The moment I opened my eyes, I knew something was different. The air wasn't heavy with the Alpha's presence. The room wasn't charged with the suffocating weight of his gaze. Instead, there was softness in the space around me an almost fragile warmth I hadn't felt in what seemed like forever.
"Ellie?"
The voice was gentle, so startlingly familiar that I thought I was hallucinating. My breath caught in my throat, and my chest tightened. I turned my head, expecting the same nightmare cycle to continue, but what I saw instead sent a wave of shock crashing through me. Two figures leaned close, faces I thought I'd never see again.
"Joan…" The name slipped from me like a broken prayer.
Her eyes widened, and in an instant they filled with tears. She grasped my hand between hers, squeezing so hard I could feel the tremor of her desperation. "It's really you," she whispered, her voice cracking. "Ellie, you're alive you're really alive."
