---- My life would never return to that suffocating abyss. Iwas no longer the cub she could manipulate. I could control my own life now. I didn't need to waste my life on someone who didn't love me. My mother's brow furrowed tightly. She stared at me with a repressed intensity. She seemed to be trying to see through me, to understand the source of this sudden rebellion. Finally, the roiling anger and disbelief in her eyes were replaced by something deeper, something I couldn't read. She said nothing more. She whirled around, her heels clicking sharply and coldly on the floor. However, just as she was about to disappear around the corner, her steps faltered for a fraction of a second. ---- Her body turned slightly, and her gaze shot to an inconspicuous corner. In that spot, Eric's figure was silently melting back into the shadows. Her eyes rested there for only an instant, so fast it was almost an illusion. Then she turned and strode away without looking back.