a's

ached with a phantom pain, a ghostly memory of the crushing force from the dream. I instinctively touch

ating the familiar posters on my bedroom wall. I was bac

d, Blair Hale, rushed in, her face a

utched in one hand. She must have heard me cry out. For five years, she'd been my

hat had coiled in my spine finally rel

g around me in a familiar, comforting hug. She gentl

of the dream. She pulled away and handed me the glass of water she always k

l this time," I sai

. "The same Alpha? Th

. he changed, Blair. He turned i

scale most of us could barely comprehend. I described the brutal slaughter, the blood,

ng my hair in a soothing rhythm. When I

ed calm. "It's just a dream. You've been away from the pack for t

has created this... this ultimate Alpha figure. He represents everything you're afraid of-being

from home and the instability of a wolf separated from her pack. It made sense. It

whispered, the detail s

reasoned gently. "Of course he k

ment. I fell silent,

d face, her own full of sympath

ulling the curtains wide. Bright morning

"but it can't heal what's wr

ore serious than I had ever seen it. Sh

have to go back.

igid. The air

mouth before I even thought

nds, her grip firm and resolute. "You hav