I looked out toward the horizon again. The crimson sun had sunk completely now, swallowed by night. The first silver light of the moon shimmered over the plains, reflecting in my eyes.
My wolf stirred, her fury matching my own. They think we’re broken, she growled. They think we’ll crawl away in silence.
“No,” I whispered. “We’ll make them remember who I am.”
Zera’s POV
My room smelled faintly of lavender and dust, the scent of a home that no longer felt like mine.
The sun had barely risen when I began to pack. I folded dresses that had once made me feel beautiful, pressed down coats that still carried Jeremiah’s scent, and stacked the life I’d built here into neat, fragile piles. Every movement was deliberate, mechanical.
Seven days. That’s all I had before I walked out of Moonshadow Pack for good.
As I crouched by the bottom drawer, something caught my eye, a folded piece of paper sticking out from the corner. I reached for it, frowning. Then another, and another. Soon, I realized it wasn’t just one, it was a small stack of drawings, crumpled but colorful.
I sat on the floor, my knees drawn to my chest, and slowly unfolded the first one.
It was Annie’s drawing.
The stick figures were crooked and bright with color. There was me, wearing a blue dress. Jeremiah, drawn taller, with messy brown hair and a big smile. And between us, a small girl with golden hair and wide eyes. Annie had drawn herself holding both our hands.
The title at the top read: My Family.
My vision blurred. I lifted another one, this time, the three of us standing under a moon, surrounded by wolves. She had written the words Our Pack Will Always Be Together.
I pressed the paper to my chest, a sob catching in my throat. “Oh, my sweet girl…” My voice cracked.
Tears rolled down my cheeks as I gathered all her drawings in my arms. There were so many, little pieces of her imagination, her dreams, her love. Every page was a memory, every crayon stroke a heartbeat of the daughter I’d lost.
Except she wasn’t lost.
Her heart was still beating, inside the woman who destroyed me. My chest tightened painfully.
I didn’t even notice the door open until a deep voice interrupted the silence.
“Zera?”
I stiffened, quickly wiping my tears. Alpha Jeremiah stood at the doorway, tall and composed, his scent filling the room, that familiar mix of pinewood and smoke that once made me feel safe.
Now it only made me sick.