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“What does that mean?” Ashleigh asked. “Betrayed Cain how?”

“There is a different story I need to tell you. Before I can tell you about what happened to Cain.” Wyatt said.

Ashleigh settled into her chair to listen to his story. Wyatt took a deep breath. He cleared his throat and tried to look at her. He hesitated to hold her gaze.

“Several years ago, I was approached by one of our wolves. She told me about her granddaughter from another pack. She wanted my help in getting her approved to join Winter.

“The girl’s father was initially from Winter. He was a patrolman who found his mate at the Blood Moon, a wolf from Autumn. But they had both been killed in a rogue attack.”

“Wait…” Ashleigh said. “Are you talking about Bell?”

Wyatt looked away and clenched his jaw before continuing.

“The girl had written to her grandmother, asking for her help. She came to me desperate to have her joined to Winter. Although I instructed her to make the request of Alpha Tomas, she argued that he would not approve it.

“I told her that I could not force Alpha Tomas to allow the girl to change packs. However, she could apply to join Winter herself when she turned eighteen if she still wished it.

“Her grandmother threw herself on the ground at my feet and begged me to reconsider.”

Wyatt paused, sniffled, took a breath, and wiped the tears that threatened to fall.

“She told me that if I didn’t help, the girl wouldn’t survive to see her eighteenth birthday.”

“What?” Ashleigh asked, sitting forward in her chair, her heart pounding harder in her chest.

Wyatt took a deep breath, blowing it out and taking a moment. Then, he reached out and opened the box on his desk. He pulled out a folded paper and handed it to Ashleigh._.

“This is the letter that girl wrote to her grandmother.”

Ashleigh hesitated for a moment, suddenly remembering the story of Pandora.

She knew instinctively that reading this letter would be the catalyst to something she couldn’t stop.

She could keep her father from telling her the rest of the story. She could return to Caleb’s side right now without hearing anything else. He was willing to let it all go and start fresh without the past looming over them.

But, she remembered the pained sound in his voice when he spoke of his father, the sorrow of the Summer wolves.

And then there was Bell. All those times Ashleigh had glimpsed the slight slip of a haunted expression carefully hidden away.

Ashleigh took the letter.

‘Dear Grandma,

I’m scared.

I’m afraid that writing this letter will get me killed, but I’m more afraid of dying without someone knowing the truth.

I don’t know what Dad has told you about our life here, but it hasn’t been easy. Because of certain ‘characteristics’, Mom and I have been considered ‘special’ to the pack. We are treated differently than others and not in a good way.

When I was little, I heard them talking when they thought I was asleep. Dad wanted to run to Winter, but Mom was scared. She knew that they would never let me and her go, and she was afraid they would hurt him to make us stay. She cried a lot.

Dad promised her he wouldn’t bring it up ever again.

Like I said, Mom and I were treated like that my whole life, and if that was all, I never would have written this letter.

When you came for the funeral, you asked if something changed, that I seemed different. I lied and told you nothing had changed.

You didn’t know. Dad wasn’t allowed to tell anyone. But I met my mate a month before they died.

We were all surprised when it happened.

When I met him, he was sweet… I didn’t understand everything that was happening to me. It was a feeling that made me embarrassed and excited. When he spoke to me, I felt like the most beautiful girl in the world.

And when he saw the marks on my arm, and I told him what they were from, he was so upset. He told me he would make sure it never happened again, and he was true to his word.

I thought he was amazing.

When I told Mom and Dad about what he said and how we would be safe from now on, they looked so worried. I was so confused and so upset by their reaction. Then, Dad reminded me about our Winter traditions, about waiting to be mated and married until I was eighteen.

I wanted to honor our traditions. So, I had no problem agreeing.

But when we told my mate, that was the first time I saw him get upset. He’s older than me, already eighteen. So, he felt that should be good enough. But Dad disagreed. They argued, and honestly, I got scared.

Mom and Dad had another talk that night. Dad brought up going to Winter again, but Mom said she would consider it this time. I didn’t know why she would consider it now, especially because they had stopped forcing us into the clinics.

I had never met my mate until the day we felt the bond, but Mom and Dad already knew him.

It’s my fault they died.

I didn’t know what he would do when I told him what they talked about.

When I told him he grabbed my shoulders so hard he left bruises, he had a look in his eye that scared me. Then, he said to me that he would never let me go. He would never let anyone take me from him.

After Mom and Dad, I went to live with my aunt. He came into my window that first night I lived there. I was crying. He hugged me, and for a moment, I felt grateful. Until he asked if I believed him now and told me never to forget that I was his.

That was the first time he forced himself on me.

I told my aunt what he did, and she told me that I already belonged to him. He was free to do with me what he saw fit. There was no such thing as a choice between mates.

It never mattered how much I screamed or cried. She never stopped him, even though I knew she could hear everything that happened.

When you came for the funeral, I wanted to tell you… But he saw how I looked at you, the hope in my eyes. So, he reminded me again that he would never let anyone take me. I was afraid of what he would do to you.

After everyone left, right there in the hall where we said goodbye to my parents, he forced his mark on me.

He has done whatever he wants for the past year, whenever he wants. He even put me back in the clinic rotations.

I have said no. I’ve tried to fight. But I realized that he gets more excited when I do. So, I think my fear makes it better for him.

Maybe I deserve all of this for telling him what Mom and Dad said. But I can’t do it anymore.

I don’t really expect there is anything you can do for me.

I’m pretty sure the moment you try, he’ll find out.

I think I’m hoping he’ll be so mad he goes too far. Then I can see Mom and Dad again and tell them how sorry I am.

I know I’m not a part of Winter, but if it’s not too much to ask, will you place a stone for me? It doesn’t need to be anything special. I just want a part of me that doesn’t belong to Autumn.

I love you, Grandma.

-Bell’

Ashleigh was sobbing now.

The heaviness in her chest was more than she could bear.

“I went to Autumn that same day,” Wyatt continued once he saw that Ashleigh was done reading the letter.

“I got in the car and drove faster than I had ever driven before. I went before Tomas, and I demanded that he let the girl join her family in Winter.”

Wyatt slammed his fist on the desk.

“He laughed,” Wyatt sighed angrily, “he told me that the mate bond superseded any familial claim Winter had. He said I should have come sooner.”

Ashleigh was shaking. Enraged, devastated.

“How…” her voice came out in a squeak. She pushed down the feelings and tried again. “How did you save her?”

“I didn’t,” Wyatt exhaled sadly.

He leaned back in his chair, and Ashleigh could suddenly see how tired he was.

“Tomas told me he wouldn’t help me unless I helped him,” Wyatt said. “He said that Cain had been avoiding him, wouldn’t help him with a project.”

Ashleigh swallowed, feeling nervous suddenly.

“What project?” she asked.

Wyatt shook his head.

“That I never knew,” he answered. “He only asked me to get Cain to agree to meet him. Then, and only then would he help her escape her mate.”

“What happened?” she asked.

“I reached out to Cain, I told him the truth, and he agreed to meet Tomas,” Wyatt said. “We went together, and I stayed outside while they talked. But then, they told me nothing about their deal. Only that it was done.”

Wyatt sniffled again and cleared his throat.

“And that was it? He just set her free with no other conditions?” Ashleigh asked, fighting down the anger that wanted to pour out at the torment her friend had suffered.

“His only other condition,” Wyatt sneered at the memory, “was not to blame him for what happened before I arrived.”

Ashleigh didn’t understand; Wyatt lifted his eyes to meet hers. Anger and resentment swirled within them.

“When he brought her out, this sixteen-year-old girl. She was covered in bruises, and her jaw was wired shut.”

“What?!” Ashleigh screamed. Jumping up from her chair in anger. “Why would they do that!”

“Because,” came a shaky voice from behind Ashleigh.

Ashleigh turned to see Bell standing in the doorway. Holding herself tightly as angry tears streamed from her eyes. Her mouth trembled.

“I had a nasty mouth.”