Maria.
The morning felt heavier than usual, the sunlight creeping through my window seemingly more insistent, more glaring. The third day of the competition had arrived, and with it, the uneasy weight of expectation and dread.
I sat on the edge of my bed for a moment, staring blankly at the floorboards, my mind spinning with thoughts I didn't want to entertain. Each day that passed brought me closer to the outcome I feared yet secretly longed to see.
I had no patience for the stifling walls of this pack house anymore. Each corridor felt like a cage, each glance from the rogues or Alphas a reminder that I was caught in a game I never asked to play.
All I wanted was a place where I could breathe freely, where my decisions were my own, and where I could stop feeling like a prize on display.
