Chapter 69

Maren

The night air was heavy, the kind that presses against your skin and refuses to let go. I’d fallen asleep with the window cracked open, letting in the sound of crickets and the faint hum of the pack grounds beyond the treeline. Everything was calm. Still. Safe.

Until it wasn’t.

The pain hit me like lightning. My chest seized, and I shot upright, gasping as if I’d been dragged out of water. H