The streets of her town looked ordinary in the soft daylight, but to Aisha, everything felt different.
The snow from the storm clung in white patches to roofs and trees, sparkling in the morning sun, but it no longer held the terror of the night before.
Instead, it reflected a strange, new clarity that had settled inside her chest.
She walked slowly, taking in the familiar sights—the bakery with its warm smells spilling into the street, the corner café she sometimes passed, the little park where children had built snowmen the day before.
Everything seemed unchanged, yet she knew she herself had changed.
The Alpha had escorted her the entire way, silent, alert, moving just a fraction ahead to keep watch over her, and just a fraction behind to remain in her peripheral vision.
She h
