Page 97 of The Pack

And just like that, the decision was made. We’d face the nightmare of the zone—not for ourselves, butfor her.

CHAPTER 21

Zara

The fire crackled softly, sending faint sparks into the cool night air. The pack had set up camp in a clearing just off the trail. I couldn’t see the nuclear zone in the darkness, but I knew it was there, the only thing left between me and my brother, and I couldn’t get it out of my head.

No one had said much since we stopped.

Magnus kept glancing at me with that same calm, assessing expression, his knowing gaze understanding too much. Callum, who always seemed to have a kind word or a story ready, had been quieter than usual, his easy smiles subdued. Even Killian, who rarely let anything dampen his mischief, had limited his jabs to a single half-hearted quip about the rabbits we’d eaten for dinner.

I knew what they were doing. They were trying to give me space.

But space wasn’t what I wanted—or needed. I wanted them to understand, to truly understand why this mattered so much to me.

It was my brother, the only family I had left.

When Callum sat beside me after dinner, his face concerned, I barely looked at him.

“You doing okay?” he asked gently, his voice low so the others wouldn’t overhear.

“I’m fine,” I said, my tone clipped.

“You don’t seem fine,” he pressed softly, but insistently.

I turned my gaze to the fire, the flames blurring as I blinked hard.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I snapped.

“Zara—”

“I said I’m fine,” I retorted, my voice sharper than I intended.

Callum’s shoulders sagged slightly, but he didn’t push.

“Okay,” he said after a long pause. “I’m here if you need me.”

“I’m going to sleep,” I said abruptly, pulling my cloak tighter around my shoulders.

Callum looked like he wanted to say something, but Magnus gave a subtle shake of his head, stopping him.

I didn’t wait for their goodnights or reassurances. I slipped away to the edge of the clearing, settling down beneath a thick tree. The night was colder here, the ground harder, but it didn’t matter.

I had a plan.

The pack didn’t understand. They couldn’t.

To them, the nuclear zone was a death trap, a place where survival was a gamble at best, but to me, it was the only path forward. My brother was on the other side, in Dublin. I knew it as surely as I knew my own name.

I couldn’t wait around while they argued about risks and strategy, and I couldn’t wait the whole week it would take to go all the way around it.

Our time together had come to an end.

The rough fabric of the cloak brushed against my cheek as I curled into myself. The firelight flickered faintly in the distance, the soft murmur of the pack’s voices just out of reach.

They meant well. I knew that. I knew they understood what loss meant, Thorne lost his son after all, but they didn’t understand what it was like to be given the smallest glimmer of hope—only to have it threatened by hesitation.

I’d leave before dawn.

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