Kade's rejection still echoes sometimes, even now. The way his voice didn't shake when he said it, like he'd rehearsed cutting me loose, like three years together meant nothing the moment his council started whispering about stronger matches. He called me ordinary in front of everyone who used to call me Luna. And the pack just watched, because that's what packs do when their alpha decides someone is disposable. The Ember Wastes were supposed to be where wolves like me went to disappear quietly. Nobody survives out there as themselves, not really. But something happened to me in that wasteland the grief, the hollow ache where a mate bond used to be, it didn't just fade. It changed shape. Now when I'm angry, or scared, or pushed too far, fire answers. Not metaphorically. I came back from that place changed down to the bone, and the Ember Wastes don't give that back to just anyone. And I wasn't alone when I came back. Three alphas found me before I reached the border. One of them went still when our eyes met, like he'd been waiting his whole life without knowing what for. Another smiled like he already knew something I didn't. The third just watched me, quiet, like he was memorizing me. None of them looked at me the way Kade used to. Now Kade wants to talk. Wants to explain, apologize, fix what he broke. I can feel his regret through what's left of our old bond, persistent and uncomfortable, like a phone ringing in another room I keep meaning to walk into. The council wants to understand what I've become. Three men say I'm theirs, and they're waiting on me to decide if that's true. So do I walk toward the men who looked at me like I was something worth finding, or back toward the one who already proved what he thinks I'm worth?