----Elaine---
The meeting room still smelled faintly of cake and coffee when Helen and I started cleaning up. Karrie had long gone to bed—her pregnancy was far enough along that even sitting through the meeting left her ankles swollen and her face pale with exhaustion. She’d tried to protest when we insisted she go upstairs, but eventually, she surrendered.
I bent down to scoop up crumpled napkins and paper plates, my arms full, but my eyes betrayed me. They slid toward the front of the room where Kave and John still stood talking with a few pack members. My gaze lingered on Kave, always Kave, as if some magnetic pull refused to release me.
Carla stood with them, close enough to brush against Kave’s arm if she so dared, her painted lips curled into a smile I recognized all too well. She
