“I did mean it, and I do love you, butI’m afraid it’s not going to work. You're beautiful, honey, but you rely on your beauty a little too much. What you want is for me to love you just because you're so desirable. The problem is, aside from all yourbeauty, there’s not too much to love.”

Gabe’s mouth fell open in shock. “What did you just say to me?”

“You heard me. You're rude, hostile, and sullen. Not to mention sneaky and dishonest. You knew I didn’t want you to smoke, and you promised you wouldn’t. Basically you lied to me. You outright refuse to give me the respect every Werekin owes their alpha. I know you want someone to look past your behavior to see the real person underneath, but the only reason anyone would bother to look past all of it is because you're beautiful. That’s the irony, Gabe. You say you hate pack life and you hate me. You refuse to accept me as your alpha, despite knowing how important it is. As long as you won’t, it won’t work between us. Unless you can change, I’m fighting a losing battle.”

Gabe still hadn’t said a word. He simply glared, his eyes filling with tears.

“I release you from your vows, Gabriel.” Zack took off his ring and laid it gently down on the bedside table next to him.“I’m more sorry than you’ll ever know.I’ll provide you with a new vehicle and some money to get a new start.”

Gabe stood in the middle of the floor, trembling. His chin actually quivered, and it broke Zack’s heart. Taking every bit of self-control he had to not grab Gabe’s hand and beg him to forgive him, he shoved his hands in his pocket to keep from reaching for him. This was a turning point for them. Gabe had to choose to stay with him and not stay because he had no choice.

“You know why I can’t leave.” Gabe’s voice was low and heartbreaking.

“I know there’s the issue of blood, and something can be worked out there. You may have to agree to settle down around Clayton or one of the adjoining towns, so I can arrange for you to be fed once every couple of weeks. You’d be free otherwise to live your life the way you want.It’s the only thing I can think of, baby, but I’d never just abandon you to the beast. I’ll find someone to feed you regularly.”

Gabe stood there for another moment, glaring at him, hurt feelings in every line of his body. His anger came to his aid. He turned and went to the dresser, yanked it open and pulled out his clothes. He whirled around with tears standing in his eyes and stalked to the closet.

Zack stayed silent, not trusting himself tospeak for fear he’d break down, throw himself at his feet, and beg him to stay.

Gabe pulled out the duffel bag and crossed back over to the dresser to throw his clothes inside. When he finished, he stood facing Zack.“I’m ready to go. Can you at least take me down the mountain or do I walk?”

Zack picked up the phone by his bed, dialed an internal number, and spoke into the receiver. “Scott, can you bring a car around? Gabe is leaving us.” He hung up and got to his feet. Without looking at Gabe, he said over his shoulder.“Go down to the front and wait.I’ll make sure Scott has everything you need.”

Gabe hesitated for a long moment while Zack held his breath. He thought Gabe almost backed down, but in the end he was just too stubborn. Without a word, he marched to the door and stopped. Pulling off his ring, he threw it on the bed where it bounced on the cover and landed on the floor. They both watched it roll across the floor and stopat Zack’s feet.

“Keep your damn ring. You’re not the only one who can take it off like it’s nothing!” He turned on his heel, hurried through the door, and slammed it behind him. Zack bent over and picked up Gabe’s ring, putting it on his little finger. He put his own ring back where it belonged. He had no intention of letting Gabe go far, but he had a point to prove. He hoped it would work or else he’d have to go after him and drag him back, then throw himself at his feet and beg forgiveness.He simply couldn’t live without him, but he didn’t want Gabe to know it just yet. He went slowly down the steps after Gabe and saw him sitting forlornly outside on the front porch chairs.

Scott came up to Zack with a worried look on his face.“Alpha? Did you mean it about the car?I’ve got one ready, but…”

“Take Gabe to town and get him a nice hotel room somewhere. Tell him it will take some time for me to get him an apartment and a car, and in the meantime he’s to stay at the hotel. Give him some money.” He reached in his pocket and drew out a couple of one hundred dollar bills. “Then watch him.Don’t let him out ofyour sight, but don’t let him know about it. Keep a low profile and call me if you need any help.I’m going to give him until tomorrow to calm down before I talk to him again.”

Scott nodded and turned to leave. Zack stopped him.“Remember, don’t let him out of your sight, Scott. You know what we talked about earlier.”

“You got it, Alpha.” Scott turned and went out to speak to Gabe, who handed him his bag and looked back over his shoulder at Zack without any more anger. He raised his hand and gave Zack a sad little wave.It almost broke Zack’s heart, and he had to grip the back of a chair to keep himself from going to him.

The rest of the afternoon passed slowly, more like ten years than a few hours. Scott texted him the hotel and room number when theyarrived, but it didn’t help a bit. Everywhere he looked he saw Gabe or heard his teasing laughter. Around six thirty, his cell phone rang, and Scott was on the line.

“Uh, Alpha, I think you might want to get down here right away.”

Zack jumped to his feet and started running for the door.“Is he hurt? What hospital are you at? God, I should never have let him go.”

“No, he’s not hurt. At least not physically, although he cried all the way down the mountain. Didn’t want me to see it, but he was in bad shape. It must have been a hell of a fight you two had.” At Zack’s angry growl he continued. “Oh, uh, anyway,I’ve been watchin’ him every minute like you told me. He stayed in his room for a long time, then came out and walked down to this little country western bar about a block from the hotel. You know the one—the Dew Drop?He’s wearin’ the tightest damn pants I ever saw, and he’s been gettin’ really plastered. Doesn’t look like a little thing like Gabe could hold so much liquor.I think he’s going to spend all the money you gave him on booze.”

“I’ll be there soon. Don’t let anything happen to him!”

“You know I won’t. The thing is he’s dancin’.”

“Dancing?” Zack was in the car, starting it up to race down the mountain. “Who the hell is he dancing with?I’ll kill him!” Zack wasn’t too sure if he meant Gabe or whoever dared to touch his mate. Maybe both.

“Not really with anybody. See, he’s kind of up on the bar.”

Zack groaned loudly.

“Yeah, and everybody in the place is watchin’ him. He’s puttin’ on quite a show. Some of the girls are puttin’ dollar bills in his waistband. These are a bunch of good old boys in this bar, but the way some of them are lookin’ at him, he might get a few to follow him home.”

Zack actually felt his claws extend and hair sprout out on the back of his neck.“Mine!” he growled into the phone.

“Sir, you know I know!I won’t let anybody get near him. I’m watchin’ him, like I said, and he’s still dancin’. I’ll call you back if he goes on the move.”

Zack made it down the mountain in fifteen minutes, a drive which usually took half an hour. Pulling into the parking lot on two wheels, he tried to calm himself down and barely succeeded. He could already smell his mate, his own unique scent layered over with tequila, lots of tequila and cigarette smoke. Zack practically ran inside the bar, and what he saw nearly made him shift into his wolf right there and then.

Gabe was certainly wearing the tightest pair of jeans he’d ever seen, Scott wasn’t exaggerating.He looked like he’d been poured into them. Where in the hell had those come from? He should have gone through his duffle bag, the only place they could have come from. Not only were they skin tight, but on one leg had little tears all along the back where his ass met his thigh, and that delectable part of his anatomy was on full display. He was commando, of course.

He had his shirt off, displaying his hot little body for the world to see, and dollar bills were sticking out of his pockets and waistband. He had a bottle of tequila in one hand, holding it by the bottle neck, and a half-smoked cigarette in the other. Head thrown back, he gyrated his hips in time with the music, singing along at the top of his lungs to a Trace Adkins song about honkytonks and something called badonkadonks, and shaking his beautiful ass. He had his eyes closed, never knowing when Zack came to stand under him. He was right at the point in the song where the singer asks,“Lord have mercy, how’d she even get them britches on?” Zack wondered the same thing himself.

Scott came over to stand beside Zackand grinned until he saw the look in his alpha’s eye. He dropped his head and shuffled his feet.

Zack raised his voice above the music and yelled at Gabe.“Hey,baby, having fun?”

Gabe opened his eyes and glanced down Zack, before doing a double take. His reaction was almost comical except for the fact he fell off the bar still holding onto his bottle and would have hurt himself if Zack hadn’t caught him. Zack flipped him over his shoulder and carried him straight out of the bar with Scott trailing along behind them. Catcalls and hoots sounded off as Zack strode out. Gabe even had the nerve to rise up and wave to the crowd.

Zack dumped him in the front seat, removed the cigarette from his hand, and threw it on the ground. He pulled the bottle of tequila away and handed it to Scott without comment before goingaround to the driver’s side and starting the car.

“Wait a minute, baby.” Gabe called out drunkenly, slurring his words and lunging for the bottle.“I was gonna use that tequila. I thought you might gimme a tequila backdoor.”