Bonds

Chapter Six

~Maya’s POV~

Natalia’s voice, muffled through the phone, jolted me out of a daze. “You really think he did it?” Her words felt like sandpaper against my raw nerves.

I let out a sigh, “I don’t know,” the confession scraping my throat, “But think of it, Natalia. If I were to bomb a place, why would I leave evidence that it was me on the bomb?”

“Exactly!” Natalia’s sharp tone crackled through the receiver. “My thoughts exactly. But still, he’s the only one with a motive to stop the wedding. Maybe he realized what he lost.”

I shook my head, the gesture echoing the hollowness inside me, “I looked into his eyes. The Alex that loved me… I didn’t see that man anymore. There was anger, yes, but also a stranger, someone consumed by something I couldn’t understand.”

A beat of silence hung between us, thick with unspoken doubts. “So maybe it was his way of making good on that threat. Maybe this was his way of showing Everton that he means to really go to war with your father.”

“And my father, of course, couldn’t help but blame me,” I muttered, bitterness lacing my voice.

“When are you going to stand up—?” Shebegan, her question hanging in the air.

“No, Natalia, please don’t,” I interrupted, my voice laced with a plea. “I did that once, and it ended with my heart in pieces. That fire…” I choked back a sob, the memory a barbed wire twisting in my gut. “It’s gone.”

“Amaya…” Her voice was laced with concern, reaching across the miles to wrap around me in a virtual hug.

I clutched the phone tighter, “It’s gone,” I repeated.

Silence followed as I stared at myself in the mirror. A stranger stared back, her eyes dull with pain, her lips drawn in a tight line of resignation.

not about the fire, darling. It’s about the embers. They’re still there, glowing under the ashes.

word that hung heavy in the air between us. Natalia, bless her bluntness, knew me too well to let it linger. Instead, she sidestepped, her voice sharp but

of nail polish. “He’s probably still knee-deep in damage control after the explosion. Daniel, of course, is already planning a redo of the wedding since I, apparently,

silence crackling with

of today and paint the town red? Forget Daniel’s mini-wedding plans, forget dinner with the pack

I started, the protest forming on my lips. “It’s past

dancing in her eyes, “You are a grown woman, not a porcelain doll to be shelved at his will. I know it’s easier to just comply, to shrink into the shadow he casts, but damn it, Maya, that’s not you. I miss the girl who could stare down a rogue wolf and laugh in his face. I miss the firebrand who started a rebellion in college because a

to the gut, jolting me out of my

whispered, wiping the tears

despair. “There’s this new club that just opened,” she chirped, her excitement infectious. “Big Shot, it’s called, and rumor has it they have a dance floor that hypnotizes and cocktails that sing opera. I’ve been dying to check it out, and tonight,

Nathan and Ivy?” I

you need a night to forget the bomb, the broken vows, the piece of shit that broke your heart. Plus, I have this

goddess on fire, and meet

the sound bubbling up from a place I thought had been buried under the rubble of the day. The Natalia Rant, as she affectionately called it, had a way of doing that, of stripping

I agreed, the word slipping out on a breath of newfound

promised, her voice already

sure there’s dancing. Lots and lots of

her mischievous laughter echoing down the hallway. “Tonight, my

resignation. The girl who punched Nathan in the face and defied her father wasn’t dead, she was simply hibernating. And tonight,

hammered in my chest, a wild hummingbird trapped in a cage of nerves and excitement. There she was, Natalia, silhouetted against

enough, Rapunzel,” she teased, her voice a familiar melody in the symphony

leather jacket tighter against

seemed to pierce through my flimsy excuse. “The alpha throwing another tantrum?” she asked, her tone

bitter

“It’s been a hell of a day. But tonight, we

a shaky laugh, feeling the tension seep out of my shoulders.

a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Now,