Chapter 43

Netya tried her best to turn a blind eye to the proceedings, but Fern and Erech reminded her that fights would only become more common as the winter dragged on and the pack’s stifled aggressions sought an outlet. Try as she might, she could not muster the same enthusiasm for the violent sport as the rest of the Moon People. It was a reminder of how, in many ways, she was still very different from them.

It was with these thoughts that she found herself lying in Khelt’s furs one evening, glad for the respite from the hubbub of the caves and the space to think it brought her. She gazed into the fire as the alpha lay on his arm behind her, toying with her hair between his fingers.

“Has this really become my home?” she said, shivering as a cold draft found its way in from outside. “My own people seem so distant now. Sometimes I go days without even thinking about them.”

“Where does your heart belong?” Khelt murmured.

“I do not know. It is somewhere out there on th