"Robyn Blossom crying?" A deep voice said from behind me. I sat up straight frantically wiping the tears from my cheeks.

"Gale!" I cried turning around to see him stood on one of the many rock boulders surrounding the beach. He jumped down onto the soft sand and opened his arms seconds before I threw myself into his chest, clasping him tightly around the waist.

He was a fine figure of a man. Older. Stronger. An Alpha. He smelt and spoke like an Alpha too. 

Everything about him had changed.

"I missed you," I sobbed as he wrapped his arms around me.

"I missed you more," he replied kissing my forehead like he always used to do.

I looked up and smiled before squeezing him tightly once more.

"So what have you been doing all this time?" I asked as we lay down on the sand. 

"Running a pack, putting up with Thawn Hazelwood, endless paperwork. Just to name a few," Gale listed in a monotone voice.

"Sounds dull," I said placing my head on his chest. 

"What have you been doing for almost two months then?" he asked.

"I've read about a gazillion books and I found some new places in the forest to paint a gazillion paintings of, but I swear at one point I forgot how to interact with other human beings," I said ending with a deep sigh.

"Sounds dull," he replied.

We lay there on the silky sand for a few minutes in peaceful silence, before Gale spoke again.

"Do you remember the last time we were here?" He asked.

"You mean the last evening of happiness for almost two months?" I asked. "Vividly."

"The ash from our last fire is still over there and the little pile of wood that we never got to burn," he said in a deep and melodic tone before we lay silently for another few minutes. "We used to do that at least once a week you know?"

"I remember. And we used to see each other every single day and we didn't used to care that nobody else really understood, because we had each other and that's all that mattered," I said pulling myself closer to him.

"But then I became Alpha," Gale said with yet another sigh. "And everything came crashing down."

"Why today? Why is today the first time in so long you could come here?" I asked.

"Today is the day I realised I couldn't take not seeing you anymore. I'm not meant to be here, but I couldn't not be," Gale said.

"But you're Alpha. Can't you do what you want?" I asked.

"I may be Alpha, but I'm not the Elder."

"The Elder? Does he have authority over you?" I asked a little shocked.

"Oh yes. He has more power than I ever could have anticipated. Everybody around him just senseless obeys and that makes him unstoppable. He demanded that I don't speak to speak to you anymore because apparently, I have more important things to concentrate on than a fifteen-year-old Omega. I have to obey him, so if anyone asks this meeting never happened okay?" Gale said.

"My lips are sealed," I promised. 

"I hate being Alpha," Gale declared.

"We can always run away," I said again.

"They'd hunt us down like deer," Gale said with a serious expression.

"What?" I asked furrowing my eyebrow at the severity of his tone.

"Don't worry about it, Robyn," he replied shaking his head before kissing my forehead again.

"What do we have to lose?" I asked. "If they find us we will just be back to where we started...right?"

"I'll put it in my mental pile of things to think about," he said dismissively as he closed his eyes and allowed the sun to soak into his skin. "But for now can we pretend like none of this ever happened?"

"Of course," I said.

We spent the rest of the day on that beach like the carefree little children we once were. We swam in the now chilly water and we dried off by a fire made of the leftover wood from our last visit. I collected the very last of the summer elderberries and some other plants we had grown up eating.

By eight o clock, we were lying in the sand again. The sweet taste of nectar in our throats and the smell of the remnants of a fire in the air.

"You know, I was close to telling you something the last evening we were here, but then your sister called and you were gone before I had the chance," Gale said.

"Why don't you tell me now then Mr Alpha," I said lying adjacent to him with my head on his chest listening to it rise and fall with every breath as he gently stroked my hair.

He inhaled deeply and opened his mouth about to speak.

But something interrupted him. He sat bolt upright on full alert. His eyes frantically scanned the forest before he took my hand tightly.

"We have to move now," he announced worry consuming his voice.

"Why?" I asked as he dragged me to the feet.

"Look on the other side of the lake," he said stomping out the last embers of the fire with his foot as he entwined his fingers in mine.

I glanced across the glittering water to see three figures lurking at the edge of the forest. The dim light meant they didn't seem to have noticed us yet, but we could see them so there's no reason they couldn't see us.

"Is that Thawn Hazelwood, Autumn Clearwater and Raven Sycamore?" I asked before Gale dragged me into the trees.

"If they see us together they will report back to the elder and we will both be in more trouble than you can imagine," he whispered. 

'More than you can imagine' ? I knew that those three had always teased a jeered at Gale and I but what more than that can he mean?

"What if they are looking for you? What if they already know we are together?" I questioned.

"I need to take you home," Gale stated.

"I'll be okay on my own. You need to get back to the Alpha house and it's in the opposite direction," I said.

"I'm not leaving you, Robyn. This pack isn't as innocent and harmless as it leads you to believe. Elderflowers and butterflies are part of nature, but so are thorns and bears," he said taking long strides into the ever forest that's darkness cloaked us in its tantalising grip.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked my heart beating faster.

"I don't want you to be alone out here," he said shortly.

"Why now?" I queried "I've spent my whole life roaming these woods alone."

"Because I've put you in danger Robyn," he replied a pang of guilt in his eyes. He began to pick up the speed and length of his strides.

"How?!" I asked craving more answers.

"You are right. Thawn, Autumn and Raven already know we are together and it's put you in danger. I'm sorry. Today should never have happened and I should never have given into the temptation to see you. It was simply too selfish of me," he said looking behind us and breaking into a run. 

Fifteen minutes later, we were at my front doorstep. Gale looked around us into the forest once more before taking both my hands in his. 

I noticed how much I was panting in comparison to him. After running together, we used to breathe pretty much in time, but things were different now. Gale was an Alpha.

"I don't know when I'll next see you," he began.

"I still don't understand why we can't see each other Gale," I said. "tell me please," I implored.

"Just leave it all to me," he replied before kissing my forehead once more and disappearing back into the dark looming trees.

He'd left me in a severe state of confusion and I could help but wonder why, for once in all these years, my best friend was hiding something from me.