walls were closing in to crush her. She didn't know where her steps were leading her. She only knew one thing: she had to get away. She

chest heaving, but she kept running until a fa

aterf

, constant torrent. Its roar drowned out the rest of the world. It was the only place where no one

to the damp earth. Her fingers dug into the mud as her shoulders began t

throat, swallowed by the echo of th

l her voice broke and the sound felt like

her face with the same stubborn force as the waterfall before her. The waterfall became the sole witn

thing that had bee

rew breath. The gentleness of her mother, the refuge for all her childhood sorrows. The unconditional love of her sister, the accomplice to her every secret. All of it w

uld have been hers forever. She wept for the future she had dared to imagine: the shared mome

before it ever had

that vibrated through her very bones. The internal lament

oned us. His wolf still wants us. It

f Peter had knowingly made this choice, it meant he had looked at

The warmth of his hands on her skin. The easy certainty with which their bodies had fit together, as if they

ed her. That was why a subtle restraint had alw

His decision had been made lo

ad used her heart, her trust, her surrender, all while knowing he was never

t was that they

had all accepted it, invoking the pack's best interest as if

n on herself, arms wrapping tight around her stomac

tark reminder that the earth would not stop rotating for her pain. Night t

aying here, drowning in grief, would change nothing. If she remained in the pack

ad to

p living under the same roof as the Beta's family. Every whispered word, every heavy silence would su

d not su

sence would be required. She was sure of it. If she disappeared before then, they wo

keeping her

had once been used to hold wolves awaiting punishment. It was long abandoned now, lef

could survive

y looks, far from the whisp

d become: wounded, furious, but free. She would only return to the pack's center if the Al

first step. The thought sent a pang through her chest. That job had given her a role, a pu

roar bolster her fledgling resolve. She pieced together the details o

in the sky did she realize

oken only by the rush of water a

lls of Beta Richard, her mother Lucille, even Kathy, all trying to see i

not open i

toni

ief, to the silent mourning s

e would begi