“It’s better for you now,” she whispered, lifting her face, her eyes shiny as the ghosts of her past spilled out in a few stray tears. “You’re a strong alpha, and you’re respected. You didn’t have to beg… fucking beg for years to get another pack to take you in. One of the other teachers told me that it was only thanks to Alpha Torin’s soft spot for rejected females that my transfer was approved. Otherwise, I’d have been stuck with my old pack forever.”

I snorted. “That bastard only has a soft spot because he’s trying to make amends for what he did to me, but whatever the reason, I’m happy you were able to escape your pack.”

She shrugged. “Yep, but as I said, I’m still a mess over it, so I’m trying to—” She paused, searching for the words. “Change my fate, I guess. And in doing that, I need to stop hiding and living a half-life. In doing that, I have to take risks. It was what drove me to track you down in the first place.”

Nudging her side, I let out a long, calming breath. “I understand you on a level that’s somewhat scary, but on the other hand, I love that we’re doing this together. I’m scared too, but we’ve got this. Women can do anything, especially when we stick together. I truly believe that.”

She linked her arm through mine, seemingly bolstered by my words. “I believe that too,” she said, her voice growing in confidence. “Let’s do this. Together, we can figure out why you’re here, what the hell happened to this place, and what sort of smoke demon pet we just inherited.”

I was struck by the truth that real friends, as rare as they were, could be recognized in how they encouraged us—either via words or actions—to be the best versions, the strongest versions of ourselves. And when we couldn’t be strong, they were there to pick us up and hold us together.

Like right now, our confidence together was what pushed us to take our first steps into the new unknown we were facing.

Sam shook her head as we observed the carnage around us. “It was a library, right?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it was,” I said, staring from the carved ceilings soaring above, down to the multiple windows that lined the walls. They were cracked and broken now, as was everything else in this place, having been reduced to mere rubble.

Only pieces of white shelving remained, piled haphazardly across the shiny floor. The books that had once adorned those shelves had fared no better, now just scattered pages and torn covers.

“Are you a book lover?” Sam asked, sounding choked up.