Chapter 93

Valerie’s POV

6 Days to The Ancient Rites.

The scent of ginger and garlic filled the air as I stirred the pot slowly, trying to focus on the bubbling stew and not the storm rising in my chest.

“You’re putting too much salt again, aren’t you?” mom teased from behind me, nudging my hip gently with hers as she passed.

I rolled my eyes. “I haven’t added any yet.” She chuckled and kept slicing vegetables like she had no care in the world, as though the entire pack wasn’t worried about Sienna. As though the fate of a girl we once called an outsider wasn’t about to be tied to the ancient rites, an ordeal even great and mighty warriors feared. I hated how much space that thought took in my mind.

I have convinced myself I didn’t care. That she wasn’t my business. But deep down, a knot of unea