The forest was quiet, too quiet.
After the chaos, after the blood and stone and screaming, the silence pressed on Anderson Maya like a suffocating blanket. The wind whispered through the leaves, carrying the scents of moss, earth and distant wolves but for the first time in years, none of those scents meant home.
Maya sank onto a fallen log in the clearing. Her body trembled with exhaustion she didn't dare show. Kade hovered nearby, breathing hard, still clutching his ribs.
"We should keep moving," he said softly.
"We will," she answered.
But she didn't stand.
Not yet.
The moon's silver glow spilled across her hands which was still stained with dirt, blood and ash. Hands that once commanded respect with a single gesture. Hands she had used to protect her pack, to lead them, to teach them, to raise them from scattered wolves into something strong.
Hands that now shook.
Kade approached cautiously. "Maya… talk to me."
"There's nothing to say," she replied flatly.
But the lie vibrated with too much tension.
Kade exhaled slowly. "You don't have to carry everything alone."
Maya laughed a bitter, hollow sound. "I'm an alpha, Kade. That's exactly what I have to do."
Her wolf stirred beneath her skin, restless and wounded. Today had carved deep gashes into her spirit. wounds far worse than the burns on her wrists.
She had escaped.
She had fought.
She had survived.
But survival didn't ease the truth clawing its way through her ribs.
Everything she built had crumbled.
Her pack had turned on her.
Her most trusted wolves had doubted her.
Her leadership, her identity itself had been stolen.
And for what?
Because she was a woman.
Because she didn't fit their expectations.
Because tradition meant more to them than loyalty.
Maya wiped her face roughly with the back of her hand. She didn't realize she had been crying until she felt the sting of salt against her burned skin.
Kade took a hesitant step toward her. "Maya…"
"I'm fine."
"You're lying."
She didn't respond.
Because she could lie to the world, lie to the pack, lie to Rylan, but not to Kade. He had been with her since they were children. He had seen her rise, her battles, her scars. He had seen every triumph and failure.
But she still didn't want him to see this.
"Maya," he said again, voice gentler, "you can let yourself feel this. You don't have to…"
"Yes. I do." She looked up sharply, eyes blazing with pain rather than anger. "If I start feeling everything now, I won't stop. Not tonight. Not tomorrow. Maybe not ever."
Kade knelt in front of her, ignoring the pain shooting through his side. "Then fall apart. Just for a moment. You won't break. I won't let you."
Maya stared at him, her breath shaking.
Her throat tightened. Her eyes burned.
Her wolf whimpered a rare, vulnerable sound.
She looked away quickly. "Kade… I don't know who I am right now."
"You're still our alpha," he said.
"No," she whispered. "I'm a fugitive. A leader without a pack. An alpha who couldn't protect the wolves under her care. A woman who was thrown into a cell by people she loved."
Kade swallowed hard. "You didn't fail them. They failed you."
Her eyes flickered. anger, grief, disbelief, all clashing inside her. "Does that make it better? Does knowing they betrayed me out of fear instead of cruelty mean anything?"
She pressed her hands to her face. "I keep hearing it, Kade. Rylan's voice, The elders words. The pack whispering behind my back. I keep hearing them say I'm not fit. That I'm unnatural. That I'm a mistake."
He reached out but hesitated, unsure if she wanted comfort. "You are none of those things."
Maya let out a shaky breath. "Then why am I sitting here? Why am I running? Why do I feel like… like I'm no one?"
Her voice broke.
A rare thing. A terrifying thing.
The forest absorbed her pain, holding it in its leaves and soil.
Then she felt it. a tremble, deep inside her belly. The sensation of her wolf turning away, curling into itself, wounded.
Her wolf was crying too.
"Maya," Kade whispered, voice thick with emotion. "Listen to me. You didn't lose because you were weak. You lost because they were afraid of your strength."
She didn't answer.
Kade continued, firmer now, desperate to reach her.
"They betrayed you, but you're still breathing. Still fighting. That makes you stronger than all of them combined."
Maya dropped her hands and looked at him.
For the first time since the coup, she didn't look like an alpha.
She looked like a woman trying not to drown.
"I don't know how to lead from here," she whispered. "I don't know how to face them again. I don't know how to fight a war alone."
"You're not alone," Kade said immediately.
But Maya shook her head. "You saw how many stood against me. An entire pack. Trained warriors. Elders. The Moonstone itself was twisted against me. How am I supposed to win that?"
Kade opened his mouth to reply but a rustle in the bushes cut him off.
Maya tensed instantly.
Her wolf snapped to alertness.
A massive silver shape emerged from the shadows. Ashen Stormclaw stepped into the moonlit clearing, blood dripping from his fur, eyes burning with an ancient kind of fury.
He shifted into human form, landing heavily on one knee, injured but stable. His chest rose and fell with each breath, and though he didn't speak yet, his presence alone shifted the air.
Maya's heart clenched.
Not with romance.
With fear.
With relief.
With confusion.
Ashen is a legend who had gone exile, but he had found her.
Why?
Kade stiffened, protective instinct flaring, but Maya lifted a hand.
Ashen's voice was gravel and thunder.
"You are not alone, Anderson Maya."
Her breath hitched.
He rose to his full height, unsteady but unbroken, his silver eyes fixed on her with startling intention.
"The pack betrayed you," Ashen continued, "but not the wild. Not the wolves beyond their borders. Not those who remember the old laws but the ones carved in blood, not tradition."
He stepped closer, shadows dancing across his scarred skin.
"You still have a path," he said. "And I did not cross death itself to watch you fall."
Maya stared at him, uncertain, overwhelmed, exhausted.
Kade watched carefully.
Ashen lowered his head slightly, not submissive, but respectful.
"Stand, Maya," he said softly, voice echoing like a vow. "Stand, so the moon can see you again."
Her chest tightened painfully.
Her wolf pushed forward, strength flickering at the edges of her grief.
Kade stepped back, giving her space.
Maya rose slowly.
Her body trembled.
Her heart ached.
Her soul felt battered.
But she stood.
Ashen's gaze sharpened.
Kade's shoulders relaxed with relief.
The moonlight brightened around her, subtle but undeniable.
Maya took a long, shuddering breath.
And though her voice was quiet, it carried through the forest like a promise.
"I'm not done."