Chapter 65. Mates

Ainsley

There are many things in my life I regret. Many of them having to do with my grandmother and never getting the chance to say goodbye to tell her how much she meant to me over the years.

She’d been the only sliver of sunshine in a world full of rain clouds. My only source of love when the rest of my pack, my father, treated me coldly.

I can’t say for certain when it was that my mind finally clued into how differently I’d been treated my entire life or what events led up to that one singular moment of clarity.

But when I did, I’d gone to my grandmother to be consoled. Her gentle hand had run through my hair countless times while I laid my head on her lap, tears streaming down my cheeks while my world completely imploded around me.

She’d tell me, “Don’t cry, little dove. You have your whole life ahead of you; don’t let one person make you feel any less fortunate.”

Those words would replay in my head during those long