I didn’t go straight to breakfast.
Instead I stood at the top of the stairs for a long moment after Asher left, forcing my breathing to steady. His final words kept circling in my head.
The reason I rejected you in the first place.
Three years of wondering. Three years of building myself into someone who no longer needed answers. And now he was offering them like they were simple.
I walked downstairs with my blades still strapped to my back. A few early-rising pack members stopped talking when they saw me. Their eyes widened, then quickly dropped. Whispers followed me into the dining hall like smoke.
I ignored them.
I took a plate, filled it without really looking at the food, and sat at the far end of a long table. No one joined me. That was fine. I preferred the space.
I had only
