Elara POV
My eyes are heavy. I have barely slept since my return to the Imperial Pack. I don't know how to explain to them that I have failed. They have waited for me for hundreds of years, and I could not give them the one thing they wanted. Freedom.
I step onto the front porch of the mansion, and every pack member has gathered in the pack's square. No one is smiling. In a pack of wolves with mind powers, secrets are not easily kept.
Cinder stands stoically at my side. She hasn't said a word since we left the Obsidian Pack. I don't need to be able to look into her mind to know she blames me for her sister's death. I am failing at everything.
I turn to my pack. I don't smile or pretend like everything is okay. They deserve transparency and honesty.
"Three years ago, when I
