A Family in Pieces

The narrator plans a family trip at their mother Lucia Sweeney's request. While avoiding danger zones, the narrator and their sister Linda Harper are ambushed by rogues. To protect Linda, the narrator dives into the attackers' path and is driven into a silver mine. Silver shards lodge in the narrator's right leg, and poison burns through the narrator and their wolf. As the pack's chief healer, Lucia gathers healers around Linda for a check-up over minor scrapes. The narrator sobs and begs for help first, saying the poison nears their heart. Lucia turns on the narrator impatiently, scolding them for fighting Linda and calling them heartless. The narrator's wolf gives one last whimper, and the narrator falls asleep in the cold wind, never to wake.