Chapter Twenty Four — In her own name

Keya:

I never thought of my wolf as different.

Not really.

Sure, I’d been scolded after shifting — told my fur looked “wrong,” that the air around me felt wrong. That I made others nervous. But I thought that was just... me.

Anastasia used to snap at me after training sessions.

“Shift in secret,” she’d say. “Don’t let the others see you unless you want them to think you’re cursed.”

I was eight the first time she said that.

Cursed.

The word settled in my bones before I even knew what it meant.

I thought I just needed to try harder.

Be...