Chapter 16 - Naia
They’re all staring at me as if I’ve already made my move, as if I’ve already chosen violence.
They’re acting like I’m just waiting for the right moment to turn on them.
Maybe I would have before, if given the command, but I’m not cocky enough to assume I can take on several Alphas and a magic user in one go.
I’m severely outnumbered, and beyond the disadvantage, it’s not an urge I have anyway.
Their disdain and caution settle under my skin in a way I don’t like, feeling familiar and frustratingly justified.
I get it…I really do. If I were in their position, I’d probably be thinking the same thing. I wouldn’t trust me either, given my name, history, and now, unchecked abilities. None of that paints me in a way that invites trust, regardless of my intentions.
Still, it doesn’t make it any easier to stand here and feel like I’m being measured for something I haven’t even done, especially when being here is the last thing I want. If I had my way, I’d already be in Wraith Peak by now.
Zane’s words linger in the back of my mind like they mean to haunt me now. We initiated a mate bond.
I can’t bring myself to look at him now, because if I do, that’s all this becomes. With so much more left for me to work out, I refuse to let the bond stop me from following through with my plans. I can’t afford to let it slow me down.
Not right now, and not with the way Sera is looking at me. The others have already drawn their lines and decided that I’m too far gone, regardless of what ties I have to Zane now.
I square my shoulders slightly and force myself not to shrink under it. “I’m not your enemy.”
The words come out steadier and stronger than I feel, and I can only hope it’s enough for them.
Caleb lets out a quiet breath like he doesn’t believe that for a second. “You’re a Voss. That alone makes things complicated.”
“I didn’t choose that,” I shoot back, finding myself wishing that nobody had any preconceived notions about me.
“No,” he mutters, “but you’ve acted on it.”
I stiffen as I try to find the safest angle to keep them from deciding to act on it. “That’s not the same thing.”
“Isn’t it?” Sera asks, her voice calm yet accusatory.
Meeting her gaze head-on, I force myself to stand my ground. “No, it’s not.”
As the tension grows even more unbearable, I feel Zane’s attention shift slightly, like he’s ready to step in if this goes sideways. I don’t let him.
“I did what I was told,” I continue, not letting them force me into a box that I didn’t make for myself. “That’s how Wraith Peak works…it’s how I was raised.”
“That doesn’t excuse it,” Sera says.
“I didn’t say it did,” I return. The words come out sharper than I intend, but I don’t take them back either. I’m not here to pretend I’ve been something I wasn’t. With a quieter tone, I add, “I’m not proud of it, but I’m not going to stand here and pretend I wasn’t part of it either.”
Judging by the mutual hesitance clinging to the group, that seems to surprise them enough to make them pause.
Luke studies me more closely now, looking more thoughtful. “And now?”
I hesitate because that’s really the question.
After so long of following orders and doing what I thought I was supposed to, I don’t know who I am or what I’m supposed to do with all of this. I only know I have to get back and fix what went wrong from the inside out.
“I’m not planning on using any powers on anyone here,” I say finally, glancing between them with as much sincerity as I can muster. “I went most of my life without them, and I didn’t ask for it.”
“That’s convenient,” Hunter mutters.
I ignore him. “I’m trying to understand it. That’s it.”
Sera’s eyes narrow slightly. “You expect us to just take your word for it?”
“No,” I say honestly. “I don’t. I expect you to be cautious, as you should be.”
That seems to throw them off more than anything else I’ve said, since I’m not arguing that part, and I’m not pretending they’re wrong to be skeptical. I just don’t want them to stand in my way or assume I have the same ambitions as my brother.
“I know what I look like to you,” I continue, jaw clenching out of habit. “I know what my name carries…my father made sure of that.”
Something moves through Zeke’s expression at that, close to recognition and understanding. Coming from Wraith Peak himself, he knows what it was like.
I press on before anyone can interrupt. “But I’m not him, and I’m not Hayes. If I’m being honest, I don’t know where I stand back home anymore, and if my brother has any plans, I sure as hell don’t know what they are.”
The others look more confused now, maybe a bit doubtful too, but mostly startled by the idea of not being in the loop. I haven’t been in months.
“Then what do you want?” Hunter asks.
The question hits harder than I expected, because there is no simple answer. There are several things I want, and they all involve not being trapped in Delmont or persecuted by Zane’s friends just because of where I’m from.
“I want to fix what I can,” I begin, feeling a small knot twist in my stomach. “Starting with what happened to me.”
“That rogue group, right?” Zeke says.
I nod. “They won’t stop just because Zane was there. They’ll have more planned, and you all know that.”
“You think going back to Wraith Peak is going to solve that?” Caleb asks.
“I think it’s part of it.”
He sighs and gives me a pointed look. “Hayes is going to react, and when he does, that will inevitably come back on all of us.”
“If Hayes learns that Naia is here, then he’ll focus here. He won’t risk targeting any other packs if he doesn’t need to,” Zane says, pulling their attention to him. “And when he does, I’ll be ready.”
“You sound very sure of that,” Luke says, giving him a vaguely skeptical glance.
“I am.”
The others aren’t quick to respond, as they consider everything that has been said and are forced to digest numerous facts at once. Their hostility has mostly died down, but their wariness remains while they watch me like I could turn on them at any second.
Now, there’s a note of consideration, even if it’s reluctant. It’s more than I expected, and probably more than I deserve, but I’ll take what I can get.
“That’s all I’ve got,” I say with a slow exhale, putting it all out on the table. “Take it or don’t.”
No one responds right away, but Caleb nods slightly, as if forced to reconsider everything he had already decided about me. “We’ll…take it into account.”
It isn’t trust or acceptance, yet it isn’t outright rejection either. It’s better than nothing.
Zane glances at me briefly with something I can’t decipher in his expression, and I don’t linger on it. I can’t yet.
“Are we done?” I ask.
“For now,” Caleb says, leaving me with a vaguely uncertain feeling.
Having had enough, I turn without another word and head back toward the house. I don’t look back, even as I feel the slight tug from Zane’s end of the bond.
When the door eventually shuts behind me with a quiet click, the noise fades, along with the tension and the weight of their stares. It all dulls to something more manageable, but it doesn’t disappear completely.
Leaning back against the door for a second, I close my eyes and take a deep, slow breath.
That could’ve gone a lot worse, but it still wasn’t good. I still don’t know what they plan to do with me now that they know I’m here with Zane.
I push off the door and move further into the house, pacing several times as I try to fight off the tightness in my chest. The frustration and restlessness have gotten even worse since leaving the apartment, and now the lingering sting of being seen exactly the way I expected to be only makes it worse.
To them, I’ll only ever be a Voss. Someone unredeemable and bound to choose wrong.
As I stop near the window, I stare out at the small town. In his town, because that’s exactly what this is.
Zane built this place and community, and they trust him. Even when they’re questioning him and even when they’re pushing back, they still trust him. I’ve never had that luxury, not really, anyway.
In Wraith Peak, trust is conditional, earned, and taken away just as quickly. It’s always tied to what you can offer and what you can prove you’re capable of providing. I spent my whole life proving myself to my brother and the others, and it still wasn’t enough.
Zane’s friends see me as the enemy, and maybe they’re not wrong to, but the strange part is, I don’t feel that way about them.
When my father was alive, it was different.
Every line was perfectly drawn, enemies were enemies, and there wasn’t room for anything else.
But he’s gone, and while Hayes carries that same fire, the same need to dominate and control, I can see it now in a way I couldn’t before.
I don’t feel it the same way he does, and that realization makes something shift in me.
If I don’t feel that, then what does that make me? What’s the point in fighting when they don’t have anything I need?
Initially, I was furious when they killed Dad, but something in me can’t entirely blame them either. He didn’t back down even when he was warned about what would happen. Even in the moment, it didn’t feel entirely right to storm into Coldreach, but I did it for him, just like everything else.
I exhale slowly, dragging a hand through my hair.
It doesn’t matter. What matters is the fact that I can’t stay here. I can’t sit around and wait while everything back home is still unresolved. I can’t hope for someone to clear my name for me.
No matter what I do here, and no matter what I say, I’ll always be a Voss first. That’s what they’ll see and remember.
If I don’t deal with that, it will never change.
A small headache forms behind my eye, and I rub at my temple as the decision settles in.
Ignoring it, I turn away from the window and move through the house with purpose. I keep my movements efficient and focused because once I start, I don’t stop.
The bond hums faintly in the back of my mind like a quiet reminder that Zane is still within reach, but I bury it as far as I can. More than anything, he only stands to complicate things in ways I don’t have time for.
I don’t know what I’ll be walking back into in Wraith Peak, or what it’s going to take to fix any of it, but I’m not letting my family name decide who I am. Not anymore.
Even if it means enduring more pain just to prove it.