Vanessa growls, she hadn't interacted with her mate outside of pack-focused meetings and titled members' meals for almost a week. She missed her mate, she had taken for granted the extra time her injury had bought her. And now she was going through withdrawal. Bad.

“Fuck it,” Vanessa stood slamming her hands on her desk. She huffed making her way through the pack territory in search of her beta.

“I think I saw her leave with patrol,” the woman smiles politely at the alpha attempting to keep her children within arms reach.

“Thank you,” Vanessa replies, speed walking towards the tree line. She slows, taking in deep breaths in the hope of getting even a whiff of her mate’s sent. At the faintest trail, she throws her shirt off, jumping into her shift. She howled as she chased hoping the group was close enough to hear her. A faint howl answered back and the alpha raced forward. She skidded to a stop in front of a small group of wolves, they all bowed their heads in submission. Vanessa partially ignored the show of submission too focused on her mate, she gawked at her mate's Wolf form. Alex was nearly as big as her, her chestnut fur accentuated her muscles as she stood from her bow. Vanessa locked eyes with her mate, gently nodding away from the group signaling she wanted privacy. Alex followed, a little begrudgingly. The two quietly made their way back to their respective clothes, shifting and dressing.

“What's wrong? Should you be shifting with your toe?” Alex frowns at the alpha.

“Uh…”

“Maybe we should get you back to the house,” Alex decides gently coaxing the alpha toward the clearing. Vanessa goes limp, her mate's scent surrounding her and flooding her deprived senses filling her mind with nothing but her mate. 

“No,” Vanessa growls, trying her best to fight through the fog, “No, we need to talk,” Vanessa turns to face her beta. Alex’s face is a mixture of confusion and surprise. “Have you been avoiding me?”

“What?” Alex shakes her head, stepping back, “No, why the hell would I do that?”

“I don't know, 'cause I had Ollie take me to the appointment instead of you! Cause I said or did something dumb! Cause I triggered a horrible memory-”

“You did nothing wrong and I'm not avoiding you…I was trying to give you space,” the alpha’s brow furrowed, “I thought I had done something,” 

“What? Why?” Vanessa steps forward leaving barely an inch between the two.

“You were avoiding me,” Alex shrugged, the alpha’s brow furrowed even more, “After you came home you were acting weird. You couldn't be in the same room as me so I decided giving you your space was the best idea, I wasn't trying to avoid you I just got really busy.”

“I wasn't intentionally avoiding you either, it's just what I said that day you weren't supposed to hear and when you did I couldn't bear to look you in the eye.” Vanessa blushed, covering her face with her hands.

“For almost a week?” Alex frowns, a smile creeping into her lips.

“For a day!” Vanessa defends, “The second day was not avoiding you and then the two other days were full of actively not avoiding you…to be fair,” Vanessa proclaims stepping toward the beta.

“To be fair, you could have talked to me,” Alex crossed her arms trying to keep her poker face from falling into a smile.

“I…” Vanessa trails, “I'm sorry.”

“All that matters is that you came to me…eventually,” Alex smiles, a loud howl reminding her of her duties, she lets out a low groan turning to look in the direction of the other wolves before turning back to Vanessa with a regretful frown, “I have to go, I'm sorry,” Alex almost whispers grasping Vanessa’s hands asking for forgiveness. “When I'm free can I come and visit you?” Vanessa smiles nodding enthusiastically.