LOGINIrene's POV
The healer brought them to me that afternoon.
![]()
Irene's POVThe silence was suffocating.I watched Karson's hands. The way his knuckles went white around the crumpled papers. The way the veins bulged along his forearms, pulsing with barely contained fury.His face had gone ashen. Not pale from blood loss or exhaustion. Pale from rage so intense it had drained the color from his skin entirely.The atmosphere in the tent pressed down on us. Heavy. Suffocating. Like the air before a thunderstorm, crackling with energy that had nowhere to go.I didn't speak.Didn't try to comfort him. Didn't try to explain.Some truths needed time to settle. Some betrayals were so profound that words became meaningless. All I could do was wait.So I waited.Minutes passed.Maybe longer.I couldn't tell anymore.Karson's breathing was ragged. Uneven. His chest rose and fell in sharp, jerky movements. His jaw was clenched so tight I could hear his teeth grinding.He was fighting something. Some internal battle that played out across his features in waves
Irene's POVThe tent flap rustled.I didn't need to open my eyes to know who it was. The bond told me. That familiar warmth spreading through my chest. That awareness of his presence that I had never been able to shake, no matter how hard I tried.Karson.He didn't speak.I heard him settle into the chair beside my cot. Heard the creak of wood as he leaned forward. Heard his breathing, slow and measured, like he was trying to control something that threatened to break free.I kept my eyes closed.Part of me wasn't ready to face him. Wasn't ready for whatever conversation was coming. The poison still dragged at my blood, making everything feel heavy and distant.But I couldn't pretend to sleep forever.I opened my eyes.He looked terrible.His face was pale beneath the grime and dried blood. Dark circles shadowed his eyes. The bandage on his shoulder had been changed, but red was already seeping through again.He should have been resting. Should have been letting the healers treat his
Irene's POVThe healer brought them to me that afternoon.I heard them before I saw them. Small footsteps running across the camp. Voices calling for me. The sound of my children, alive and whole and desperate to reach their mother.The tent flap burst open.
Irene's POVConsciousness returned slowly.Like swimming up through dark water. Each stroke bringing me closer to the surface. Closer to the light filtering through my closed eyelids.My head throbbed. My mouth tasted like cotton and something bitter. My limbs felt like they were filled with sand.
Irene's POVI was three feet from Lexie when they arrived.Karson burst through the safe zone entrance like a force of nature. His gray wolf was massive. Terrifying. His eyes blazed with golden fury as he took in the scene—the fallen elders, the Shadow Pack wolves, our children cowering against the wall.Lucas was right behind him.
Irene's POVThe scream came from the safe zone.High-pitched. Terrified. The sound of children in danger.My children.I was running before my brain fully processed what I was hearing. Shifting mid-stride. My wolf's legs eating up th







