Chapter 112

The sun dipped below the horizon. Its reflected prisms shone like a warm, golden glow over the somber gathering. It was the day of my mom's burial, and the forest clearing where we held the ceremony felt heavy with grief. My family, friends, and pack members stood together, paying their last respects to my mother, who had been a pillar of strength and love for all of us.

It hadn't really processed within me yet. I was grief-stricken and completely empty. This feeling was worse than the worst pain I had ever felt my entire life and I just wanted it all to be over.

As the ceremony continued, my mind drifted back to the conversation Tyler and I had earlier. He had told me about his father, Rex, who had passed away some weeks before I came back. I couldn't believe I had been so consumed by my own life that I hadn't even known about his father's death.

Guilt gnawed at me, and I felt regretful for not being there for Tyler in his hard times. I had been so preoccupied wit