Astrid's POV
The dream was a soft, gentle thing, a whisper of a memory long buried. I was back in my old pack's territory, the scent of pine and crisp mountain air a familiar, comforting presence. And he was there. Simeon. His face, so long a faded image in my mind, was now vivid and alive. He was standing in a field of wildflowers, his eyes, a kind, warm brown, fixed on me.
He held out his hand, a silent, beautiful invitation. He was my betrothed, my first love, the one I was supposed to marry. The one I was supposed to have a family with. The one who had vanished without a trace, his death a mystery I had long ago given up on solving.
I reached for him, a quiet, desperate need in my heart. But just as my fingers brushed his, the air grew cold. The scent of sweet perfume, a scent I h
