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As the evening began to wear on. Stephanie sat beside Damien, her eyes fixed on the water, but her thoughts were far away, drifting back to the darkest chapters of her life. The silence between them was comforting.

Without turning to look at him, she began to speak, her voice low and filled with emotion. “So much happened after I left.”

Damien remained silent, sensing that this was a moment he needed to let unfold at its own pace. He turned slightly toward her, his full attention on her words, his heart already aching for the pain he could hear in her voice.

“When I was forced into the omega pack,” Stephanie started, her voice steady and surprisingly there was no bitterness, “I was treated like nothing, less than nothing. They made me do the most laborious, degrading tasks—things that no human or werewolf should ever have to endure. I was a slave, not just in body, but in spirit.”

Damien’s heart clenched at her words. He had known she suffered, but hearing it like this, so raw and re