The Seer's hut was colder than it had been the day before. Or maybe it was just me—numb and shaking, not from the wind, but from the weight of her words still echoing in my head.
"You must leave behind what you love most."
I didn't sleep that night. I sat at the edge of the woods, watching the flickering lights of Darius's packhouse in the distance, wondering what kind of Luna abandons her mate. What kind of daughter leaves her father without a word. What kind of wolf trades warmth for danger.
Apparently, the kind who's desperate not to become human.
By sunrise, I was back at the hut.
The Seer was already waiting outside, hunched like a broken branch.
"You've returned," she rasped, her lips curling into a smile that wasn't quite kind. "Many come for answers. Few come back when they hear the cost."
"I meant it," I said. My voice was steady this time. "Tell me what I have to do."
She opened the door and I followed her inside.
