Eliana POV
“Mama!” I called out.
She turned.
And my heart stopped.
It was her.
Her face. Her eyes. Her—
But then, a wagon passed between us.
And she was gone.
---
And then I was standing there on the cobblestones panting, seeking urgently. Again my hands shook, but not this time with strength.
I did not know how long I stood there, locked-out, hard-hearted.
But the weight of what just happened clung to my shoulders like ash.
Alexander would find out. The pack would talk. The rumors would grow.
And me?
I would keep running.
Because that’s what people like me did.
People born of flame.
People were too wild to belong.
People who could burn down the world…
...just by wanting to belong in it.
---
The pines whispered like old friends.
Their voices were soft in the wind, bru
