Page 40 of The Pack

Things were about to get really interesting.

CHAPTER 9

Zara

The fire had burned low, its embers glowing faintly in the dark, but I didn’t feel the chill of the night. My thoughts were far from the camp, far from the woods, and far from the group of wolves that now surrounded me.

Instead, my mind was back in London.

Back home…

My memory was starting to come back now.

I sat by the fading fire, just thinking through it all and coming to terms with what it meant for me, and for my brother.

London had always felt like a city of rules. It wasn’t just the angular lines of the architecture—the towering spires and narrow streets—but the way the people moved through it. Like clockwork. Precise. Predictable. You knew where you stood, what was expected of you, and what happened if you stepped out of line.

Even as a kid, I understood that.

The Regency—the government—kept the city running like a machine, and people didn’t question it. Why would they? Life in London was orderly. Safe. Or so I’d thought.

My brother, Logan, never quite fit into that world. He was older than me by seven years, and from as far back as I could remember, he’d always been the one who challenged things. Where I’d dutifully followed the rules, Logan had pushed at them, testing their limits. He was the kind of person who couldn’t stop himself from askingwhyorwhat if.

I idolized him for that.

For most of my childhood, he was my protector, my champion, and my best friend. We didn’t have much, just a cramped flat in one of the outer districts and each other, but that was enough.

When Logan turned twenty-nine, everything changed.

We were walking in the woods just outside London. Logan said we needed space—fresh air, something to clear our heads. It wasn’t like him to need that kind of escape, but he’d been restless for weeks, pacing the flat like a caged animal. His appetite had vanished, and the dark circles under his eyes had made him look like a ghost of himself, so I didn’t argue.

The woods were quiet, the stillness unsettling. I stayed close behind him, watching the way his shoulders tensed with every step, the way his hands clenched and unclenched at his sides.

“Logan,” I said softly. “Talk to me. What’s going on?”

He didn’t answer at first, his knowing stare fixed on the path ahead. Then he stopped, turning to face me. His dark eyes met mine, wide with something that made my chest tighten. Fear.

“Zara,” he said, his voice shaking. “If something happens… I need you to promise me you’ll run. Don’t look back.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, my heart racing. “Logan, you’re scaring me.”

Before he could answer, his body tensed, and he turned away from me, only for him to take off his shirt.

“Logan…” I whispered, my voice breaking.

His muscles rippled, his spine arching unnaturally as his body began to change. Fur sprouted along his arms, spreading quickly as his face elongated, his jaw widening into something sharper, more animalistic.

It took mere seconds, but when it was over, I was staring at a wolf with fur as black as night. But when he turned to look at me, his eyes were the same. Dark, familiar, and full of fear.

“Logan?” I whispered, taking a tentative step forward.

“I’m sorry,”he said, his words echoing in my mind as if spoken from somewhere deep within.“I tried to stop it. I tried to fight it.”

I dropped to my knees beside him, my hands trembling. “You’re still you,” I said shakily. “You’re still my brother.”

His gaze held mine, wide and uncertain.

“What if I’m not?”

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