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After finding Caleb outside Alpha Wyatt’s home, it took a while to calm him down enough to get anything out of him. Even then, Caleb had mostly remained quiet. Saying only that Ashleigh was not his mate. He had refused to say anymore, and the pain in his eyes prevented Galen from pushing any further.

The return to Summer was quick. Galen had not stopped for a break since they left Winter. It was a long drive, but each time he got tired or uncomfortable, he only needed to look back in the mirror to see his friend.

Caleb’s expression was grave. He stared out the window without so much as an acknowledgment of Galen’s presence.

Fiona waited to greet them on their arrival.

Caleb stepped out of the car. He looked around; he wore the Alpha mask. A calm and cold exterior meant to show his people that he would always remain in control, no matter the situation.

Fiona stepped closer. Caleb put up his hand to stop her.

He saluted her, his hand to his heart and a bow of his head.

Fiona furrowed her brows.

“Caleb…” she started to say in a soft voice.

“I greet you, Luna Fiona,” Caleb said, with a layer of sadness that few would be able to detect. “The one and only Luna of Summer.”

Fiona gasped.

Before she could ask him anything, Caleb had already walked past her, not even waiting for her response. Galen stepped up beside her quietly.

“What happened over there?” she asked.

“I don’t know the details,” Galen sighed, “all he said was that she was not his mate.”

“Then she… is, ok?” Fiona asked with a heavy sigh of relief.

“Why wouldn’t she be?” Galen asked,

“You need to talk to him, Galen, find out what happened.”

“He just needs time.”

“No, Galen. There is more to this,” Fiona said softly, watching as her son disappeared around a corner.

“What do you mean?” Galen asked._.

“The greeting,” she said, “there is only one reason to greet a former Luna in that way. It means that the current, or future Luna, has died.”

***

Caleb sat quietly at the end of his bed, his wet hair dripping onto the comforter.

He thought a shower might help. That it would somehow clear away the fog that had settled over his mind ever since he heard Ashleigh say Granger’s name.

But it didn’t.

He stood up. Outside the window, the sky turned from red to orange to pink to purple. The painted sunset before the night settled over the sky. It was beautiful and peaceful.

‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered.

Caleb tried to take a deep breath to ease his troubled heart that threatened to deafen him as the pounding got louder and louder, screaming at him that something wasn’t right. But the tightening and pulling against his chest wouldn’t stop.

‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered.

He paced back and forth, clenching his jaw as he tried to keep his breathing even. As the moments between them flooded his mind.

‘I love you.’

The moment under the full moon when she had belonged to him. It tore his heart in half.

“AAHH!” he roared out, reaching his hands to the small end table holding several pictures. He picked it up and flung it against the opposite wall. Sending a spray of splinters flying around the room.

He huffed angrily, then closed his eyes and fell to his knees.

“Caleb!” Galen shouted as he burst through the door.

He had been on his way to talk when he heard the roar and then the crash. Now he looked around the room at all the scattered debris of the end table.

Galen looked down at Caleb in the middle of the floor, down on his knees, huffing and holding back tears.

He took a deep breath and then moved to sit on the floor near his friend.

“Please, go,” Caleb said quietly.

“I can’t,” replied Galen.

“Please. Go.”

This time Caleb put a growl at the end of his words.

“My place is by your side, especially now.”

Caleb let out a low growl.

“You’re not mad, Caleb.”

Caleb closed his eyes.

“You’re sad,” Galen said, leaning his head back.

“Can’t I be both?” Caleb whispered. Sitting down on the floor, leaning back against his bed.

They sat quietly for a long time.

“Caleb?” Galen asked.

“Yea,”

“Why did you greet Fiona as though Ashleigh was dead?” Galen asked.

Caleb sighed.

“Because, my mate, my Luna, she died a long time ago,” Caleb replied softly.

Galen looked at him confusedly, and Caleb gave him a haunted smile.

“Ashleigh was never mine, to begin with.”

“I don’t understand.”

Caleb took a deep breath.

“You’ve heard of Vanishing Twin Syndrome?”

Galen nodded, and then a look of understanding crossed over his face. Caleb nodded.

“Ashleigh is the surviving twin; Granger and I were the bond mates. But my bond is not with Ashleigh but with the lost twin.”

“That is… confusing.”

Caleb couldn’t help the chuckle. “Yea.”

Galen and Caleb sat quietly until Galen felt the need to ask another question.

“Does it feel different?” he asked.

“What?” Caleb asked.

“The way you feel about Ashleigh. Has it changed now, knowing she isn’t your mate?”

Caleb looked down; he clenched his jaw as tears filled his eyes.

“Nothing has changed,” he said. His words were shaky.

“Because you loved Ashleigh, not the twin,” Galen said.

“Yea,” Caleb replied with a sob.

“Then why did we leave?” Galen asked.

Caleb didn’t answer. Unsure what to say.

“Is the bond that important?” Galen sighed.

Caleb furrowed his brow.

“What?” Caleb asked.

Galen took a deep breath and leaned his head back against the wall.

“Does it matter that much if we spend our lives with the person we share the bond with or the person that we love?”

Caleb didn’t respond. He didn’t know how to react. He loved Ashleigh; of that, he had no doubt.

But now, knowing that his mate wasn’t actually her… he couldn’t help but wonder if he had been wrong this entire time. That she didn’t love him. This twisted bond had forced her to feel things for him, that she truly didn’t.

It made sense, she was so insistent that Granger was her mate, even after the things he did.

So even though Caleb still loved her, it felt wrong.

And what about his mate? How could he face her in the next life, if he chased after Ashleigh when she belonged with someone else?

“Do you owe her your life?” Galen asked.

“What?”

“The mate, the one that never lived,” Galen said. “Do you owe her your life just because she lost hers?”

Caleb was stunned by Galen’s question. Unsure how to answer.

Galen stared up at the ceiling.

“Do I owe her mine?” Galen asked quietly.

“What?” Caleb asked, “Who?”

“My mate.”

Caleb sat up and looked at Galen. The seriousness in his expression was strange.

“Is this about Bell?” Caleb asked. “About what you’ll do if you find your mate?”

“In a way,” Galen said, turning to meet Caleb’s eyes.

Caleb didn’t know what Galen was getting at, and he was feeling tired. Finally, he sighed and looked away, “I’m not sure you can understand how I feel without knowing the bond yourself.”

“I have.”

Caleb’s eyes widened, he turned back to face Galen.

“What?”

“I met my mate,” Galen replied calmly. “A long time ago.”

“When? Who is she? How do I not know this already?” Caleb questioned.

“I first shifted when I was eleven years old,” Galen began. “A year later, I met Hannah. She was ten.”

Galen looked back up at the ceiling as bits of memory slid into his mind. Her tiny laugh, the curls in her hair. She had brown eyes like the autumn leaves that fell.

“Not long after we met, she shifted. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and climbing out my window. I heard a howling at the moon, and I knew it was her,” Galen smiled.

Hannah was a bright girl, always with a smile on her face, a laugh in the air. She was adventurous and playful but always kind.

“We became best friends,” Galen continued, “spent all our time together. I didn’t know why I liked her so much, but I did. She was perfect.”

Galen remembered watching her build a nest for a group of chicks that had fallen from their own. Their mother wouldn’t take them anymore, so she did.

“We were too young to understand or feel the romantic pull of the bond. It was innocent. Pure trust and understanding.”

She had taught him how to feed the baby birds and keep them warm.

“About a month after her first shift, something changed at the next full moon.”

Galen remembered struggling to fill the eyedropper with food. He got frustrated and almost gave up. But imagining her bright smile made him try harder.

“She kept getting weaker and weaker. Then, sometimes, I would get sick suddenly. That was when my dad knew what we were to each other.”

Hannah was so proud of Galen when he told her how he had taken care of the chicks while she was sick. She smiled and told him he had done a good job.

“By the third full moon, we found out that her heart couldn’t handle the shift. Her body was too weak to be a werewolf.”

Galen had been sick for a week. Hannah’s parents had waited to hold the pyre until he could attend. Galen felt his father’s hand on his shoulder, squeezing it softly. The soft sobs of the people around them, the whispered condolences.

“Outside of our families, no one knew that we were mates. Although it was already strange that we had found each other, our parents believed that sharing my tragedy with the pack would have been cruel.”

He had left the pyre, run from it. Raced to the nest, to the last bit of Hannah that he had to hold onto. But it was too late. A fox had found it first.

“Galen…” Caleb whispered.

Galen lowered his eyes. His tears for Hannah had dried out years ago.

“I don’t owe her my life, Caleb,” he said, turning to look at his friend. “Neither do you.”