Chapter 220

• Elvira
• The night air carried a delicate hush, broken only by the soft rustle of leaves in the cool breeze. Moonlight spilled over the rolling countryside, brushing the treetops with silver and illuminating the small gathering outside the courtyard. A low fire flickered in the stone hearth, sending shadows dancing across the grass, and the scent of freshly baked bread and roasted herbs mingled with the earthy perfume of the forest.
• Elyra sat on the wooden swing I’d pushed gently earlier, her rounded belly swaddled in a soft, cream-colored shawl. Kale crouched nearby, his fingers tracing absent patterns over the edge of the fire pit as he murmured stories about the pack’s history. His deep voice carried a calm certainty, a reminder that despite all the chaos of the past months, life had a rhythm worth savoring. Tonight, though, the conversation circled around joy rather than tension, laughter threading the air as Elyra tried to guess the gender of the little life moving within her.