Chapter 172 – Scared–1
–LIA’S POV–
My chest bloomed with happiness as I stared at myself.
My old glasses were still placed on the dressing table, a reminder of my old life. A life where I was a mere nerd, a weakling who got bullied by boys at school.
Well, in my defense, they were werewolves—but boys nonetheless.
And tonight, I had defeated Zane in a fight.
And it wasn’t even too hard.
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It didn’t matter that he let go of me when I asked him to. What mattered was, I managed to tackle a fully trained werewolf Alpha to the ground.
All while being completely untrained and inexperienced myself.
It was a victory. An achievement.
No one could deny it.
I was stronger than anyone expected.
And finally, I would be of use to Zane. To his pack. To Christy
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Chapter 172 – Scared-1
and my parents.
I could protect them. And I could protect myself.
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No one could touch me without my consent again. No one could try to hurt me and walk off unharmed.
There would be consequences now.
I would fight back now.
And I would win.
I walked over to the window, glancing out at the moon.
I didn’t know what my connection was to her. There was no way to be sure.
But it felt like she was staring down at me with warmth and love.
Like tonight, she too was proud of me.
“Thank you,” I whispered, smiling.
If Mom and Dad saw me right now, they’d think I was crazy.
I should sleep. And dream about fighting. Or Zane. Or both.
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Chapter 172–Scared–1
Something didn’t feel right.
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When Zane picked me up for school, I had expected him to be as esclatic as I was.
I couldn’t even sleep all night, my mind constantly drifting back to what happened during training.
It was an incredible milestone for me. And yet, Zane and the Hounds didn’t mention it even once.
I couldn’t place it at first. Zane still smiled at me, held my hand in the hallways, and planted soft kisses all over my face whenever he got the chance. But there was a flicker of mental distance, a pause before he answered my questions. Like he was filtering things in real–time, choosing his words, deciding what to reveal and what to hide.
Ajax was worse. Too cheerful, even for him. His jokes were getting lamer every second, and yet, he didn’t stop even when no one laughed. Warner kept glancing at me from time to time, not uttering a word, his usual stoic expression seeming just a tad too stoic. Maybe I was imagining it. But Sheila barely spoke to me, and Aaron… well, Aaron wouldn’t even look at me unless he had to. It wasn’t like him to be rude.
I tried to shake it off. Maybe I was being paranoid. Maybe it wast nothing. But deep down, I knew it wasn’t.
It had been two days since our training session. Two days since
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Chapter 172–Scared–1
I’d somehow managed to defeat him in a fight.
I’d thought everyone would be happy.
But instead, it felt like I’d offended them all.
Maybe it was a power thing?
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Maybe Zane was their Alpha, so they didn’t like him losing?
But I was to be their Luna. It shouldn’t have mattered who won.
I walked beside Christy, heading to our lockers, my mind racing with a thousand questions and doubts.
“So anyway,” she said, bouncing slightly as she walked, “Nathan texted me last night. At like 2 a.m. Which is super suspicious because he sleeps so early. When I asked him in the morning, he didn’t even remember doing it. Said he must have missed me in his sleep. How cute is that?”
“Christy,” I muttered.
She blinked at me. “What?”
“Do you think Zane’s being weird? And the Hounds?”
She shrugged, clearly not picking up on my mood. “Weird how? Warner still looks like he wants to murder people, so… normal?”
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I stared ahead. “I just… I don’t know. They’re hiding something. I can feel it.”
“You always think they are hiding things. And they probably are? I mean, they have a whole different world with packs and wars and hunters. They probably don’t even know what to tell you or how. Maybe they’re just werewolves being werewolves.”
“No,” I shook my head, “Zane tells me everything.”
“Maybe he needs space.”
“He’s never needed space before. And Aaron hasn’t even spoken to me. Sheila keeps pretending she’s late for class whenever I show up.”
“Maybe it’s not about you,” she offered gently. “Maybe they’re dealing with their own stuff. Like, we don’t know what happened. to Sheila exactly. What if she’s still healing?”
I frowned. Christy had a point. But I hated not knowing. I hated being kept out of the loop when it concerned me..
“Hey,” Christy nudged me. “Don’t spiral. Want to hear the rest. of the Nathan story?”
“Not really,” I said before I could stop myself.
She blinked, clearly surprised.
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Chapter 12 – Beam
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“Christy,” I added quickly, “I’m sorry, I just… this is important to me. I feel like I’m going crazy, and you’re talking about a guy who ghosted you last month.”
Her face fell immediately.
“He’s not just a guy, Lia. He is the love of my life.”
“I know, I know. It’s just… there are bigger things going on than high school crushes. You can’t even know for sure if he likes you. I mean, how do you tell with humans?”
Christy scoffed, eyes narrowing. “Really, Lia? You’re with the guy who bullies you for months and probably wouldn’t even glance at you if some supernatural force didn’t tell him to. At least with Nathan and I, it’s real.”
My chest tightened. The edges of my vision shimmered for a second, and I felt my eyes heat up.
Christy stepped back, eyes widening.
“Lia,” she said quietly, staring. “Your eyes…”
My stomach dropped. “What?”
“They glowed. Purple. Just for a second.”
