When I awoke, I felt an odd sense of peace and serenity. The sun was gently spilling into the window and gracefully falling onto the floor and creeping up on the bed. There was a slight stir against my back, causing me to instantly tense up and turn my head toward the source of the movement, but I relaxed when I saw Greyson's sleeping figure.

His thick, tattooed arms encircled my waist and his cheek was gently pressed against my shoulder blade. We were spooning and I couldn't help but be acutely aware of how the back of my shirt had ridden up to the point that my bare back was against his sculpted and also bare stomach. I swallowed, but instead of being engulfed by fear like I usually was, an odd sense of relaxation moved through me. Like it used to be. Before...

River was elated to be so close to Greyson once more and though we'd just gotten back to speaking/ touching terms, I found myself reaching out and gently cupping his face. His skin was warm beneath my own, his stubble slightly tickling me as my thumb caressed his cheek. Now that I was seeing him clearly up close for the first time, I remembered exactly how beautiful he was. How each feature on his face was specifically carved out to compliment each other.

His eyes were still a bit puffy from crying and I could still see the faint remains of his tear trails. There were dark bags beneath his eyes and his hair had grown out a bit, but even with these gruff changes, he still looked beautiful. It was a shame that such a beautiful man was harboring such a horrid beast. But it wasn't of his own fault. How he chose to deal with that beast, however, was. I just prayed to whoever above that we could fix him so we could fix us.

I was pulled from my thoughts by Greyson stirring in his sleep. I turned to see his eyebrows pulling together as his grip on me tightened. "No," he mumbled, furiously shaking his head as his skin became warm against my own.

"Greyson," I gently called as panic rose within me. His skin was growing warm which meant his wolf was rising, and if that wolf was him then I'd be screwed, especially because I couldn't escape from Greyson's iron grip, even when he was unconscious.

"Stop," he growled, his grip becoming borderline painful around my waist.

"Greyson," I said with a bit more force as I shook him.

"Mom!" He cried.

"Greyson!" I yelled, causing him to open his eyes with a start and shoot up. He looked around as if he didn't know where he was, tears building up in his already glassy eyes, and as soon as his eyes landed on me, his arms were around me and his head was buried in my neck. I found myself rubbing his bare back in a comforting manner.

"Were you dreaming about your mom?" I gently asked and he nodded into my neck.

"I get nightmares when I think about her too much," he admitted, causing me to hold him tighter which caused his grip to tighten on me as well before he changed his position so his forehead was resting on mine. It honestly felt weird and surreal to see this gentle, vulnerable side of this man I'd grown to fear then love then fear then slowly care for again over the past almost year but it was honestly relaxing. Seeing the human, weak side of him reminded me that he wasn't always terrible and he could learn to be better or lose me for good, an ultimatum that seemed to scare him so much.

We stayed there for a bit until I found my eyes wandering to the clock. It was past ten. I was late for training. "Oh my gosh, Greyson," I said as I quickly jumped up.

"What? What's wrong?" he asked, confusion and worry evident in his eyes.

"I'm late for training," I sighed as I scrambled to find some clothes for me to slip on. I cursed under my breath. "I've already missed the first session, but if I hurry I just might make it in time for the mid-day session-"

"Avery, wait. Slow down," Greyson instructed as he got up and grabbed my wrists, stopping me from manically searching through the drawers in a fruitless effort to find some clothes. "Now isn't the time to be worried about training."

"No, Greyson. Now is the perfect time to worry about training. I don't know if you remember this or not, but Phoenix is coming for us. For me, and I need to be able to hold my own and protect this pack."

"Avery, you need to rest," Greyson firmly said. "You've been out for five days. You need rest and we'll all figure out what to do about Phoenix, but until then, don't worry. I said that I won't let him hurt you again, and that's a promise I'm planning to keep."

"You also said you wouldn't hurt me, but things happen, Grey." This caused his jaw to clench as he looked down, and I instantly felt bad. I sighed and tilted his head so he was looking up at me. "Grey, I didn't mean it like that, it's just..." I sighed and looked down at my feet. "Things happen, and we're not always ready for them. So please," I begged, looking him in his eyes once more, "let me train. Let me prepare myself so I can protect myself. Us. Just-"

"Okay," he softly said, caving. "Okay, I'll let you go, but we won't make the afternoon training session, maybe the first evening one-"

"We?" I questioned. "No, Greyson, you don't have to."

"But I want to, Avery. I'm not letting you out of my sight until I have that bastard's head is in my hand and I know once and for all you're safe from him. We'll face him together. Then we'll fix me together."

I bit my bottom lip, both in thought and in an attempt to control the small smile that was fighting its way onto my face. Tingles moved through my body, not only due to our prolonged physical contact but due to how badly he wanted to do this for us. For me.

I gave him a nod, causing the corners of his lips to slightly turn up as well before he pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead. It felt amazing and genuine and true, all in a simple action. One that didn't make me scream and run. But despite how little I wanted to, I found myself pulling away from the soft comfort of his lips. I couldn't trust him too fast nor could I let my guard down too much. I never knew when Gavin could pop up again and get me when I'm the most vulnerable.

Greyson sensed my shift and instantly let go of me, the hurt evident in his eyes causing me to look away. "I'll, um... I'll take a shower," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

"Yeah, I'll be downstairs making breakfast," he said, almost painfully before he looked at me for a few seconds then forced himself to turn and walk away. I found myself standing there for a few moments staring at where my mate had once stood before I found myself sighing and running my fingers through my messy hair then wandered into the bathroom. I ran myself a bath like I usually did, brushing my teeth as the warm water filled the porcelain tub with bubbles piling on top, but as I looked in the mirror, I saw the ugly bruise that decorated my neck from where my neck had been broken and was slowly healing. Even after five days it still looked fresh and tender, meaning that Phoenix had broken it badly. I would hate to have seen it the day of. My mind instantly went to Greyson, imagining him freaking out and blaming himself for what he had no part in. I thought about his tear-stained face I'd seen last night when I woke up. I found myself shaking the thoughts from my head before I stripped, pressed play on the CD player for whatever CD I'd left in there last, and climbed in.

As I slowly started easing my way deeper and deeper into the bath, my wolf stirred inside of me as my body slowly started aching for Greyson's. All River wanted to do was be in the shower with Greyson like we used to. She felt safe and secure, but she was just blinded by the mate bond.

I groaned as I sunk deeper into the bathtub as Whitney Houston's voice filling my ears, singing about love and happiness. I forced myself to quickly bathe before I drained the tub and turned off the CD player, resisting the growing urge to smash it in a million pieces. After drying off, I found myself going in the closet and grabbing one of Greyson's sweatshirts and some of my leggings in addition to my own underwear. After I was dressed, I opted to throw my hair into a messy bun before I headed to the door, but I barely made it within a meter of the door before it suddenly burst and I felt two arms wrap themselves around me. A scream escaped my lips as fear built up within me and I went on autopilot. Without registering who exactly was hugging me, I punched them in the stomach before taking advantage of their weakened state to flip them over my shoulder and onto the floor, using my foot to pin them down.

But as the panic slowly melted from my body, I realized who exactly I had pinned down to the floor: Natalie. "Oh my- Natalie, you should know better than to sneak up on me like that!" I gasped as I instantly helped her up.

"For being comatose for five days, you can sure as hell toss me like no one's business," Natalie said as she rubbed her lower back, causing Matthew, who'd silently been observing from the doorway to shake his head.

"See, Nat. I told you rushing a paranoid she-wolf probably wasn't the best idea after everything that's happened, but do you listen to me? Of course bro. You never do," he sighed as he pushed himself off the doorframe and walked toward me with open arms. "Come on Avery, let's skip the self-defense ninja warrior thingy and just get straight to the hugs." I found myself rolling my eyes as both Matthew and Natalie's arms wrapped themselves around me. "We were so worried about you Avery," Matthew softly said into my hair.

"We're just glad you're okay," Natalie added, causing me to smile and hold them tighter.

"Thanks," I said as I pulled away and looked at them. "I missed you guys too. I didn't miss too much training, have I?"

That caused Matthew to chuckle. "After all this, you're worried about your training schedule? True Luna material right here."

"Don't say the L-word," I groaned. "I already have enough to worry about without adding titles and ceremonies to my plate too."

"Oh yeah, Greyson said he told you. How did that go?" Matthew asked, resulting in me punching him as hard as I could on the shoulder.

"Ow! Avery, what the actual-"

"That's for trying to normalize what Greyson was doing to me. I would punch Nat too, but I already flipped her-"

"And possibly bruised my spine," she added, still rubbing her back.

"And possibly bruised her spine," I added before sighing. "Look, I understand that you guys were trying to protect Greyson's secret and let him tell me whenever he was ready, or whatever, but what he was doing to me was not okay, no matter how much he cared about me. I know he wasn't completely in control and I'm thankful for you guys sticking with me and trying to protect me whatever you could, but that's still not an excuse, and I hope you know that."

Matthew sighed as he rubbed his shoulder. "Look, Avery, I know it was wrong and I'm sorry. I...We just didn't know how to handle it-"

"-And didn't want you to reject Greyson for something he's not responsible for," Nat finished.

"He may not be in control of Gavin, but he's definitely in control of how he handles it, and the way he handled it was not okay," I pressed. "And I hope you guys learn your lesson, and we can all bond over our healing bruises," I said, motioning to my neck.

"Avery, that's not funny," Matthew deadpanned. "We're going to find Phoenix and kill him for everything he's done to you."

"I know, Matthew, but if I think about it too much, I think I might break, but thank you. I know we will."

"Alright, that's enough depressing talk," Natalie said. "I smell bacon and deer downstairs, and I don't know how long I can go without literally digesting myself."

I found myself rolling my eyes as Natalie hurried out of the room, leaving just Matthew and I. "Look, Av, I really am sorry, okay? We both are, we were just unsure and scared and-"

"Matthew, stop," I said. "I know. Let's just learn from it and drop it, okay?"

"Okay," he nodded as I ruffled his hair in a playful way.

"You can start making it up to me by giving me a piggyback ride downstairs."

"Avery, you've got to be kidding," Matthew groaned, but I extended my arms like a little child silently asking to be picked up, causing him to roll his eyes before he turned around with his back, causing me to chuckle and jump on his back before he started running toward the kitchen with my laughter filling the air.

It felt good to have a semblance of normalcy in the middle of this chaotic chapter of my life. I just hoped Greyson and I could reach this normalcy again, especially now when we need it the most.