جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 97

The night was too quiet.Not peaceful.Not calm.Just… quiet in a way that made everything feel wrong.Thalia stood at the edge of the cliff, her eyes fixed on the darkness below.The wind moved around her slowly, brushing against her skin, lifting strands of her hair.But she didn’t move.Far below, faint lights flickered in the distance.The village.Or what was left of it.Her jaw tightened slightly.“They’re still rebuilding,” Lyra said softly behind her.Thalia didn’t turn.“I know.”Her voice was calm.Too calm.Lyra stepped closer, stopping just a few steps behind her.“You haven’t rested,” she said.“I’m fine.”“That’s not what I asked.”Thalia exhaled slowly.“I said I’m fine.”Lyra didn’t push further.Because she knew that tone.The same one Thalia used when she didn’t want anyone too close.A quiet moment passed.Then Thalia spoke again.“Do you ever get used to it?”Lyra frowned slightly.“Used to what?”Thalia’s gaze stayed on the distance.“The damage,” she said.Silenc

The apartment was quiet, but the tension was thick enough to cut through the air. Maya stood by the window, arms crossed, eyes fixed on the city below. Xavier sat across the room, his dark gaze never leaving her. The fight from the night before had ended, but nothing had been resolved.“I need answers,” Maya said finally, her voice steady but low. “You owe me that much.”Xavier’s hands tightened into fists in his lap. “I know,” he said. “And I’ll tell you everything. You deserve to know why I… why I rejected you.”Maya’s eyes narrowed. “Why now? After three years? After everything?”“Because I only just realized the truth,” he said. “The woman I brought back… she wasn’t just someone from my past. She was a spy. She manipulated me with magic and lies, made me believe things that weren’t real. She controlled my thoughts, my feelings… even my judgment.”Maya’s jaw went tight. “So that excuses you?”“No,” Xavier said quickly. “It doesn’t. I failed you. I humiliated you. I abandoned you wh

The city was nothing like the forest. The sounds were sharper, the lights brighter, the people faster. Maya pulled her coat tighter around her as she walked down the crowded street, her senses alert. She had learned long ago to move quietly, to blend in, to watch and not be noticed. The last thing she needed was someone recognizing her—someone from the pack or worse, from Xavier’s world.A small apartment waited for her at the edge of town. It wasn’t much, but it was hers. No expectations. No pack politics. No betrayal. Just a place to think, to breathe, to start over. She unlocked the door, letting a sigh escape as the familiar smell of paint and old carpet greeted her.“Home,” she whispered. Her hand instinctively went to her stomach, and she smiled softly. “We’ll be okay, little one.”The first weeks were hard. Maya had to find work, learn how to survive in a world that had rules she had never needed to follow before. Computers, phones, bills, rent—mundane things that suddenly seem