219 He Wasn't Alone
Ashleigh was silent. The world around her had gone still.
Fiona stared at her, waiting for a response.
“How… what…” Ashleigh couldn’t even form a sentence.
Fiona sat back down on the stool beside Ashleigh.
“So, it’s true then,” Fiona sighed.
Ashleigh swallowed. She had unintentionally confirmed what Fiona had only suspected.
“Obviously, I don’t know what actually happened,” Fiona said. “But I have known your father for almost thirty years. He and Cain were closer than anyone realizes. They may not have agreed on how to run a pack or what level of interaction we should have with humans. But they were friends.”
Fiona smiled sadly.
“After Cain died, I was stuck in the hospital for a long time. I had been inside a battle simulation when the mate bond was severed. With the suppressants he had taken, I didn’t feel how he died, or whether it was fast or slow. Only… that he was gone. A sudden intense stabbing in my heart and an emptiness that left me breathless.”
Fiona paused, her voice shaking slightly, her eyes glistening with unwelcome tears.
“My distraction at that moment led to a severe spinal injury. It’s the reason I use a walking stick sometimes,” she continued. “When I was in a place that I could think again, really accept the loss. I realized that Wyatt had pulled away from us.
“Caleb was angry, and he was pushing for more answers, so at first, I thought Wyatt was just trying to give him space. To allow Caleb to grieve in the way he needed to.”
Ashleigh felt her stomach tighten, and her heart ached for Caleb.
“But after a while, it just felt strange. Winter and Summer were at odds, Wyatt would barely respond to messages I sent.
“But it wasn’t until the first Blood Moon after Cain’s death that I started to wonder. Then, when I met him face to face, I saw the shame as he looked at me from across the room.
“During the official ceremony, honoring and saying goodbye to Cain, I finally looked into his eyes, and that look told me something awful. I saw the pain he held, and I knew right then, he watched Cain die.”
Ashleigh closed her eyes; she saw her father’s face. The exhaustion. Years of carrying the burden of his guilt over Cain’s death had destroyed the man he used to be.
“I was never sure what that really meant,” Fiona sighed. “I didn’t want to believe that Wyatt could hurt Cain, but it was a possibility.”
She looked at Ashleigh, giving her a sad smile again.
“When you started looking into Cain’s death, I admit, I was suspicious.,” Fiona continued. “I considered that you might be trying to hide something that would implicate Wyatt, but that kind of decision didn’t line up with your character.”
“I thought you hated me….” Ashleigh said softly, not meaning to say it out loud.
“No, Ashleigh, I told you before, if you were anyone else, I would have accepted you right away,” Fiona said. “But you hurt my son, I needed to make sure you deserved the chance to make it up to him.”
Ashleigh nodded, then chewed at her lower lip as she tried to decide what she could tell her.
“It was an accident,” she said.
Fiona swallowed, she gave Ashleigh her attention, but she wasn’t sure how prepared she was to hear the truth.
“My father… he didn’t know it was him,” Ashleigh continued. “There were other wolves, he had been attacked, poisoned. The poison was working itself out of his system when Alpha Cain approached him from behind. He just reacted… he stabbed him.”
Fiona clenched her jaw and closed her eyes, drawing a shaky breath.
“My father tried to help him,” Ashleigh said, tears falling from her eyes. “But they didn’t have anything, no supplies… and Alpha Cain… told my father to let him go. He wanted my father to complete his mission for him.”
“Of course he did,” Fiona sighed, shaking her head.
“Alpha Cain told my father he was already dying, that he had also been poisoned. I don’t think my dad believes it, though. He wanted me to tell Caleb. He said he would accept whatever punishment he decided.”
Ashleigh took a deep breath. She didn’t know what would happen now. What Caleb would do.
“Wyatt was always too damn honorable for his own good,” Fiona sighed, wiping her tears. “If Cain said he was dying, he was. My mate was a lot of things, very secretive, but he didn’t lie. He would have forgiven Wyatt for stabbing him, he would have told him it wasn’t his fault. But he wouldn’t lie to make him feel better.”
Fiona stood up from the stool. She turned away to compose herself. Taking another deep breath in and out.
“He wasn’t alone,” Ashleigh said.
Fiona squeezed her eyes tight as she felt the deep pull in her stomach. Then, taking a quiet, shaky breath, she tried desperately to steady herself.
“My father held him in his arms, talked to him until he was gone. It wasn’t long.”
Fiona nodded, still not looking back at Ashleigh.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “For telling me.”
Fiona sniffled and then straightened herself up before turning to face Ashleigh again.
“Now tell me the rest.” ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
“The rest?” Ashleigh asked.
“Yes,” Fiona said, sitting back down on the stool. “Everything. Who, what, where, when. All of it. Everything you know about what happened to Cain and why.”
Ashleigh swallowed nervously.
“I’m still looking for those answers,” she replied.
“No, you are looking for more answers, but you already know some of them, so tell me those.”
Ashleigh took a breath to calm her nerves.
“Fiona, there are people that this story affects. Not just you and Caleb, or even Summer. If I tell you everything I know, I share someone else’s secret. Someone I care about, and I won’t do that,”
Ashleigh stated firmly.
Fiona nodded.
“Is it impossible to tell the story without revealing this secret?” she asked.
Ashleigh thought about it.
“I guess not, but you wouldn’t understand why my father didn’t tell the truth about what happened.”
“He was protecting someone?” Fiona asked.
“Yes.”
“Does keeping their secret change the story?”
“Not really,” Ashleigh replied.
“Alright,” Fiona said after thinking for a moment. “I trust you, and to a degree, I trust Wyatt. So I won’t ask for that person’s personal details.”
“Thank you,” Ashleigh sighed in relief.
“But I do want the rest,” Fiona said. “It’s time I understand why I lost my mate.”
Ashleigh could not refuse her. Leaving out only the details of what had happened to Bell and her name, Ashleigh shared all she knew about Cain’s death with Fiona.
“This person that Wyatt protected,” Fiona said. “Did Cain know them?”
“Yes.”
“He protected them too, didn’t he?”
Ashleigh nodded.
“You wanted to know about Tomas and Cain, why I thought he had something to do with his death.”
Ashleigh nodded.
“About ten years ago, Cain had worked with Tomas on something that he decided was unsafe. He quit the project and told Tomas he wanted nothing to do with it. All Cain would say to me was that it was dangerous.
“But Tomas was insistent. He called, he visited, and I heard them arguing more than once, but Cain refused every time. Until something changed six years ago. From what you said. I’m guessing it was finding out about the person that needed to be protected.”
Ashleigh nodded again.
“Cain started working with Tomas again, but he said he had more control of the situation this time. Strictly research, not development. It seemed fine until that last year. Then, he suddenly became apprehensive, but about what, I don’t know.”
“From what Clara found on his computer and what he told my dad. It seems he was researching Fae genetics and how they used magic?” Ashleigh suggested.
“That would definitely be something Tomas would want to have his dirty hands in,” Fiona growled.
“Fiona, I know this is a hard ask, but you can’t go after Tomas… he can’t know that we know anything about what really happened that day.”
“I know, Ashleigh,” Fiona said. “I have suspected that man for years… I haven’t tried to kill him yet. I can wait a little longer.”
Ashleigh nodded and let out a deep breath.
“Ashleigh,” Fiona called.
Ashleigh looked at her.
“We can’t tell Caleb, not yet.”
“Why not?”
“Because… I always understood that my mate did dangerous work. I was prepared to lose him every time he left Summer,” Fiona said. “I am also patient and calculating. I have no intention of letting Tomas get away with what he has done, but I can wait until we know everything.”
“Ok…”
“But… Caleb,” Fiona let out a soft sigh. “He lost his dad… and knowing that the man who caused his death is just living his life without concern… he won’t be able to tolerate that.
“He’s generally a calm man, able to reign in his emotions and control himself. But underneath it all, he’s still just like the rest of us. A dangerous animal.”