Meadow

t-like the air after a lightning strike, mixed with old leather, and the sharp, clean scent of pine in the dead of winter. It was an Alpha's sc

but this other scent was a tidal wave, drowning out everything else. I foolishly assumed it was just the scent

nning the identical doors. They were all closed

r that was different. It was a set of massive double doors, m

they share.* It made sense that the most important

The door was slightly ajar, a thin bla

as supposed to be a surprise, after all. Wh

ear to the cr

ung inward without a sound. I slipped inside, pulling it clos

e became clear. It was a library, or an office. Bookshelves stretched from floor to ceiling on one wall, filled with leather-bound volumes. A d

sical presence in here, so thick I

my voice was swallowed

sity take over. I wandered deeper into the room, my fingers trailing over the cool, polished wood of the desk. Everything was meti

le-axes were mounted on the wall. But it was what sat on the mantel itself that captu

important it was given this place of honor. I stepped closer, my

h a gentle, loving smile. I recognized them from the official pack portraits in

a strange sense of connection, a feeling of peeking into a secret, sacred part of the

gainst my skin. It felt imbued with history, with love and with loss. I used the pad of my thumb to gently wip

f the past, that I didn't notice the shadows in the corner of the r

perceptible click as the door I'd

lent footfalls on th

oft smile on my face. "They look so

ing ice, spoke directly behind me,

ou doing in