I tapped my foot on the floor while waiting for the other two to finish. When Tyra started clearing the table, I was about to offer to help and thank them for the food to leave, but Gunnar grabbed me by the arm and glared at me.

“I know you plan to leave, but you stay.”

I slumped back in my chair. He let go of me and frowned. Tyra got up and sat down next to Gunnar and across from me, a soft smile on her face. My pulse picked up. I didn’t know what they had planned, but I had a bad feeling about this.

“Calm down. We won’t hurt you,” Gunnar mumbled.

I crossed my arms. “Easy for you to say.”

When they said nothing for what felt like forever, I sighed. “What do you want from me?”

“We want to get to know you,” Tyra said.

I didn’t understand why they were so interested in me. Why couldn’t they move on and forget we ever met?

“What is there to know? I’m just an employee here.”

“I think we established there is more to you than that,” Gunnar said.

I glared at him. He probably already told his alpha female all the fancy news about me. “And I think we also established, that all of this is none of your business.”

He raised a brow. “For as long as you are walking in my territory, it is my business.”

I threw my hands in the air. “I’m not a wolf! How often do I have to repeat myself?”

Gunnar looked at me, unmoved by my outburst. “You are.”

I was about to lose my mind. The trauma of losing my wolf was already enough to deal with, and being questioned about the matter made it worse. “Why won’t you understand this? I am not a wolf. Not anymore.”

“We don’t lose our wolf,” Tyra chimed in.

I swallowed hard. “But I did. She is gone.”

“We are wolves first and humans after. If anything, you would lose your human side and not your wolf side,” she said.

As if I wouldn’t know that. That’s why my missing wolf is so hard to accept, and, at this point, I would love to forget a wolf ever existed inside me before.

“And here I am, no wolf. Believe me, I know how crazy it sounds. But it’s the truth.”

Gunnar furrowed his brows and shook his head. “There has to be more to it. I’m sure your wolf isn’t gone. I have seen it, I felt it, and I most definitely smelled it.”

“I’m not sure what you are seeing and feeling or even smelling at this point. But it might all be a misunderstanding.”

I still refused to believe there was any truth in his words. It would hurt too much if it wasn’t true after all.

Tyra leaned forward, staring at me intensely. “Something feels off about you. That is for sure.”

“Which pack did you belong to?” Gunnar asked.

I felt like a cold bucket of water got emptied over my head. Just thinking about saying my pack’s name caused panic to take hold of me, and I refused to tell them. Maybe they aren’t the good ones. What if I tell them my pack name, and they figure out who I was? What if they found me?

They waited patiently while I tried to get my breathing under control. I knew they would keep me here if I wouldn’t spit it out.

I clenched my hands into fists, ignoring the stinging pain in my wrist. “Ruinas.”

The name felt foreign on my lips, almost as if I had forgotten about it. But saying it warmed my heart a bit. It had been such a long time since I said it out loud. A small pack in a small region, with powerful wolves and a strong bond.

Gunnar’s eyes widened. “Impossible. All members of the pack died eight years ago.”

“Everyone, except me,” I said.

“But they reported that not a single wolf survived.”

I looked at him pointedly. “And there isn’t a single wolf left.”

Gunnar and Tyra stared at each other, visibly out of words.

“Do you finally believe me?”

Gunnar shook his head. “No, something still doesn’t add up. You are a wolf, and you won’t change my mind.”

I groaned in frustration and fumbled with my necklace to keep myself busy while those two figured out what to do with me. Obviously, something was wrong, but they couldn’t change anything about it. I tried to get my wolf back for years before giving up.

“I know this is all very interesting, and you want to solve this puzzle, but I have a life I would like to return to. I think it’s obvious we won’t come to any conclusion as of right now anyway,” I said after I had listened to their theories for minutes.

“What exactly happened back then?” Gunnar asked.

He was honestly interested. There were no lies to be seen in his eyes. But this wasn’t a story I would tell them.

“You think I want to talk about that right now?”

Tyra touched Gunnar’s arm and shook her head slowly. “Amalia, we don’t want to cause you harm. I know Gunnar might seem a bit direct and might also overstep boundaries, but we want to help you.”

“If you want to help me, leave me in peace and forget about me.”

“It’s not the solution to the problem. You are a wolf, and the way you live will make you miserable at some point. It might be fine for now, but I’m sure it will hunt you, eventually. Please, let us try to help you,” she said.

I crossed my arms and gritted my teeth. She was only a stranger. Why did she think she would know how I feel and how I’m supposed to live my life?

“How about you join us this evening? We have a small celebration. There will even be a bonfire,” Gunnar proposed.

I let out a puff of air. “A bonfire?”

He nodded, his eyes sparkling. “Yes, it’s a tradition. It’s on a field, outside the compound, surrounded by the forest. It will start in the late afternoon, and I think you might enjoy it.”

“I don’t even know you. What makes you think I would join you?”

He gaped at me. “We would never hurt you! I know we are strangers, but we are both ancient wolves. If I wanted to hurt you, I would have done so already. It will be fun! Trust me. And if you don’t like it, you can leave again.”

“Don’t say no to this. Give it a chance. Give us a chance,” Tyra added with a smile.

I looked back and forth between them. They didn’t seem like bad people, even if they were busybodies. Maybe a little celebration couldn’t hurt, and George wouldn’t be here this evening, either. “Fine, but promise me to leave me alone when you finally understand there is no way to help me.”

A broad grin stretched over Gunnar’s face, showing off his dimples. “Deal!”

“We will see you later, Amalia,” Tyra said. “I’m glad you are taking this chance. You won’t regret it.”

I wasn’t too sure about that, but for now, I was glad I finally left their house. A bonfire with an unknown wolf pack, though? I didn’t even ask which pack they belonged to. Hopefully, I didn’t catapult myself into an even bigger mess.