REGRET

After Mrs. Lauren's burial, the atmosphere in the pack house was suffocating with sorrow. The pack was in mourning, and each day seemed to stretch on in endless silence. The weight of grief pressed on everyone, but for Amelia, it felt like a noose tightening around her neck.

She had stood at the back during the ceremony, watching from a distance as Damien knelt by his mother’s grave. His shoulders trembled, though he tried to hold himself together for the sake of the pack. Elena stood beside him, her face streaked with tears, trying to console him in the only way she knew how. The sight of Damien broken and in pain gnawed at Amelia’s insides.

She hadn’t expected the funeral to be so hard, hadn’t expected the guilt to be so relentless. As the mourners dispersed and the pack began to shuffle back to their daily routines, Amelia found herself paralyzed. She couldn’t stay here. Every corner of the pack house seemed to remind her of Mrs. Lauren's death. The whispers and condolences only de