“Don’t tell anyone I’m back yet.” Her hands trembled slightly. “Especially not your family… or the Elders.”
I frowned. “Why? No one is going to harm you. Not in my territory.”
She shook her head so hard her hair fell over her face.
“You don’t understand.”
And then she broke.
“The Elder Council used your power and your position to force me away,” she whispered.
“Your grandfather said if I didn’t leave, if I didn’t disappear, it would cost my parents everything. He said he’d exile my father… strip my mother of her wolf…”
My chest tightened. I knew my grandfather too well, I knew exactly what he was capable of and this was the kind of thing he could do.
Lily’s voice cracked as she continued.
“I was sent away, alone, I was told you would be fine without me. I thought… I thought I c
