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Brooklynn stood outside of Connor's cell door, with the elderberry root in her pocket. She reached her shaking hand out, afraid of what she would find in there.

Was the moon goddess right? Was the Connor that Brook came to love still in there? Was he really just moonwashed, even though he claimed he wasn't? Or was he completely fine, and he really just hated Brook?

Both of those options terrified her. If Connor was still salvageable, and he remembered all of the things that he'd said and done to her, he might never forgive himself. But if he wasn't able to be saved, then that would kill Brook.

She shook away her terrifying thoughts, and looked up to the ceiling for a second.

"Moon goddess, give me strength." She said, and then she opened the door.

For a second, she didn't know what she should expect to see. But what she did see made her wolf cry out.

There Connor sat, malnourished and bruised, dull eyes staring back at her. Though he had hurt her, it was killing Brook to see him like that.

"You here to kill me?" Connor smirked, leaning forward as much as he could.

Brook didn't speak as she walked into the cell, instead, she just leaned against the wall, and observed Connor. She really was trying to see past everything that he'd said, but it was nearly impossible. She didn't show how bothered she was, because that's not who Brooklynn Bradley was.

She stared directly at Connor as she started to speak.

"I'm here to get the real Connor back."

Connor let out a wicked laugh, one that made Brook question her confidence.

I don't know if you're right. She thought to the moon goddess, who yet again was silent.

"Like I said before, bitch," He sneered, "I was never moonwashed. I meant everything that I said."

"I don't believe you." Brook replied, trying to convince herself of that rather than Connor. But Connor just laughed again, staring at Brooklynn with such disgust it made her sick. She continued to fight on though, as she walked closer to him.

"Well you should," Connor snapped, "You should believe me when I tell you that if you let me out of this chair, I will kill you. I'll rip you and that baby to shreds."

It took everything in Brooklynn not to reach out and slashed Connor's face. She was no longer sad, her blood was boiling. That came with the fact that he'd just threatened her baby. It didn't matter to her that he was saying he'd kill her, in fact it didn't faze her one bit. But with his comment that he'd made about killing her baby, that crossed the line.

She marched over to him and grabbed him by the collar of his torn shirt. For a second, his eyes went wide in fear.

"Now you listen here," She screamed, "I was really going to be nice about feeding you this elderberry. But now I want nothing more than to stick it down your throat!"

And as she said that, she ripped the elderberry root out of her pocket, ready to shove it down Connor's throat like she promised. But as she went in for it, Connor's hand came out of nowhere and grabbed her by her throat.

Brook wasn't even able to scream, as he stood up out of his chair, and threw her back into the wall. She smacked her head, the sound of her skull hitting the concrete reminded her of a prune being squashed.

She barely had anytime to look up from the ground, as Connor was already hoisting her up. Her vision blurred in and out of consciousness, as she fought to stay awake.

Once she regained focus, the sight of Connor's twisted smile froze her to her core.

She really thought she was about to die.

And when Connor wrapped his hands around Brooklynn's throat, she was too weak to fight him. She was already still recovering from a few days ago, and she was also pregnant.

She was at a major disadvantage.

Connor's hands wrapped tighter around her throat, and for a split second, she saw her life flash before her eyes.

She saw images of her mom from when she was alive, images of her old pack and her new pack, memories of how her and Connor's bond developed, and memories of how many times he'd proved he loved her.

And then something woke up in Brook. She had new motivation, and she was nowhere near ready to give up on her, her baby, or Connor.

She brought her knee up straight into his balls, before she grabbed him by his shoulders and threw him. She wasted no time as she darter towards him, planting her infamous Louboutin heel into his chest. It knocked him back on the ground again, as Brooklynn climbed on top of him.

"I know you're in there," She screamed, "And for fucks sake, you're coming back you fucker."

She raised her hand up, and slammed the elderberry root down onto Connor's mouth, watching as he cursed and clawed at his mouth. She already knew he would go to spit it out, so using all of her strength, Brook held his mouth shut. He fought against her, and clawed at her whole body, but Brook was not giving up.

"Swallow it!" She cried out, holding his mouth together even tighter. She didn't know how long it would take. Would it take a matter of seconds? Minutes? Maybe even hours? Who knows she could be dead by the time it kicked in.

She allowed herself to become distracted for just a second too long, when Connor grabbed her by her hair and yanked her off of him.

He sent a punch to her throat, sending Brook into a spasm of coughs. But Connor didn't stop there. He flew up off the ground and punched her in the eye.

Brook groaned on the ground, bringing her hand up to her eye. She peered up at Connor as he stared down at her. It was obvious that the elderberry hadn't kicked in—Or maybe it didn't even work—As Connor kneeled down by Brooklynn with his claws out.

"Look at you. The one and only, Brooklynn Bradley, not strong enough to fight back. Where'd all of that strength go?" He asked, digging his claws into her thighs. She let out a shrill cry, as she brought her hands up to push him off. Connor grabbed her hands, and pinned her down on the floor, staring at her with such hate, that Brook thought he really was gone. And when he finally spoke, what he said confirmed it in her mind.

"Say bye-bye to the little baby, and hello to your mother for me."

And then with one hand, he held her hands above her head, and with the other, he started to dig into her stomach with his claws. When she realized what he was about to do, her final fighting instinct kicked in.

She swung her legs out from under him, before she kicked him as hard as she could. Once again, he went flying back into the concrete, smacking his head. Brook flew up, and bolted over to him, landed a punch to the back of his head. Even though he was down, he still managed to kick her in the knee, sending sharp pains through her.

She fell to the ground, trying to distance her and Connor. She scooted back towards the wall, crying as he started to come towards her again. She glanced down at her knee, which stuck out at a weird angle, and back up at Connor.

As he walked towards her, there was only one thing that Brook could think of doing—Throwing her shoe. She looked at her expensive red-bottoms, mentally saying goodbye, before she yanked the heel off of her foot, and threw it as hard as she could. It hit him perfectly in the face, knocking him to the ground.

It was almost as if the moon goddesses hand reached out and guided that shoe to Connor, because there was no way that it should've hit him with that much force, and that much precision. But it did.

She sat on the ground, breathing heavily, as she stared at Connor who was knocked out.

I need help. She said into the pack link, when she realized that there was no way she could pull herself out of that cell. She was hurt bad. Not only was she dizzy and sore, her knee was popped out—And her werewolf healing wasn't kicking in.

She stared at Connor, and started to cry as he began to stir.

"This is it." She said outloud, mainly speaking to the moon goddess.

"This is how I die."

Oh don't be so dramatic. She heard the moon goddess say, and Brook was thrown back by this. She was about to ask the moon goddess what she meant, when she looked at Connor and was staring into his brown eyes. It took only seconds for Brook to realize that there was a different look to them, a softer look.

Connor looked around the room for a second, confused by what he was seeing. There his mate was, propped against a wall, blood all over her, and in pain. He wondered what had happened, before it all finally hit him.

He did that to his mate.

And once he realized that, he remembered everything he had said and done to her. Every memory of when he was moonwashed came back to him, and it hurt.

"Brooklynn..." He whispered, breathing in a shaky breath. "I...Oh my fuck!" He cried out, rushing over to her. He released a loud sob as he stared at her beaten body, and as he went to hug her he stopped.

Should I even hug her? He asked himself, crying as he realized he tried to kill his mate. He felt as if hugging her was wrong, as if he deserved to die right then and there.

But everything that had just happened was erased from Brook's memories, as she realized she had her mate back. She cried out in joy, as she practically yanked her mate into a hug.

"Connor!" She yelled, squeezing him as hard as she could. She ignored all of the pain that she was in, because the joy that she felt when she realized she had Connor back overpowered the pain.

She pulled away from the hug slightly, as she stared at Connor with the most grateful smile. But Connor didn't return the smile, instead he just cried even more.

"Brook, I'm...I'm so sorry. What have I done?" He screamed, dropping his head onto Brook's shoulder. His body trembled as Brook held him, and through their mate link, she could feel his pain. She could feel his guilt and every remorseful thought that he was having.

And Brook, despite him almost killing her, forgot everything that he did to her while he was moonwashed—After all, that wasn't the real Connor.

"Connor," She spoke, "Hey, look at me."

She grabbed his face with both of her hands and forced him to stare at her. Tears ran freely down his face as he looked at her, and it hurt Brook to see him like that. She needed him to know that it wasn't his fault.

She kissed him softly, before she rested her head against his.

"Connor, nothing that you did while you were moonwashed is your fault."

"But Brook-"

"Connor, no." She replied, "None of that matters. It's okay, I forgive you. What matters now is that you're back and..." She trailed off, pulling away to stare at him with a small smile.

He looked at her in anticipation, when she spoke.

"And we can build our family."

For a second, Connor had forgotten about the baby and everything. But when he remembered, and when he'd processed what Brook had said, he let out a cry that was finally happy.

He threw his arms back around Brook, pulling her in for another kiss. This time, his lips were pressed firmly against hers, and his arms held her the tightest they'd ever held her. He pulled away to smile at her, and he held her face in his hands.

"Brooklynn Bradley, I fucking love you more than anything in this world, and it would be the biggest honor to raise our baby with you."

And as I stared at my mate, I felt more love in my heart than I ever had before. He was back, my mate was back. And he wanted to raise our baby together.

When the guards finally came running in, along with Fiona and Kai, I could tell that they were shocked to see Connor and I embraced in each other, but I didn't focus on them. The only thing I could focus on was Connor, and how in love with him I was.

And in that moment, I felt at peace with everything. I finally realized that the moon goddess was right. Connor would be the best thing to ever happen to me. I would never let that go.

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