Sera started taking the steps.
Small ones. A walk with Dax in the morning, before Lumi woke. A conversation with an Elder that didn't end in threats. A meal in the great hall, sitting at the Alpha's table, letting people see her.
It was hard.
Harder than fighting Magnus. Harder than surviving exile. Because this — being seen, being known, being vulnerable — this was what she'd avoided for five years.
But Lumi was right.
Safety wasn't enough.
"You're different," Dax said one morning.
They were walking the pack boundary. The same path they'd walked before — before the bond, before the battle, before everything changed.
"How?"
"Softer."
Sera laughed.
"I'm not soft."
"Not weak. Soft. There's a difference." He stopped. Turned to face her. "You let people in now. A little. Not all th
