~Annalyn POV~
The journal was old enough that the pages felt fragile, like they would tear if I moved too fast.
Ezra set it on the table between us, and Calix pulled his chair closer from the other side. The three of us sat in the study with the door locked and the window latched, and nobody spoke for a moment.
"Start from the beginning," I said.
Ezra turned to the first marked page. "Your mother's name appears on the third entry. Kate. She was a hunter, trained from fourteen, stationed near the northern territory to monitor pack movement." He looked up at me. "That part you knew."
"I only knew pieces," I said. "Keep going."
"What you did not know," Ezra continued, "is that she was not stationed there to observe. She was sent to get close to the Alpha of the northern line. A man named Leo."
The room went quiet in a specific way.
"Leo?" Calix said slowly, "as in the man currently in our dungeon?"
"Yes," Ezra said.
