🔹️​THORNE
​The air grew stifled and the word ripped out of me in a snap. "No."
​The whole pack turned to me, eyes going wide at my outburst—Althea included. I could see the gears turning in her head as she stood up.
​"Why not?" she asked, that challenging tone returning.
​I wanted to turn back time so she'd never even heard the joke. I knew this would happen; my immediate denial had only stoked the flames of her defiance.
​"You escaped that place," I replied, looking away from her to face the next round of gammas. "You are not going back there."
​"I would argue that is all the more reason I should go," she returned. With every word, her certainty grew.
​It had taken only a joke—a single spark—to ignite this fire, but I would be damned if I didn't put it out.
​"I know the terrain and what we might encounter," she added.
​We…
