Chapter 27

Olivia Martins

Six Years Later

The sun was high and hot as I wiped the sweat from my forehead, breath fogging in the cool mountain air. Training had been intense that morning, and I liked it that way—I liked the ache in my muscles and the sting in my lungs. It reminded me that I’d survived worse. That I was no longer that girl running through the woods with tears in her eyes and nothing but pain in her chest.

Six years had passed since that night.

Six years since I left Winterfall behind.

The Crescent Moon Pack had been a lifeline when Victoria and I had nothing else. Despite me being an omega—and an outsider at that—Alpha Darius had taken one look at me and said, “If you’re willing to fight for us, we’ll fight for you.” And he’d kept his word. Over time, I’d grown from the quiet, broken girl hiding in the back of the barracks to a warrior who could hold her own in a fight.

Respected. Valued.

Finally.

I was tightening the