Chapter9
Fenrir shook his head.
“He’s gone now, isn’t he?”
She stroked his hair, answering softly, “Yes. He’s gone.”
“Mom, the snow is melting. Does that mean spring is coming?” Fenrir looked up at her.
Her gaze drifted to the first dots of green sprouting in the valley, and she nodded. “It’s close.”
He murmured, “From now on, I’ll protect you. Okay?”
Selena lifted him higher with a smile. “You already have.”
In that moment, the wind stilled. The snow stopped falling.
Dawn broke.
For them, it was finally a new beginning.
Snow had been falling over the territory without end.
I stood atop the highest tower, wrapped in a pure white cloak, looking down over the entire border training grounds.
Three months ago, the rulers of Ironfang Pack had named me heir. The Elder Council had opposed it at first, but public will surged like a tide, the refugees who had fled here after losing their families in Moonfang Pack were the ones I had taken in.
They remembered who had fought through blood to protect them, who had lit the first lantern for them in the dark.
They called me their Alpha.
I did not refuse.
I no longer needed anyone to grant me an identity. Standing in the snow, my bloodline alone was proof enough.
That day, I walked Fenrir through the palace corridors and took the ice–blue scepter. When the king placed the signet ring in my hand, he said only one thing:
“The future of the Northern Territory should bear a woman’s footsteps as well.”
1 smiled. This time, I was wholly myself again.
At night, Fenrir slept soundly in my arms. I tucked his cloak around him, pulled on my own, and stepped out alone.
The snow lay silent, the only sound a faint whisper of wind. I followed the stone steps, through the forest path, until reached a black
stone monument.
It bore no name.
I had ordered it bull, not to bury bones, but to bury a soul. The soul of the Selena edo bad once knelt for love, endured humiliation for a pack, and sacrificed everything for a family.
From the stone gallery of the wall town. I watched the pups wowing across the training grounais.
Fenrir raced with the other young Alpha warrives, their laughter scattering across the s
This was the newly built Academy of Forexchy, to bloodline prejudice. A wolf willing to belong could train and tid shelter here
Fenrir had made friends here. He was learning to balance his wolf and Metager had to hide us existence, mor pretend to live up to his father’s expstations
He belonged here. He belonged to himself.
I had given him my last name.
He was now Fenrir Whitmore.
He loved the name.
In the afternoons, I would take him into the valley to gather herbs. At night, we would cook soup in the stone house and sit by the fire, watching the stars.
He often said, “Mom, the stars here are brighter than they used to be.”
I would smile and answer, “That’s because our eyes see them more clearly now.”
Sometimes, I still received reports from the patrols.
They said that on the far western border, a lone wolf was sometimes seen wandering. Gaunt, pitiful, belonging to no one and joining no pack.
His fur was matted with old blood, his eyes filled with the scent of death.
I knew who it was, but I never answered.
That was a nightmare from the past, torn out by the roots.
Now, I had the snowfields, the starlight, and my pup.
And I finally understood, freedom was not about running away.
It was about having the right to never look back.
