Chapter 11

• VENTRESS
• I must confess that everything that has happened in my life, from the moment I laid eyes on Ira up until this very instant, is a relentless storm of karma I believe I have deserved. Leaving her back there was not just a cruel and unjust act, but a piercing arrow through the heart of my conscience. The weight of my intentions, rooted in an insatiable need to protect her, has burdened me with an unbearable guilt.
• In my heart, I had simply calculated that she would find safety and solace within her own pack until I could unearth a solution to our predicament. The risk of having her near me when I was not in control of the savage beast within me, known as Stark, was too great to bear.