Cedric POV
I thought that if I got back to my pack, that everything would be perfect.
Maybe the peace of being home, where I belong, would bring some clam back into my life. I'm in my element. Things should be normal, they should be better, but they're not. They're far from it.
I'm being bombarded with responsibilities and questions as soon as we pull into the grounds. I definitely haven't forgotten how consuming being an Alpha is, and I did not miss this part of the job. I'm being pulled in a million different directions. I feel like I'm being pulled apart.
People wonder where I've been, they ask about what I did, and they look at me with perplexed expressions. I notice they're eyes following me, they're whispered words.
They can tell I've changed, that my whole soul has shifted somehow. No one says anything about it directly to me, but they don't have to, I can tell they detect the difference in me.