Chapter 17: Wounds That Cannot Heal
(Celeste's POV)
The tension in the air was suffocating, thick as the oppressive silence that followed Alpha James's cutting remark.
"You’re free to leave, Celeste. You have no right to pack protection anymore."
The finality in his voice struck like a hammer. My chest tightened, but I kept my head high.
I couldn’t leave.
Not when Grandma Eleanor was still here, confined to the pack house, her health dwindling by the day. Not when the outside world loomed as a hostile emptiness, with no allies, no safety.
No home.
I wasn’t weak enough to beg, but neither was I foolish enough to test my father’s patience further. When I lifted my spoon and took the smallest bite of moon-blessed meat, Lucas’s sneer cut through the silence.
“Ah, I see. When
