Page 21 of North’s Claim

My life.

Everything he could find, he brought back to me.

Tears sting my eyes. They fall before I can stop them. No one’s ever given me anything without expecting something in return. I swipe the phone. His number is saved under just N. I don’t know what to say. So I type the simplest thing I can manage.

Thank you.

I wear my leggings and steal another shirt from his drawer. It hangs off my shoulders, swallowing me whole, but it smells like him and feels safe.

At 10:01, there’s a knock on the door.

I open it and find a woman with long auburn hair, bright eyes, and a no-bullshit smile. She’s pretty, confident and the kind of woman I’ll never be.

“You must be Nyxa,” she says.

I nod, suddenly unsure of everything.

“I’m Vero. North asked me to take you shopping.”

Behind her stand two bikers, Rook, who grins like the devil himself, and DJ, who nods but says nothing.

“Let’s roll, hun,” Vero says, slinging her purse over her shoulder. “We’ve got a lot to do.”

The store overwhelms me, not because it’s busy but because I’m allowed to choose, to touch and try things on.

I grab a pair of jeans. Some leggings. Underwear. A few plain shirts. Socks and a pair of pajamas.

“That's it?” Vero asks, frowning.

“I don’t need much,” I mumble.

She rolls her eyes and throws in two more outfits, a zip-up hoodie, and a pair of joggers.

“You need comfort. You need backups. You need shit you don’t even realize you need yet.”

I smile a little. “I have sneakers. I’m good.”

“You planning on living in one pair of shoes forever?” she teases.

“I don’t plan on going anywhere.”

She stops, her gaze softening. “You don’t have to stay stuck either, y’know.”

I look down, throat tight. “One step at a time.”

She nods. “Alright. First step—getting you stuff that actually fits.”

She makes it feel normal. Like this is something women just… do. Not something I was punished for asking for. For the first time in a year, I feel like I’m allowed to exist, not just survive.

Exist.

Maybe even live.

I still feel like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.

But today? It didn’t. And that alone feels like a miracle.

Once we’re back at the hood, Vero offers to introduce me to the others, but I tell her I’m tired.