Audrey let out a quiet sigh, the sound heavy with helplessness. It felt as though she were standing between two wolves caught in the same storm—one too young to understand, the other bound by duties he never asked for.
She lowered her gaze to Bonnie and spoke gently, her voice softened like moonlight through mist.
"Bonnie… it's time to go home now."
The little girl's shoulders drooped. She stared at the floor, her fingers twisting into the fabric of Audrey's clothes.
"I don't want to," she muttered, her voice small and broken.
Audrey's heart ached.
Her thoughts drifted back to everything Bonnie had said earlier—to the frightened words about new mates, being sent away, and losing her place in her own pack. For a child, especially one born into the rigid hierarchies of a werewolf family, such rumors were devastating.
If Bonnie truly believed her father was about to take another mate and cast her aside, how could she not panic?
