Chapter 92. Silence

The silence was oppressive, like a dense layer of velvet wrapped around everything. It had been exactly one month since Ryder left. One month since I woke up safe on my sofa with his note—When I’m enough, I’ll come back for you —ball in my hand.

A month of trying to repair a body and a heart that didn’t feel all that different. My mom had been a rock, cancelling my medical leave, telling me to rest, turning our living room into a bunkhouse against the elements. But not even her love could block out the sarcastic voice of Helena, Ryder’s aunt.

She surfaced so often, a grim, self-appointed messenger of blame — who somehow always managed to find my mom.

“He’s training in the next pack now, you know,” Helena said on one of her unexpected visits, her voice sharp as glass but I knew it was a lie, she was hiding something.

“Working with a trainer I had to pay a fortune to get. All because he lost his focus. Just because you got too stirred up for my liking. “