Chapter 78 — Terms

Hallie brought the letter to Caleb the next morning. Grant came with her. Not because she had asked him to decide for her.

Because Bellamy Creek had asked for someone Cedar Draw now relied on, and pretending that had nothing to do with the pack would have been dishonest. Caleb read the request once, then set it on the table.

“They need coordination.”

“Yes.”

“And they think you can fix it.”

“I can help them see where it is breaking.”

Caleb looked at her.

“That was not the same sentence.”

Hallie folded her arms.

“No.”

She had spent half the night separating those two ideas.

Bellamy Creek needing her did not mean Hallie owed them a rescue. Knowing how to help did not mean she had to step back into the shape they had once built around her and stay there until everyone was comfortable again.

Grant leaned against the wall beside the table. Caleb tapped the page.

“If you go, what happens here?”

Hallie had been waiting for that question.

“The contact work on the new agreement stays with the people already named. I am not one of the binding contacts.”

“You still catch half the things they miss.”

“Then they need to catch them.”

Caleb’s mouth moved. Hallie did not smile.

“I mean it. If Cedar Draw falls apart because I leave for a few days, then we have built the same problem Bellamy Creek has.”

Grant’s gaze sharpened. Caleb looked down at the request again.

“How long?”

“That needs to be part of the answer.”

Hallie pulled a blank page toward her.

“Temporary. Defined before I go. I help them identify the gaps, stabilize the handoffs, and put responsibility where it belongs.”

“And then?”

“I come home.”

The word left her before she examined it. Caleb noticed. Grant did too.

Neither commented. Hallie picked up the pen.

“I am not going back to become the person who carries every decision because everyone is used to handing it to me.”

“Good,” Caleb said.

She wrote the first condition. Temporary assistance only. The second took longer.

Bellamy Creek had addressed the request to Hallie directly, preserving a distinction she cared about. She wanted the answer to preserve it.

“I need this in writing,” she said.

Grant straightened slightly.

“What?”

“That I am going because I choose to.”

Caleb frowned. “They already asked you.”

“Asking is not the same as defining what happens once I cross their boundary.”

Hallie looked at the letter.

“I am not returning as Austin’s mate. I am not returning as his future Luna. I am not stepping back under some personal authority everyone once assumed he would have over me because we were supposed to marry.”

Grant’s face went very still. Hallie continued.

“I will work with Bellamy Creek’s leadership on the problems they listed. Austin is their Alpha, so of course I may have to work with him in that capacity. But the request needs to acknowledge that I am there by my own consent, for a temporary purpose.”

Caleb nodded slowly.

“That is reasonable.”

Hallie wrote it down. Grant still had not spoken. She looked at him.

“You disagree?”

“No.”

“Then say something.”

His eyes held hers.

“You do not have to refuse them to prove anything to me.”

The sentence landed harder than Hallie expected. She set the pen down.

“I know.”

“Do you?”

“Yes.”

Grant stepped closer to the table.

“I do not want Bellamy Creek using you until they remember how convenient it was to have you carry everything.”

“Neither do I.”

“I do not want Austin confusing work with access to you.”

“He won’t get to.”

Grant nodded once.

“But if you want to go because the work matters to you, I am not asking you to stay here so I can feel chosen.”

Hallie’s chest tightened. She crossed the small distance between them and took his hand. Not a brush.

Not a gesture made because Caleb was watching. Her fingers closed around Grant’s.

“I already chose you,” she said.

Grant’s thumb moved against her knuckles.

“I know.”

“And I want to help them.”

“All right.”

Hallie stayed close to him. The contact steadied something that had been moving under her ribs since the letter arrived. Not the mate bond.

Herself. Caleb cleared his throat softly. Hallie looked at him.

“I am still here.”

“I noticed.”

“Good.”

Grant did not release her hand. Caleb pointed toward the page.

“There is one more question.”

“What?”

“Are you going alone?”

Hallie opened her mouth. Grant answered first.

“No.”

She turned to him. His expression did not change.

“You said this was my choice.”

“It is.”

“That sounded less like a choice.”

Grant exhaled.

“I am not deciding whether you go. I am deciding whether I go.”

Hallie left the question open.

“Bellamy Creek is asking for my wife,” he said. “And for someone whose work affects Cedar Draw. At least at the beginning, I should be there.”

Caleb nodded.

“Agreed.”

Hallie studied Grant.

“No territorial display.”

“No.”

“No making Austin think I brought you because I need protection from him.”

“No.”

“No treating this like I am returning to an old romantic situation.”

Grant’s jaw tightened.

“I have no intention of giving it that meaning.”

Hallie believed him.

“Then come.”

His fingers closed a little more firmly around hers. Hallie returned to the table and wrote the final terms. Temporary assignment.

Defined operational purpose. Her participation by her own choice. No restoration of the old mate or future-Luna role.

Grant accompanying her for the initial phase as her husband and as Cedar Draw’s Alpha, without changing who held the work. Caleb read the answer when she finished.

“This says yes.”

Hallie looked at the page. Yesterday, she had not known whether she could return without becoming the woman Bellamy Creek remembered. Today, she understood that going back did not require giving the old version of herself authority over the trip.

“Yes,” she said.

Grant stood beside her. Hallie signed the response.

“I’ll go temporarily.”