CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
The forest around me vibrates with the thrum of bass and the beat of drums as my pack celebrates beneath the glowing orb that hangs overhead. The full moon bathes us all in a silvery sheen, casting long shadows behind the bobbing heads and swaying bodies of my kin. Alec’s absence tugs at the fringes of my heart, his mission keeping him from our monthly revelry. I stand on the periphery, my toes skimming the edge of the natural clearing that serves as our dance floor.
Laughter rings out, a melody harmonizing with the night's chorus, but it doesn’t quite reach me. I’m caught between the desire to join in and the hollow feeling Alec left behind. It’s a void that echoes each time someone glances at me with sympathetic eyes or claps a hand onto my shoulder with more force th
