VALERIA

Hearing that heart-wrenching scream from my little pup, I felt the world collapse around me.

I ran at a dizzying speed despite the aches in my body.

Lately, I haven’t been feeling well—I think it’s the stress and the looming disasters ahead.

Dodging trees, with my lycan always at my heels, I find Sigrid sobbing, sitting beside the well.

"Sigrid, calm down, my love, calm down!" I immediately lunged toward her, pulling her into my chest, kneeling on the damp grass.

She was trembling uncontrollably, her skin ice cold. She buried herself against me, clinging to me in despair.

Goddess, what has happened to my daughter in the single hour I’ve been away from her?

"Mama, mama…" She only calls for me and cries in a way that shatters my heart.

All I can do is stroke her hair and try to reassure her.

"Aldric…" I sense him approaching.

He wraps both of us in his arms, sitting on the ground and holding us close with his powerful, protective embrace.

His rough hand gently strokes Sigrid’s s