CHAPTER SIXTY ONE - RIVALRY UNLEASHED

One afternoon, as Anna was helping in the kitchen, she overheard two pack members talking. "You have to admit, the human's not so bad," one said. "Did you see her at the last meeting? Standing up to Vanessa like that? Girl's got guts." The other nodded grudgingly. "Yeah, and the way Erik looks at her... I haven't seen him like that in years." Anna smiled to herself, feeling a warmth spread through her chest. She was making progress, slowly but surely. Even Vanessa seemed to have toned down her hostility, if only slightly. She still threw the occasional barbed comment Anna's way, but the outright aggression had faded. Anna suspected Erik might have had a word with her, though he never mentioned it. As the week drew to a close, Anna found herself in the library, curled up in her favorite armchair with a book on pack dynamics. She was so engrossed in her reading that she didn't hear Erik enter. "Studying hard, I see," his voice startled her from her concentration. Anna looked up, s