They did not wait until morning to decide my fate. By the time Kael brought me back, the entire pack had already gathered again. This time, not to celebrate but to judge. The elders stood at the front, their expressions hard, their decision already made before I even arrived. She is unstable, one of them said. She is dangerous, another added. I stood in the center again, but this time I did not feel small. I felt something else. “I did nothing wrong,” I said, my voice steady despite the tension in the air. You exist as a risk, the elder replied. Kael remained silent beside them. That hurt more than the words. “You are banished,” the leader said. The word echoed through the clearing in a way that made everything else fade, and for a brief moment, it felt like the ground beneath me had disappeared. I stood there, surrounded by people I had grown up with, people who had watched me train, speak, and try to belong, and yet none of them stepped forward to question the decision. Not one
Last Updated : 2026-03-09 Read more