“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 theirwariness 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.
