Chapter 40

I woke to the sound of laughter.

It was loud, messy and layered with the thudding footsteps of half a dozen little ones running over the dirt yard outside my window.

Eren’s was the loudest. Four years old now, taller and far more stubborn, with a head of wild curls that refused to obey combs or logic, he’d become the unofficial ringleader of the pack’s younger children. I could hear his voice, high and delighted, barking out orders for some imaginary battle that involved sticks and an alarming amount of mud.

I sat up, rubbing sleep from my eyes, and for a moment I just… listened. Four years ago, the pack had been smaller, quieter, a place where every home was next to the other. Now, the air was filled with the clatter of life: pots clanging in the kitchen, bubbly voices trading gossip over the courtyard, the occasional bark from the dogs we’d trained to keep watch at night.

I never wanted to leave this place.

The mark on my hand, still hidden under Lera’s cloaking, tingled faintly, li