Chapter 80 Alpha Thorne

• The journey back to the Crimson Moon pack felt longer than it should have.
• The city was gone behind us, reduced to ash, rubble, and memory but it lingered in my bones like a sickness I couldn’t shake. Every mile put between us and Darrow’s ruined empire should have made it easier to breathe. Instead, the weight of what I had done pressed heavier with each step closer to home.
• I rode in silence most of the way, Kael beside me, his shoulder brushing mine every so often like he was checking that I was still real. Alpha Thorne led us, back straight, eyes forward, every inch the leader he had been forced to abandon. My mother stayed close to him, her hand often finding his, grounding him the same way Kael grounded me. Kevin walked behind us, alone, his face set in something grim and hollow, like a man who knew mercy had already been spent on him.