Gabriella’s POV
Morning broke hard and unwelcoming.
The skies were bruised gray, clouds churning like something restless was stirring inside them. The pack had shifted into a state of controlled chaos—warriors drilling nonstop, healers preparing antidotes and binding runes, scouts checking borders twice in one hour instead of once.
The keep felt like a fortress bracing for impact.
And I felt… pulled.
Pulled toward the Rift.
Pulled toward the truth.
Pulled toward something I didn’t yet understand.
Ava paced inside my mind, restless and sharp, her presence scraping against my nerves like claws on stone.
We should not go there.
The seal is older than your bloodline.
Older than the wolf.
Older than me.
I whispered back internally, “If I don’t go, he wins.”
Ava growled softly but
