chapter 9
990 Words
Nova’s POV
The training field shimmered with heat, the late morning sun casting golden halos over the sparring circles. I stood near the edge, absently twisting the ends of the leather wraps around my hands, trying not to look across the field.
Trying not to look at him.
Max.
He hadn’t said a word to me since the party.
Not that I expected a love letter or anything, but something had changed that night—something we both felt. It was still there, humming under my skin, like lightning trapped in my veins.
And now we were sparring partners.
I watched him roll his shoulders, shirt abandoned somewhere, glistening with sweat and confidence and that annoyingly arrogant smirk. His body was cut from years of rigorous training—broad chest, powerful arms, a trail of muscle leading downward that I was definitely not looking at.
“Ready, Rosewood?” His voice broke through my thoughts like gravel on silk.
I rolled my eyes and stepped into the circle. “Don’t go easy on me, Your Highness.”
He grinned. “I never do.”
The clash was immediate. He came at me with the smooth precision of a predator, and I countered with practiced speed. The world narrowed—his breath, my heartbeat, the feel of his hands when they caught my wrist and twisted.
We moved in rhythm, our bodies pressed too close in moments too long. I hated how my stomach flipped every time his scent—smoke and pine—hit me. I hated how I noticed the warmth of his skin, the raw power in his grip.
I hated how it made me want.
Our eyes locked as I caught his elbow and threw him hard. He hit the ground and laughed.
“You’ve been holding out on me,” he said, sitting up.
“You’ve been distracting me,” I muttered.
His gaze darkened. “That’s not what I meant.”
My breath hitched. He stood, brushing dirt off his pants, and stepped closer than he should’ve. I should’ve moved. I didn’t.
“You feel it too,” he said quietly.
I couldn’t lie. “I don’t know what it is.”
But I did.
He leaned in just enough for his breath to tickle my ear. “It’s fire, Nova. You can try to ignore it, but eventually, it consumes everything.”
Before I could speak—before I could decide whether to hit him or kiss him—our instructor barked at us to rotate partners.
The spell shattered.
Max walked away with that same infuriating smirk.
And my world tilted a little more.
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Max’s POV
I needed to leave.
Not just the training grounds. Not just her. But the entire damn Academy.
News had come early that morning—urgent summons from my father. Lycan politics, a territory summit, something about unrest with rogue factions crossing borders. As heir, I had to be there.
I didn’t want to go.
Not because I cared about the politics, but because I wasn’t ready to leave her.
Nova Rosewood was under my skin, in my bones. Every part of me wanted her. And not just physically.
She haunted me.
During training, she’d moved like a storm—beautiful, brutal, untamed. Every time our bodies clashed, my restraint cracked. Her strength thrilled me. Her defiance challenged me. Her nearness wrecked me.
And yet, when I looked at her, all I saw was the weight she didn’t show. That secret pain. That loneliness she carried so quietly.
I wanted to learn every part of her.
Instead, I had to walk away.
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Nova’s POV – That Night
The call came late.
Elara and I were in our dorm when the alarm sounded—a long, haunting wail that signaled danger beyond the school’s borders.
I didn’t expect it to be personal.
When the headmistress found me, she looked pale. Tight-lipped. She handed me the message in silence.
My knees gave out before I finished reading.
There had been an attack. My mother—Luna Rachel—was caught in the ambush. My father survived, barely. The healers did all they could.
She was gone.
My world shattered.
Everything fell away—the Academy, the sparring match, Max’s heated words, all of it.
The only mother I’d ever known… gone.
I screamed.
Elara held me for hours, rocking me as the grief ripped through me like claws. I had no breath, no ground, no stars.
Just darkness.
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Max’s POV – Days Later
I found out three days after I left.
The letter was short—formal. Informing the royal family that the Rosewood Luna had fallen in an ambush. That Nova was in mourning. That the Alpha was in seclusion.
I dropped the scroll.
Something in me howled.
Maze growled inside me, wild and furious. We should be there. But we weren’t. I had failed her.
I should’ve told her I was leaving.
I should’ve been there.
I should’ve said goodbye.
Now she was grieving and I wasn’t there to hold her, to stand beside her, to burn the world down for what it took from her.
And I hated it.
More than that—
I missed her.
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Nova’s POV – One Week Later
The world had dulled to greys and cold silence.
I didn’t speak much. I went through motions. My body trained. My lips smiled. My feet moved.
But my heart was ashes.
Even the dreams stopped. No more voices. No more stars. No more haunting sense of destiny.
Just emptiness.
I didn’t cry anymore.
I didn’t feel.
Until I opened my door one morning and saw it—tucked beneath the mat. A simple white flower. Moon-kissed. Wrapped in black silk.
No note.
But I knew who sent it.
And suddenly, I felt something again.
Something hot and burning in my chest.
Because Max might’ve been gone…
But he hadn’t forgotten me.
- Writer
