The rules of Hildreth were simple. No killing. No stealing. No selling secrets to the Ashmane pack. Disagreements were handled by the council, and only the most serious matters were brought before the Alpha.
I stood in the crowd, and the words washed over me like a half-remembered dream. It felt unreal, as though the world had turned into a constant stream of blessings. Gift after gift was laid before us until it began to feel like some endless Christmas morning. And still, beneath the joy, I braced for something to go wrong.
Why couldn’t I simply enjoy this?
My mother seemed to sense my unease. As Fiona and her family walked up to receive their plot of land, she leaned close, her voice low and steady.
“It will take getting used to. When you’re not used to good things, they feel a littleoff.”
Her words stayed with me as another name was called.
“Brighton family.”
Relief surged through me so hard it made me dizzy. For one terrible moment, I had feared they would pass us over, that we would remain in the tents pitched in the fields. Even that would have been better than nothing, but the thought of being forgotten lingered like a shadow.
My mother stepped forward with calm dignity. The woman at the podium bent close and whispered something in my mother’s ear. I saw the way my mother’s eyes misted, the quick nod she gave, the way her lips trembled.
The woman handed my mother something, and my mother quickly placed it in her pocket.
When she returned, I leaned into her side, unable to contain my curiosity.
“What did she say?” I whispered.
My mother’s gaze softened. “She said we aren’t getting raw land. That an already built house has been readied for us.” Her voice cracked, and tears spilled freely down her cheeks.
A house? The word echoed in my mind. I glanced at the other families, wondering if any of them had been given such a gift. Perhaps there were a few vacant homes left behind, now offered to the largestfamilies.
When we were dismissed, my mother guided us down the road, following the hand-drawn map she held tightly in her hands. We passed the hardware store and turned left at the community park. Children ran wild there, some barefoot and laughing in human form, others in wolf form, all fur and paws, darting and tumbling with boundless energy. Their laughter and howls carried on the wind, causing us all to smile.
My mother slowed, checking the map again. Ahead of us loomed a thick cluster of trees. In their trunks, the path split, and one of the trees bore three carved numbers: 301. A narrow lane opened into the greenery.
“This is it, through here,” my mother said.
“Oh, I’m excited. Do you think it will have a fireplace?” Finn burst out, stick sword in hand, bouncing on his toes.
“What if it has more than two rooms?” Mira asked breathlessly.
“I hope it comes with a pet wolf,” Sable added with utter certainty.
My mother hushed them with a smile, and we stepped through the trees into a shaded lane. What stood beyond made me stop in my tracks.
The house loomed like something from a story. Mansion was the better word. A massive log cabin rose high, its wooden walls golden in the sunlight, as ifcarved straight from the forest around it. Two full stories stretched toward the sky, capped with a newly shingled roof. The sheer size of it left me breathless.
“There must be a mistake,” I murmured as my mother walked to the porch.
She drew out a brass key with trembling fingers, slid it into the lock, and turned it. The door opened with a soft click, and she gasped at the same time I did.
Then chaos erupted. My siblings surged past us like a breaking wave, shrieking with joy, storming into the house as though they had been waiting all their lives for this moment.
“There’s a full kitchen like the Elites have!” Mira’s voice rang from within.
“One, no two, fireplaces!” Finn shouted.
“I count six bedrooms!” Tyrus cried, his words muffled as he ran down a hallway.
“Oh boy! A bathtub!” another voice squealed.
I stood frozen in the entryway, staring. The interior glowed with soft cream furnishings touched with accents of red. On the polished wood table near the door sat a folded note with my name on it.
