Hayley’s point of view

It was a triumphant yet tiring trip back to the pack. The adrenaline that had carried us through the fight was starting to drift away, slipping lazily into a deep-seated exhaustion. But as Aiden and I walked hand-in-hand through the woods, we got that win.

The trees whispered their secrets, and the rustle of leaves from one to another was like a soothing balm upon Aria's jangled nerves after all the violence she had been through at the hands of Morgath in his stronghold. We are coming back to our pack, a family of sorts, but in a superficially sick world.

We neared the clearing, which...