Chapter 9

No longer yours

The night tasted like stars and tea.

Zayn had brought me up to the roof again. It was becoming a thing we did. When the palace got too loud, when my head got too full, we’d climb the stone stairs to the top of the Alpha house and sit with our legs dangling over the edge of Midnight Park.

Tonight I wasn’t in the regular blue gown. I was in one of his shirts. Black. It swallowed me. The sleeves rolled to my elbows, and his pants tied tight at my waist with a piece of twine. I still didn’t have proper shoes. My feet were bandaged but healing.

He handed me a mug. Steam curled up and smelled like honey and herbs.

“For sleep,” he said.

“Since when do you know about tea?” I asked, taking it.

“Since you stopped sleeping,” he said simply.

We didn’t talk for a while. Just sat there. The wind moved through the trees below and the torches along the wall flickered. Somewhere far off, a wolf howled. Not a warning. Just a song.

Ember stretched inside me, lazy and warm for the first time in years. “This is nice,” she said. “Don’t mess it up.”

“Shut up,” I told her.

Zayn’s mouth twitched. “Who are you talking to now?”

“My wolf. She has opinions.”

“About me?”

“About everything.”

He looked at me then. Golden eyes catching the moonlight. He was tired. I could see it in the way his shoulders sat. Council meetings all day. Rogues at the border. And still he came up here.

“Do you feel safe here?” he asked quietly.

The question hit me in the chest.

“I’m learning to,” I said honestly. “That’s new for me.”

He nodded like that was enough. Like he wasn’t expecting more.

And for a second, I thought maybe this could be it. Maybe I could just sit here forever. No crowns. No Jaxon. No Selene. Just tea and stars and a man who didn’t ask me to be anything but alive.

Then the horn cut through the night.

One long blast. Then two more.

Zayn was on his feet before the echo died. His whole body went sharp.

“East Gate,” he said. “That’s the border alarm.”

My stomach dropped. “What is it?”

He didn’t answer. He was already moving toward the stairs. “Stay here. I’ll—”

More footsteps. Running. A guard skidded onto the roof, out of breath.

“Alpha,” he panted. “Alpha Bloodworth is at the gate. With warriors. He’s demanding to see her. Says he’s here for his mate.”

The mug in my hand cracked. Hot tea spilled over my fingers but I didn’t feel it.

Bloodworth.

Jaxon.

My heart started pounding so hard I thought it would break my ribs. The roof tilted. The stars blurred.

I was back on the balcony. Back in the palace. Back hearing Risa! Risa! Risa!

“Raven,” Zayn said. His voice was low, careful. Like I was a wild animal. “Breathe.”

I couldn’t. My lungs weren’t working.

“Look at me,” he ordered. I did. Golden eyes. Steady. “You don’t have to go down there. I can send him away. You don’t owe him anything.”

Ember was snarling, claws out. “Don’t run. Not again.”

I swallowed. My hands were shaking. “If I hide, I’ll always be hiding.”

The words tasted like ash. “I’m coming.”

Zayn stared at me for one long second. Then he nodded. Once.

“Then we go together.”

The walk to the East Gate felt like walking to an execution.

Guards lined the walls. Torches burned. The whole park was awake. And at the center of it all, I was barefoot in a man’s shirt, no crown, no title, just me.

The gates were open.

And there he was.

Jaxon.

Standing just past the threshold with five of his warriors behind him. Still in black. Still with that storm in his eyes. He looked the same as the night he chose Risa over me. The same as the morning he slapped me.

He saw me and his expression flickered. Surprise. Anger. Something else I didn’t want to name.

“Raven,” he said. Like he was calling a dog.

Zayn stepped in front of me before I could answer. “Bloodworth. You’re on Midnight Park land.”

“I’m here for my mate,” Jaxon said, not even looking at Zayn. His eyes stayed on me. “Come home, Raven.”

Home.

That word used to mean something to me.

I stepped around Zayn. My bare feet hit the cold stone. I could feel every eye on me. The guards. The elders on the wall. Selene.

Yes. Selene.

She was up there, cream coat, arms crossed, watching like this was a play put on for her benefit.

“Don’t,” Zayn murmured under his breath. Only for me.

“I have to,” I whispered back.

I stopped three feet from Jaxon. Close enough to see the scar on his jaw. Far enough that he couldn’t touch me.

“You embarrassed both packs,” Jaxon said. His voice was tight. “Running like that. The night of your Ascension. You made me look weak.”

There it was. Not I’m sorry. Not are you hurt. You made me look weak.

Something in me went very still.

“I made you look weak?” I repeated. My voice came out quiet. Too quiet.

Jaxon’s jaw ticked. “You were supposed to be crowned Luna. My Luna. And you ran. To him.”

“To him?” A laugh tore out of me. Bitter and broken. “Jaxon, you were in bed with my cousin while I was decorating our room with roses for our anniversary.”

The warriors behind him shifted. Someone coughed.

“I never meant for Risa—”

“You meant enough to get her pregnant,” I cut him off. The words didn’t shake. They didn’t break. They just landed. “You meant enough to slap me in front of her. You meant enough to let my mother throw me out of my own room.”

I took a breath. My chest hurt.

“I was your mate for seven years, Jaxon. Seven years. And you never once stood up for me. Not to the girls who called me Delusional Luna. Not to my family. Not at the Ascension.”

I looked up at him. Really looked. The boy I had watched at the training ground. The man I’d built my whole life around.

“I don’t belong to Obsidian Moon,” I said clearly. Loud enough for the wall to hear. Loud enough for Selene to hear. “And I don’t belong to you.”

Silence.

Even the wind stopped.

Jaxon’s face went hard. “Without a pack, you’re nothing, Raven. You’ll come crawling back when he gets tired of you.”

Zayn moved then. Just one step. But the air changed. Predator air. Alpha air.

“Don’t,” Zayn said. One word. It was enough to make Jaxon’s warriors put hands on their weapons.

But I put a hand on Zayn’s arm. Stopped him.

Because this was mine.

“I’m not nothing,” I said to Jaxon. “I’m Raven. And for the first time in my life, I’m choosing where I stay.”

Jaxon stared at me. Like he didn’t recognize me. Maybe he didn’t. The girl who cried in corners was gone.

“This isn’t over,” he said finally. Then he turned. “We’re leaving.”

The heavy gates swung shut between us with a sound like a tomb closing, the iron latch dropping heavy in the dark.

Silence descended over Midnight Park. High above on the wall, Selene stood with her arms crossed, her cream coat catching the torchlight, watching us with cold, unreadable eyes.

The moment the threat vanished, the adrenaline left my blood all at once. My lungs seized, and the cold stone floor tilted beneath my bare feet. My knees gave out completely.

I didn't hit the ground. Zayn caught me, steady, warm, and instantaneous.

“I’ve got you,” he murmured, his arm solid around my waist as he pulled me upright. “Let’s get you inside.”

I looked back at the closed gates once, the white rose still crushed loosely in my fist, before letting him lead me away from the wall.