The sorrow filling the room was so genuine that even the elderly pack doctor lowered his head. Beside him, the healer quietly wiped tears from her eyes. They weren’t crying because Raquel was grieving. They were crying because her wolf was. The pain pouring from it was so raw that it reached everyone present without a single word needing to be spoken.
“Ba… baby,” Raquel’s wolf whispered through trembling sobs. “Mommy’s here… Mommy’s so sorry…”
She pressed her face against the pup’s cold cheek and held it there, whispering apology after apology even though she knew there would never be an answer. Nothing she said could bring the child back, but she couldn’t stop talking. Letting silence fill the room somehow felt even more unbearable.
The room remained completely still. There was no hear
