But not completely.
It didn’t vanish—it retreated.
Not gone. Just... dormant.
Waiting.
I felt it. I know I did.
And whether anyone else wants to admit it or not—that means something.
It means I’m not losing my mind.
It means something inside me just stirred for the first time.
And whatever my mom’s been hiding?
It’s time I found out what it is.
Chapter 8
Bolton
Ican still feel her pulse where her hand gripped my arm.
Maya’s kneeling in the dirt, breath ragged, eyes wide as they scan the circle of onlookers like she’s trying to make sense of a language she was never meant to understand. The moment passed—the near-shift, the flicker of something powerful and ancestral—but I saw it. So did everyone else.
She doesn’t even know what she did.
But my father does.
He studies her from across the fire, gaze unreadable. I can’t tell if he’s impressed or worried—or both. Knowing him, probably both.
Then, without taking his eyes off Maya, he lifts his voice.
“This ceremony is concluded. The moon has witnessed. It is time for the rest of you to return to your homes.”
A murmur ripples through the crowd—confusion, hesitation—but the weight of Alpha Sharpe’s voice allows no argument. One by one, people begin to disperse, their reluctant footsteps crunching over pine needles as they vanish into the tree line.
But not all of them.
Cassie doesn’t move. She lingers by the edge of the firelight, arms crossed, eyes narrowed on Maya like she’s trying to solve a puzzle she doesn’t like the answer to.
Dax stays too, silent but watchful, ever at my side.
So do the others—the core pack. The ones who recognize that something just happened. And that whatever it was, it matters.
“She didn’t shift,” Cassie says behind me, smug. “Whatever you were hoping would happen, it didn’t.”
The bonfire crackles in the thick silence she leaves behind.
“She almost did,” Dax murmurs from my left. His voice is quiet, but it carries. “Did you feel it?”
Several wolves nod—some in awe, some in caution.
“She’s not one of us,” Cassie says again, louder this time. “She doesn’t belong in this circle.”
I stand up slowly, turning to face her. “She doesn’t have to prove anything to you.”
