The forest was quiet in a way that made Vale Ashryn uneasy. Not because danger lurked, but because silence demanded honesty.
She walked the familiar path along the river, mind spinning with the lessons of the last few days. Trust, patience, strength… the words had begun to untangle themselves in her chest, forming shapes she wasn't sure she was ready to name.
Theron appeared without a sound, as always. She didn't startle; she had come to expect him, yet each time the stillness of his presence pulled at her attention.
"You're thinking," he said.
Vale didn't respond immediately. She considered the pack, the young wolves she'd led, the calm authority Theron carried without ever claiming her. "I am," she admitted finally. "And I don't know if I want to decide yet."
He nodded slowly. "You don't have to. Not yet. But know this—the longer you wait, the more the choice waits for you too."
Her chest tightened. That quiet pull she had felt since the day she entered this pack—it wasn't going away. And she realized with a jolt that it wasn't just about her place in the pack anymore.
It was about him.
Vale looked at Theron, searching for some hint that he might demand her choice, but his gaze was steady, patient, unmoving. He wasn't pushing. He wasn't claiming. He was… waiting.
And that terrified her.
Because waiting meant that for the first time, someone had given her the space to want without fear. The freedom to choose without being forced.
"I…" she began, then stopped. Words felt heavy, dangerous, vulnerable.
Theron didn't rush her. He only said, softly, "Whatever you decide, it will be yours. Not mine. Not the pack's. Yours."
The truth of that hit her harder than any rejection she had ever endured.
Vale took a deep breath. "I want to try," she said finally.
Theron's lips curved into a small, almost imperceptible smile. No praise. No claim. Just acknowledgement.
That was enough.
For the first time in a long while, Vale Ashryn felt the fragile stirrings of hope, tempered with fear—but undeniably hers.
The forest seemed lighter as they walked back toward the camp, the shadows of her past still lingering but no longer weighing her down entirely.
She had made a choice.
And she would live with it.