Chapter Four

*small self-harm trigger warning*

Mel studied Achillies' dark demeanor and pursed her lips together. She was conflicted about what she was going to do.

"What now?" She asked her mate.

Achillies lifted his head slightly, "Well, I know what I want to happen. I want you to come live with me and be my Luna."

Mel cut Achillies off with a surprised gasp. She wasn't sure if she could do that, or if she even wanted to.

"I'm guessing that's not what you want though," Achillies finished.

Mel bit the inside of her cheek in thought. What did she want to do? It wasn't something that was often asked of her. She was used to being told or demanded what she should do, but now she had a choice. An important choice at that.

"I know two things," Mel began, steadily. "I know that I want to pursue a relationship with you because you are my mate."

Mel could see Achillies' face light up, but she couldn't let him think it was going to be easy for him to win her over. Her title meant a lot to her and she didn't take that lightly.

"But," she added, much to Achillies' disappointment. "I also know that my Gamma title is something that matters to me and I also want to pursue that."

Achilles looked at Mel in confusion. Being a Luna was significantly better than being a Gamma. If she came with him she could have both of the things she wanted, but she wanted to stay here. His wolf growled at the thought of leaving her.

"Why do you want to stay here? You can have everything you want with me. I can't say I understand." Achillies said.

"Think about, put yourself in my shoes. I trained my entire life to be a Gamma. I was so prepared and excited to lead with new ideas and the passion that I had. My parents were so proud that I was going to carry on our family name and legacy, but then they...died. My entire world as I knew it was stripped away from me and I was alone. Suddenly I was thrown here where I was an Omega and I had nobody. I worked to pull myself out of the crippling sadness I felt every day and I did my best to serve my new role. Then I met Jax."

Mel glanced at Achillies when he sent out a sharp growl. She put her hand on his and continued.

"Jax was the first friend that I made here. He was willing to help me and hear what I had to say and he made me feel not so alone. And then he got me that Gamma position. Of course, not many people were happy about it, but I plan to earn it and show them that I am worthy. I want to show everybody that I can be a strong leader despite what happened to me. But most importantly, I want to do this for my parents."

Mel's eyes started to water and her voice became slightly unsteady.

"My- my parents won't get to see me grow up, and I just want to do this one thing for them. I want them to look down on me and be proud, you know?"

Achillies thought of her in awe, but with a stoic face he said, "I get it."

Achillies did get it. His parents were still alive, but they didn't care about him. They had always expected the best from him and just moved on. But Achillies had stopped trying to make them proud years ago.

"So my question still stands," Mel said, wiping blood on her skirt. "What now?"

Achillies looked down at his mate's hand at precisely the same time Jax shoved open the white door. Achilles' eyes snapped up at the bot holding a first-aid kit and a wet rag. When Jax made his way towards Mel Achillies snatched the materials and went to work on his mate.

"Um, okay," Jax said. "Anyway can I ask what is happening here, Mel? You ran away for some reason, this guy followed you and is like kinda scary, and your room smells strongly of artificial strawberries."

Achillies rolled his eyes. This guy talked way too much for his liking. Achillies finished wiping his mates hand clean and carefully wrapped the bandaged around it. She had cut her hand deeply, so even as a werewolf, it wouldn't heal for about two days. Even after Achillies was done he kept Mel's hand in his. He didn't want to give up the feeling of the sparks yet.

"Well, I ran away because Achillies is my mate."

Achillies nearly fainted at that sentence. His wolf howled in excitement at the acknowledgment from Mel. Achillies himself smirked at Jax. He knew the boy wasn't a threat to him but still felt the need to assert his place.

"Wow," Jax said.

Jax wasn't entirely sure how to feel. He was happy if Mel was happy, but this guy was dangerous. He had quite a reputation and Jax was a bit worried about that. The last thing he wanted was for Mel to get hurt.

He turned to Achillies, "Can I talk to Mel along for a moment?"

Achilles' first instinct was to say no and growl at Jax, but he knew that wasn't an acceptable answer. Instead, he pushed his wolf down and nodded. Achillies knew Mel cared for this guy, so he would let them talk.

Mel watched as Achilles begrudgingly exited the room. She faced Jax as the door shut and her mate's footsteps faded. His scent remained and she breathed it in openly.

"Do you feel safe with him?"

Mel looked at Jax and nodded. She knew he would never hurt her, it was practically impossible for mates to do.

"Are you going to go with him?"

Jax impatiently awaited this answer.

"I don't know," Mel said.

Jax felt a pang of frustration consume him, "I just gave you the Gamma position in front of everybody! You have to stay Mel because if you don't me and Jessica are going to look like a joke and-"

Mel knew it was more than that.

"And," she prodded.

"And I'll lose you. I know that it's only been a little bit, but I feel like you're my friend."

Mel felt more conflicted before. Jax had tugged on her heartstrings, but so did her mate. Who was more important to her? What was more important to her? Mel's wolf wanted her mate. Of course, she would. Mel wished it was that easy for her. Sometimes she wished she didn't have feelings, or that she was selfish.

"This isn't an easy decision for me, Jax."

"I'm sorry that it's like this Mel."

The stress Mel felt started to crush her chest as she tried to force herself to choose. It felt like her stomach was being twisted into knots. Mel felt hot and oddly enough scared. What if she chooses her mate and Jax hated her? What if Achllies rejected her if she chooses to stay here?

************************************

Achilles stood in the Dark Fang Pack's living room with his Beta. He had just told his Beta about his mate. Achilles had thought he would feel better, but he didn't. All he and his wolf had ever wanted was their mate, and now they couldn't even have that. Instead, his mate was in a room with another man and it hurt him. He was always the second choice.

"I think you need to win her over," Bentley said.

"How?" Achilles asked his Beta skeptically.

Bentley put a supportive hand on his friend's shoulder, "You're going to have to let her stay here."

Achilles felt his wolf boil up inside of him but tried to keep his temper in check. He knew that Bentley was right no matter how much he hated it.

"I just hoped I would be her first choice."

"I know," said Bentley.

Achilles' eyes snapped to the staircase as his mate came down. He watched her blonde hair bounce and her green eyes scan everything around her. She had changed into jean shorts and a plain blue shirt, but Achilles thought she looked like a supermodel in anything she wore.

Mel's eyes met Achilles and it was meeting for him the first time again. His dapper suit fit his toned body perfectly and his dark hair matched its color. Mel hoped he would be okay with the decision she made.

Mel stopped a few feet in front of Achilles and smiled, "What would you think if I spent the weekend with you and then we re-evaluated?"

Achilles felt like he just won the lottery. His mate was going to come home with him! His wolf barked in admiration for the woman in front of him.

"I think that sounds perfect," Achilles said, smiling.

Mel couldn't help but smile too. Maybe she would choose her mate after all. Jax had said he could fill the position and fix things.

"Awesome," Jax said sarcastically putting his hands on Mel's shoulders.

Mel's eyebrows arched together in in confusion. Jax just seemed fine. What was he trying to do?

Achilles felt his jaw tense. He certainly didn't appreciate Jax touching his mate. Achilles had the impulse to shove Jax away. He could feel his wolf slowly taking over and that was never a good sign.

Mel noticed her mate's darkened eyes and tried to wiggle out of Jax's grasp, but he wouldn't budge.

"Jax let go of me," she whispered.

Jax looked down at her but didn't answer. What is wrong with him, Mel thought.

"Let go of her," Achilles growled.

Achilles watched as Jax smirked at him. Achilles' wolf was so close to coming out he was shaking.

"You want to go with him, Mel?"

Jax winced at his own tone. This has to be done, he reminded himself as he saw Achilles rushing towards him.

Mel felt Jax get shoved away from her and she fell from the force. But as soon as Mel saw Achilles beating the life out of Jax she was on her feet.

"Achilles!" His Beta was screaming.

Mel knew she was the only one that could help.

"Achilles stop," she called.

Achilles turned to her for a second only to be hit by Jax.

Mel squeaked and sprinted to them. She grabbed at Achilles shirt only for him to swipe at her with his extended claws. His claws sank deep into her bicep and she screamed. Mel felt tears stream out of her eyes. Not only because she was hurt, but because her mate was the one that had done it.

"Oh no," she heard a gruff voice whisper.

Mel was swept up into somebody's arms while her barely conscious state. She felt vibrations in the person's chest as they moved at very fast speeds. Mel knew the person was Achilles by the scent. She couldn't say that she was surprised. When Mel was finally set down she was in the middle of the forest. She was met with a livid Achilles.

Achilles was growling and dangerously close to shifting. To say Mel was slightly terrified would be an understatement. As soon as he was far from Mel, Achilles shifted into a jet black wolf. He stalked over to Mel and she shuddered.

Mel's breathing got impossibly faster, "Please don't hurt me again"

The wolf whimpered and flopped down onto its belly in front of Mel. Mel tried to push away but she couldn't get far. The wolf growled at her attempt and began to like the claw marks on her bicep.

Mel tried once again to get away but she didn't get very far as the darkness pulled her into it. Her eyes fluttered closed and she could only feel oddly at peace.

The wolf whimpered as Mel's eyes shut. Achilles took the moment of weakness to take back control and shift. He sat there in the grass naked, holding his mate.

A sound broke Achilles from his focus as he noticed a few people coming towards them. He growled fiercely and pulled Mel closer to him. They should not be disturbing him caring for his mate. That was the basics of wolf culture. Disturbing an Alpha caring for his mate was a death sentence.

"Mel needs help Achilles," Bentley said.

Achilles snarled at him and stood up holding Mel. His wolf was rearing to shift again to protect his mate.

"I am not going to hurt her Achilles. I'm just going to fix her wound," a man in scrubs said.

Achilles looked at his mate's arm and whimpered, she did need help, he had hurt her. He begrudgingly brought his mate closer to the doctor so that he could look.

The doctor studied the wounds and wrote a few things down on a sheet.

"I need to lift her sleeve, okay?'

Achilles nodded, but still growled softly as the doctor did it. Mel's sleeve peeled off in pieces as the cut went much farther than they all had realized.

"She needs blood and stitches," the doctor said.

Achilles let out a noise mixture of a whimper and a growl but carried Mel quickly to the pack hospital nearby. Mel was forced away from him as she was rushed into surgery.

Achilles hated himself as he there on clothes. He had hurt his mate and almost killed her because of his stupid wolf. At that moment he wished that Jax could just be Mel's mate because he didn't deserve her.

"I don't deserve anybody," he said extending his claws and digging them into his flesh.