Chapter 12

Kenzie Hope

The next morning I woke up on the very left hand side of a considerably large bed. There was something very warm directly behind me, close enough that I could feel the radiated heat, but not so much that it was touching me. My body yearned to get closer to the source, to feel the sparks that would crash into me and take over my senses. I almost leaned into the bond, I was so close that I could feel it begin to overtake me before my common sense woke up and propelled me out of the bed.

With a thud, I hit the cold, hard material of the wooden floor, a sharp contrast from warm, fluffy bed. As my head began to throb, due to hitting it on the hard nightstand, I let out a loud groan. Warm green eyes popped out from underneath of the covers while the wild black hair tried to cover them again. Dark eyebrows furrowed together as concern was etched around the edges of his mouth.

"McKenna?" A husky morning voice grumbled with a caring undertone. The voice sent me in a spiral of memories of last night, when we accepted each other. My wolf purred at the mere thought.

Kaden, of course, very happily agreed to let me sleep with him. I tried to keep my distance, but throughout the night, I would wake up to me cuddling into his chest. When I would try to squeeze away to the other side of the bed, he would pull be right back to him and whisper incoherent words in my ear.

"McKenna?" He whispered again. I hummed in reply as he buried his face the side of my neck.

"McKenna, why do you squirm away from me when I'm just trying to hold my precious mate?" He grumbled playfully.

"Kaden," I whispered back, waiting for him to tense up at my use of his name. "Kaden, why do you insist on calling me McKenna?"

I waited for a reply, but he merely chuckled at me. His warm arm circled around my waist and pulled my body flush against him. His breath was fanning over my neck, making it tickle. In any other circumstance, I probably would have laughed at the tickling sensation, but this situation was too serious for laughing matters.

"McKenna, McKenna," He tsked. I didn't reply. I was holding my breath. Then, I was saved by the bell.

'Breakfast is ready in the dining hall' Luna Winters, Kaden's mom, spoke through the pack link.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner were severed every single day in the dining hall. Usually the Omegas did all the cooking, but since Luna Winters took over, she and the other female powers did breakfast and some dinners. It was quite surprising considering all of their other duties. I was really excited to go because, as an Omega, I was never allowed to before.

Eager for food, I jumped out of bed and pushed myself into the shower and it didn't take long before I rushed into the closest to throw on whatever article of clothing I saw. When I was done getting ready, I went back into the bedroom, only to find Kaden still in bed.

"What are you doing?" I asked exasperated. He chuckled, showing off those cute dimples of his.

"The real question is: what are you doing rushing out of my arms so quickly? Come back to bed." He pouted at me and I almost considered it until the scent of bacon hit my nose.

"Uh, bacon?" I questioned before adding, "Get up or I'm leaving you."

That seemed to get him up and running because he jumped out of bed in the same rush that I did. I laughed at him before looking around the room while I waited.

There were some pictures of him and his family hung up throughout the room. In all the photos they all looked happy and healthy, a sharp contrast to what I had always known them as. One picture was just him and his sister, he was giving her a piggy back ride and both their forest eyes glimmered in joy. It was an adorable sight.

I walked over to his side of the bed and laid down, already missing his touch. That was when I saw it. A pair of lacy purple panties were hidden behind the lamp on his nightstand.

A wave a sadness and betrayal washed over me as I realize what this meant. Not only had my mate had sex with other wolf, but he recently had sex with another wolf. Everything else in this room was so clean and organized that there was no way he had old panties laying around. My wolf howled in pain as she thought about our mate cheating on us.

I subconsciously wrapped my body around his scent filled pillow and thought about when this could have happened. After a moment, my wolf and I came to the conclusion that he did it while we were in the prison cells, that's why he took so long to come get us.

Tears streamed down my face and as hard as I tried, I couldn't stop them. The pain of his betrayal was overwhelming even though I had known him for less than a week. He was my mate and even after finding me, he chose another wolf. It shattered my heart.

I didn't notice that he was out of the shower until I felt his hand running up and down my side, trying to calm me down. Those dimples of his were nonexistent as he frowned at me. His eyebrows were pulled together, reveal crease lines that would lead to early onset wrinkles. Although, what caught my attention the most was his eyes. Those mossy green eyes that captured the sun's light and grew great forests, were a soft concerned color. His entire appearance would have had me thinking that he truly cared.

But the truth was that he clearly didn't.

I rolled over to the other side of the bed, effectively moving his hand off of me. When I stood up, I got a head rush, but I didn't let that stop my escape. Aggressively opening the door probably made me look even stupider than I felt because I couldn't get it open at first, but when I did, I slammed it right behind me.

I could hear him calling my name, pleading me to tell him what was wrong, but he knew what was wrong. He knew what he did. I kept on walking, despite his cries, and when he grabbed my arm to stop me, I pushed him from me.

"McKenna, what's going on, love?" He asked, fake concern dripping in his voice. I looked back and sent him the most evil glare I could conjure up. It must have worked because he took a step back and raised his hands in surrender. When I continued walking, he jogged up and stood in front of me.

"Move," I replied coldly, leaving no room for discussion as I pushed him away.

"McKen-" He started but I cut him off.

"Don't. Leave me alone."

I felt so foolish. I felt so foolish that I thought that he wanted me. I felt so foolish that I thought he wanted me as his Luna. I felt so foolish that I thought the pack wanted me as their Luna. I felt so foolish that I tricked myself in believing that I had anyone but myself to rely on.

In reality, I'm on my own, and I have to take care of what's mine by myself.

There was no one in the Alpha House while I was walking through it, probably because they were all at the pack house having breakfast. For that, I was grateful. I sat in what I hoped was a spare bedroom as I began to gather my thoughts.

Kaden had left me alone, probably hurt at the way I treated him, but he deserved it. I didn't care how he felt anymore. Well, I did care because he was my mate. I tried so hard to just not give a fuck about his feelings. He obviously didn't care about mine.

After sitting in the room for a while, I decided what I was going to do. It was risky and might even kill me in the process, but I was feeling dead anyway so why not, right?

I mindlinked Brady and told him to meet me in ten minutes downstairs along with a few other instructions. Carefully, I walked back up the stairs to the room in which I spent last night, listening for Kaden's heartbeat when I got to the door. When I didn't hear it, I went it.

Lexus whined in my head about her sorrows while I packed a bag of my essentials: toothbrush, toothpaste, some of my parents most valuable items/documents, pictures that I couldn't bear loosing, clothes for three days and all the cash that I had stashed away in a shoe box. It was kind a of lot of stuff but I had a duffel bag that fit all of it in.

I turned to walk out of the closet when I caught a whiff of his scent. After I stopped to listen for his heartbeat and not being able to hear it, I realize that the scent came from his clothes. The better part of me told me not to but apparently I only ever listen to the pathetic side of me anyway so I grabbed a few of his T-shirts with the most apparent scent on them and one of his jackets. It was pathetic, I know, but I couldn't help myself.

I met Brady in the living room of the house. It was overly fancy and for the first time it disgusted me how much money Brady had. I couldn't believe that he could afford this kind of house and not do shit, yet I worked so hard and had nothing. That was the dumbest thing I had ever heard in my life.

I motioned for him to follow me and we steadily began to walk out of the ginormous building. I caught scent of the Beta couple coming through the front door so we turned around a corner before they could see us. Once it was safe, I restarted our trek out of the house. The door was unlocked and I was grateful that we didn't run into anyone else.

The air outside was fresh and the grass was soft from the nonstop raining. Even as we walked out of the Alpha House, it was raining. As nonchalant as I could be, I lead Brady to the pack border. Every once in a while, we would get some curious glances, but nothing serious.

I knew that as soon as we crossed the border, Kaden would know. He would try to chase us down and plead us to come back. We were not coming back. We were running.

Brady sent me a questioning look as I took his hand and began running, but he never voiced his concerns. As always, I was doing what was best for what's mine and Brady knew that. I had always protected him and he knew that I would forever do the same because he was my baby brother.