Chapter 58

• As soon as we got close enough to the border, I could see the grim truth laid out before us like a nightmare I’d been forced to relive. The warriors that we had stationed on patrol were already dead, their bodies scattered along the forest line, blood soaking into the earth that we’d sworn to protect. The metallic tang of it hung heavy in the air, mixing with the feral growls of the rogues who were now charging over the border like a swarm of rabid beasts. They were moving with one purpose, driven by the sick hope that they could take this pack as their own, that they could shred apart everything Ethan and I had worked so hard to defend.
• But what surprised me more than anything, what made my blood run cold despite the adrenaline pumping through my veins, was that my father was there with them. He didn’t just send his pack of rogues on this mission. No, he was standing among them, eyes glinting with something dark and calculating. He was there to fight, to watch the destruction with his own eyes, and that told me more than words ever could. Something wasn’t right. Something was off, terribly off.
• Through the haze of snarls and movement, I could see him watching us, his gaze flicking from Ethan to me and back again. And the look of sheer confusion on his face was priceless. It almost would have been funny if we weren’t standing on the edge of a massacre. He didn’t know who I was, not like this. He was scanning the chaos, searching for the massive white wolf I once was, but he wouldn’t find her. I wasn’t her anymore. I was more, or maybe just something else entirely.