CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
The air is alive with laughter and music, a melody as crisp as the winter chill. Snowflakes dance in the night sky like a thousand tiny ballerinas, each one alighting on the ground with a touch gentler than a whisper. The Winter Solstice festival has always been the highlight of our close-knit pack's year, a time when the longest night gives way to the promise of light, and tonight is no exception.
I weave through the throngs of wolves, both young and old, all wearing their human skins for the occasion. Lanterns glow from above, strung between the trees, illuminating faces flushed with joy and cold. My brother Lucas offers me a playful grin as he passes by, his arm slung around the shoulders of his wife Grace. I return his smile, feeling a warmth that has little to do
