DECLAN
The drive back is silent.
Antony sits in the passenger seat ahead of me, his hands folded in his lap. The driver keeps his eyes on the road, the hum of the engine the only sound filling the car. No one speaks. No one dares.
I stare out the window, watching the landscape blur past—trees giving way to rolling hills, the human world fading behind us as we cross back into pack territory.
Dr. W agreed.
It should feel like a victory. We found her. Convinced her. My parents will be saved.
But something about it sits wrong in my chest.
It came too easily. Too quickly.
One moment, she was shutting me down, cold and dismissive, ready to drive away the second her tire was fixed. Next, she agreed to everything
What changed?
I replay the conversation in my mind, searching for the momen
