เข้าสู่ระบบChapter 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 POVHeather turned on me with fire in her eyes and came forward in a run, throwing punches rapidly. They were less accurate than before. I avoided two, caught one on the forearm, and then moved around her.“Enough!” She grabbed for my arm.I pulled away and put distance between us.She was breathing harder than she had been at the start, not because she was tired, but because she was irritated.She turned.Her technique had changed. She was no longer fighting a controlled spar. She was chasing.She lunged.The first punch came fast, but I slipped outside it.The second followed immediately and I ducked under it.She didn’t stop.She wanted to hurt me now.When she charged at me I saw an opening.I planted my feet and my fist shot forward causing Heather’s own momentum to drive her face straight into my fist.Crunch.The sound echoed through the ring. Heather staggered backward.Blood burst from her nose almost immediately.Silence fell upon the training grounds.Heather slowl
Willow’s POVHeather rushed in again, faster this time.“Stop running.”I watched her right foot.It shifted.I moved left before the punch arrived, and her fist passed the side of my ribs instead of slamming into them. The hit grazed me again, and it still hurt, but it was not the same as the clean shots from earlier.Her elbow caught my shoulder as she passed. It wasn't much, but it reminded me that seeing an attack wasn't the same as escaping it. I straightened and kept my distance.A quiet realization had dawned on me.I was not going to beat Heather. It was just the plain truth. She had a wolf, more strength, more training, and she had years of practice. If I tried to go on the offensive, it would only mean hurting myself.That was not going to work.So I changed the goal entirely.I stopped thinking about how to win and started thinking about how to stay on my feet long enough.Heather threw a jab. I saw it before her arm moved. I stepped back and the jab hit the air.She follo
Willow’s POVConsciousness slipped in and out.One moment there was darkness, the next moment I could hear the engine of a car and could feel myself moving, and then darkness again.My body felt like it wasn’t actually mine, the way it felt when you were sick with fever and your own limbs stopped r
Willow’s POVI watched in horror as they began talking about how to move me, whether I could walk, how long the journey would take. They spoke about me the way you spoke about cargo.“She’ll need restraints,” Alpha Kelvin said.“She’s injured,” one of the Blood Moon men replied. “She won’t get far.
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







