The following dawn came with a sky painted in shades of bruised purple and pale gold. The air was crisp, sharper than usual, as though the whole world had been scrubbed clean by an unseen hand. I had barely slept. Every time my eyes closed, I felt the echo of the elders’ voices, their measured tones curling around me like chains. Exile. Witchcraft. Danger. Their words replayed in my head, poisonous and heavy.
But it wasn’t only their accusations that kept me awake. Something inside me wouldn’t be quiet—my wolf. She had been restless since the night in the Shadow Woods, pacing the cage of my mind, ears perked toward some invisible call. She had always been my constant, a quiet companion when I needed comfort, a fierce force when I needed strength. But now she was… different.
She didn’t wh
