~CELINE~
I couldn't breathe.
The walls of the ceremonial room seemed to close in around me with each step I took toward the exit. The voices, the laughter, the congratulations, it all blended into a suffocating hum that pushed against my eardrums. I needed air. I needed space. I needed to make sense of the chaos swirling inside me.
I slipped through the heavy wooden doors and immediately turned down a corridor I'd discovered during my explorations of the castle. It led to the gardens or what passed for gardens this far north. The space was nothing like the lush, manicured grounds of the Eastern pack, but it had its own wild beauty. More importantly, it would be empty now, with everyone at the ceremony.
The cold air hit me without mercy when I stepped outside, but I welcomed it. The chi
