Caleb tilted his head.
Fiona smiled.
“Summer has changed since you’ve been gone,” she said.
Caleb swallowed and looked away. He nodded.
“Of course,” he said. “It’s been five years. Recovery from war, expanding outside the territories, a new Alpha… how could it be the same?”
Fiona nodded.
“Two years ago… this place was much different,” she said. “The people… were different.”
“I heard,” Caleb said, looking at her. He reached out and took her hand. “I’m sorry. I know it was hard on you.”
Fiona let out a soft chuckle.
“It was hard on all of us,” she said. “The war destroyed entire sections of this city. We lost many of our wolves. It took time and effort to rebuild it all.”
Caleb looked out at the buildings before him, the people below.
“Your father’s lab, your treehouse… I had to order the official destruction of those places,” she said quietly.
Caleb felt that painful tug on his heart as he thought of the empty hole in the ground.