Chapter 68 - You Were Her Hero

Ashleigh walked the forest path leading to a place every wolf of Winter knew. The trail was decorated in flowers and twinkling lights so that none would ever lose their way.

She reached her hand up to touch one of the twinkling lights as his voice whispered in her ear.

‘…Even when war has broken out between the packs, the power has always been supplied….’

Summer was the reason this path was lit. The reason they could warm their homes and enjoy the comforts offered by electricity.

She sighed before continuing her way along the path. Then, climbing the final steps, a familiar sight came into view. At the end of the lights and flowers was a small archway.

“Blessed be the Goddess that guides the souls of these wolves,” she whispered up to the sky.

Ashleigh made her way across the rows of stone markers, some small decorative stones, some piled up high with decorations. Each of them was unique, representing a wolf of Winter that had left the world.

This place was the Grove of Remembrance. It wasn’t a cemetery exactly; most wolves did not bury their dead, unlike the humans. Each pack had its own customs. For Winter, the body was placed on a pyre and burned. After, the family of the deceased would spend a night in the forest searching for a rock that called to them. They would decorate it in honor of their wolf. The stone was then placed in the grove.

The grove's location was not by accident. It was unlike any other place in the forest. The undergrowth was minimal. The trees formed an almost perfect circle. And when the moon was full, it shone directly upon this spot, giving it an ethereal glow. As though the Goddess herself had blessed it.

Ashleigh felt a lump in her throat. She was not alone. She watched as a woman stood up from where she had been kneeling in front of the very stones Ashleigh had come to visit. The woman approached her with a soft smile.

She was an older woman; her hair was almost entirely white, and the wrinkles at her eyes and corners of her mouth showed a lifetime of laughter.

“Hello, Miss Ashleigh,” she smiled softly.

“Hello…” Ashleigh replied. She did not know her name, she had seen her before, but she didn’t know when or where.

“It’s ok. I don’t expect you to know my name, child. But, it doesn’t matter anyway,” she laughed, “may I ask, have you come to see them again?”

The old woman indicated the stones she had just come from. Ashleigh nodded.

“How did you know?” Ashleigh asked.

The old woman smiled.

“My granddaughter is the one in the middle, to her right, her mate, and to the left, my son, her father,” she said sadly. “I come to see them every day.”

Ashleigh was shocked. The path to the Grove was not an easy one. But this woman came every day?

“I have seen you visiting them all,” she continued, smiling once more.

Ashleigh looked back to the stone markers. Eleven stones were placed side by side. The families could have put them anywhere they wanted. Instead, they chose to keep them all together.

“Do you feel connected to them?” the old woman asked.

“Yes,” Ashleigh replied sadly, absently touching the spot on her arm that would remain scarred for the rest of her life.

“You are the only one,” the old woman said woefully, “there were five others that survived the wolfsbane, but you are the only one that has ever come to see the ones that didn’t.”

Ashleigh closed her eyes. The guilt in her heart was growing again. The old woman reached a hand to Ashleigh’s shoulder and smiled.

“My granddaughter thought you were the most amazing person she had ever seen. She was at each of your challenges. Each win made her cheer louder and louder. She was older than you by almost ten years, but you were her hero,” she laughed, “she would be happy to know that you visited her.”

“I’m sorry,” Ashleigh whispered softly, tears falling from her eyes.

The old woman reached a hand up and wiped the tears away.

“Oh, my dear,” she said softly, “hush now, it’s not your fault. It was a terrible thing, an unprovoked attack, but what could any of us have done differently?”

‘…the suits were offered. Whether they were accepted was up to their Alpha….’ his words haunted her in this sacred place.

“Something… we could have done something,” Ashleigh whispered painfully.

The old woman remained by her side for another twenty minutes, neither saying anything more. Together they offered their silent prayers and their tears to the fallen.

When she left the Grove, Ashleigh could only think of the way she had treated Caleb, how she had yelled at him and called him arrogant. Accused him of lying about her father. She had been so sure that he was lying.

But he wasn’t lying; he had never lied to her. On the contrary, Caleb had been open with her since they met, and she had always assumed the worst in him.

‘I’m sorry,’ she thought to herself, ‘I’m sorry for mistreating you.’

She bit her bottom lip; her heart and mind were at war once again.

‘One moment,’ she thought to herself, ‘just one.’

Ashleigh closed her eyes. She thought of him, remembered him. His scent, the sound of his voice, the look in his eyes. He was out there, across the land and sky many, many miles away in Summer. He was there.

She tried to imagine him and remember the feeling of holding him in her arms. A comforting warmth began to fill her every sense. He was with her; she could feel it.

“I miss you,” she called out to him.

***

Caleb sat at his desk, looking over his speech once more. It was only an hour until the memorial. He needed to be prepared and focused.

Fiona had just left only moments ago; she was more than happy to accept his request to host Galen for the memorial. He smiled to himself, thinking how his mother favored Galen so shamelessly.

‘If he were a lesser man, I would never allow it,’ Caleb thought to himself with a chuckle.

Suddenly Caleb felt a warmth flowing over his skin. A delicate, sweet scent in the air pulled him up from his chair. He knew that scent better than any other in this world.

“Ashleigh…” he whispered to himself, closing his eyes and breathing her scent in deeply.

‘I miss you,’ her voice whispered in his ear. He gasped in surprise, his heart racing with excitement and anticipation.

He turned quickly, expecting her to be behind him. But just as suddenly as it had come, the feeling, the scent, the warmth, was gone.

Caleb let out a ragged breath. He hit his fist to his chest painfully, again and again. Until the surge of emotion, the longing began to subside.

Once he had caught his breath, he pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

“Raj!” he hollered as the phone was answered. “I told you to shut off the damn guided imagery augment until it has been updated!”

The voice on the other end answered with confusion and insistence.

“Then why the hell is the fucking program still randomly turning itself on!” Caleb shouted angrily. His heart was aching, his head was muddled. “Fix it!”

Caleb slammed the phone down on his desk before slumping back into his chair, staring up at the ceiling.

He sat quietly, trying to focus his mind again, but her smile, hazel eyes, and honey blonde hair were all he could see. His mind was filled with her laughter, her fire.

Caleb turned his chair to look out his window. Then, he stood up, staring off to the north.

‘I’m so pathetic,’ he sighed to himself, ‘but, Goddess, I miss you so much….’

***

‘Ashleigh…’, his voice played in her mind like a joyful melody.

‘Caleb…’ she smiled brightly, her heart overwhelmed with emotion.

“Ashleigh!” a voice from behind her called out. Shattering the warmth and comfort that had surrounded her in an instant.

She lifted her head and looked to see one of the warriors staring at her.

“Yes?” she called back, her voice shaking.

Her entire body was still tingling, a sensation she didn’t understand.

“You have to come right away!”

“Why? What’s going on?” she asked.

“It’s Granger. He’s been taken to the hospital!”