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“Bell…” Galen sighed.

“Be quiet, Galen,” Bell said softly.

Galen pursed his lips and hung his head.

“I thought he was going to kill me the night he broke my jaw,” Bell began. “I was sure that when my head hit the ground, I was never opening my eyes again.”

Galen clenched his jaw.

“I woke up in that clinic, my jaw wired shut, and I cried,” she said, swallowing down the lump in her throat. “I cried because I had woken up.”

Galen looked up, his eyes fell on hers. He saw the pain, the fear. Angry tears in a haunted expression. It broke his heart. He licked his lips and then moved further onto the bed to sit beside her. Pressing his back to the headboard and gently taking her hand in his.

Bell leaned her head against his shoulder.

“Wyatt bringing me to Winter was the greatest gift I have ever received. But at the time it didn’t feel that way. It just felt like I was prolonging the inevitable. After I went to the Priestess, I felt better. I didn’t remember what had happened, I just knew that I would be safe if I stayed inside of Winter.”

Bell took a deep breath.

“Over six years I found family, friends, comfort. I became a doctor, I helped people. I laughed, cried,” Bell paused and looked up at him with a smile. “Loved.”

Galen smiled and kissed the top of her head. Bell turned, laying comfortably against Galen.

“I thought that all this time, I was healing. Getting stronger and braver, putting him farther and farther behind me with each day that passed. But all I was doing was hiding.”

Bell sighed.

“I never knew what would happen if I saw him again, I never wanted to know,” she continued. “But when he was suddenly there in front of me…”

She paused, Galen moved his arm around her and held her close as he heard the way her heart had sped up.

“I froze,” she said quietly. “I was so broken, so weak… I couldn’t even scream for help.”

Galen closed his eyes, pushing against the pain that gripped his heart at her words.

“Bell,” he whispered. “This is what I mean, if we leave Winter… he’ll come for you again.”

Bell scoffed and pulled away from the comfort of Galen’s arms. She stood up.

“He’s going to come for me either way.”

She moved across the room to her dresser and opened one of the drawers.

“What are you doing?” Galen asked.

Bell reached in and pulled out a folder.

“What is that?” he asked.

Bell returned to the bed and sat down so she could look at him.

“He thought I was dead,” she began. “For six years, he believed that I was dead and gone. But he still looked for me.”

Galen furrowed his brows.

“What are you talking about.”

Bell looked at the folder in her hand. She didn’t want to look at it again, wishing she had never seen it in the first place. But she had needed to know.

“When Roman found me… he told me that he never stopped. That he was always looking for me. He said he had found me again and again, but they were never me.”

Galen’s eyes widened as he began to guess at what she was saying. Bell paused, swallowing the revulsion she felt. The guilt and fear.

“Roman was always out there, always looking for me,” she said. “I was safe, hiding behind the mountains of Winter. But… these women weren’t.”

Bell handed the folder to Galen.

He took the folder, holding it in his hand for a moment. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know. But Bell already knew, she had already seen whatever was inside all by herself.

Galen opened the folder.

Inside he found printouts of online articles from all over the world. Pictures of missing women— human women. There were dozens, and they all had a striking resemblance to the woman sitting before him.

He read a few lines of the autopsy reports of those whose bodies had been found. Jaws broken, hearts ripped out of their chests and never found.

Galen closed the folder.

He took a deep breath through his nose and got up from the bed.

“I’m not sure why you thought showing me this would change my mind,” Galen said, throwing the folder down on the table as he started to pace at the end of the bed. “This just confirms that we are not leaving Winter!”

Bell stood up; she approached him carefully. He was angry, but mostly he was scared. He hesitated to let her touch him. Finally, however, he relaxed as she slipped her arms around his waist. He sighed and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

“I have tried so hard to forget my life in Autumn,” she said. “To forget Roman, my parents, the clinics… all of it. I wanted to pretend it was all just a nightmare that I needed to wake up from. But all I did was make myself a prisoner of that nightmare.”

Galen closed his eyes, hugging her tighter.

“I will never be someone that can face Roman with violence. I will never be able to fight him. But you and Axel have tried so hard to get me to see that I am not alone. That I have people willing to fight for me, to protect me. Now it is time that Roman understands that too.”

Galen sniffled as tears escaped his tightly closed eyes.

ɴoᴠᴇʟ “I want to fight for myself, for Ren. For you. I can’t do that here, but in Summer, I can,” she said softly. “Winter is filled with love and family, but in Summer, there are people I can talk to. That can help me to stop hiding.”

Bell pulled back and looked up at him, cupping his cheek in her hand.

“I won’t be a prisoner to my own fear anymore,” she said. “I won’t let him destroy the life I have built.”

Galen opened his eyes, they were filled with fear and anxiety. But there was also understanding.

“Winter is my home,” she whispered softly. “It is the sanctuary that saved me and gave me new life. Allow me to leave it while I still think of it as a home rather than a cage.”

Galen clenched his jaw and sniffled.

“You can have video sessions with our therapists…” he said weakly.

Bell smiled, running her thumb gently along his cheekbone.

“For now, sure,” she said. “I don’t want to go anywhere until Ren is born. But, I don’t want you making permanent plans in Winter. Because our future is in Summer.”

Galen looked away and took a deep breath. He looked back at Bell and sighed.

“The war is an issue as well,” he said.

“Fine,” she smiled. “After Ren is born, and once my big strong man has ended the war, we go home.”

Galen nodded, though he showed no sign of relief.

Bell’s sweet smile turned into a mischievous grin.

“Aww… did I make you sad?” she asked softly, wrapping her arms loosely around his neck.

Galen lowered his hands to her hips and gave her a gentle smile. He nodded his head.

“You did.”

Moving to stand on her toes, she pressed her lips to his in a slow, warm kiss.

“I’ll have to cheer you up,” she whispered against his mouth.

Galen felt the heat spread over him in an instant. He moved his hands down and, in one swift movement, lifted her up to wrap her legs around his waist.

“Yes,” he growled. “You will.”