Irene's POV
The messenger arrived at dawn.
He was young, barely past his first shift, with the same silver-touched hair I had seen in Ken's descriptions of Dark Hollows wolves. He knelt before me in the main hall, trembling with exhaustion and reverence.
"Princess." His voice cracked. "The elders sent me. They've gathered what remains of our people. We've been hiding in the northern mountains for years, waiting. Praying."
I gestured for him to rise. "Waiting for what?"
"For you." He looked up at me with desperate hope. "The bloodline survives. Our queen's daughter lives. Word has spread through the scattered Pack members. They're coming together again, but they need a leader. They need you."
My chest tightened. "I'm not a leader. I'm barely holding my own life together."
"You're the
