赤裸裸的滑稽故事

“It's not like that, Ash.”

The knot in her stomach twisted and turned.

“You knew she helped him… and you still… accepted her?” Ashleigh questioned. Her voice softened.

“It's not that simple,” Axel said. “You don't know everything, Ash. There is more to the story,”

Ashleigh narrowed her eyes at him.

“I am very clear on the details of that story, Axel… it's my fucking story!”

Axel sighed. “Please, just listen to me. I will explain everything.”

“You'll explain it to me? I was there, Axel!” Ashleigh shouted, throwing a thickness in the air as her eyes began to glow.

Axel felt a surge of panic in his heart, the glow in her eyes, the bright white of moonlight. His dream came to the forefront of his mind. Holding Alice's limp, cold body in his arms.

His fear and anxiety rushed to the surface, and he called forth his own strength. Pushing back against the power she was emitting.

Ashleigh felt his power push up against hers, smothering it before it had a chance to grow.

She took a deep breath._.

“You are my sister, but I am still the Alpha of this pack, and you will not challenge me in my own home,” his voice was filled with strength and force.

Ashleigh shrunk. She blinked her eyes as though she were waking from a strange and sudden dream.

“I wasn't trying to….” Ashleigh said softly. Frowning as she realized that her mind was fuzzy. She was upset, angry, and confused. But she hadn't reached for any power, she hadn't intended to use any part of it.

“Alice is my mate, Ashleigh,” Axel said. “You can be angry, think I am making a mistake, refuse to listen to the truth. But I will not lose her again.”

Axel wanted to explain to her, to tell her all that Alice had been through. That he had been through. He wanted his sister to understand, even if she still couldn't accept it all. At least she would know the truth.

Ashleigh looked at her brother. She could see the pain he held, the loss he felt at being apart from his mate. It touched her heart.

‘Why is she not here?' One voice, louder than all the rest, whispered. ‘Why is she not by his side?'

“Where is she?” Ashleigh asked.

“What?”

“Alice,” Ashleigh replied. “Why didn't you announce her? Why isn't she with you?”

“I already said it's complicated,” Axel said, looking away.

“Where is she, Axel?” Ashleigh asked.

Axel clenched his jaw.

“The last I heard, she was in Autumn.”

Ashleigh scoffed, giving him a bitter smile.

“You don't understand,” he said. “Alice has been given treatments of Bitter Night her entire life. She has been used over and over again. The Alice you think you know isn't–”

“No, Axel,” Ashleigh interrupted, shaking her head. “The one being used is you. She is lying! That's what she does!”

“No,” Axel replied. “I know her, I know who she is–”

“You know, what she wants you to know,” Ashleigh growled. “She is damn spy, Axel! She has literally trained all her life to trick people into trusting her so she can get what she wants from them and then move the fuck on!”

Axel closed his eyes, clenching his jaw. He took deep breaths through his nose.

“It's clear that you are not ready to have this conversation,” he said gently. “I will not change my mind, and you won't listen to reason. So, I suggest we let it go.”

“No,” Ashleigh stated firmly, shaking her head. “I won't just stand by as you bring a monster into our pack and let her destroy us!”

“This is not your pack anymore!” Axel shouted in anger, his voice echoing with power.

Ashleigh faltered back as though she had been struck. She stared at Axel in shock and horror.

“You are the Luna of Summer, and what happens in Winter is none of your concern!”

Axel sighed and closed his eyes, clenching his jaw as he tried to calm his anger.

“Ash, that's not… I didn't mean…”

“No,” she said softly. “You're right. I'm not a Winter wolf anymore. So I have no right to comment on who becomes Luna.”

“Ashleigh, I'm sorry,” Axel said. “I shouldn't have said that.”

Ashleigh swallowed down the lump in her throat and looked at Axel.

“Are you going to reject Alice?” she asked quietly.

Axel opened his eyes and looked at her, searching her eyes for any sign that she was willing to listen, to really listen and understand. But all he saw was the faint glow of moonlight.

He swallowed down his hope and shook his head.

Ashleigh walked away from her brother. As she opened the door and then looked back at Axel, silent tears streamed down her cheeks.

“I just hope that when you finally see that I'm right, it's not too late to pull the knife from your back.”

Slamming the door behind her, Axel was left alone once more.

Dropping into the couch he pinched along the bridge of his nose, wishing he could just make her understand who Alice really was.

The door opened and Axel quickly looked up.

“Ashleigh?” he called out.

“Axel,” Wyatt said, a harsh expression on his face. “I think we have a problem.”

***

Ashleigh stormed off into the forest, feeling the need for fresh air and the brush of the cold wind against her face.

How could Axel not see the vile creature that Alice was? How many lives she could ruin if he let her take one step into Winter?

‘He is blinded.'

Axel couldn't see past the bond. Neither could Ashleigh when she thought that Granger was her mate.

‘The Goddess does not see everything.'

Bell had to pretend she was dead, two alphas had to fight to free her from the clutches of a monster that the Goddess had promised her to.

‘The Goddess does not know everything.'

Alice was a liar. She had helped Granger, she had hacked Summer, and tried to destroy their entire system. Now she was with the very people that were plotting a war?

The air around her felt thick and heavy. She wanted to clear her mind, but it was all just muddling together in one big mess. Why couldn't she think clearly?

‘The past is an easy place to get stuck,' Lily whispered in her mind. ‘Don't let it pull you back… fight for your own thoughts.'

Her voice sounded distant, quiet.

Before Ashleigh had a chance to think too much about it, she felt a shift in her bond with Caleb, a wave of anger, of rage.

A scream in the distance called her attention, a scream she recognized from a voice she knew as well as her own.

Bell was in trouble.