(Gianna's POV)

The air changed.

Dominance rolled through the forest like a landslide-absolute, no room for argument. Alpha-level. The rogues buckled instantly, whimpering, scattering into the underbrush.

A massive white wolf stepped out of the tree line. Twice the rogues' size. Fur like new snow. Eyes the color of glacial ice.

It stopped ten paces away and turned its head toward me.

I didn't move.

The wolf lowered its head. Then it made a sound-not a growl, not a bark.

A whistle. Two notes. One rising, one falling.

My body recognized it before my mind did. A signal from another lifetime-the safety call Theodore and I invented as children, playing wolf-and-hunter in the Rivers forests. Two notes meant: come out. You're safe.

I stepped out from behind the boulder.

The white wolf watched me for a long breath. Then it shifted-bones cracking, fur receding, the massive frame contracting into human form.

Theodore stood where the wolf had been. Tall, broad-shouldered, in the black tactical uniform of the Alpha King's border patrol. Ice-blue eyes locked on mine.

It was him, my ex-fiancé-Theodore Sterling. Sterling Pack's alpha heir. Current Beta of the Alpha King. Even deep in the underground mine, I could still hear of his glorious deeds.

"Beta Theodore," I said.

His gaze moved over me-grey skin, twisted nails, the dragging leg, the infection smell the wind couldn't cover.

"You're hurt," he said.

"I can still walk."

Snow fell between us. Neither of us moved.

"Charlotte said she would pick you up today. She left you here," he said. Not a question.

I said nothing. My silence was answer enough.

The muscle in his jaw went tight. The vein at his temple jumped once. Then he shifted again. White fur spread. Bones reformed. Steelclaw reappeared-vast, warm. He lowered himself to the ground.

An offer.

Somewhere deep in me, Gina moved. Not a word. Not a whimper. Just a tremor.

I climbed onto his back without speaking. His fur was warm. His heartbeat steady beneath me.

For the first time in four years, I wasn't cold.

I hate that I still long for this warmth.

Steelclaw moved through the forest without sound.

The Pack's scent grew stronger as we neared the border-pine resin, hearth smoke, the particular musk of wolves who belonged somewhere. Patrol markings on the trees grew denser. I recognized the territory boundary before I saw it.

I put my hand on his spine. "Put me down."

The white wolf kept moving.

"Put me down," I said again. "I'll walk from here."

He slowed. Stopped. Lowered himself to the ground.

I slid off his back. My left leg hit the snow and I bit down on my back teeth.

Steelclaw turned his head and looked at me. Something moved in those glacier eyes.

He shifted. Theodore stood where the wolf had been, hands at his sides, watching me.

"If they ask how you got back," he said, "what will you say?"

"I walked," I said. "You never saw me."

He gave one short nod, turned, and went back into the tree line.White fur flickered between the trunks. Then nothing.

I stood alone on the road. The mine-issue shoes had soaked through an hour ago. I started walking.

The Pack house came into view just as the sky went from grey to dark.

The front lights were on. People were gathered at the entrance.

Elizabeth stood on the steps, her expression tight. Alpha Jaxon beside her, arms crossed, face stone. Julian leaned against a pillar-he saw me coming and his eyes narrowed.

Charlotte sat in a chair at the bottom of the steps, a blanket over her knees, the thermos in her hands, eyes red. The two mine guards stood behind her.

My feet slowed for one beat.

"Gianna!" Elizabeth came down the steps, sharp and urgent. "Do you know how worried Charlotte has been? She said you refused to get in the truck-you just left. We've been looking for three hours."

Charlotte rose from the chair. The thermos tilted in her hands. "Sister, are you all right?" Her voice came out raw, like she'd been crying a long time. "I should have insisted-I should have stayed with you-"

I looked at the two guards. Their eyes slid away from mine.

"Miss Gianna was being difficult." The first guard's voice was flat. "Miss Charlotte asked her to get in the vehicle. She refused. We tried to reason with her-"

"You bound my arms and locked my neck," I said. "Then you drove me into the forest and threw me out."

Quiet.

Charlotte's lips trembled. She turned to Elizabeth. "Mother, I didn't-how could I-" Her voice broke apart.

The second guard shook his head. "That's not what happened. We helped her into the vehicle because she could barely stand. During a rest stop, she disappeared on her own."

I snorted coldly,four years ago, three witnesses had put me in the mines. Today, two witnesses had already erased what I'd said. Same play. Different cast.

My smile seemed to provoke Julian. He suddenly stepped forward, and the Alpha's power pressed down upon me. "What are you smiling about? You've done so many wrong things, and you're already fortunate to be able to return here. Do you still think you've been wronged?"

I struggled to straighten my body, resisting against his power, but that force rendered me unable to utter a single sound.

At that moment,Theodore came around the side path from the direction of the border patrols. Unhurried. Like he'd just finished a shift.

His ice-blue eyes moved across the scene at the door.

"Theodore." Charlotte turned toward him. Her eyes filled again. "Did you see my sister on the road? She left the truck alone-I've been so worried-"

He glanced at me. Brief.

"No," he said. "I was on patrol."

I didn't look up.

I had known he would say that. From the moment in the forest when I told him to go, I had already known. Now in his heart, Charlotte was the first priority. Knowing a blade will fall and watching it fall are different things. Both cut.

Deep in my chest, Gina made a sound. I suddenly felt deeply disappointed and didn't want to speak anymore. Seeing that I had stopped struggling, Julian withdrew his restraint on me. "Since you're back, behave yourself and don't get any more foolish ideas," he warned me.

Charlotte came to my side and touched my arm lightly. "Come inside, sister. You need to get warm."

I pulled my arm away.

But I followed. Not for her. My leg was done.

Elizabeth led me through the house.

The main hall. The corridor. The staircase. Fourteen years of this house were in my hands and feet-I knew which step creaked, which window let in the draft, where the moonflower smell was strongest in the morning.

Elizabeth didn't go up the stairs.

She turned at the end of the corridor, to a plain door I'd never used. Behind it: stairs going down.

The basement. The room they kept for isolating the contagious sick.

She pushed the door open. A single yellow bulb. A narrow bed, a small table, stone walls. No window. A faint smell of mold from the corner.

"This is temporary," Elizabeth said. Her voice was quiet, a little unsteady. "The upstairs rooms are full-Charlotte's guests are using the guest rooms-" She reached toward my head.

I stepped back.

Her hand stopped in the air. She held it there a moment, then let it fall."Betty will bring food down." She turned and went back up the stairs.

The door closed. Footsteps faded. Silence.

I stood in the middle of the room. Four walls, one bulb, a door with no lock-no lock needed. I sat on the edge of the bed. The springs screamed.

Gina curled into the smallest thing she could make herself.

I pulled off the soaked shoes. Drew my feet up. Wrapped the thin blanket around myself.