Chapter 3

-Emmi-

I give myself ten minutes to cool off, and then I go look for Percy. I’ll never forgive myself if I let him just leave without not even apologising to him. So I sit down against the wall, letting the cold air chill me right down to the bone. I’m generally quite a warm person, but it’s winter and it started snowing at some point, so I’m really starting to feel the cold.

Once my head is no longer muddled with too many emotions, I focus my attention back on the bond. It has gone back to protesting, although not as much as before. It clearly wants Percy and I to spend some proper quality time together, which honestly sounds like a joke. I probably won’t be able to go five minutes without shouting at him.

“Emmi? What’s wrong?” Keye grabs my arm, pulling me to a stop as I tear through the doors. I sigh, letting out a small groan. “I’ve fucked things. Again. As in, I saw my mate, after literally four years, and I shouted at him and said he meant nothing to me. I’m trying to find him to apologise now.”

Keye’s eyes widen and she pulls me into a hug, stroking my back. “Hey, you’re working on it though. You’re trying and that’s what matters, ok? I can’t say whether he’ll forgive you or not, but Emmi- if he wants you in his life, he’ll try to understand. And you have to try too, which I know you will. You’re nothing if not a try-hard,” she says with an annoying grin as she punches my shoulder.

I rub the spot a little tenderly; she’s stronger than she thinks. “Thanks, Keye. I don’t suppose you saw him? Tall guy, long white hair in braids? Pretty buff?”

She chokes on her surprise a little before taking a step back and smirking at me. “Wow, didn’t realise he was your type. He went through that way a little while ago, but you should be able to catch up with him.”

I thank her before instantly following in the direction she told me - I’m sort of glad that she didn’t bring up anything about…us. Her and me. We’ve always had this unspoken rule of when one of us gets a mate, we stop our little thing. 

Because she always knew I had a mate, and she knew that I left him and that I didn’t know where he was. And she knows she has a mate, but she hasn’t met them yet. Keye is a wonderful person: she’s kind and brave and strong and sweet and funny and honestly, she’s my best friend.

So really, I shouldn’t have been sleeping with my beta and best friend, because that has massive potential to make things awkward. And it didn’t even occur to me that Percy would be able to tell that I was having sex with other people.

But the bond is fucking annoying, it probably found some way to tell him in an effort to make him find me, to get us together. 

I’ve fucked up a lot in my life. I’ve ruined so many good things, so many fucking times. But if I have a chance to apologise to Percy and have a normal conversation with him…hopefully I won’t have ruined this too.

—————

-Percy-

I did a stupid thing: I ran for a bit. And now my leg is aching like hell so I had to sit down on a fallen tree and just rest for a moment. I had wanted to get further away from my mate and his pack but I’m still in the forest surrounding them.

I grip my right thigh, letting out a slow and rather pained breath. It’s times like this that I wish I could shift. But I can’t. The last time I shifted was when I ran back to my pack after mating with that guy. 

And then I saw the destruction of my home, of my family. And my wolf…he died. He died with the rest of his pack. He’s gone, and he’s never coming back.

It happens, sometimes. It’s fairly rare, but I guess I was just in the unlucky percent to lose their wolf after that kind of thing happened.

So instead, I just sit on the log, cold and hurt with the occasional tear releasing from my eye when I think about how he shouted at me, and the words he said.

It hurt a lot.

“Percy!”

I snap my head up, looking at the man bounding towards me. His cheeks are flushed pink with cold and his short black hair is a scrunchy mess; I’m guessing he ran his hand through it like he did back when we first met.

I said that he hadn’t changed at all, but that’s a lie. He looks ever worse now than he did back then. He looks…exhausted. Whether there’s something going on in his life or if it’s just regular pack exhaustion, I don’t know.

But I do know how hard it is to run a pack, and his is so much larger than mine ever was. I can already tell that he isn’t the best alpha ever; he doesn’t look like responsibility is particularly his thing. At least; I don’t think someone who is focused on responsibility would leave his pack and then his mate and then his pack again. 

And I shouldn’t have left my pack that night either. But I was going for my evening run; it wasn’t like I was just randomly there. But I don’t know why he was in that forest; I’d never come across him before, and this pack isn’t even particularly close to where mine used to be.

He comes running up in front of me before stopping abruptly, a serious expression on his face before it lapses into relief briefly. “I’m so glad I caught up to you,” he says quietly before awkwardly sitting down on the tree next to me.

“Why are you here? I thought I meant nothing to you.”

He flinches at my icy tone, which I don’t even bother to sugar-coat. He clears his throat, resting his head in his hands over his knees. 

“I came to apologise. I shouldn’t have shouted at you and I didn’t mean any of what I said. I’m really sorry, Percy. I- I get so angry so easily, and I always lash out at everyone around me. I’m trying to work on it though, and it- I thought I was getting better at controlling my temper, but I guess not,” he says dejectedly.

Sighing, I lean back slightly, biting my lip as pain spikes through my thigh again. “I won’t tolerate being shouted at, ok? If I feel like I’m not wanted, then I’ll just leave. I want to be with my mate, but I don’t want to feel like shit and if you take your anger out on me like that ever again, I’ll be out of here faster than you can catch up. And I won’t ever come back. Understand?”

My mate looks up at me quickly, nodding eagerly. “You’ll stay?” He asks quietly, gripping his hands together. I nod slowly, waiting for his reaction. He looks relieved again as he smiles slightly. 

He gently reaches out, placing his hand on my arm. “Thank you for giving me a chance. I won’t- well no, I’ll probably mess up again, but- I’m going to try not to. I’m going to really try.”

yo it's me fridge i made some picrews (link in a/n) of my boys first up we have grumpy dick emmi and then my angel percy