LARA
I fell silent, turning my father's words over in my mind. If I were still in Red Moon Pack—if I had only been rejected instead of banished—perhaps I would have chosen to end the pregnancy. Not because I didn't want the child, but because I couldn't bear the thought of bringing them into a world that had shown me nothing but cruelty. I didn't want my baby growing up surrounded by hatred.
And if their transformation was delayed like mine had been...
The thought alone made my chest ache.
I knew what it felt like to be the wolfless child everyone whispered about. To be mocked. To be pitied. To be treated like a curse instead of a person. I knew the loneliness that came with never being enough.
And I knew how difficult it would be for a child to be raised by a rejected mother.
But th
