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Ashleigh waited by the tree until she saw Bell put the phone back in her bag.

“How long have you been standing there?” Bell said without turning around.

“Not long,” Ashleigh replied, walking towards Bell.

“That’s why you called him….” Bell smiled. “You knew he’d call and listened for the phone… tricky.”

Bell playfully pointed at Ashleigh. Ashleigh could see how hard Bell was trying to lighten the mood.

“I didn’t listen for the phone,” Ashleigh said.

“Then how’d you find me?”

“I knew he’d call; I knew you’d answer….” Ashleigh said as though it answered the question.

Bell scrunched her eyes and looked at her.

“You like him… a lot,” Ashleigh added.

Bell’s eyes widened, and she nodded in understanding.

“Pheromones…” Bell sighed. “I tried to mask my usual scent, so you made me produce a different one. Smart.”

“So… running away?” Ashleigh asked casually.

Bell took a deep breath, looking at the fence again.

“I don’t know,” she sighed.

“It won’t help,” Ashleigh replied.

Bell looked at her with a thoughtful expression._.

“Galen said something similar,” she said quietly.

“He’s a good guy,” Ashleigh smiled.

“He really is.”

“Look,” Ashleigh began, “I can’t begin to imagine what you–”

“Please,” Bell interrupted. “Please, don’t tell me you’re sorry. Don’t try to sympathize or be extra gentle with me.”

“I wasn’t going to,” Ashleigh replied.

Bell looked at Ashleigh.

“I was trying to say that what I learned tonight was just so that my father could explain what happened with Alpha Cain,” Ashleigh said. “As far as I am concerned, your story is yours until you want to tell it.”

Bell looked away.

“What if I never want to tell it?” she asked.

“That’s your choice to make,” Ashleigh replied.

Bell took a deep breath. Ashleigh couldn’t help but notice how the moonlight reflected off Bell, highlighting the tears that stained her cheeks.

“I’m not ready to share the details. I don’t know if I ever will be,” Bell sighed.

“That’s ok,” Ashleigh said, “I am here for you either way.”

Ashleigh put her arm around Bell’s shoulder.

Bell smiled and wiped away the tears that still clung to her eyes.

Ashleigh looked at the fence.

“Why did you come here?” she asked.

Bell looked back at the fence as well.

“It’s not heavily patrolled,” Bell replied.

“But it’s not much of an escape route,” Ashleigh said. “Yea, you might have gotten outside the border faster here, but you still would have had to hike south near the border for a few miles to get away. So we still would have found you.”

“I didn’t need to get away. I just needed to cross the border,” Bell stated.

“I don’t understand….”

Bell took a deep breath and smiled at Ashleigh.

“I told you the Priestess ‘strained’ my bond, right?”

Ashleigh nodded.

“They sort of put a barrier between my mate and me,” Bell said. “All of Winter is my shield.”

Ashleigh scrunched her face, still not understanding.

“All it would take for him to know that I was still alive is for me to cross the border of Winter. It doesn’t matter where or for how long. Our bond is blocked so long as I stay within these borders.”

Ashleigh’s eyes widened.

“So, you were trying to….” Ashleigh let her words die on her lips.

Bell looked away.

Ashleigh took a deep breath.

“I know you don’t want to hear it, but I need to say something,” Ashleigh said quietly.

Bell sighed.

“It’s not your fault. None of it,” Ashleigh said. “Yes, he considered you in his decision, but it was dad’s decision. And before that, it was Alpha Cain’s decision.”

“They never should have–”

“Would you have done any different?” Ashleigh interrupted before Bell could claim again that she was not worth saving.

“What?” Bell asked.

“If you found out that someone else was going through what you went through… if you saw another person’s name on a letter just like you wrote, could you let them be? Could you ever stand back while they were put at risk again?”

Bell turned away from Ashleigh.

“No,” she said simply.

Ashleigh squeezed Bell’s shoulder.

They heard a series of howls in the distance.

“Guess I should let them know I found you,” Ashleigh smiled, “Axel is pretty worried.”

Bell laughed. “He’s always been like that.”

Ashleigh stepped away to call Saul, telling him to call off the hunt and tell him she had found Bell. Axel asked if she was alright. Ashleigh laughed and let him know they would return soon.

Bell stared at the fence. The thrum of energy against her skin felt uncomfortable but strangely recognizable.

She had come to the edge of the border several times over the years but had never gotten quite this close before. Now she understood why.

It was him.

Her connection to him was the strange, uncomfortable familiar tug that pulled at her.

Her heart picked up again, and her breathing became more challenging.

Bell took a step back and another until she bumped into Ashleigh.

“Whoa,” Ashleigh said, catching Bell as she almost fell.

Bell looked up at her, unable to hide the alarm she felt.

“Bell, what’s wrong?” Ashleigh asked.

Her eyes swelled with tears; her heart sank into her stomach.

“Please… just take me away from here!” Bell shouted.

“Ok… yea,” Ashleigh said, putting Bell’s arm over her shoulder. She grabbed the backpack, then led her friend back through the forest.

When they had gotten far enough that Bell no longer felt the effect of being near the border, they agreed it would be best to return home in wolf form. There was no doubt that the whole family would be waiting for them.

“Are you ready for this?” Ashleigh asked as they approached her home.

“Nope, but gotta do it anyway, right?” Bell laughed.

Ashleigh smiled back at her and opened the door.

Wyatt sat in his chair, his expression concerned and tired. Corrine sat across from him on the couch, she also looked tired, but her expression relaxed when she saw them.

Axel was pacing behind the couch. When they stepped in the door, he immediately turned, his visible eye widened, and he ran around the sofa. He wrapped his arms around Bell in a bear hug, holding her tightly.

“I…need to… breathe…Axel,” Bell managed to say with the faintest of laughs.

“Sorry,” he said, pulling back and looking her up and down. “Are you alright?”

Bell nodded and replied softly. “I’ll be fine.”

He smiled at her and then turned to Ashleigh with a soft growl.

“I told you to let it go,” he said.

Ashleigh responded with her own growl.

“That’s enough!” Corrine shouted.

[Unknown Location]

Deep in the forest, a great distance from Winter, a large black wolf with twisted tufts of white fur and burnt orange eyes sat on a small cliff, ready to pounce. He stared down with hunger at his prey.

A human woman with long brown hair and a short, lean body. His favorite.

She wore turquoise leggings and a matching tank top. She ran on the trail with a heart monitor on her arm and earbuds in her ears.

His mouth salivated at the thought of making her scream as he tore into her flesh. He prepared to jump at her when he felt something strange.

A small ripple, a tug… it was just for a moment, but he recognized it instantly. Something he hadn’t felt in years.

He stood up tall and looked at the moon above him hungrily.

‘Bell…?’