Chapter 24: Her Mother's Letter

I opened my mother's letter in the truck, with Ewan at the wheel.

I didn't read it until we pulled up at the lodge.

I sat there with the engine ticking, and then I broke the wax.

It was one page, written in blue ink, in handwriting that slanted uphill.

I read it by the porch light.

"Briony. If you are holding this, you are twenty-six, and I am a long time gone.

"I wrote it the week the Alpha stopped speaking to me. I know what he is going to do. I have known for years.

"I am not afraid. I'm only sorry that you will have to learn it from other people.

"Your grandfather will try to protect you by deciding for you. He does it out of love, and it is the one flaw he has.

"Don't let him. Not about your wolf, not about your mate, not about anything.

"If you have a wolf, let her run.

"I love you more than I can fit on a page. Mom."

I read it twice.

Then I folded it and put it inside my shirt, against my skin, and got out of the truck.

The lodge was full of wolves again, packed into the hall and up the staircase, standing without a word.

They parted for me.

At the top of the stairs Corbin took my elbow and let it go.

The nurse opened the door of my grandfather's room, and I went in.

He was lying flat now.

The oxygen hissed, and a small machine beside the bed counted his heart in thin green beeps.

They were slow.

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