Rachael POV
It had been a full week since Athena was brought into this pack and for the most part, things had been… calm. Not comfortable and not safe but calm enough that we could breathe without feeling like someone’s claws were already around our throats. We were always fed on time, enough to keep our bodies steady, even if our minds weren’t. Every day blurred into the next, quiet mornings, silent afternoons, long nights of fears between ourselves. Still, it was something. A fragile kind of peace.
Athena and I were lying on the bed that afternoon, facing each other, talking in low voices. Mostly nonsense, really, anything to distract us from thinking too hard. Athena was trying to braid my hair badly, and I was pretending not to feel how her hands trembled. Then—
A sharp knock hit th
