ログインWillow’s POVI didn’t go back to the garden that evening. I didn’t go to the training grounds. I went straight to my room and sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the wall, and let myself actually think about what had happened.The girl had wanted to leave.She had been a gift, the same as me. An outsider, the same as me.But she had tried to do exactly what I had spent weeks planning to do, and the result had been an execution that took less than a minute.I thought about how safe I had started to feel here. I thought about laughing in the garden with Mordecai yesterday, about the warmth of his hand around my wrist, about every small thing that had made me forget what he actually was.I had let myself forget.I thought about the first night in the stairwell, when I had told him to just get it over with, when I had been too exhausted and broken to be afraid anymore, and he had told me I was lucky he was in a good mood.What would he have done if he hadn’t been in a good mood?I alre
Willow’s POVI didn’t sleep well that night.Every time I closed my eyes I was back in the garden, his fingers wrapped around my wrist, the apology that didn’t make sense, the disappointment that I couldn’t explain.What was going through his mind? By morning I had convinced myself I was being ridiculous.I went to the garden early. I knelt down in the dirt and told myself I was not going to think about Mordecai today. I had a whole list of things to do.I lasted maybe twenty minutes before I caught myself staring at nothing, thinking about the look on his face right before he walked away.“Stop it,” I muttered to myself.I forced myself to keep working, and for a while it actually helped. The morning passed, and I managed to push the whole thing into a corner of my mind.It was afternoon when I noticed something was different.I straightened up and looked toward the small door. I couldn’t see anything from inside the garden, but I could hear voices. There were more voices than usual
Chapter 73Willow’s POVA week later, the healer grudgingly declared that I was cleared for light work, which meant I was finally allowed back in my own garden. I escaped the clinic before anyone could change their mind.I practically ran there.Well, I didn’t run. My ribs still hurt too much to run. But I walked faster than I should have, and the moment I pushed through the small door and breathed in the familiar smell of soil and leaves, something in my chest loosened.It had only been a few days. But it felt longer.I stood there for a moment just looking at it. The rows I had cleared weeks ago. The blue flowers near the far wall. The tree I liked to sit under. None of it had changed, but I had missed it in a way that surprised me a little.This garden didn’t ask anything of me. It didn’t make my heart do strange things or kiss me and then disappear for a week. It just sat there and grew, and let me take care of it, and that was enough.I knelt carefully beside one of the flower be
Mordecai's POV (Yes, it’s HIM)Willow fell asleep faster than I expected.I watched her for several minutes without moving, just to be certain. Her breathing was slow and steady. Her face had stopped showing any sign of the tension that had been there all evening.I waited until her heartbeat settled into deep sleep before I let myself relax slightly in the chair.Willow was not a quiet person when she was awake. She took up space in ways that had nothing to do with her size. Even when she was talking, she was not silent, her movements, and the way her expression changed every few seconds giving away everything she was thinking even when she was trying to hide it.In sleep, she was still.She looked peaceful and younger than she usually did, no longer tense or waiting for the next problem.I could remember clearly the way her breath would catch. The way her heartbeat would spike at my mere presence.Tonight she had argued with me, mocked me, and rolled her eyes at meInstead of being
Willow’s POVAfter Oliver left, I sat on the clinic bed and did not say anything for a moment.“He seemed genuine,” I said finally.Mordecai hummed, but didn’t say anything.I looked down at my hands. The knuckles on my right hand were bruised. I pressed them gently and winced.“Stop that,” Mordecai said.“I’m checking to see if anything’s broken.”“Nothing is broken. If it were, you would know already.”I stopped pressing on my knuckles.The potion the healer had given me was beginning to work. The sharp pain in my ribs was softening. My shoulder still ached, but it was distant now.“You can go,” I told him. “I’m going to sleep.”“I know.” He replied.I waited for him to move toward the door.He didn’t.A few minutes later, he picked me up again, but I was too tired to do anything more than groan in protest. The walk back through the building was quieter than before. We didn’t pass many people, and the ones we passed moved out of the way immediately or looked somewhere else.When we
Willow’s POVThe walk to the clinic was quiet.Mordecai moved beside me at a slow pace without speaking or touching me. The pack members in the corridors cleared a path for him automatically, the way they always did, most of them glancing at me curiously as we passed.I wished the ground would swallow me.I had already embarrassed myself enough today.I took another step.I kept my eyes forward and tried not to let it show how much my ribs were hurting.I managed to keep walking normally for about three minutes.As we walked, my ribs protested with a sharp spike of pain that made me pause to exhale hard through my nose.Mordecai stopped beside me.He looked at me with those pale eyes. “The offer to carry you is still available.”“No.” I started walking again.He fell back into step beside me.A few more minutes passed.We turned a corner and it was getting harder to walk. My shoulder was aching, and my legs felt wobbly.I refused to show it.“You’re slowing down,” Mordecai observed.“
Willow’s POVI stared at Alpha Kelvin in horror, my chest rising and falling too fast.“No,” I whispered immediately. “No.”Alpha Kelvin looked completely unmoved by my reaction.“You should consider yourself fortunate,” he continued calmly. “Mordecai rarely accepts gifts from other packs. The fact
Willow’s POVThe first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was the ceiling.It was plain white. I would recognize it anywhere. It was the pack clinic.I had lost track of how many times I had woken up here after being bullied by some of the pack members.I lay there for a moment without moving, just s
Willow’s POVThe next day, I decided to go about my day as normally as possible.It was the only sensible thing to do. If I disappeared too suddenly, if I stopped showing up for my duties or locked myself in my room, Alpha Kelvin might suspect something was up. I was even surprised he hadn’t even p
Willow’s POVBefore I could think, I was already shoving Stacey as hard as I could. However, Stacey had a wolf, and I did not, which meant that my shove wasn’t supposed to do much to her. To my surprise, she stumbled sideways and went down. Her knees hit the floor and she let out a sharp piercing







