Emma returned to the pack house that night with an empty stomach. She lay on her narrow bed beneath the silent ceiling, her young wolf spirit restless and unsettled. Her thoughts roamed like a lone wolf through a dark forest, unable to understand the strange emotions rising inside her chest. She needed someone wise enough to recognize what she was feeling and give those feelings a name. Yet the adult wolves in her household cared little about the storms within her heart.
As her body continued changing with the passage of moons, Emma found herself overwhelmed by sudden shifts of emotion. She realized she was growing quickly, stepping closer to the age when difficult choices would begin to shape her path. Deep inside, she longed for the gentle guidance of a mother wolf. But she was painfully alone, surrounded by silence with no one she could truly speak to.
