Deucalion knew that things would change after his... outburst. But not to this extent. He didn't expect this strong of a reaction to come from his sweet little mate.
It started small and he knew to expect that. She would linger more towards Peter and keep more distance between her and himself. She still slept in the bed with him but would sleep on the far side, putting Peter in the middle.
After several days, he noticed Alice hardly slept, even as far from him as she was. So, he resigned himself to the new, plush couch. It was nowhere near as comfortable, but it gave her the sleep she needed.
He typically left before dinner, to give her private time with Peter and to check on the rest of his pack. Ennis was surprisingly fond of the area and the boys were continuing their schooling. Kali disliked staying in one place too long which made her antsy but she was adjusting.
Whenever he came back, well after Alice had curled up in bed, food was stored away neatly in containers for him. He ate quietly, sometimes Peter would sleep free to join him and give him updates on her.
She was healing properly, but slowly. Whenever an alpha wounded another alpha, it healed at a normal pace. A beta and it healed much more slowly and painfully. To a human, even with a Spark, it was even slower. Peter took whatever pain he could from her while she slept, but it only helped minimally. The scars would forever linger, though.
Two weeks passed since the incident and she slowly relaxed around him. They returned to having movie nights together, but she sat on the far side, opposite of Peter. Dinners were together again, but painfully silent. Peter attempted to make conversation, but they fell flat.
Deucalion slowly returned to sleeping in the bed, keeping far to one side with Peter in the middle. Deucalion laid awake for most of the nights, listening to Alice breathe. Occasionally, he would reach over Peter and take more pain than Peter could at once.
The wolf inside him was thoroughly irritated, being so close yet so far from his mate. He refused to push himself onto her, knowing it would only make things worse. She still wouldn't hold his gaze, nor would she linger in a room alone with him for more than a few minutes.
It hurt. It hurt a lot. Not just his inner wolf, but himself. To see the bandages on her arm every day hurt. To notice her sweet scent twist sour whenever he got too close. To see her always look away from him, the fear dancing in her eyes.
The worst thing, though, was feeling the bond between them fray and wear thin. They'd had the strongest bond he felt since his original pack bonds. However, it was now uncomfortably wearing thin. It made him ache and no matter how much she tried to hide it, he could feel Alice aching too through the remaining bond.
He knew it was his fault; Peter tried to reassure him it wasn't, that something had possessed him or he had been poisoned. Or maybe he simply had been holding back for so long, even rarely sparring, that the tension finally snapped.
It didn't matter what the reason was. Deucalion lost control. He hurt a packmate. Not just a packmate, but his mate. His very human, very mortal mate. He scarred her, he scared her, he ruined their bond. He did, no one else.