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The force of her blow knocked Caleb back. He stumbled over the chair and landed hard on the floor. His hand immediately guarded his tender side as he lifted his head to see her standing above him.

Her jaw was clenched tight, and she took ragged breaths through her nose. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears, and it broke his heart to see.

“I’m sorry…” he whispered.

Ashleigh’s face fell. She squeezed her eyes tightly and dropped to her knees in front of him. Her shoulders sagged, and she sobbed once more.

Caleb wanted to reach out and hold her, comfort her. But he knew she wouldn’t accept it right now. She was hurting, and she was angry because of his lie.

“Ashleigh,” he called out to her.

“Was it ever real?” she asked without looking at him. She hugged herself. “Please, tell me it was a miracle… that something just clicked, and you could move again that night.”

Caleb sighed.

“I can’t.”

She sniffled.

“I don’t want to lie to you anymore,” he sighed.

Ashleigh felt a painful stab in her heart. She knew he had a reason, a purpose for the act. But, of course, it was Caleb, he didn’t do it to hurt her or anyone else, but the road to hell was paved with good intentions.

“When I woke up in the hospital, I couldn’t move. That was real,” he started. “But before I returned to Summer, I already started to get motion back. So when my team here did other exams, they found the problem, and I did have surgery. But it was much more minor than I let you and everyone else believe.”

Ashleigh listened._.

“It only took a couple of days to heal. After that, I was back to before I got shot,” he continued. “But I already had decided to keep that a secret.”

Ashleigh sighed and looked up at him.

“Why?” she asked.

Caleb’s eyes brightened when she looked at him. The look in her eyes was tired and hurt, but she was looking at him, which was a step in the right direction.

“Can we move to the sofa?” he asked, “I promise to tell you everything.”

Ashleigh sniffled and got herself off the floor. She turned to the sofa but didn’t move; without looking back, she reached out to him to help him up.

Caleb smiled and took her hand. He pulled himself up, and she didn’t pull away from him until they reached the sofa.

She sat down in the corner, drawing her knees into her chest and hugging a pillow. He sat down at the opposite end, feeling that she still needed some space.

Caleb cleared his throat before continuing.

“When I was facing Granger, and I felt the poison in my spine spreading, I already knew I was losing my legs,” he began. “I didn’t want to live like that, and so when Granger decided to leave me there to die slowly, I pushed him. I goaded him into attacking me. If you hadn’t arrived when you did, I would have died.”

Ashleigh swallowed down the sense of dread that came with his words. The memory of that moment was too hard still for her to think about for long. If she had been even a moment later… No, she couldn’t think about that.

“In the hospital, when you finally admitted that you felt it, ‘our bond’, it was the happiest moment of my life.”

Caleb smiled, delighting in the memory, the relief and joy he had felt at that moment.

“But when you told me that Granger was still alive and got away. I realized we would never enjoy our time together as long as he was around.”

Caleb growled and sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

“I also realized something about him,” he said. “He enjoys the pain he causes people.”

Ashleigh closed her eyes.

Two years of her life, she had devoted to him. He was kind, considerate, and always had a comforting smile for her.

She remembered days when she had worked herself to the bone trying to make the next berserker rank. Trying to push her body beyond its limits to prove to everyone the strength she had inside of her.

In those days, Granger was the one that nursed her. That held her hand and soothed her bruised ego.

He was patient with her. He was warm and tender. Respected her boundaries and supported her in all that she wanted.

That was the man she knew, the mate she had devoted herself to.

Everything had changed after the Blood Moon.

Ashleigh squeezed her eyes as fresh tears came.

She didn’t want to see it. She was too consumed by her own fears and concerns. Her confusion over Caleb and her misguided sense of duty. She didn’t pay attention to who Granger had become.

Renee, Axel, Caleb. They had all suffered at Granger’s hands because of her.

“I knew that if he heard about me in this chair, he wouldn’t be able to resist. He would come for me thinking he had already broken me.”

Ashleigh looked up at Caleb now. She saw the anger in his stare, his rage building at the thought of Granger.

“You did this to lure him to you?” she asked.

Caleb looked back at her and nodded.

“Not just him,” he added. “He was right when he told you that the others wouldn’t let us be together. It was just a matter of time before one of them came after us. I thought showing them how ‘vulnerable’ I had become would just highlight our real enemies sooner.”

“That’s why the Alpha’s gathering took so long?” she asked. “Because you were making it look like you could barely hold yourself together.”

Caleb nodded.

“Yes,” he said, “they needed to believe it.”

Ashleigh sighed.

“I didn’t know about your plan, about Wyatt retiring and the Oath of Peace,” Caleb said, “though I can’t say I would do anything differently.”

Ashleigh was quiet. Caleb took a deep breath. He wanted her to understand, but he knew it would be difficult.

“Ash–”

Caleb started to apologize once more but couldn’t when the pillow Ashleigh had been holding hit the side of his head.

He turned to look at her. But he was met by the fabric of his throw pillow, this time directly in the face.

“You idiot!” she screamed. Hitting him again and again with the pillow. “You made yourself bait!”

Caleb raised his arm in defense, trying to protect his face.

“Ashleigh…. Ashleigh, please listen… Ashleigh!”

Caleb tried to get her attention, but Ashleigh continued her assault.

She had no other way of letting it out.

Ashleigh wanted to hit him properly, take him into a sparring room and let loose on him. But he was already injured.

“You are a selfish jerk!” she shouted with one more aggressive blow.

“Selfish?” Caleb asked, with eyes wide. “I admit that my plan caused some unnecessary concern, but selfish?”

“Do you have ANY idea how much those people care about you?!” she shouted. “How much they hold you in their hearts?!”

Caleb didn’t know how to respond. He knew she would be upset, but he didn’t expect this.

“Every day, people are praying to the Goddess for your recovery,” she said through angry tears. “Children at the school draw pictures of you getting better or of fantastical machines they have come up with to try and help you walk again.”

Caleb swallowed down a pang of growing guilt.

“Your military is known across the packs as the strongest and greatest, yet they lost focus during an attack because they were concerned for you and that chair,” Ashleigh growled.

He clenched his jaw, looking away from her.

Ashleigh paused. Thinking about what she would say next, she considered her options very carefully.

She licked her lips and swallowed down the fear that came with the revelation.

“He was here,” she said.

Caleb turned to her, his eyes already glowing.

“What?” he growled.

She took a breath.

“I didn’t realize it at the time. I was focused on trying to understand what I was seeing. The impossible vision of you fighting another wolf on your own two feet. After that, I lost consciousness,” she said. “But I remember now, just at the edge of my senses, I felt him, watching as they started to return.”

Caleb growled and stood up from the couch. He paced back and forth in front of her.

“Then he did this?!” he shouted. “Granger joined the rogues and brought them here?!”

“No,” Ashleigh shook her head.

She stood up and stopped him in his tracks. She looked up into his bright grey eyes and held him there with the strength that reflected from her own.

“You did.”