Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
The morning seemed to hold its breath.
I stood frozen near the gate while Elyra's words echoed through my mind.
The last thing they thought they had destroyed.
Me.
The statement felt impossible.
Too large.
Too heavy.
Too important.
For nineteen years, I had been the girl no one noticed.
The daughter forgotten in plain sight.
The wolfless disappointment.
Now suddenly I was supposed to believe I carried the last surviving bloodline of an ancient people?
My wolf stirred uneasily.
Not rejecting the idea.
Recognizing it.
That frightened me more than anything.
The crowd behind me erupted into whispers.
Fear.
Confusion.
Disbelief.
The villagers looked at me differently now.
Not with pity.
Not with indifference.
With uncertainty.
As though they
