After their conversation about the mate bond, Bell had excused herself to the bathroom. When she returned, Renee had already revived the wedding conversation and her dreams of her future mate. Ashleigh couldn’t help but glance over at Bell from time to time, looking for signs of that sadness she had glimpsed.

But it never came back.

Bell smiled and laughed. She made jokes and took part in the conversation just like any other day. Ashleigh wondered if she could have imagined it.

By the end of the night, the girls had fallen asleep watching some romantic comedy Renee had picked out. When Ashleigh woke for her run, she expected to be the only one up, but she noticed Bell’s place on the couch was empty.

After getting ready to go, she stepped out into the cold morning air and found Bell sitting on the porch with a mug in her hand.

“Hey,” Ashleigh called out quietly.

“Hey,” Bell replied with a soft smile.

“Why are you up so early?” Ashleigh asked as she proceeded with her stretching.

“I could ask you the same question,” Bell began, before smiling and continuing, “but I won’t. Because we all know Ashleigh likes to go for a morning run before she goes to her early morning training. Followed by a midmorning workout before her late morning sparring, etcetera, etcetera.”

Ashleigh rolled her eyes. She was used to these kinds of jokes. Bell never understood why she worked as hard as she did at her training and combat skills. For Ashleigh, it was about proving her worth and about being her best for the good of the pack.

“You know you are more than welcome to join me at any point in that schedule,” Ashleigh teased.

“Someday, maybe,” Bell replied quietly.

There it was again. The sadness Ashleigh had glimpsed the night before was back, if only for a moment.

“Bell,” Ashleigh started towards her friend, but she was quickly interrupted when a familiar voice called out to her._.

“Ashleigh,” Granger called.

She turned and found him a few feet away, walking towards her. For just a moment, she found it odd that she hadn’t felt his approach.

“Granger, what are you doing here?” she asked.

“I missed you.” Granger smiled as he stepped up beside her and reached for her hand.

She smiled as he took her hand in his and kissed it lightly.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Bell stated as she stood from her chair, “it’s too early in the morning to deal with this level of sweetness.”

She smiled as she walked past them back into the house. Ashleigh stared after her for a moment, considering if she should follow her and find out what it was that seemed to be making her sad. Granger pulled lightly at her hand, drawing her attention back to him.

“Hey,” he began, “what’s up?”

“What do you mean?” Ashleigh asked.

“Just, you don’t seem happy to see me.” He replied.

“No, of course, I’m happy to see you,” Ashleigh responded with a genuine smile. She reached her arms out and pulled him close into a tightembrace. “I was just surprised.”

“Is that all?” Granger asked after they each pulled away from the hug.

“What else would there be?” She asked.

“I don’t know, Ash,” Granger stated, with a seriousness in his expression that left Ashleigh confused.

“What’s going on, Granger?”

“I just thought you were mad at me, or maybe something was wrong,” his tone was getting aggressive.

“Ok,” Ashleigh replied, feeling uncomfortable with his change in attitude. “But, why? What did I do?”

“I waited up for you,” he answered, holding her attention with his intense gaze, “no call, no text. Nothing.”

Ashleigh couldn’t hold back the awkward chuckle from escaping her.

“Is that all?” she laughed. “I’m sorry, I told you we were going to be up late. I fell asleep while we were watching a movie. I didn’t mean to. I just forgot.”

“It’s not funny to me, Ashleigh,”

She knew he meant it, his tone, eyes, and expression. It all gave her the same bit of information— he was angry.

“I’m really sorry. It was an honest mistake,” Ashleigh replied softly. Taking an unconscious step back from him.

His eyes tracked her movement, and suddenly his entire demeanor changed. First, he laughed, a light, joy-filled laugh. Then, he reached his hands up and grabbed her shoulders playfully.

“Oh Ash, I’m so sorry, I pushed it too far,” he chuckled.

Ashleigh was dumbfounded, unsure what was happening. She couldn’t even find the words to respond.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t scare you, did I? I just wanted to mess with you a little.” Granger gave her one of those kind smiles she knew so well.

“You’re… not mad?” she asked cautiously.

“No, baby. I’m sorry, really. I didn’t think you would take it so seriously.” He laughed and reached a hand up to her cheek tenderly.

She looked at him carefully. This was the Granger she knew and loved, playful, cheerful. Of course, he was joking — a bad joke — but it was a joke nonetheless. Ashleigh was left feeling silly for having taken him seriously.

Ashleigh finally smiled back at him.

“I really thought you were serious,” she admitted with an awkward laugh, “now I feel a bit ridiculous.”

Granger smiled and moved his hand up into her hair, pulling her to him. She braced herself with her hands against his chest as he wrapped his other arm around her waist. He brushed his nose gently against hers and pressed their foreheads together.

“My mate is not ridiculous,” he whispered.

He kissed her softly.

Ashleigh kissed him back once more, feeling that gentle warmth rolling over her skin and filling her senses with his familiarity. Again, she felt herself melting against him, her hands moved up along his chest to wrap around his neck, and she deepened the kiss.

He let her go with a soft growl that sent a thrill up down her spine and had her smiling at him.

“So, how about we go for that run now,” Granger said, his voice just a bit deeper than usual.

She felt the blush creeping up her face as she nodded her head in agreement and quickly took off from the porch with a laugh.

They ran together for several miles, chatting and laughing as they ran. They talked about the wedding; Granger was interested in hearing about the details of the ceremony, which pleased Ashleigh greatly.

They stopped for a quick break as they neared the northeastern border, where they found some of the fencings were down. It wasn’t unusual.

This side of the mountain had relatively more wildlife than any other. The bears were particularly destructive to the fence posts.

Granger got to work picking up the debris while Ashleigh kept tying off what was left. After that, they would send a repair team out to patch it properly, but they couldn’t just leave it open for now.

“A month still feels too long to wait.” Granger smiled as he handed Ashleigh another plank of wood.

“It’s not long now,” Ashleigh smiled back. “Final details are getting worked out, and it will be here before you know it.”

“Final details, huh? So does that mean all the invitations have been sent out already?” Granger asked as he piled up the remnants of the fence.

“Not quite. They’ve all been prepared and are ready to be sent, but we are still double checking that no one was missed.”

“I see and are there any surprise guests I should know about this time?” he asked, standing behind her now.

Ashleigh stopped what she was doing. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before standing and facing him.

“Granger, you know why Caleb was invited to—” she began.

“Oh,” Granger interrupted, “it’s just Caleb now? Not Alpha Caleb, you’re close enough now that it’s just Caleb.”

“Of course not. We aren’t close at all, Granger. You know that!” Ashleigh defended herself.

“Well, actually, Ash, I don’t know that. I still don’t really understand why you invited him, but even more than that, why you didn’t tell me beforehand.” He crossed his arms over his chest as he spoke.

“I’m sorry, I should have told you. I just didn’t think about it,” Ashleigh sighed.

“I was completely blindsided, Ashleigh!” Granger growled at her.

Ashleigh was surprised by his anger, but some part of her had expected this. It was just happening two weeks later than expected. He had every right to be upset at her, and she knew it. Nevertheless, she wanted to listen, to give him the attention and respect he deserved.

But something was bothering her.

“Granger,” Ashleigh said quietly.

“Look, Ash, I know, ok, I know you didn’t mean anything by it, and it was diplomacy and all that. I know, but—” Granger snapped back.

“Granger!” Ashleigh shouted, finally getting his attention. Although he looked at her in disbelief, she never raised her voice.

“Ash?”

“Granger, look,” she whispered. Ashleigh stood still but pointed at the remains of the fence. “Look at the fence.”

“Ok? What about it?” Granger asked, looking in the direction she was pointing.

The debris was scattered around a break in the fence four feet wide, pieces of splintered wood strewn all about.

“It happens all the time, Ash. The bears just tear the fence apart rather than climb over it sometimes. So it’s not a big deal.”

“Where are the claw marks then?” Ashleigh replied quietly.

Granger took a step closer and knelt beside the debris. Now that she said it, he saw it too. Smooth cuts, splintering from the force of impact.

There were no claw marks. These planks were cut down by weapons.

He turned to tell her what he saw, just in time to see something whiz past him in her direction, but too late to realize it was an arrow.