My steps slowed before I fully realized why.
The far edge of the territory sat beyond the trees, separated from the parts of the pack anyone cared about. The shack wasn’t there anymore. Only the empty stretch remained, the place where years of my life had once been trapped behind rotting walls and wolfsbane.
I didn’t ask to go there.
Not yet.
Part of me wanted to see the empty space for myself. Another part didn’t want to stand there and remember how many nights I had believed I would die inside that place. I stayed where I was.
Caius noticed the direction of my gaze. He didn’t ask what I was thinking, and he didn’t tell me what I should do. He simply stayed beside me. Somehow that made the choice easier.
“It still feels strange,” I said quietly.
His attention shifted fully to me. “
