"You need to actually run away from there!" Jessica said.
"And go where?" Kira countered, leaning her head against the headboard. "Do you honestly think he wouldn't find me? And what about the packs? If I vanish, he'll take it out on them. It would only make things a thousand times worse."
They were on FaceTime. Derek had been gone as usual by the time Kira woke up that Saturday morning. She had stared at the cold, empty side of the bed for a moment and genuinely wondered if the man had ever heard of a weekend.
The rest of the morning had passed the way most of her mornings in Dravengard passed since they returned from Snow Crest—slowly, and with far too much quiet. By early afternoon, with the sun sitting warm and lazy over the estate grounds, boredom had settled in properly.
