Aisha didn’t mean to come back to the pack house.
After leaving the edge of town—after her ex’s last, hollow warning—she walked with no direction in mind.
Snow crunched under her boots, the cold biting at her cheeks, but she barely felt it. Her thoughts were too loud.
He’ll destroy you.
The words echoed—but weaker now. Thinner. Like a lie that had been repeated too many times.
What scared her more was the other thought she couldn’t silence:
What if he’s destroying himself instead?
She stopped without realizing it, looking up at the familiar iron gates of the pack grounds.
She hadn’t planned this.
She hadn’t decided anything.
Her feet had just… brought her here.
The guards noticed immediately.
They always did.
She felt their eyes on her as she stepped through the gates—alert,
