Ruth slept for an hour while the wolves maintained their vigil outside. Claire sat in the chair beside the bed, watching her mother's chest rise and fall with its labored rhythm, watching the wolves through the window in their tightening formation, holding the space between two kinds of witness—the human and the animal, the daughter and the pack.
When Ruth woke, her eyes were clear but distant, focused on something only she could see.
"You know most of it now," Ruth said quietly. "But not all."
Claire waited.
"David didn't just understand at the end. He tried to change it." Ruth's voice was steady but carried thirty years of weight. "After Silver showed him what she'd given me, after he understood that the promise was repayment—he went to them again. One more time. To offer himself ins
