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“Hello, Alpha Wyatt. Oh! I suppose it is just Wyatt now.”

The voice of the man her father was greeting held a smile, but one that made Ashleigh uncomfortable.

“You are…?” Wyatt asked.

“Holden,” the man answered. “I am here in place of Alpha Gorn of Spring. He has taken ill, and our doctors simply could not allow him to travel.”

“You are his Beta?” Corrine asked.

“No, no, I’m afraid we lost our Beta a few years back, and Alpha Gorn has been unable to find a suitable replacement. I am just a humble wolf trying to be of service to my Alpha.”

Ashleigh didn’t like how this man talked; it made her skin crawl.

“Alpha Gorn did send this for you,” Holden said, smiling from ear to ear. He held out a scroll.

Wyatt took the scroll from Holden and opened it. Once he had read it over, he handed it to Corrine.

“You understand that your blood will be used to make the oath?” Wyatt asked.

As Wyatt and Corrine discussed the details of taking the oath with Holden, Axel and Ashleigh stepped away.

“That guy gives me the creeps,” Ashleigh whispered.

“Yea,” Axel agreed. “I know he was here for the exchange, but I didn’t see him much. Heard he spent a lot of time at the bar.”

Ashleigh glanced back at Holden. She wondered for just a moment if he had known Granger._.

“Are we almost done with the greetings?” Axel asked, interrupting her thoughts.

“I think we are about half done,” Ashleigh replied, looking down the line.

She already saw several leering eyes lingering too long on her body. Ashleigh did her best not to let her disgust show.

“I’m hungry,” Axel moaned.

Ashleigh rolled her eyes.

“I’ll go find you something to snack on while mom and dad are still busy.”

“Thank you,” Axel called out as Ashleigh walked away.

Axel looked over at his parents. It seemed they were still in conversation with the creepy man from Spring. He sighed and stepped over to the wall, finding a spot he could rest for a moment. He laid his head back, closing his eyes.

Ever since his father had announced his retirement, Axel had trouble sleeping. Instead, he kept dreaming of Granger.

Axel had followed Granger on his trip to learn how to be a better leader of his people. He looked up to him and saw him as a brother. He trusted him.

Axel remembered Granger’s eyes as he charged at him with a knife. There was nothing. No anger, no resentment. Just nothing. Taking Axel’s life meant nothing at all to Granger.

He sighed.

“Try this,” a sweet voice called to him.

Axel opened his eyes. Before him stood a woman dressed in red and black, with hair to match. She smiled at him in a way that made him nervous and made him smile back.

“Here,” she said, lifting a plate to him. “I find that something sweet helps keep the nightmares back.”

Axel looked down at the plate. On it sat a piece of chocolate cake.

He took the cake and looked up at her with a smile.

“Thank you,” he said.

Axel took a bite of the cake, smiling with satisfaction as the delicious chocolate spread across his tongue.

He took another bite, not noticing that the woman had taken a step closer to him until he felt the feather light touch of her fingers against his hair.

Axel swallowed the bite of cake in his mouth and raised his eyes to her.

“Why do you cover your pretty face?” she asked.

Axel swallowed again, feeling his heart beginning to pump faster.

Her fingers grazed the curtain of hair that covered his eye. She pushed against it gently, just enough for her to see the scar. Axel looked away from her.

“Is this the reason?” she asked.

Axel took a deep breath through his nose; the sweet smell of the chocolate gently tickled his senses, but his stomach was in knots. She was so close.

“If you treat it like a weakness, that is how everyone else will see it,” she said quietly, pulling her hand back.

Axel turned back to her; their eyes met.

‘Chocolate,’ he thought to himself, looking at her rich brown eyes.

“You’re too pretty to hide,” she smiled again.

“Alice!”

Axel’s eyes widened, and his head snapped back at his sister’s sudden shout. The woman before him smiled playfully and turned around.

“Hi Ashleigh, so good to see you. It’s been too long.”

“Alice…” Axel whispered.

“What are you doing with my brother?” Ashleigh asked quietly, stepping close to Alice.

“I just offered him some cake,” Alice replied innocently. Then, looking back over her shoulder, she smiled at Axel. “I think he liked it.”

Axel swallowed again, feeling his stomach flip and turn.

“Alice…” another voice called from behind Ashleigh.

Ashleigh turned around to see the man her mother and father had been speaking with. The look on his face was strange. He appeared calm, almost pleasant, but his eyes held quiet anger.

“What are you doing?” he asked. “I told you to stay by my side.”

Ashleigh glanced back at Alice, and for just a moment, she saw something.

Alice smiled.

“I’m sorry,” Alice said sweetly. “My curiosity got the better of me.”

“You remember what happened to the cat?” Holden said with a strange smile on his face. “Come, Alice.”

Again, Ashleigh thought she saw it, the same sadness she had glimpsed on Bell many times.

Alice smiled and skipped over to Holden, taking his arm.

“Let’s find some tea, dear,” Holden said as he pulled Alice away.

Axel still stood against the wall, holding the cake she had given him. Alice glanced back for just a moment. Their eyes met, she smiled, and then she was gone.

“You need to be more careful,” Ashleigh’s voice brought Axel back into focus. “She’s dangerous.”

“How?” he asked.

“She’s a spy,” Ashleigh said.

Axel looked where he had last seen Alice, and he took another bite of cake.

“Give me that,” Ashleigh demanded, taking the cake plate and replacing it with a plate of vegetables. “You eat like a five-year-old, you know that?”

Axel rolled his eyes.

Wyatt and Corrine gathered their children to finish greeting all of the alphas, with Caleb voluntarily placing himself at the end of the line. Allowing Ashleigh to stay by his side for the ceremony.

There were minor scuffles between some of the betas of the lesser packs, long-standing rivalries, and disputes being brought up. So Saul took it upon himself to patrol the hall, to keep these disturbances to a minimum.

Wyatt and Axel performed the ceremony without issue. The alphas all cheered and welcomed Axel. Then, each took their turn to make an offering to the Goddess and join the Declaration of Peace.

Alpha Tomas had been late to arrive. The ceremony was already over, but he did make it in time to add his oath to the Declaration.

Ashleigh was thankful that she did not have to greet him. After hearing about Bell’s history, she wasn’t sure how she could face him without trying to kill him.

Once everything had settled down from the ceremony, the alphas were generally mingling and eating. Ashleigh looked around for her mother.

“I’m going to go check with mom about when we can make our announcement,” Ashleigh said quietly to Caleb.

Caleb smiled and nodded.

He was left alone.

Caleb reached for his glass when he heard movements behind him, growling and the sound of someone being hit. Then, before turning and looking over his shoulder, his entire world was flipped.

Strapped into his chair, Caleb was knocked over on his side. His head hit the ground with a painful thud. He heard the scuffle behind him continue, shouting and gasping. He was jostled around as something continued to hit his wheelchair. Caleb tried to right himself, but he struggled with the angle the chair had landed.

The wheels were slightly elevated off the ground, so he couldn’t quite do it alone no matter how hard he tried to push himself up.

“Would you like some help?” a voice he was sure he recognized from somewhere asked.

A short man with curly brown hair and a wide grin came into Caleb’s view.