I found Erica that evening near the training grounds, watching Silverpine wolves set up their section of camp. "You're quiet," I observed, sitting beside her.
"They're here. The pack that watched you suffer. That did nothing while Leighton tortured you."
"I know."
"And you just... accepted them? Just like that?" I heard the anger underneath.
Not at me—at them.
"Not just like that." I accepted them with conditions. With suspicion. With the understanding that one wrong move, and they're gone."
"But you still accepted them." Erica turned to face me.
"Why?"
"Because we need warriors. Because 200 more bodies might be the difference between winning and losing.
Because—"
"That's strategy," Erica interrupted.
"I'm asking emotionally. How do you forgive people who hurt you that ba
