The Weight of the Past

He turned away, his eyes darting back to Savannah. “Did she know you before she left me?” Theo asked, voice raw with suspicion and pain.

Brady’s eyes flickered with a hint of sadness before he answered. “Yes, she knew us as her father’s friends. But you weren’t there when she needed us the most, Carter. Annie—Savannah—was a broken child before Beta Lennox brought her to your pack. Not just because of her sickness, but emotionally, too.” Brady’s voice softened, almost reverential. “She witnessed how her father was killed right in front of her. The trauma, the nightmares... She’s carried it all with her, every single day since that horrible day.”

Theo’s breath caught in his throat as the full weight of Brady’s words hit him. He remembered the faint traces of the nightmares Savannah had expe……