She brews tea with the fresh wildflower leaves for Lena, laughing with her when she shows her a passage from her book. Beatrix perches on the arm of the rocker and Avery combs then braids her hair with gentle, nurturing care.

Unbidden, my mind conjures the idea of Avery caring for pups in the same way. My wolf knows she’ll be perfect, and I don’t know what to do with the unfamiliar longing unfurling within me.

A worn journal pokes out from a lower shelf. I thumb through it, brows rising at years’ worth of notes on the mountain’s vegetation along with lists of uses, some with question marks that are scratched out. Those have a tiny scrawl in the margin to note ineffectiveness or have poison written at the top of the page with several underscores.

It amazes me how much she’s learned.

At the back, she’s logged pack members she’s traded remedies for their ailments or tracking who she’s noticed has a problem she could solve and how it would benefit her. This isn’t only for her sister, she’s seen to a surprising number of females in the pack.

She snatches the journal from me with a gasp. “Why are you still poking around?”

I open my mouth to tell her it’s my right as Alpha. The panic flaring in her eyes makes me snap my jaw shut with a shrug. The buzz moving around behind my ribcage gets worse. I massage it and gesture to the table.

“I was interested to see your work. You're helping the pack in your own way. That’s a good thing. I’m grateful.”

Her cheeks color and she narrows her gaze before going back to ignoring me.

The longer I stay because it feels right to be near her, the more irritated she becomes. I’m a looming presence intruding on her space. She growls at me when I’m blocking her path. There aren’t many places to move in the tiny cabin.

After she’s tucked her youngest sister into bed, she grabs my wrist and drags me outside. A creaking noise distracts me. I stop to inspect the door.

“Do you want me to send the healer to check on Lena?”

“Don’t bother. I’ve got it covered.”

“Are you sure? If I send him, he might be able to help.”

“He’s a hack.”

My frown deepens. The hinges are probably shot and the door’s not worth salvaging. I’ll need to replace it all to resolve the noise.

“Damn it, would you stop that?” she snaps.

She attempts to push me away from fussing with the door. Even with her improved strength now that she has a wolf, she’s barely able to make me budge when I don’t want to. She releases a terse sigh when I kneel to examine the ancient, rusted hinges closer.

“It’s just—like that, okay? I’ve tried to fix it,” she grits out. “There’s nothing to be done.”

“You’ve tried to fix this? On your own?” The question comes out through my teeth and she takes it the wrong way.

“Yes, Caden. When something breaks around here, who are we going to call? The maintenance crew?” She tosses her head with a scoff that rubs my fur the wrong way. “The only one I can rely on for help is myself.”

She shakes her head at my sharp look and storms off the porch.

My jaw works and I stretch my head side to side to ease the tension stiffening every muscle in my body. There’s no threat to fight. Not a physical one. The growl working its way up my throat is an overreaction caused by this damn bond for leaving my fated mate to fend for herself in such an extreme way.

I was an idiot to think she wouldn’t be a worthy Alpha female. A worthy mate. I’m the unworthy one, not her.

My chest constricts with dread. I rejected her. Fuck, is it too late to undo my mistakes? Would she want me if I accept the bond?

I push to my feet with another rumble and make it to her with long strides by the time she reaches the woods. She stumbles and I automatically catch her elbow to keep her steady.

“I’m fine.” She yanks free and rubs at her chest.

I feel the urge to do the same because the mad pulsing insisting I drag her body against mine and claim her mouth is driving me to the brink of madness.

“If you came to petition for help, it would be my duty as Alpha to hear you out,” I argue, unable to control my volume. “You’re still part of this pack.”

She halts, shoulders heaving with heavy breaths. Then she turns and meets my eye. The death glare she serves me would be viewed as a direct challenge by anyone, yet my heartbeat races for an entirely different reason.

Avery Morgan is beautiful and entirely too tempting when she’s furious.

17AVERY

“What did you say?” I’m so enraged, I barely have the capacity to yell.

“That you didn’t have to fix creaking doors or broken floorboards by yourself.” Caden raises his hands as I march up to him. “And you don’t have to worry about it anymore. You should move out of that death trap. I’ll find you somewhere else.”

“And go where? To you?”

My voice cracks when I pummel his chest, not even stopping to think about the consequences of attacking my alpha. He allows it and doesn’t retaliate. Inside, my wolf rages, too. She’s lunging and wild, teeth clacking with each fierce snap of her jaws.

“To tell you the nights were too cold? After your father put us out here because of you when everyone else at that joke of a pack meeting after—afterwards suggested any remaining Morgans be put down or exiled?” I’m breathing hard, everything pouring out of me at once. “Do you expect my thanks for this mercy you showed us?”

My body trembles, throat searing. Each thump of my fist against his firm muscles grows weaker.

I hate him.

I hate him so much.

I hate how easily he’s shattered my heart twice. It’s cracking all over again, the fragile shards ready to burst free.

“You were my friend,” I say brokenly. “And you stopped listening to me the minute you thought I’d betrayed you because my father dared to challenge yours. In minutes, you hated me. There was no way to make you see otherwise. Why would I ever beg you for help when you labeled me a traitor to this pack and picked where to cast me away?”

He clenches his jaw and catches my wrists, speaking gruffly as he stares into my eyes repentantly. “I was wrong for that. For too many things. I see it now. I shouldn’t have blamed you for your father or made you move up here. There’s no excuse I can give to change any of what happened. I’m sorry for—for everything. I’ll make it better, I swear it.”

I’ve waited for him to say those words for years. They don’t bring the immense relief I imagined they would when I faced the hardest moments of survival. How can I forgive him?

A flutter of yearning pulls at me, gently at first, then more insistent. Part of me wants to believe he’s sorry after all this time. Probably the part that was so in love with him back then. Or the part that imagined what being his True Mate would be like.

“I’m sorry,” he repeats.

Tears sting my eyes and I try to wrench free. Regret lines his features, his throat bobbing with a heavy swallow. He holds me, tugging me closer until I rest my forehead on his firm chest.

“I know saying sorry won’t fix it, and I don’t deserve your forgiveness so easily,” he says roughly. “But I have to start somewhere. Let me make it better.”

The buildup of rage shifts to all the hurt I’ve kept bottled up, my emotions frayed and overwhelming. A gasp breaks off in a choked sob. The last of my composure snaps and the torrent of frustration and heartache threatens to drown me.

Tears flow in an unstoppable cascade, blurring my vision. Anguished cries scrape my throat.

He holds me through it all, murmuring his apologies against the top of my head. Years of holding myself together, only falling apart when I’m alone at night so I can be strong for my sisters, unravels in moments. He doesn’t let go, his embrace tightening.

I don’t know how much time has passed once my tears dry. He’s stroking my hair, his other arm and his heady woodsy scent enveloping me. It soothes me until I calm down, blanketing me in a comforting haze that blocks out the weight of the world.