I knew he wasn’t in. It was better that way. I had helped him gain control of himself once, I had to do it again. I had to make him see that this wasn’t over. I felt the tug from Alpha. He knew I was here. We had a connection that began strong as members of the same Pack. That connection was strengthened as I became his Beta. Now that we had each marked Shelly, that cord was even thicker. His emotions filtered through. He was anxious. He must have been able to read me as well, because I felt him realize I was alone. Then I felt him try and block me out. Those walls of his were no match for me now. This whole problem was because of walls. Shelly had walls between us both, and by not going after her together we had allowed her to build them back up. The only time I felt like I was close to breaking through, she asked about Rick and the progress I had made was for nothing. We had seen Shelly open and raw. We had held her skin between our teeth, and her body between ours, and I had seen it.
