Mia
The moment we set foot back on pack lands, the air turned heavier, like invisible chains clamped down around my chest. Everything smelled the same, pine, smoke and damp stone, but it was suffocating, as though the soil itself still remembered every cruel word and every punishment I had endured here.
Brynn and Frynn flanked me like silent shadows, protective as always. But this wasn’t where I wanted them. Not today.
I paused at the iron gates of my father’s estate, staring at the looming mansion that once pretended to be my home. “Listen,” I said, my voice soft but edged with something deliberate, “I need… I need to do this part alone.”
Both twins froze, exchanging quick looks. Frynn raised an eyebrow.
“Alone?”
“Yes.” I forced a smile, though my throat was tight. “I want to visit
