The ride back to my father’s pack was silent. Not because there was nothing to say—there was too much to say. But the words felt stuck in my throat, unable to escape the weight pressing down on my chest.
I had won the battle. We had destroyed the banshees, protected the pack, saved countless lives. But why did it feel like I had lost everything?
Jeremiah’s last words replayed in my head like a cruel echo.
"It’s best you leave with your family… because I will never be able to forget what they have done."
I clenched my fists against my thighs, willing the sting of tears away. I refused to cry. Not now. Not when my father rode beside me, his sharp eyes flickering toward me every few minutes as if he expected me to fall apart.
But I wouldn’t.
I had spent my whole life being told I was fr
