*Reid's Pov*

"You need more ice cream." Melissa rummaged through the freezer. She was staying over my house until further notice. Last week she came to me and said she saw strange guys lurking around her house, she was afraid they might have been rouges. I didn't think staying with me would be the best idea but she was too afraid to go back to her house and I couldn't simply leave her on the streets. Plus the pack house was full and until there were any vacancies, she would be here. As soon as a spot cleared up I would transfer her over there.

She couldn't even go back to her house anyway. It was currently swarmed with wolves collecting print and hair samples to see if any matched with other collected samples. Hopefully it would match with someone in the pack and we could tie them to aiding the rouges. Then a trial and prosecution would surely follow and we'd get more information.

It currently felt like I was running myself into a hole. I was keen on organization and structure. Rouges were the paragon of complete and utter disorder. They were a disorganized bunch, but yet they still managed to cause so much trouble.

They were accustomed to spending time in the woods and forest, rarely ever venturing into civilization; therefore they knew the land better. They were able to sneak past border patrols easily but were often caught before they could inflict real damage.Their plans were never perfect, they struggled to gather real information.

What was going on with Cara was the perfect example. They knew I was hiding the Original somewhere , they just didn't know what she looked like or where exactly she was. The people who kidnapped her in the first place who DID know every detail about her, for example Steven, were dead. All her files were taken and kept safely in a safe in the pack office. (I now knew better than to leave things out in the open).Plus the video or pictures of her were destroyed when we destroyed the base they were holding her in. No one, except for Steven even knew her as Cara. They only referred to her as her Original name. It was as if she didn't exist, but she did. They were determined to find her no matter the cost, and they were attacking people because they knew I was responsible for everything.

They wouldn't be so foolish to outright attack me, I was no longer the weak guy I'd been back in December. That guy would be dead right now. He almost did die, but I was strong now and willing to take on anything that came in a 5 mile radius of those I loved. They knew that and knew they couldn't afford to lose anymore rouges so they backed off for now. But if they even caught slight wind of the fact that my mate was an Original. They wouldn't kill her, they would capture her instantly and would wage a war against us to do so.

That's why I was trying to stay away, trying so damn hard but sometimes I couldn't. For example going to Max's party, I knew I shouldn't have gone. I knew that if she saw I was going that she would go and I just wanted to be around her. Unfortunately Melissa took up most of my time with the news about the alleged rouges she saw.

I was lying to myself when I claimed to have blocked her out of my heart. I thought I did, it felt like I did. The pull to her felt  weakened but then at the party it came back in full force, a subtle reminder that getting over one's mate is never so easy. Mates shouldn't have to do this, in a perfect world they wouldn't. Unfortunately this world would always be far from perfect.

I messed up the signature on one document and went to retrieve some whiteout. Melissa was still in the kitchen; she looked very bored. I wasn't making any attempt to entertain her like she wanted. I was ignoring her by diverting all my energy towards my pack work. I never minded all the pack work. At first it used to bother me because it took me away from my mate, but now pack work was a welcomed distraction from all things pertaining to her.

Fed up with my silence, Melissa snatched the papers from my hand. I growled until she relinquished them in my care. I rolled my eyes and continued on with my work.

We had seven new transfers into the pack and four people who found mates and were joining other packs.I didn't mind this sort of paperwork, it only took an hour or two tops to sign up on and make corrections. I had all day to work on this. It would also give me an excuse to get away from Melissa for a couple of hours.

"Reid!" She got my attention once more.I looked up at her. "You need more ice cream.I always make sure that my fridge is stocked with ice cream."

"Well maybe you should go back home." I joked. She glared at me until I was forced to recant my statement. She was a little too content staying here.

My mind drifted to Cara and what happened at Max's party. What she said to me nearly finished me. All the walls I built nearly came down at that moment. I thought I could block her out and I was doing well too, but she was my mate and she was there to remind me that I was wrong.

"You're thinking about Cara aren't you? Your eyes have that unfocused look to them."Melissa touched my cheek. Her observation unnerved me. It meant the facade was cracking. I was slipping too much, letting her in. If she pushed too much she might just get in.

My eyes found hers."I'm trying not to." I admitted.

"She's surprisingly really nice you know." She said as if I didn't know that already. "I like pushing her buttons to see if she'll crack but she doesn't. Her blonde friend on the other hand, she's ready to bite my head off."

"Sounds like Ashley." I chuckled thinking about her very outspoken best friend. Ashley would do anything to protect her friends. She even moved to LA. "Stop bothering her." I was referring to Cara. "She doesn't need a bully."

"I'm not a bully." Melissa said defensively. She smiled slyly."You know what? I think I see friendship in our near future."

I laughed at the near impossibility of that happening. Cara was a nice girl but not THAT nice. I couldn't picture her befriending the likes of Melissa any time soon. Speaking about Cara, I could smell her scent before she even started knocking on the door.

My eyes snapped to the door immediately. What was she doing here? I wasn't the only one to become affected by her presence. Melissa's eyes perked up as well."Thats her isn't it."

"Yes." I went for the door. I opened it up and was immediately assaulted by her heavenly smell. It was growing stronger, that was nature reminding us that we were supposed to be together.The longer we were apart the stronger the scent became.

"Cara." I addressed her curtly. Immediately I noticed her hair, she cut it shorter.It was mid back length and had light blond curls at the end. I attributed that to the summer sun highlighting her hair naturally.

"Reid." She answered back just as curtly. I looked past her to make sure no one was following her. Did she walk here all by herself?

My eyes narrowed disapprovingly. That was extremely dangerous and foolish of my mate, or well ex-mate. She could have been followed or attacked in the short space it took to get to my house.

"Why are you here?" I asked. She took a deep breath. That was not the question she was looking for.

"I came to see you." She said softly. She looked at the shirt I was wearing and touched it fondly. "I got you this shirt. It brings out your eyes." She tilted her head sideways and smiled warmly at me.

"It's a nice shirt." I deadpanned, not knowing what else to say.

Undeterred, she continued on. "Look, are you busy?" She asked.

"I'm actually pretty busy with pack work and-"

"And me!" Melissa popped her head through the door. Our heads both simultaneously turned to her. She smiled wryly, obviously aware of what her presence was doing. The sheer look of mortification on Cara's face only matched the aggravation on my own. I was going to strangle Melissa. Why was I now just noticing her all too revealing "pajamas" and bed hair? Things looked pretty bad coming from my point of view, I could only imagine what she could be thinking. I looked down at Cara and froze.The look of hurt on Cara's face silenced Melissa and stunned me. She turned to leave but I stopped her.

"I'm not incredibly busy." Her eyes lit up again. "What 's up?" God damn I was slipping.

"Can we go for a walk?" She mumbled. Her enthusiasm was blighted.

That wasn't a good idea. I hesitated. "Um sure." I said instead. I don't know why I said it, all I know is that I did. I was allowing myself a little leeway for mistakes. Hopefully it wouldn't cost us.

We walked to a nearby pizza shop, neither of us attempted to start a conversation. I had no desire to and she was too timid. I bought her a slice. We sat on outside chairs. I watched as she blotted the oil from the pizza with a napkin and then removed the cheese. I remembered always asking why she went through the trouble of doing that if she was just going to remove the cheese anyway. It never made sense to me.She would just laugh and shrug. Then one day I confiscated her slice and wouldn't give it back until she told me the answer. She pouted, folded her arms and finally told me. It was because she was always fascinated to see how much oil one slice of pizza contained. Like I said again, she was weird.

She removed the cheese and took a bite. She chewed thoughtlessly. She caught me staring and blushed. "Thanks, you didn't have to buy me food." Her mouth was full.

I cringed when I heard the next words come out of my mouth."It's not a date if that's what you were thinking. It's just-"

"It's just what?" She was hurt and annoyed. These two things were deadly when it came to Cara. "Ex-mates catching up on old times?" Her voice raised with each word.

Any louder and the whole state of California would have heard her.

"Jesus Cara lower your voice." I hissed. I glanced around out of habit.

Her eyes widened."I'm sorry." She rubbed my arm, calming my temper. Her touch alone was undoing me, I didn't ask her to stop this time. Cara lowered her head. "This isn't how I wanted our conversation to go."

How did she want it to go?

"Reid about Max's party."Cara trailed off noticing the hard look in my eye. I did not want to talk about Max's party and what happened between us. That party was the reason I was so fucked up, why we were even here. Hearing the love and patience my mate had for me made me feel guilty and useless. Guilty for treating her like this and just utterly useless as a mate and protector. I stared straight ahead and tapped my fingers on the table. She placed her hands over mine. I looked into her flushed face. With a tinge of regret, I remembered the rule of rejection. It affected whoever was rejected and not the other way around. That just wasn't fair.

She took a deep breath and grabbed my arm."Reid please I need to know." When I didn't answer she continued. "Is Melissa pregnant." She asked quietly.

I turned pale. Cara must have taken that for a yes because tears started falling down her cheek. Where would she get such a crazy notion like this? If she wasn't crying I'd almost laugh.

"No. Not at all!" I was strongly tempted to wipe the tears away. I was slipping badly. I blamed what she said to me at Max's party. That she'd wait for me, no matter what.For as long as I needed just so long as there was a chance. But there was no chance for us, couldn't she see that. Not until the rouges were all dead but who knew how long that would take. Too long, and she wanted kids and to get married. If she waited for me then she couldn't have that, and the worse part is, she'd happily trade that for me.

I needed to really set her free. Tell her the words she was too afraid to hear that night at Max's party. The words that got stuck in my throat. The truth: we would never be together.

"It's just that I knew you two have been "together" before and the way you were talking at the party all secret-like. I -" She must have seen the bewildered look in my eye because she trailed off.

"Together", was that another word for sex. "And if she was?" I raised my eyebrows. I didn't really want an answer for that, I knew what my compassionate mate would say.

She squirmed a little. She regained composure and stared up at me with bravery. "It would hurt but it wouldn't change anything. I would still give anything just to be with you."

"Wrong answer." I replied gruffly, getting up from my seat and moving down the street. I needed some distance from her before I did something I regret. She was basically jogging to keep up with my strides. She didn't deserve this, she didn't deserve a mate who couldn't love her.

"Why are you acting like this Reid? Please, just slow down." She pleaded. She was wheezing so much. The effects of rejection were glaringly obvious. I stopped so she could catch up. Why did I go to Max's party?

She kept pushing for answers from me.Cara's voice kept cracking and her tears were making it impossible for her to be understood."Then why is she with you? Why is she living with you when I clearly can't. If she's not pregnant then why is she always around you. Is it because you love her more than me?"

"God no Cara." I said with passion. I gripped her shoulders tightly. Once those words were out of my mouth, I couldn't take it back. I cleared my throat and turned away hoping she wouldn't pursue this anymore. I removed my hands from her body and walked again slower this time. All my self control was crumbling away it was only a matter of time before she used that to an even greater advantage.

"What are you doing to me?" I muttered softly. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her smile. She knew exactly what she was doing.

"Reid remember what you said to me several months ago? You said that you rather me be mad at you every day for the rest of my life then to stop caring. Well I won't stop caring. Not now, not ever."

My house came into view.Seizing her last opportunity, she grabbed my hand."You know how much I care but now I need to know if you still do. I'm willing to start over, no questions asked no explanation needed. Meet me in the woods tomorrow at one, if you show up then there is still a chance. We will work out any problems we have there and start fresh.If you don't show up then I won't waste your time any longer and I'll stop harassing you. I'll accept the rejection."

I frowned. She said she would wait for me but now she was willing to give up all her efforts. Part of me felt so glad because that was what I wanted all along right? To keep her safe. The other part of me didn't want to see the end. As dark and twisted as our relationship was, limited conversation and side glances were better than no contact at all. It was something.

Her eyes were glossy. "One o' clock in the woods." She repeated." I hope you show up. Please show up for us."

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Ahhh can't wait for the next chapter! :$$$$