AstridThe Dean’s office was a large room with tall windows on the wall across from the door. The natural lighting in the room gave it a warm, welcoming feeling. Despite that, I felt uncertain of myself as I looked inside. A tall, youthful man smiled at us and stepped back to allow us into the room. He looked at me curiously but didn’t seem to mind that I was there. I was relieved by that. I wasn’t here to make anything harder for Tristan and I didn’t want him to have to explain why he’d brought me. “Gregor must have caught up with you,” the tall man, who could only be the Dean, said with relief. “I’m glad. I didn’t want to wait until Monday to discuss this with you.” “What is it?” Tristan asked. He was clearly anxious to know what this was all about. The Dean smiled kindly and motioned toward the chairs opposite his desk. “Have a seat and we’ll discuss it,” he instructed. I looked around at the office as we walked a few feet to his desk. The room was ringed with towering
TristanI had never intended to bring Lilian into this directly. If I could have avoided it, I would have. I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of knowing she had gotten under my skin, nor did I want to give her any more attention. But now that Astrid had brought her up by name, I didn’t have much of a choice. I needed to lay out all of the facts for Dean Parker. I had no idea how he was going to take it. He could assume that I was trying to deflect the blame from myself—that wasn’t my intention. I would take whatever disciplinary action the Dean saw fit. I knew that ultimately anything the investigation turned up would be my responsibility, and I was prepared for that. I tried to avoid giving too much detail in front of Astrid, but I could feel that she was staring at me as I told the Dean about Lilian’s behavior over the past few years. I felt her tense when I mentioned the text messages and emails. I really didn’t want to share those with anyone, but I understood that
AstridThe drive to Tristan’s apartment wasn’t overly long, but it took some time. It would be too much to walk most days, especially if he stayed late as I knew he often did. It made sense that he was one of the few shifters in town with a vehicle. The apartment building that he pulled in front of was a short one made of dark stone. I hadn’t really paid attention to it when we dropped him off after returning to Bridgewater. Tristan parked in a small lot at the back of the building. I looked around us as we both got out of the car. The concrete was clean and unbroken. This must be a relatively new building. The town was expanding. I realized that I still didn’t know too much about the changes made in the territory and the pack’s growth in recent years. Now that I was in Bridgewater again, I really took note of how much it had expanded. I made a mental note to ask more about it at another time—it would be helpful information when it came to prioritizing the projects that would
AstridI returned the kiss, but Tristan pulled back before it could go further. He looked at me with his bright, green eyes full of uncertainty. I felt the same way. No matter what we told ourselves, this is where we wanted to be. Why else would we keep ending up together? I had given myself all the possible excuses for why we couldn't work, but none of them seemed valid anymore. It all felt juvenile and pointless. If we truly wanted to be together, there had to be a way. But maybe I was too afraid to take the plunge.Only, when I looked at Tristan, he didn’t seem afraid. He looked almost hopeful. “Why are we fighting fate so hard?” I asked softly. Tristan shrugged. “I don’t know,” he answered, tucking my hair behind my ear. His voice was hoarse, strained as his eyes roamed my face. “It seemed like there were so many good reasons in the beginning. I had convinced myself that we couldn't pursue this and still end up happy in the end. But now…” He let his words trail off. I
AstridI woke up feeling content. A moment of confusion passed before I recognized Tristan's embrace and everything came flooding back. The memories of Tristan’s hands and mouth on me brought heat to my face and sent a pleasurable tingle over my body. The pressure that had been in my chest for the past weeks since my return to Bridgewater had vanished. In its place, I felt a warm sensation. The pull was satisfied, at least for the time being. I felt more at peace than I had in years. I snuggled into his chest and smiled. I was relieved that he was still here. I would have panicked if I’d woken up alone. I might have convinced myself that it was all another vivid dream, or that he regretted it. I wouldn’t have been able to recover from that. My ego and my heart would break at once if Tristan told me he thought this was a mistake. Nothing had ever felt so right to me in my entire life. I wanted to go back in time and kick myself for fighting so hard against this. We’d wasted s
Astrid“Eddie?” I asked.I didn’t know why he would be calling me in the middle of the night. He had no idea that I’d overheard his conversation with Solomon, so it wasn’t like he would be calling to apologize. Tristan held the phone out to me and I took it hesitantly. “Hello?” “Astrid?” Eddie replied with relief. “You’re with Tristan?” “Yeah,” I answered. There was a pause. “That’s good.” I frowned at the phone. Something in his voice was strange. I found myself wishing this was a video call so I could see his face. Maybe something in his expression would give me a hint about what was going on. “Eddie, are you alright?” “Fine,” he said tensely. “You didn’t come back to the packhouse tonight, which is totally fine. You’re an adult, you can do what you want, but I was looking for you so I thought I would call and see what you’re doing, not that it’s my business–” The more he spoke the more panicked he sounded. He was rambling and I had no idea what point he was try
AstridWe had just finished dressing and walked into the living room when there was a firm knock at the door. Tristan went to answer it right away. I sat awkwardly on the couch to wait for them. I heard the door open, hushed voices, and then the door closed again. I gasped in shock as Eddie walked into the living room. There was a deep, purple bruise beneath his left eye. “What happened?” I asked as I rushed towards him. I remembered the muffled thud that I’d heard during the argument with him and Solomon. His dad really must have hit him. “I’m fine,” Eddie said dismissively. “That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.” I looked at Tristan for help, but he looked just as lost as I was. Despite his distaste for Eddie, I could see that he was disturbed by the state he was in. “Did Solomon do that to you?” I demanded. “Look, I’m just here to warn you,” Eddie pressed, pointedly ignoring my question. “Take a seat,” Tristan instructed, indicating the couch. “I’m getting
AstridMy mind felt numb as all of Eddie’s words settled into my mind. My memories were suddenly altered. In light of this information, I was forced to question every interaction I’d ever had with Solomon. I couldn’t accept that he wasn’t the cold, hateful man I remembered. I couldn’t see him as some kind of well-meaning but flawed protector. I couldn’t believe that the most frightening single experience of my life was all a fake. I remembered the feeling of biting down on my would-be kidnapper’s fingers. I remembered the fear that had overtaken me when they tried to grab me. I could still see the look of fear on Victoria’s face when she was trying to comfort me. This didn’t seem real. It had to be a nightmare. But even in my nightmares, things weren’t this bleak. Solomon was trying to get rid of me, and he was willing to go to such extremes as ordering Eddie to seduce me and take me away to live outside of Bridgewater. He really thought that someone was trying to kill me. He
AstridThe festival had continued the next morning just as Solomon promised, but it was obvious by the increased guard that something was going on. The visiting Alphas and Lunas had arrived that morning at the packhouse demanding answers, and Solomon was the one to give them. He explained that the threat had been neutralized and that he gave his personal guarantee that there wouldn’t be any other issues. He offered to arrange a guarded escort for anyone who wanted to leave early. After a private conversation with Slade, it was decided that everyone was staying. I didn’t ask Solomon about what else was said, I was just glad that he was able to handle it. That night, while the party raged in town, I met with Solomon and dad alone. I wanted Tristan to be with me, but I understood why he couldn’t be there. Having Solomon there was going to have to be enough. I sat alone in the chair across from dad’s desk. Solomon was standing near me with his arms folded tightly across his ches
AstridVictoria was handcuffed to a wooden chair in dad’s office. There were guards outside of the window and the door and a patrol was rotating outside of the building in case any more of her creepy friends showed up. The house had been cleared room by room, so we knew no one was hiding inside and waiting for a signal to attack. We were all standing in the office in tense silence. I had no idea what was going to happen next. I was confused and scared. That attack was aimed at me. I had no idea why she would go to such lengths to try to hurt me. I had cleaned the blood off of myself, but I could still smell it and it made me nauseous. Tristan had his arm firmly around me, but he didn’t say a word. I couldn’t imagine how hard it was for him to face Victoria right now after everything that she did to him. Dad stood awkwardly In the middle of the room. He hadn't made eye contact with anyone since we entered and I wasn't sure what to make of that. The only person who seemed le
AstridThere were dozens of people gathering in the garden. It was hard to see what was going on ahead of us, but I knew from the sickly sweet smell of perfume that Victoria was here. I hadn’t realized how strange it was that she wore perfume until Tristan had pointed it out. He said that he smelled it during his kidnapping and it was the thing that tipped him off to his kidnapper's identity. “It took a while to figure out where I’d smelled it before, but almost no one in the pack wears perfume. The artificial smell is too abrasive,” he explained. It hadn’t struck me as strange because perfume is so common in the human world. I was used to it. But Tristan was right—wolves often didn’t wear perfumes or colognes. The smell was too overpowering.I cursed internally. If I had realized it was strange earlier, I might have figured out that something was going on with Victoria before it got this far. She must be using the scent to cover up something, probably the toxic herbs she w
AstridIt was a cool autumn day and the garden was still in bloom. The scent of foliage was carried across the city on a gentle breeze. The streets were buzzing with excitement as the Lunar Festival officially got underway. Tristan had spent the better part of the morning preparing the garden for our presentation. Dean Parker had arrived early in order to help him. I was busy inside greeting the Alphas and Lunas that were going to be watching the presentation, and hopefully agreeing to take part in the program. “Welcome to Bridgewater,” I said for the sixth time in a quarter-hour. “Thank you so much for joining us for the festival this year.” “Thank you for having us,” a tall, robust woman with dark hair said. She was the Luna of Moonriver, Gwendolin. I had met her once before when I was a little girl and I remembered being struck by how strong and beautiful she was. I felt the same way seeing her now. Almost a little starstruck. “It’s our pleasure,” I assured her. “And
Tristan The amount of time that had passed without answers about Victoria's whereabouts was concerning at this point. The Alpha was operating under the assumption that she had fled into another territory. This put him in a difficult position because as much as we needed to find her, he had no desire to alert the other packs of what was happening. Reporting her as missing would look almost as bad as reporting her as being on the run—there was no way to address the problem without causing a scandal. So, with the Lunar Festival fast approaching, the packhouse was focused on preparations rather than the missing fugitive that had killed the Luna and kidnapped me. It was maddening to everyone in the packhouse except for Alpha Anthony. He was the only one who seemed confident that Victoria wouldn’t show her face. I was grateful for the Alpha's decision to allow me to stay in the packhouse because I didn't think that I could handle being away from Astrid right now. I was having a h
AstridAfter Tristan's rescue, it became clear that he was not going to be able to finish the semester. Dean Parker agreed to approve medical leave for him and Dr. Sanchez agreed that he would take over his classes for the remainder of the school year. The Dean was disturbed to learn that Tristan had been kidnapped from campus, and as a result of that and the incident in the bathroom with Lilian, the school was investing in a series of new security cameras. They were also considering updates to campus security and increasing the number of emergency call boxes on campus.Dean Parker was a lot more willing to implement changes than dad was. Unfortunately, the only change he’d agreed to make was to allow Tristan to temporarily stay in the packhouse.Solomon was taking things a lot more seriously. I was grateful that he was willing to take matters into his own hands when necessary. I couldn’t believe how incredibly stubborn dad was about this. Lilian had confessed that Victoria was
AstridDad brought down the full force of the pack on Bethany's house. Within 10 minutes of our phone call, the guard had filled the house. Dad was personally interrogating Bethany in a side room. I couldn't hear anything but the occasional sob from her. I'd seen him angry before. I knew how he could be and even I had never faced him in the state he was in now. I wasn't entirely certain that Bethany was going to walk out of that room. The healer arrived shortly after dad. She came directly to Tristan and knelt in front of him. I moved aside to allow her to work. Her long, thin fingers moved deftly as she checked his eyes, looked into his mouth, and checked his vitals. The look of concentration on her face was as emotionless as a statue. About 20 minutes after the guard arrived, there was a commotion from upstairs. I heard a woman shrieking and men shouting. The side room opened and dad stepped out. “What the hell is going on?” he demanded. Just at that moment, a guard came
AstridTristan was in this house. His scent was strong, and I knew deep down, that he was still here somewhere. I should have gone for help, I should have waited for dad or Solomon, but I just couldn't. I'd been looking for him for days. There was no telling what state he was in. Bethany would be suspicious about my coming here. They would move him as soon as I left, I was sure of it. I couldn't take the risk. ‘Take me to him,’ I told my wolf. ‘Quickly.’ My body moved at her discretion. We went down a side hallway to a locked door. I twisted the knob as hard as I could, but the lock wouldn't give way. I growled in frustration, but this wasn’t going to stop me.I slammed my shoulder into the door, not caring if Bethany heard. The sound was dull and muffled. I did it again and again. I put my full body weight and strength into the wood of the door. It cracked and then flew off of the hinges. A dank, damp smell met me as I looked down a set of wooden stairs into a dark basemen
Astrid I was even more tired than I realized, and I slept until the next morning. When I did get up, I quickly dressed, and then I groggily made my way down to the kitchen. My stomach was growling. I hadn't eaten anything in over a day. I wasn't sure what I was going to find, considering Solomon's promise yesterday about having everything replaced. What I hadn't expected was to see that he had taken my comments about pre-packaged food very seriously. Everything in the freezer, the refrigerator, and the pantry was in an individually sealed packet. But that didn't guarantee that Victoria couldn't tamper with anything. It sure made it a lot more difficult for her, though. I gratefully took a freezer pack of smoothie mix and made myself breakfast.Once I ate, I found it a lot easier to think clearly. I should have waited for Solomon, but I couldn't. That didn't mean I had to be careless about how I went about this. I knew that there was something about Victoria that I didn't know.