Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 214

214 New Phone, Old Blood

Arya’s POVO

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Maxwell returned late. Not the usual kind of late that came from a meeting dragging on

or a stop on the road. This one sat on him. I felt it before he even spoke. The moment the

front door opened, I knew something was wrong. I was in the sitting room when I heard

his boots in the hall. Rusty said something low, and Maxwell answered, but his voice

was shorter than normal. Controlled. Heavy. I got up before I even thought about it and

moved toward the doorway.

The moment I saw him, I knew I was right. He looked calm, but there was something on

his face that did not belong there. Not anger. Not exactly. It looked more like a man that

had made a decision he already knew I would not like. That alone made my stomach

tighten. I was still holding the invite that had come earlier, but it suddenly felt

unimportant in my hand.

“Maxwell?”

His eyes lifted to mine.

“Arya.”

I searched his face.

“What happened?”

“Come sit down.”

That was answer enough. Maxwell was not the kind of man that asked you to sit unless

what he had to say carried weight. I followed him back into the sitting room, my stomach

already twisting. He sat on the sofa, and I stayed standing for a second before finally

sitting across from him. I handed him the invite first because it was something to do with

my hands, something to delay whatever this was by one more second.

“This came earlier.”

He took it and looked at it.

“An invitation?`.”

“Yes.”

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He set it down beside him, then leaned back slightly. I noticed the way his fingers

tapped once against the armrest before going still. That tiny movement made my pulse

pick up. Maxwell was controlled even in silence. When he let nerves slip through in

small ways, it meant something. It meant he had been thinking too much. It meant this

mattered.

He looked at me for a long moment.

“I do not want you to be angry.”

My back stiffened at once. Nothing good ever came after words like that.

“About what?”

He did not look away.

“I offered to help James.”

For a second, I just stared at him. It felt like the room had gone too quiet. The fire was

still burning. The curtains still moved a little from the evening breeze. But inside me,

everything stopped. James. Just hearing his name in Maxwell’s mouth felt wrong in a

way I could not explain.

Ria rose instantly inside me.

What?

I swallowed hard and repeated it because my mind needed to hear it twice to believe it.

“You offered to help James.”

“Yes.”

There was no excuse in his voice. No softness to cushion it. He did not rush to explain or

make it easier. He just said it and let it sit there between us. That was Maxwell too. He

did not hide behind pretty words when the truth was ugly.

The first thing that hit me was anger. Hot. Sharp. Immediate. It came so fast I had to force my fingers still in my lap because I wanted to clench my hands into fists. The

second thing was hurt, and that one was worse. That one dug deeper. Because this was

Maxwell. Because this house had taken me in when I had nowhere else to go. Because

he was one of the few people whose choices did not usually make me brace for pain. I

had not expected his decisions to cut me too.

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“Why?”

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“Because Nightwind is exposed,” he said. “And because if they collapse, it will not only

be James that suffers.”

I said nothing. I could not. He went on calmly, in that measured way of his that always

made it clear he had thought something through from every angle before speaking.

“Marcel isn’t honest with him. Nightwind is vulnerable from all sides now. If no one steps

in, they will be torn apart. And when a pack falls, it is not only the leaders who pay. It is

the women. The children. The lower wolves. The people with no say in what brought it down. And that cam bring unrest to this region. That land is too valuable for it to be up

for grabs. The last thing I want is a war.”

I hated that I understood him. I hated it because he was right. He was right and I still wanted to be angry. I still wanted to say let it burn. Let all of it burn. Let James sit in the

ashes of what he chose. But packs did not fall neatly. It was never only the guilty that suffered. It was always the weak first. The voiceless first. The people with no hand in the

decisions. I knew that. I had seen enough to know that.

Still, my jaw tightened.

“So you decided to help him.”

“I decided to stop a wider problem before it spreads.”

I looked away for a second and fixed my eyes on the invitation beside him. Briarwood’s seal stared back at me from the wax. Such a neat little thing. Clean. Orderly. Proper. It was almost laughable. The outside always looked simple. A seal. A name. A gathering. But nothing was ever simple once you stepped into it.

Ria was pacing inside me.

After everything he did? She said

I know. I replied

After everything they did?

I know.

I took a slow breath and looked back at Maxwell.

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“What kind of help?”

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“Nightwind will fall under Dragonclaw’s protection,” he said. “Not permanently absorbed. Not stripped of its name. But tied to Dragonclaw until things stabilise.”

I frowned.

“And after that?”

“When Lev takes over the Union fully, Nightwind’s best chance at certification will come

through that path.”

My chest gave a hard ugly pull. Certification. Protection. Legitimacy. The very things. James had used as reasons. The same words. The same ambition. The same poison. Only now it sounded cleaner. Smarter. Done by someone who actually knew what he was doing. That made it worse somehow. Because it showed just how badly James had handled everything. How much ruin had come from his weakness, his indecision, his

greed, his fear. Whatever it was, it had cost too much.

I let out a slow breath through my nose.

“And Lev knows?”

“Not yet.”

That surprised me enough that it showed on my face.

Maxwell noticed.

“I have not spoken to him about it yet.”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted to think it through first. And I wanted to tell you.”

I stared at him for a moment.

“And do you think he’ll agree?”

His expression darkened a little.

“Maybe not. He may refuse because of what James did to you. He may refuse because of

what Nightwind allowed. I would not blame him for that.”

Something twisted low in my stomach. It was not pain exactly. It was something more

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complicated than that. Because I knew he was right. Lev would not like this. He would

hate the idea of helping the people who had helped destroy me. He would hear James’s

name and go cold in that quiet dangerous way of his. He would hear Nightwind and

remember exactly what they allowed, what they watched, what they stood by and called

necessary.

And some small shameful part of me liked that.

Ria liked it too.

He should hate them.

I did not argue with her because she was right. He should hate them. Someone should.

Someone should look at what they did to me and feel the right kind of anger. Someone

should hear James’s name and not speak it with sympathy.

Maxwell’s voice pulled me back.

“But whether he likes it or not, this is James’s best chance now.”

I laughed once. A small sound. Bitter. Empty. It did not even sound like me.

“Of course it is.”

Maxwell watched me carefully.

“Arya.”

I looked at him again.

“No, it’s fine. That sounds about right, actually. Burn me down. Break everything. Then

when the consequences come, look for a stronger Alpha to clean it up.”

A shadow crossed his face, but he did not deny it.

“That is not entirely wrong.”

“Obviously.”

Silence stretched between us. I was angry. I knew that. But it was not just anger. It was

humiliation too. That old humiliation that never really died no matter how much time

passed. Marcel. Rebecca. Leah. James. All of them. The whole pack standing there like my suffering was a necessary price, like my pain was just an inconvenience they had to step over on their way to securing whatever they wanted. The memory of it still lived too

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close to the surface. I did not have to reach far to feel it again. It was right there, waiting.

Maxwell spoke again, and this time his voice was lower.

“I also told him he would give you land.”

I looked up sharply.

He held my stare.

“And he agreed immediately.”

For a second, I did not know what to do with that. Then the fury came back harder. It hit

me so fast it almost made me laugh again. Now he could agree. Now. Not when I stood

beside him and helped build that pack. Not when I bled for Nightwind. Not when I gave

him everything I had. My work. My loyalty. My body. My name. My heart. Not then. But

now, after I had already been disgraced and pushed out and broken, suddenly he could

agree.

I laughed again, and this time Maxwell did not pretend not to hear the hurt in it.

“He didn’t object?”

“No.”

That should have pleased me. It should have felt like something won. It did not. It made

it worse. Because it told me he knew. He had always known. He knew I deserved more.

He knew I had earned more. He knew what I gave to Nightwind. He knew what I was

worth. And he still did what he did. That was what made it crueler. Not ignorance. Not

foolishness. Knowing. And still choosing me last.

Ria’s voice was low and vicious.

Too late.

Yes.

Much too late.

Maxwell leaned forward and rested his forearms on his thighs.

“He looked remorseful.”

That hit something raw in me. I looked away before he could see too much because what

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