She just arches a brow and says, “You keep watching me, Cassie. Like you're waiting for me to crack. But maybe what you're really afraid of… is that I won't.”
Cassie’s mask slips for half a second. A crease at the corner of her mouth appears that could be fury or fear. Then she smirks again, but it’s thinner this time. Brittle.
“You’re not pack born. You haven’t earned anything,” Cassie says quietly, teeth behind the words. “You think one shift and a mark means you belong. But legacy isn’t something you grab when it’s convenient. It’s blood. It’s years.”
“Exactly,” Maya replies, voice low. “And I’m still standing here.”
Cassie’s jaw flexes. “For now.”
I slip my hand into Maya’s and level a look at Cassie. It’s not a threat. It’s a boundary.
Cassie stares at our joined hands like they’ve betrayed her.
“I used to think you were just lost,” she says, looking back at Maya. “Now I think you’re dangerous. Because you’re not just changing Bolton—you’re changing everything.”
Maya doesn’t argue.
She just says, “Good.”
Cassie blinks, as if she didn’t expect that answer.
Then slowly, she turns on her heel and walks away.
We stand there in the hallway, the hum of lockers and conversations rushing back in like surf after a storm.
I turn to Maya.
Her grip in my hand is steady.
“You okay?” I murmur.
She nods, but her eyes stay locked on the space Cassie just left.
“I’m not here to make her comfortable,” she says. “Or anyone else who thinks power should only comefrom the past.”
I smile, slow and real.
“That’s why you’re going to be Luna.”
She exhales, and her shoulders drop just a little, that tension bleeding out of her like breath held too long.
Then she smiles back, just enough to make the hallway feel smaller. Closer. Safer.
“Want to walk me out?” she asks.
“Always.”
I squeeze her hand and lead her to the double door exit.
She’s mine. Nothing and no one will change that fact.
Chapter 19
Maya
My lungs burn.
Not from the cold, or even the running—I’m used to that now—but from the way Bolton pushes me. Not in the “I want to impress you” kind of way. In the “you’re going to survive this because I won’t accept anything less” kind of way.
