LOGINWillow’s POVThree days had passed since my conversation with Mordecai.Things were getting better. Not completely, but enough that I no longer spent the entire day locked in my room.I had returned to training with Hela, and I was slowly getting used to being around everyone again. Diana had visited me a few times, and although our conversations were still a little awkward, we were making progress. Vincent had also made it his mission to check on me whenever he saw me.I had even started exchanging a few words with some of the other pack members.It wasn’t much, but it was something.I noticed that Noah had been keeping to his room. I didn’t ask why.Mordecai, on the other hand, had kept his distance. He hadn’t come looking for me or tried to force a conversation. I sometimes caught sight of him around the packhouse, but he never approached me.I was grateful for that.I still wasn’t ready to face him.The gardens were another matter entirely.I hadn’t returned to either of them. Not
Willow’s POV“I sent you.” Mordecai looked away for the first time. “Far from Blood Moon, and far from anyone who might tell you. Kelvin agreed to take you and ask no questions. I thought it would keep you safe.”“Kelvin,” I said. “Of all the people.”“I was wrong about him.”“Then why did he send me back?”“To buy my favor.” His voice hardened. “He didn’t know where you came from. I accepted because I knew who you were, and I wanted you close.”I thought about Noah, folding my arms. “Noah says you and Kelvin arranged it.”“We arranged nothing. I never asked him for anything.”“You called me a spy in the stairwell.”“Kelvin never gives anything without a reason. I thought he had sent you to watch me.” His mouth tightened. “I looked at you, and you couldn’t lie to save your life. I should have known then.”I almost smiled, but it passed quickly.“And the garden?” I asked. “Noah says you accepted me from Kelvin because you wanted to use me for the gardens. You said it yourself that the
Willow’s POV“Where do you want me to start?”I stared at Mordecai. Was he really asking me that?“Greenwood,” I said. “Start with everything you didn’t tell me.”He nodded slowly. His gaze moved over the empty training grounds and came back to me, and I could see him gathering himself.“My father told me Greenwood had betrayed the kingdom.”My grip tightened around the water bottle.“He said they had turned against the crown and were gathering forces to challenge it. The Alpha King confirmed it. Both of them insisted Greenwood was a threat that had to be dealt with before it was too late, especially with their special abilities with plants.”His jaw tightened. “I believed them. My father was the Alpha of Blood Moon, and the Alpha King was a man I had been taught to respect. I had no reason to think they would lie to me about something like that.”“So you led the attack.”“Yes.”“On the word of two men.”“On the word of the two men I trusted most.” He didn’t look away. “That isn’t an
Willow’s POVI quickly discovered that Hela had no intention of making the training session easy for me.She pushed me harder than I expected, barely giving me enough time to recover between exercises. Every time I thought we were done, she found something else for me to do.After an hour, my entire body was already aching.“Again,” she ordered.I wiped the sweat from my forehead and raised my fists.She studied me for a moment. “You’re leaving your left side exposed.”I gritted my teeth and moved toward her.She blocked my first attack easily, then stepped aside when I tried to strike again. I lost my balance and stumbled forward.“Too slow.”I turned around, glaring at her.“Are you planning to fight or glare at me all day?” she asked.I attacked again.This time, I managed to land a hit against her arm before she caught my wrist and twisted it just enough to make me retreat.“Better,” she said.It was the closest thing to praise I had received from her all morning.I took a few step
Willow’s POVI stood there, staring at her retreating figure. “I’m not coming!” I called after her.“Thirty minutes, Willow.”She walked away without looking back.I remained by the door for several seconds.What was wrong with her?I slowly closed it, then stood there with my hands on my hips.The audacity.Who did she think she was? She couldn’t just walk into my room, insult me, order me around and expect me to obey.I was not going anywhere.I walked back to the bed and sat down.Thirty minutes.I scoffed. As if I cared.I had no intention of going to training. I didn’t care if she came back or decided to break the entire door down. I wasn’t in the mood to entertain her.I pulled the blanket over my legs again and leaned against the headboard.But the silence returned almost immediately.My eyes wandered around the room.I had spent days in this room.I hated Hela for saying it.But perhaps she had a point. I couldn’t keep sitting here.I looked towards the door.A frustrated groan
Willow’s POVI had barely left my room in days.At first, I told myself I only needed time. I needed to think, to make sense of everything Noah had told me and everything Mordecai had confirmed.But the hours turned into days, and I never found a reason to leave.I barely ate. The trays still came three times a day, and I knew who had arranged them. I couldn’t touch any of it. I slept whenever exhaustion caught up with me, and the rest of the time I stared at the ceiling or sat by the window lost in thought.Everything felt different now. The packhouse, the people, even the room I had grown comfortable in. I couldn’t look at any of it without remembering that I had been living among people who knew things about me that I didn’t, and who had said nothing. Some of them might have even played a part in my ruin.Sometimes I wondered whether I would have been happier if I had never found out. At least then I could have gone on living without knowing how much had been taken from me.But I k
Willow’s POVI didn’t know when I stopped breathing. I didn’t know when the paper and pouch the healer had given me slipped from my fingers. I was standing in the doorway and my vision had gone strange, like everything was suddenly too bright, and their voices had started sounding like they were co
Willow’s POV “Congratulations, Willow. You’re pregnant.”Hearing those words from the healer caused a wide smile to spread across my face.I sat there for a moment, just staring at the healer. My hands were trembling from the excitement. I pressed them against my thighs so she wouldn’t notice.“Ar
Willow’s POVAlpha Kelvin clasped his hands behind his back and looked at me with the same flat expression he used in pack meetings. “I’m talking about Stacey Holt and Noah,” he continued. “Their child.” He paused. “From your current state, I assume you have heard already.”My mouth opened and clo
Willow’s POVI don’t know how long I sat there sobbing my heart out.My throat started to ache and my body ran out of the energy to cry. I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them as I just sat there in my tiny room, staring at nothing.My room had been a storage room once, bu







