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i.
When she dreams these days, it's always in shades of blue.
She's in an endless forest. The trees stretch toward the starry sky. She feels
the cool grass beneath her bare feet. The moon is bright. It's full, of course.
She's not alone.
She can't see him, but she knows he's there. She hears him breathe.
She turns her head to look for him, but there's nothing but a flash of white
disappearing into the woods.
When she wakes, her face is wet.
ii.
The first time he makes her laugh is when he tells her he thinks she's pretty.
She laughs at him. It isn't cruel. She's shocked. It's startled out of her, and
she can't stop it, even if she tries.
He's not hurt by it.
He laughs too, blushing as he looks away.
iii.
When she's pregnant with their first, he turns into a possessive asshole. He
growls low in his throat at anyone who touches her belly.
When she's had enough, she smacks him upside the head and tells him to
knock it off.
He blinks in surprise, the orange light fading in his eyes.
"Sorry," he says, sounding sheepish. "I don't know why I do that."
She takes his hand and presses it against her stomach. For a moment,
nothing happens.
She winces when she feels him kick ( Carter, she's already thinking ,
Carter, Carter, Carter), but any discomfort falls away at the look on his
face.
He's awestruck.
iv.
When death comes for them, it's swift and brutal. She's in the Bennett pack,
yes, and she's the mate to a future Alpha, but she is a mother first, and her
instincts are to protect her unborn child.
She kills that day. She takes the lives of at least six people who have come
to their territory with anger in the hearts and bullets of silver. The first is a
large man standing above a dead wolf, one of the little cousins. He doesn't
see her coming. Her jaws close around his neck and she twists, the bones
cracking under her fangs.
The last person she kills is a woman. She raises her gun toward the once
and future king.
She doesn't get a chance to pull the trigger.
There isn't much left of her by the time Elizabeth Bennett finishes.
When all that's left is smoke and memory, she feels it.
All that they've lost.
It's Richard Collins who notices first.
