---- once protected, and perhaps-if the Moon ever allowed it-worthy of earning her forgiveness. So I trained. Every sunrise and every nightfall. I reminded myself: If the chance ever comes... I won't let it slip away. Jasmin's POV Six years had passed since the day I walked away from Yeats and Yelena. In that time, Lupus Celestial stabilized under the restructured packs. The alliance was thriving. I worked long hours every day, but I had found my rhythm again. My wolf, once weakened by silver and heartbreak, now burned with quiet strength. Ihad no regrets about severing ties with Yeats. And Yelena... I had not seen her since my bonding ceremony. Until today. Areport came in from the border post of the northern cliffs. A young she-wolf had collapsed there after ---- traveling alone through dangerous rogue territory. She refused food. She carried no identification. The only name she gave was mine. I walked through the corridors of a healing center quietly, my Beta behind me. The guards stood aside as Ientered the room. Yelena was sitting upright in the bed, her arms scraped, hair unevenly cut, wrapped in a worn shawl. She looked up when she heard the door open. She didn't cry. She didn't reach for me. She bowed her head. "Alpha Jasmin, thank you for seeing me." I didn't respond immediately. I watched her carefully, measuring the tone in her voice. The pride in her spine was still there-but it was no longer entitlement. It was discipline. "You crossed rogue territory alone?" I asked. "Yes. I've been training with the Riverwatch Pack for two years." ---- "That's an elite pack. They're not easy on new blood." "T didn't expect them to be easy," she said quietly. " They didn't know I was your daughter. I never told anyone. I earned my marks. I earned this rank." She reached into the side of her pocket and slid out a small token-the metal crest of Riverwatch, a symbol given only after a she-wolf passed three consecutive missions in hostile terrain. [held it in my hand. The edges were scratched, but it was real. "Why did you come back now?" I asked. "Because I'm not here as your daughter. I'm here to make something right." She stood and bowed deeply. "T was a foolish, selfish pup. I didn't understand what love meant. I only knew how to take it, not how to give it back." "T lied to you about food, about Lily, about how I felt. 1 was scared that if I told the truth, everything would