Chapter 70

• Celeste’s POV
• A low, gnawing tension had been crawling along my spine ever since I stepped out of the Frost Family hall, and now it deepened into something heavier. I could feel it in my gut—the weight of years of silent oversight, of eyes always judging, always measuring. But then there was Liam. He had spent decades serving the Frost Family with quiet diligence, never once overstepping his bounds. Yet today, the wolf in him had stirred, and he was determined to protect me—the girl he had watched grow up—no matter the cost.
• I understood instantly. The wave of emotion hit me like a strike to the chest: all my grievances, all the silenced indignities of the past months, surged to the surface. My eyes burned red as the swell of restrained anger and hurt tried to escape. I wanted to speak, to let the words tumble out in a rush of pent-up frustration, but I held them back. My voice was not for them; it belonged to my own pack now, to my own freedom.