= Amara =
The days that followed slipped through my fingers faster than I was ready for. One moment, there were still seven nights between me and the ceremony, the world stretching ahead with enough space to breathe. The next, the countdown felt suffocating, pressing in from all sides, measured not in days but in every meticulous preparation, in every lingering glance from Mikael, in every whisper that seemed to follow me like a shadow I couldn’t shake.
The entire pack moved as one, a single organism fueled by the same purpose: the bonding ceremony. From the first blush of dawn until long after dusk, Veyrath pulsed with quiet urgency. There was no chaos, no disorder—only methodical action, deliberate and precise. Warriors hauled bundles of wood to the ceremonial clearing, stacking them
