Chapter 21. The Leaving

The fever had broken, but the weariness lingered.

Mira awoke as if surfacing from deep water, lungs tight, vision blurred. Her lashes fluttered against the soft light filtering through the bedroom window. The world was quieter than it should’ve been, as though something had shifted in the night and hadn’t quite righted itself.

Her throat burned with dryness, her head throbbed faintly, but her body—though weak—was no longer wracked with fire. Her skin no longer felt like it would split open. Instead, there was warmth wrapped around her, a soft blanket tucked close and the scent of herbs and firewood hanging in the air.

She sat up slowly, one cautious movement at a time, the blanket slipping from her shoulders like mist rolling off stone. Her feet touched the floor—cool, grounding. She took a breath. Then another.

Voices murmured from beyond the bedroom door. Low. Serious. Unmistakably deliberate.

…wolf… dormant… dangerous… not safe among humans…