She paused, eyes widening suddenly. “Wait. They didn’t even let you bond with the pack?!”
Iva shook her head slowly.
Lori stared at her in disbelief. “That’s insane. That’s why I couldn’t reach you today. I tried to mind-link you, and it was like you didn’t exist.”
Her hands clenched into fists. “The Alpha didn’t initiate or accept you? This is kind of against the rules of any pack! Are they mad? You are part of this pack by birth. Like it or not, you carry Gamma blood.”
Iva exhaled slowly, Lori’s words sinking deep, burning places she had kept numb for years.
She was right.
They hadn’t just mocked her.
They had erased her.
She laughed bitterly. “It wouldn’t have made sense to initiate me anyway,” she said quietly.
Lori frowned. “What do you mean? Why not?”
Iva’s hands began to t
