After a long silence, I reformed into a physical body, but only that of a two-year-old pup, barely able to hold a half-shift.

My heart was full of hatred. I knew I was no match for Fenris, yet I still set out on the road to the Sovereign Grounds to take my revenge.

But my bones had barely knit and my Abyssal essence had yet to coalesce. I couldn't even defeat a rogue wolf at the edge of pack territory.

Just as a feral beast was about to swallow me whole, a pair of large hands scooped me into a warm embrace.

The old wolf whose eyes already creased with wrinkles looked down at me, heartache plain on his face. His scent washed over me: mountain sage and old pine and the clean cold of high-altitude air after rain. It smelled like safety itself. "How's a little thing like you out here all alone with nobody looking after you?"

"Don't be scared, sweetheart. This old wolf will keep you safe."

I assumed his kindness was a passing impulse. I never imagined he would go on protecting me for years.

The year I pieced Soulreaper back together, I was nine.

I planned to make one last trip to the Sovereign Grounds and drag Fenris down with me, even if it killed us both.

But the night before I meant to leave, my master brought me a beggar's chicken. It wasn't particularly good.

He had no idea I was planning to go. He just scratched the back of his head, embarrassed, and said, "Lynara, you haven't been eating well lately. You're getting too thin. I went all the way down the mountain to learn this recipe from a famous cook in the valley."

"Go on, try it. If it's no good, I'll go back and learn again."

"And if you like it, I'll make it for you every single day."

I blinked, caught off guard. Suspicion crept in before I could stop it. "Why are you so good to me?"

My master stroked his beard and smiled. "Because I think of you as my own daughter."

"If my little girl starved, what kind of father would I be? I'd be heartbroken."

"I'm already old. I don't want to spend whatever years I have left crying my eyes out."

In that moment, looking at the white hairs that had grown in from worrying over me, I felt the walls around my heart crack for the first time in years. Somewhere deep inside, my wolf, which had been silent and feral since the day I was reborn, lowered its head and let out a sound that was almost a whimper.

So there was someone in this world who loved me after all.