Lycan's Prey by Jessica Hall

Chapter 41

~Aubrey~

A couple of days later.

The sunlight filters through the curtains, casting a warm glow across the room filled with memories of Granny. I’m on the floor, surrounded by papers and old photographs, each item a reminder of the loss that stings and aches like a fresh wound.

Granny always said she wouldn’t leave me with any burdens, but now I’m left with the burden of figuring out how to pay for her cremation. I had just found out that Granny didn’t have funeral insurance. She never wanted to be a bother, one she could hardly afford, but also always insisting on living simply and said just to toss her to the forest yet I don’t think she realized I can’t just dump her body at random. So in her passing, she left me with a heavy weight on my shoulders.

As I sift through her belongings, I’m desperately trying to find anything of value, anything that might help cover the costs. I come across an old shoebox, worn and yellowed with time. Inside, I find a stack of letters tied together with a faded ribbon. I recognize Granny’s handwriting immediately.

Trembling, I untie the ribbon and my stomach sinks further when I realize they are all letters to my mother that had been returned to sender, unopened my mother just sent them back.

I trace the delicate contours of the crumpled envelopes, their creases marking the passage of time and the pain Granny must have felt. Every one of them unopened…never

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Chapter 41

read…returned like a slap on the face.

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the estrangement between Granny and my mother for as long as I can remember, since

the words from Granny meant for my mother, filled with hope and heartache in equal measures. It’s like opening a window into a past, a past

for understanding, it

and then suddenly, outrage. It’s like a dormant volcano

while she’d been doing that, she’d also been reaching out to a daughter who didn’t

my hands, I let out a choked sob. The tears come hard

hastily, wiping away my tears with the back of my hand as I

trails off as he takes in

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he says again, this time his voice soft

was both comforting and confusing. A Lycan King, standing outside Granny’s little house in this tiny town… I stare at him wondering why he is here before

He asks politely, his voice surprisingly

feel a flutter in my chest but quickly squash it down; that’s not love, but

other than the pain induced by losing Granny.

he asks, his voice betraying his kind

force a weak smile, “Just trying to sort through Granny’s things. Why are you here?”

I asked Marianne and she said you haven’t come in. I thought you might have fled. So I wanted to check on you.” I swallow nervously. Is he

steps in, glancing around the room. “What are