HELENA POV
We walked into the packhouse hand in hand.
At least, that was how it must have looked from the outside.
What it felt like, instead, was walking in tethered together, as if an invisible thread had been wrapped tightly around my chest and tied us all into the same fragile knot. Sebastian held my hand with the kind of intensity only children are capable of, his fingers warm and slightly damp, like he was afraid that if he let go for even a second, I might disappear again. On my other side, Stephan clung to Silas’s hand with stubborn determination, his small grip firm and unyielding, as if the entire world depended on that contact alone.
I walked between them. Hand in hand with my mate.
Between our sons.
Between my past and my present.
Between the woman I had been and the wo
