching to be closer to her. He's aching to touch her again, to kiss her, to hold her. But we know we can't.

"You could've took me with you, you didn't have to leave me, and Kale certainly didn't have to leave either but you did. Now look!" Her eyes scan the room before she looks at me again. I can hear the pain behind every word she says. "Everything's all fucked up." I see she's becoming out of breath. She needed to relax and just breathe. I could feel her frenzied emotions and she wasn't too far from a panic attack. My poor mate was a mess right in front of my eyes and I had no idea how to make it right. She didn't even want me touching her and all I wanted to do was hold her. Make her feel better. "You called Eleanor and told her to bring me here and for what? Look what happened! Grace is downstairs dying!" Her red eyes grow weaker as she yells at me with the bit of strength she had left.

"Ariel." I whisper to attempt to calm her but she flinches at the sound of my voice and closes her eyes. She loved to hear it but she hated that she loved it. She wanted me to stay quiet while she expressed her emotions to me but I just needed her to calm down so nothing bad happened. "Shut up!" She yells back. Her eyes reopen and every time I look at them i feel like sinking into the floor. "I wish you and your brother never came into my life. I would rather be a prisoner at uncle chucks, locked in my bedroom fighting for my life instead of ever seeing your sorry ass face again." Her words split my heart right open and my vision was becoming blurry. "Ariel." I say my mates sweet name again but she still doesn't want to hear me. I want to drop to my knees and beg her to forgive me, beg her to believe that I loved her, but my feet were planted into the floor.

"SHUT UP!" She repeats over and over with her eyes pressed shut again. I can't take it anymore so I take my chances and pull her into my body and immediately groan from the simple contact I have with my mate. I hold her tiny frame in my arms, breathing in her wonderful scent and letting my fingers get lost in her long strands of hair. I place my cheek on the top her head and I let her cry into my chest while we held each other for dear life. She was squeezing me so hard that if she let go she was probably going to fall. I wasn't going to let that happen though. It fucked my head up to hear her cry so hard so I just held her tighter against me and kissed her hair over and over. I felt useless, my mate was in my arms falling apart and I had the slightest idea on how to make it better. "Baby, stop." I talk to her gently, afraid to say anything at all almost because I don't want her to leave my embrace. Silence takes over the room and all I hear is her quiet sniffles and her breathing. If I could stand here and hold her in my arms forever I would but I doubt she would let me.

"Let me go." My body tenses against her small one because I wasn't sure I heard her correctly. I was holding her in my arms and she cried in them. She hugged me back and I knew she needed it. I heard her thoughts, she felt so much better as soon as I touched her and now she wanted me to let her go? "Now." Her voice confirms what I heard with anger laced in her words that tells me I should listen before she starts to hate me again. As much as I hate to have to let her go I drop my arms from her body and my wolf immediately stirs in anger inside of me. He and I are both furious that our mate doesn't want us to hold her anymore. I start to speak before thinking and my anger gets the best of me. "You needed to hug me just as much as I needed it, stop the act." I growl at my mate and regret it as soon as I'm done talking. I shouldn't be angry with her, I should be angry with myself.

Shock flashes on her face. "An act? The only actors are my so called fucking friends that you sent to spy on me! The ones you sent to pretend to like me! They are the ones acting!" She screamed. " I'm the only one who didn't have a script." She finishes by pushing pass me and I follow her every move. She faces the bedroom door and her shoulders are heavily rising and falling from breathing so hard.
I felt like I was loosing pieces of my sanity witnessing my mate breaking apart right in front of my own eyes. I knew I didn't deserve her from the moment I discovered she was my soulmate and even now, she was such a broken beautiful person who needed the right person to love her correctly which Kale and I kept failing at.

When her hand touches the doorknob I'm finally able to talk again probably because I do not want her to walk out that door. "Please wait Ariel." I sounded so fucking desperate but that's what I was when it came to her. My body relaxes a little when her tiny hand pauses on the nob. The fact that she didn't bolt out the door meant she was going to listen to what I had to say. My mind is racing while I try to think of what I can tell her that will help with the fact that my intentions for her were never suppose to result in her pain.

I step forward one inch and start to speak but all i can see is the back of her head.
"I told you before and I'll keep telling you until it clicks that all of this was for your safety." I know I'm talking too fast and rushing my words but I just need her to stay in this room with me. I need her to let me hold her again. My heavy breathing was also pissing me off because it was distracting me from my thoughts. I run my hand through my hair and squeeze my eyes shut momentarily.
"She wasn't even pregnant." I sigh, relieved to say those words out loud but hating the fact that I believed Kayleigh could've been pregnant in the first place. I knew Ariel wondered this entire time if I was having a child or not  and maybe that was the reason why I stayed away from her for this long. She had no idea I planned on not coming back so she could live a normal life.

I become hopeful as my mate slowly turns to face me, her face is unreadable. "Congratulations."
Her dry response makes the feeling in the room hostile. "God." I drop my head back, squeezing my eyes closed trying to calm myself. I don't know how much I could take staring at Ariel's sad face, it was killing me. "I keep doing this to you, I keep making you the feel the very thing you aren't suppose to feel after you find your mate. I keep making you feel alone." My eyes find hers again and I see she's fighting back tears. I get closer to her because I'm not letting her just stand there to cry so I reach for her soft face and let my fingers take a gentle hold of each of her cheeks. I lean down and press my forehead against hers, inhaling her scent and locking it into my head. I swipe her tears away as they fall and whisper to her.

"I got you baby. I'm not ever leaving you again. I'll die before I ever go far without you by my side." I promise with a kiss to her nose but I can tell by her cry that she doesn't believe me. I can only be pissed at myself that I created such a situation that my own soulmate can't even trust my word. "You are so fucking full of it." She whispers and my lips part to say something, anything but she slips out of the room and slams the door. I punch the door with my right fist feeling my anger take the best of me. Every time I thought I was getting close to her she pulls the rug right from under me.

I had no idea how to fix this and I know I couldn't do it alone. I had to find Kale and we both needed to tend to our mate to making things better. But first,
Alphas from all around the state and different Alphas from our town were coming today to witness the treaty of peace being signed. I calmed myself by holding myself on the door, letting my hands rest on it while I stared at the ground.

I had to mind link Eleanor to help me keep tabs on Ariel during the party until it was over. This peace treaty signing was very important and if it wasn't I would've canceled it to fully focus on my mate.

After tonight I was going to go find Kale and we were going to patch things up with Ariel no matter how hard she made it for us.

Ariel's POV

"Don't call me that stupid name."

As soon as my last foot hit the bottom of the stairs
after storming away from Kingsley my sniffles came to a halt as I watched a bunch of people pouring into the house dressed up very fancy- like. Eleanor appeared literally out of nowhere, calling me Luna and bowing her head as she walked up to me towards the stairs. She was wearing a bright yellow silk gown type dress, I guess to fit in with the rest of these people. I had to admit the color suited her very well, she looked beautiful. Her blonde hair was up in her usually signature bun and she was wearing diamond studded earrings with heels.

Eleanor's eyes drop from my mine awkwardly when I snapped at her. I feel a lump form in my throat instantly feeling bad for talking to her this way. I wasn't this person. I wasn't this mean heartless person that I was pretending to be right now. I was just hurting, and this was the only way I could express it. With anger. Toward her and Kingsley I was raging with anger and pain so being mean was the only way I could let it out. Eleanor follows my gaze toward the front door at the many couples entering the house. I'm sure she knew I was wondering who these people were and why they were here. "The men are alphas and the women are their luna's, they are all from different wolf packs around the world. Kingsley is signing a paper with an Alpha today that recognizes peace throughout all wolf packs. It's basically just signatures on a paper and they are celebrating how there have been peace throughout all packs for centuries now." She explains. "So the rouges who attacked us last night weren't attacking a pack?" I asked. She quickly shook her head no while staring ahead at the door. "The rouges must have known better then to attack a private wolf pack, so they took the easy route and targeted us out in the open." I watched Eleanor smile and wave at a few people who walked in. It angered me that she even knew these people because that took me back to my original mindset. She knew everything that was going on behind the scenes and helped hide it from me. She knew these wolves, she knew all about Kingsley and Kale's life, she knew everything while I didn't even know the half. I tried to shake the thoughts off of me and decided to ask about this event tonight.

"Why do they have to sign a paper for that?" I ask her as we continue to watch the incoming people. I would probably never fully understand this werewolf stuff. Eleanor shrugs. "It's just the tradition, plus every year Kingsley invites all of the alpha's over and gets a feel from everyone. He's usually cool with all of them but he has this thing with him where he can talk to them and know which one's he will most likely have problems with down the road."
Eleanor turns back around and faces me. "Can we go talk in private?" Her eyes are pleading for me to say yes. She eagerly waits for my response so I nod and let her lead the way. The least I could do is hear her out about all of this mess. I did need to hear someone explain things to me. I couldn't believe that I saw what I saw last night. It was just one of those things that was so unbelievable that you know you will never forget it. I've spent hours with Taylor and Grace, days with them. They never gave off any hints that they weren't human so I never suspected anything at all. Nothing. From this experience I've literally learned that you could never really know someone, no matter how much time past or how many hours and days you spend with them, they could always have something that they are hiding from you.

We walked through the busy hallways into the crowded kitchen full of chiefs cooking and yelling out orders to each other in a different language. I noticed people would look at me with admiration and give me head nods of recognition as I walked through and I wondered what did they know about me? Did they know I was Kingsley and Kale's mate?
Well of course they had to suspect that. He and Kale marked me, I'm sure Kingsley's Alpha wolf scent was oozing out of my pores.

Eleanor opens the sliding door to the backyard and once we close the door the chatter from the house is silenced. Eleanor folds her hands and she holds them over her stomach while looking at me. "Could you see yourself forgiving me?" The wind slightly blew after her question. The trees are ruffling and the sun is starting to set. My eyes settle back on her and all I can think about is the lies and I start to wonder again what was real and what was fake between us.

"You know that time when you were at the house and Kale fought Kingsley? You knew what was going on didn't you."I challenge her. "You knew that Kingsley kissed me but you pretended not to know." I squint my eyes waiting for her to respond with more lies but she just nods. "Kingsley wasn't suppose to kiss you Ariel, it just wasn't suppose to happen." Eleanor sounds like she was about to cry as she goes over the story. "They were suppose to just take care of you until you were 18, Make sure you had a nice home to live in and then they were going to let you pick a college, pay for it and then send you off. Ariel they weren't even suppose to be at the house with you half of the time, they were suppose to be back here- with the pack." She motions to the house. "We all were suppose to keep you safe in school and Ashton was your distraction from your mates. He was sent by the twins to be your love interest." My mind starts to spin at her words. "Eleanor what are you trying to say?" My voice goes higher. Was she really telling me my own mates set me up to be with another guy? "I'm sick of you all talking in riddles and saying Ariel this was for you, or this is for your protection. You can't protect a person with lies." I glare at her while standing closer to her face. My eyebrows raise as I stare at her.

"You can't protect ME with lies Eleanor, I deserve to make my own choices about my life and I deserve to know what's going on behind my back." Eleanor nods and wipes under her eye. "I get it." She replies lightly. "I know you feel betrayed and you feel like you can't trust us, I promise I will never lie to you again. I will never help to keep you from the truth again, but you have to understand that when Kingsley tells us to do something we HAVE to do it. As members of his pack we HAVE to obey our alpha, Ariel it is physically impossible not to do what he wants us to do."

Her face drops entirely and frustration takes over. "Same with Taylor and Grace, they were under Kingsley's orders. Even though they do not belong to his pack his still an Alpha, They had to obey him."Her eyes go to the wooden patio floor before looking back at me again. "My loyalty to you and my loyalty to Kingsley are two different things." She explains lowly. "He's my alpha, I have to listen to him and hold his word to the up most high. But my loyalty to you is something I value with everything that makes me who I am which is your older sister. Your protector. I do not ever in this lifetime of me being alive want to ever make you feel like you have no one, Especially not have me... Ariel please look at me." I hear her sniffle as our eyes meet each other's. She raises her head high and clears her throat.

"If I have to move to a different pack to get away from Kingsley's control in order to never have to compromise my loyalty for him with yours then I will. I promise you I will." She stated after motioning towards Kingsley's pack house.

My eyes widen and I immediately shake my head.
"Are you insane? I do not want you to be apart of anyone else's pack, away from your own brother's." I say in a panic. "And away from me." I frowned. The thought of her not being around suddenly hurt my chest. Eleanor shrugs her shoulders and flicks her with red eyes back to mine.

"What if they want me to lie to you again? What if something happens and they want me to help them, and me helping them somehow hurts you in the end again? Then what Ariel? This is the only way." She shrugs again and I stare at her in disbelief. My sister was willing to switch packs and live with complete strangers just so she wouldn't ever have to be put in the same position again. Just so she wouldn't ever have to be 'Ordered' to do something against me. If this wasn't loyalty, I didn't know what was. I swallow and reach for her, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her close feeling the soft silk of her dress as I held onto her. I squeeze her as hard as I can and press my face into her shoulder as she squeezes me back. I understood now that she never wanted to hurt me, she did love me and she was only doing what Kingsley and Kale ordered her to do. I understood now that my problem wasn't with Eleanor or Grace or Taylor and it definitely wasn't with Ashton or Collin. This was between my mates and I, no one else. This wasn't a personal attack on me from my friends, this was Kingsley and Kale's idea from the start, beginning to end.

"You won't be going anywhere Eleanor, I'm so sorry for not looking at the bigger picture. I'm so sorry for treating you so terribly." I softly whisper. "To be honest; without you, Grace and Taylor I