en'

ehind the tree, and eve

es. There was just her, standing in the pale morning light l

Not tense. Not restless. Just-quiet.

y, pointing his muzzle

busy looking at her properl

y she'd always made herself in the packhouse. She was present. Grounded. And furious

ng the light in a way I noticed more than I should have. Her silver eyes-striking grey in the mo

bserved. "At all of you

d anything less. This wasn't going

eard. It made everything harder to ignore. Her. The guilt. The version of this I c

ep

The way she absorbed everything we threw at her without flinching outwardly, even when I could see the impact land in her eyes. The way she looked every Christmas-that particular sadness she carried that had n

t. Ever

said n

r to not be the brother who stood beside the girl no one wanted, and it was ea

and pushed her aside. The way she held herself-never complet

something," Blaze said

o live with the consequences. Even defendin

u and it might ha

ng Ryker or Kael had done-because they'd acted out of cruelty and ignor

harder to

across all three of us in a way that felt like a reckoning. She wasn't running. She wasn't retreati

ould feel Fenrir pressing just beneath the surface, dominant and certain,

it in the set of Ryker's jaw, the tension across his shoulder

Ryker muttered

s. She'd heard plenty of our words over the years, and

her ground," Bl

'd known would have run the moment she saw us coming. She would have made herself small and disappeared be

to count f

ank without asking permission. I kept everything in my posture careful. Non-th

snapped to m

top

light tension in her shoulders, the way her fingers curled at her side

olt," Kael said o

t," Ryke

just past the tree line behind her. If she decided to

d it anyway. That's not something I can justify," I paused, letting that sit. "We know

etween us the mome

than I expected. Grief. Anger. Something lonelier than either of tho

oo. Beside him, Kael's expression stayed controlled,

look away

ing the bond," Bl

ot accepting it either. Sh

warned. "The boundary

I said.

I didn't see her as the silent girl in t

her cl

Unyieldi

e wasn't who

r anyway," Blaz

ightened a

said quiet

from behind that tree, and the bond had locked into place like something that had been waiting

e accepted

y at the cente

*