-Ember -
After the pains finally stop, Ivy retreats to the back of my mind to rest, probably to binge-watch mental reruns of "101 Ways to Murder Your Mate." I'm still feeling weak, but the worst has passed—you know, until the next time Tanner decides to get his rocks off.
The sound of my front door slamming open makes all three of us jump. Subtlety, thy name is not—
Stella bursts through, eyes wild as she frantically scans the room like she's expecting to find my corpse. When she spots me on the couch with Ainslee and Oaklynn, her shoulders sag with visible relief.
"How bad was it this time?" she demands, looking between Ainslee and Oaklynn.
"It wasn't that bad," I say defensively, my voice barely above a whisper. Lying is totally my superpower.
Ainslee's head jerks toward me, eyes flashing with anger. "Not that bad? You almost died, Em! I found you convulsing on the floor!"
I stare down at my lap, unable to meet her gaze. "I'm sure I would have been fine."
Yeah, fine as in F.I.N.E: Freaked out, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional.
"Do you know what I gave you?" Oaklynn asks, her jaw working back and forth in frustration.
"Pain medication?" I venture. Please say yes.
"An experimental healing serum that Dr. Jenkins and I have been working on for months," she snaps, her normally calm demeanor cracking. Her eyes darken dangerously. "Do you know why we've been working on such a serum?"
"For the pack warriors?" I guess, my voice pitching up at the end. Wrong answer, apparently.
"FOR YOU!" she yells, making us all jump. "Because you are literally killing yourself by staying bonded with that—that..." she sputters, searching for words, "THAT MANGY MUTT!"
We all stare at Oaklynn in shock. She's usually the quiet, level-headed one. Our voice of reason. The one who never loses her cool. Seeing her lose it is like watching a librarian start a mosh pit.
A beat of silence passes before all three of us break into laughter.
"Did you just call Tanner a mutt?" Stella wheezes, wiping tears from her eyes.
"Don't forget mangy," Ainslee adds, struggling to breathe through her laughter. "A mangy mutt."
"Oh, shut up!" Oaklynn crosses her arms, stewing as we laugh at her outburst. "You know what I meant."
"Oh Goddess!" I gasp, calming down from my laughing fit. "Seeing you blow up is the best part of today." I bump her shoulder gently, and she finally cracks a smile.
Stella flops down into the recliner, a mischievous glint in her eye that I recognize all too well. It's the same look she had before we stole Mr. Henderson's tractor in high school and parked it on the football field.
"You know what we need?" she announces.
"Wolfsbane to shoot Tanner?" Ainslee suggests, only half joking.
"Well, that..." Stella concedes with a smirk, "but also, we need a girls weekend." She looks at each of us in turn. "Come on! Let's go to the city and have some fun. Ember deserves it!"
I bite my lip, uncertainty washing over me. "I don't know, Stel... Last time I tried to go with you guys on a girls trip, Tanner hunted me down and dragged me back. We were only gone twenty minutes." Twenty humiliating minutes of being treated like a runaway pet.
"That was three years ago," Stella says, pursing her lips at the memory. "I doubt he'll be hunting you down this time. Not when he's so... preoccupied." The disgust in her voice is evident. By "preoccupied," she means "balls deep in Bethany," but we're all too polite to say it.
Oaklynn's expression changes suddenly, like she's just remembered something important. "Dr. Jenkins was getting the medi-kit ready for the warriors this morning. He mentioned that Tanner and some of his men were heading out to track some rogues."
"When are they leaving?" Ainslee asks, leaning forward.
Oaklynn's brow furrows in concentration. "Late afternoon, I think."
Stella checks the time on her phone, excitement building. "It's 2 PM now... late afternoon means 3-4 PM. So if they leave at 4 PM and we head out by 5 PM, we can make it into the city by 8 PM." She's already planning, her words coming faster. "Give us 30 minutes to an hour to get checked into the hotel and dressed... we could be in the clubs by 9 PM!" She claps her hands together. "Let's do this!"
"I don't know, guys," I sigh, fidgeting with the hem of my shirt. "I don't think this is a good idea. Besides... I uh... don't have... um..."
"Spit it out," Ainslee urges. "We don't have all day to watch you stammer."
I take a deep breath and mumble quickly, "I don't have money."
The words hang in the air as I sink further into the couch, shame burning my cheeks. I can't bear to look at my friends' faces. Nothing says "pathetic" quite like being broke because your mate is a controlling asshat.
"Why don't you have any money, Ember?" Stella's tone hardens, her earlier excitement replaced with suspicion.
Oaklynn frowns. "It's not like you go shopping... you haven't left pack territory in years."
"Tanner takes your money, doesn't he?" Ainslee asks quietly, pinching the bridge of her nose.
I nod, the shame deepening. "He said that as his mate, I'm given privileges like living in this cabin when other pack members have to pay rent. He said nothing is free."
"And you let him take your money?" Oaklynn's eyebrows shoot up in disbelief.
"Not at first," I admit, embarrassed to be having this discussion. "But then he locked me in the cells for a week, and when he let me out, he doubled my work."
"When were you in the cells for a week?" Stella demands, her voice rising to a pitch that could shatter glass.
Ainslee's eyes widen with realization. "Two years ago, when you said you went to visit your aunt... did you really go visit her?"
I shake my head no and bury my face in my hands, tears spilling over. Within seconds, I feel arms around me as my friends envelop me in a group hug.
"That controlling bastard," Stella whispers fiercely against my hair. "He's been isolating you all this time."
"And we didn't even notice," Oaklynn adds, her voice thick with guilt.
Ainslee pulls back, her eyes glittering with determination. "This ends now. Go pack for the weekend. This trip is on us."
"All of it," Stella insists. "Hotel, food, drinks, dancing—everything. Consider it three years of birthday presents we owe you."
"Are you sure we can pull it off?" I ask, wiping away tears but feeling a spark of hope for the first time in years.
Oaklynn's lips curve into a rare smirk. "Tanner won't be here to stalk you... he won't even know you're gone until it's too late."
"And if he tries to drag you back this time," Ainslee adds with a dangerous glint in her eye, "he'll have to go through all three of us."
"Yeah, and I've been taking kickboxing," Stella adds, throwing a few punches in the air. "I can totally take him."
We all give her a skeptical look.
"Okay, maybe not," she admits. "But I can definitely take a chunk out of his ego. And maybe his face."
I look at my friends—my real family—and feel something unfamiliar bubbling in my chest. It takes me a moment to recognize it as excitement.
"Ridgewood City, here we come!" I say, a genuine smile spreading across my face.
"That's the spirit!" Stella cheers.
As I stand to go pack, I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. For the first time in three years, I see a spark of the old Ember—the one who existed before Tanner Silver crushed my spirit. Maybe, just maybe, I can find her again.
And maybe, just maybe, I'll find something else in the city too. Like freedom. Or tequila. Preferably both.