Chapter 17: The Hot Breakfast of Revenge

Chapter 17: The Hot Breakfast of Revenge

Emma lay on the wide lunar-woven bed inside her chamber at the Northern Region, Alpha’s mansion, her wolf restless beneath her skin. Joy and sorrow tangled like vines around her chest. Brandon’s promise to help with her duties echoed in her mind, his voice steady, protective, dangerously gentle. It stirred memories she had buried beneath winters of survival.

There had once been a young he-wolf — a fleeting protector who had appeared when her life had collapsed. Oliver had been strength wrapped in warmth, a guiding starlit when she wandered lost between human rejection and wolf uncertainty. Lunara had once mentioned him mockingly, calling him a stray who dared approach pack territory. He had stayed one moonfall in her small refuge hut beyond the borders, offering comfort without claiming ownership, and then disappeared like a sacrifice offered to fate. Emma never saw him again, but the mark of that kindness lingered like a ghost.

...