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.

about the fire, darling. It’s about the embers. They’re still there, glowing under the ashes. You just need to find the courage to fan them back into

the air between us. Natalia, bless her bluntness, knew me too well to

chipped piece 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, need to finish

simmering on Natalia’s tongue, her silence crackling with disapproval. I knew she

ditch the dust and debris of today and paint the town red? Forget Daniel’s mini-wedding plans,

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

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

words were a punch to the gut,

we going?” I whispered, wiping

excitement infectious. “Big Shot, it’s called, and rumor has it they have a dance

about Nathan and Ivy?”

itching for some girl time anyway, and you need a night to forget the bomb, the broken vows, the

was already planning the escape. “Don’t worry about details, I’ll handle everything. I’ll text you the address, you wear something that sets your inner warrior goddess on fire, and meet me by the back gate in ten minutes. We’re painting the town ruby red, Maya Stone, and for once, the only fireworks

a place I thought had been buried under the rubble of the day. The Natalia Rant, as she affectionately

I agreed, the word slipping out on a breath

her voice

there’s dancing. Lots

she declared, her mischievous laughter echoing down the hallway. “Tonight, my friend, we

eyes, chasing away the shadows of fear and resignation. The girl who punched Nathan in the face and defied her father wasn’t dead, she was simply hibernating. And tonight, Natalia was right, she was coming

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

teased, her voice a familiar melody in the symphony

my leather jacket tighter against the

“The alpha throwing another tantrum?”

though the lie tasted bitter

it,” she said, “It’s been a

I let out a shaky laugh, feeling the tension seep out of my shoulders. “Ready

she declared, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Now, about