The pack held funerals at dawn which felt wrong because dawn was supposed to mean new beginnings and there was nothing new about watching six pyres burn while families sobbed and I stood there useless.
I'd tried to skip it. Told Kael I didn't belong there, didn't deserve to mourn people I'd failed to save.
He'd looked at me like I'd lost my mind and informed me in his Alpha King voice that I was attending whether I wanted to or not because the pack needed to see their Hybrid Queen grieving with them.
So here I was. Grieving. Publicly. While my chest tried to cave in.
The families stood closest to the pyres—parents and siblings and mates who'd never get to say goodbye properly—and I watched their faces twist with grief I'd caused and wanted to disappear.
"Stop blaming yourself." Riven's voice came quiet through the bond. "I can feel it from here."
