Love Me When I‘m Gone

Wolves in the pack take a mate for life, and the pack hands out a Distinguished Service Award to its own. Sophie was named for it. On the day she was to receive the award, her family was holding a graduation party for her younger sister Ella. Sophie spent that day shut in the basement of the house, bleeding, unable to use her hands. She swiped at her phone screen with her tongue to call for help. Ryan, her mate, was the only one who answered. He said, "Sophie, cut the drama. Ella's graduation party is important. Enough with the tantrums!" It was the ninety-ninth time they had let her down. Three hours later the party was winding down. Her parents, her brother and Ryan were all still there, and Ella was posting a family photo to Instagram. They took the silence for another tantrum and assumed she would come back once she had been taught a lesson, and none of them knew she had never left the house.