I had been back almost a month now, and the pack was still figuring out what to do with me. The older members mostly settled into cautious respect. They nodded when I passed, gave short updates, and moved on. The younger ones were a different story entirely.
It started at the clinic.
Elise had tried to leave again that morning. Twenty minutes later the pressure hit me like a truck—tight chest, burning behind my ribs, and the familiar heat crawling up my spine. I'd walked myself to the clinic before it got bad. Just another heat flare; nothing new.
I was sitting on the exam table, shirt off, waiting for the medic to check my vitals, when the door banged open.
Three of them tumbled in.
Mike came first, limping, a fresh bruise already blooming across his ribs. "Again?" the medic sighed. Mike just grinned sheepishly. "Training accident."
