A/N: two parts again. Hope y'all are enjoying it thus far, let me know what you think <3

Vince's POV

Three years later

I don't even know why I bothered with these stupid pack meetings. It was always the same shit over and over again. People complaining about their bills, the pack border, or anything else really. At times I wished I could just let the betas take over so I can take a nap. It didn't help that I had a raging migraine that had lingered for the past four days. As much as I hated to admit it, Chase's prediction of these symptoms was getting worse, and at times I just wanted to jam a screwdriver into my head to make it all stop. Despite lowering the dose a bit, shifts were still awfully painful. And oddly enough, Sarah was also being more distant than before. I had chalked it up to mood swings or her time of the month, but it had become an everyday thing. Some days she'd refuse to hold my hand in public, or would go shopping on her own. Other days she'd sleep on the couch instead, refusing to sleep with me. Some nights she'd sleep at a friend's place, insisting she needed space.

For the most part, I just brushed it off, accepting that maybe she was dealing with Jane's disappearance harsher than most. After all, they were very close sisters, even when they were younger.

But today, I couldn't help but notice the sheer animosity that rolled off of her during the meeting. She didn't hold my hand, brush my leg, or show any signs of affection during the whole meeting, and although it was probably best that I remained focused, I craved any form of distraction from this migraine. Her hands were clenched so tightly that I was surprised her long nails hadn't pierced her palms. I don't think she even spared me a glance at all during the meeting.

"Regarding security for the border," Xavier announced.

I cleared my throat. "I'll have more of our packhouse betas patrol the area. Patrols should be more frequent."

A few of them grumbled amongst themselves, but I ignored it. I wasn't planning on being laxer now that Michael was still in the vicinity. He had made a point to hover near the neutral zone between the pack and rogue territory ever since we had made that deal, leaving most of the patrolling betas on edge.

"Alpha, with all due respect," one of the RC betas responded. "Most of the patrolling betas have been working overtime, they need some days off. The rogues are less daring as of late, I'm not sure more frequent patrols are necessary."

"With all due respect, Jeff," I responded. "I don't care. We need to protect the pack, it's what the RC was for. Just find a way to rotate the betas better, or recruit more thetas for patrols."

He huffed but didn't respond thankfully. Xavier stared at me from the front of the room, glancing between me and Sarah, before continuing to stare at me. I glared back before he settled on staring at the papers in front of him.

The remainder of the meeting went on uneventfully until I noticed Sarah shift uncomfortable in her chair, inching away from me. I brushed it off, while she stared at the papers in front of her, listening to the others rant about the RC policies we recently changed.

Something wrong? I mind-linked her.

Nothing, she responded. I frowned, obviously noting that she was distressed. I went to grab her hand to hold but she pushed it away. I tried again, but she turned to glare at me, before resting her hands on the table.

I huffed before listening to the rest of the complaints people had, trying to respond to them and reach some semblance of an agreement with them. Before I could even adjourn the meeting, Sarah had stood up and was already walking out. I rushed the people out of the meeting room before catching up to her, despite the pain from the migraine pulsing.

"Sarah, wait up," I grabbed her upper arm, only for her to wrench it out of my grasp and walk towards our room. She reached for the door about to slam it on me, when I stopped it and pinned her to the wall demanding, "what is your problem?"

She pushed at me before shouting back, "Leave me alone."

"Not until you tell me what the hell was that about," I got in her face, gesturing toward the meeting room with my free hand.

"I'm done, Vince," Sarah spat, punching at my chest. "I want out."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm done, Vince," she repeated. "I'm done with your fucking shit. The lies, the cheating, fucking everything."

I squeezed her shoulder, "What are you even saying? What lies? You aren't making any sense."

"I know, Vince," she seethed. "I know what you did, and I want out."

I frowned, still grasping her shoulders. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about us, Vince." She huffed out in frustration before pushing past me to grab at the knickknacks on the dresser next to us, throwing it to the ground. She grabbed the pillows off the bed, the tissue box, then grasped the pill bottle from her nightstand, gesturing it toward me. Her eyes glowed from her normal green to her wolf gold color ones. "This! How long did you plan on hiding it all from me? That these pills were shit, huh!?"

I stepped toward her cautiously, gulping. "Sarah-"

"No," she seethed. "That's not all. I know about your mate."

"What on earth are you-"

"You thought I wouldn't find out?" she nearly screamed. "How you ruined your mate's life? Killed his entire family and left him for dead?"

I frowned, she couldn't possibly know about Simon. There was no way. "No, you're my mate, Sarah, and I don't know what you mean."

"Oh, You don't get to call me that anymore. I am not your mate, Vince. Don't give me that bullshit." She stalked over to the other dresser table, grabbing the picture frame of us in it, before slamming it to the ground, breaking into a million pieces. "How could you do this to me? To Simon? To think our alpha would fucking lie to the pack about something so serious is a disgrace."

The fact that she knew his name left a bad taste in my mouth. I stepped closer, not caring about stepping on the glass shards as I reached and grasped her upper arm harshly. "Who told you this? About him?"

"You think I wouldn't find out about it?" She gripped my arm just as hard. "You're stupid to think you could just get away with whatever you want. He was your mate, Vince! You were supposed to cherish that, not destroy it! And to think this whole time I'd just believe that something was wrong with me for not having the bond with you, that these stupid pills would do something. What else did you fucking lie about?"

"I said, who told you about him?" I demanded, gripping her arm harder.

"Why does it matter? You're going to kill them too?" She punched at my chest. "What was so wrong about him that you had to ruin his life, huh? Cause he was a male and couldn't produce an heir? Well, newsflash, I couldn't give you one either and I wonder why, you ass. To think I foolishly fell in love with a jackass that only cares about his reputation."

"You don't understand-"

"I don't care, Vince. I don't want this anymore. This luna title, the marriage, everything. I want out."

"Sarah, please. We can work this out," I grasped both her hands gently, her eyes still a fierce gold color.

"There is no we, no us anymore Vince. You lied to not just me, but my family, the pack, everybody."

She wrenched her hands away as if they were on fire, stepping away from me. I could tell she was on the verge of crying, but she still glared at me with a fierceness I had never seen until today.

"Sarah," I tried to plead.

"No," she said firmly. "Don't talk to me until you come up with a valid reason behind your actions. Don't even look at me until you apologize to everyone you lied to."

It wasn't the first time we had argued, but for some reason, her words stopped me in my tracks. I couldn't say or do anything but watch as she stormed off. I stood there frozen, fear creeping through me until I spotted Xavier peeking in, standing in the doorframe staring at me.

I glared, before asking, "how much did you hear?"

"Enough to know."

I clenched my teeth. "Did you tell her?"

"No."

I sighed, running my hand through my hair in agitation.

Xavier spoke up, "She's right. You should apologize."

I rolled my eyes. "Cause you're such a saint. I'm sure you've told many lies."

"I have," he admitted. "Nothing this big though. You should listen to her. You've lied too many people, Vince. To the pack, mother, father, even Simon. They deserve the truth."

"There you go again," I said accusingly. "Defending him. It's like you like the guy."

He gritted his teeth. "You told me to protect him. And unlike you, I promised I would. Even if it means protecting him from you."

"How sweet."