Chapter 8 Scars Speak Louder

Layla's POV

The iron door creaked open with a shudder, and light spilled into the basement like a blade. I flinched, covering my eyes as the guard stepped away. Behind him stood Grayson, arms folded, face hard as stone.

"You're free," he said simply. I blinked.

"Why?"

"Because I vouched for you. And because Ivy wouldn't shut up about it." Relief mixed with confusion and distrust. "And Marcus just listened to you?"

"No," Grayson said. He hated every second of it. But Elias Thorn, arriving at our border with no notice, gave him bigger things to think about. I frowned. "Elias is here?"

Grayson's jaw tightened. Watch your back, Layla. This pack is changing. You either stay ahead of it... or get swallowed whole. With that, he turned and walked away.

I stepped into the sun. The warmth should have felt comfortable. It didn't. It felt like the light was accusing me of living, like it wanted to know what I was going to do with this second chance.

I didn't have an answer. Not yet.

Later that day, I found Celeste near the council tower. She didn't see me at first; her voice was low and sharp. But I heard her.

keep the pressure on Marcus. She needs to stay beneath us. If she gets to claim anything, it all falls apart. She was speaking to someone... I leaned in, my lips curled with anger. And then I saw who.

Elias Thorn. He was tall and beautiful, in that smug, careless way. A crooked scar cut across his right cheek, as if someone had tried to erase him and failed.

He saw me, smirked, and winked. "Ah, the mystery girl," he said loudly, stepping toward me like we were old friends. "Did you enjoy the cage?"

My spine stiffened. "What are you doing here?"

He shrugged, sauntering closer. Celeste scowled and disappeared around the corner.

"To watch the fall," he answered, his voice light. Things are breaking, I like being around when people lose power. It's educational.

I didn't move. "You sent the letter."

"Guilty."

"Why?"

Because you're interested. And I like interesting things. Besides... He leaned in, his voice a whisper. "We both know Marcus has been keeping secrets."

He pulled back and winked again, then walked away without waiting for a reaction.

My hands clenched at my sides. Everything was falling, and somehow, I was at the center of it.

I found the training ring empty except for Celeste and Kade. Though I didn't mean to listen, their words sounded too loud to ignore.

"You don't get to care about her," Celeste snapped, her blonde hair whipping over her shoulder as she turned on him.

"I do care," Kade growled. "You rejected her," she spat. "You chose me."

"I never chose you," he said, his voice lower now, deadly. I was forced to pick a future that protected this pack. But I never wanted this.

A long pause.

I stood frozen just outside the ring's edge, hidden by the shadows of the trees. Kade's face was tight and painful. Celeste was breathing hard, her face wounded... but not weak. Manipulative.

She moved closer to him, her hand touching his arm. "Then make your choice now."

"I already did," he said. "Stay away from Layla."

The words hit like a wave. I turned and walked away before I could hear anymore.

I didn't want to know if she answered. I didn't want to know if he stayed.

My heart still ached, but I wouldn't bleed for him again.

That night, Ivy found me by the fire. I hadn't eaten all day. My body was sore from training, my chest hollow from too many unsaid feelings.

I sat curled on the bench, knees pulled to my chest, chin resting on them.

Ivy sat beside me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders without a word.

It was the quiet relief of someone who didn't need to be told I was breaking.

"Why does it still hurt?" I asked her after a while, my voice small.

She rubbed my back. "Because you loved him."

I closed my eyes.

"But love doesn't mean weakness," she added. It means you had something worth feeling. That's brave, Layla."

"I don't want to love him anymore."

"You won't," she said gently. Not like before, but the scars will stay.

And sometimes... they whisper. I turned to look at her. "What do you say?"

Her eyes reddened, but she smiled. "Mine say I survived."

Later, I walked out into the woods.

The air was cool. The stars were starting to cut the sky like tiny wounds. The moon hung just over the treetops... waning, but watching.

I stood on the hill behind the packhouse-the same one my mother used to sit on when I was small. The same place I dreamed of flying away from. But I didn't want to run anymore.

I wanted to rise. I took a breath. My chest grew; my ribs were sore but strong. The bruises on my arms were already disappearing. My wolf stirred beneath my skin-watchful, protective.

"I don't care if they whisper," I said to the trees. "I don't care if they doubt me."

I lifted my chin toward the moon.

"My name is Layla Blackthorn." The words rang out like a promise. "And I will not be invisible anymore."

The trees didn't answer, but I felt them stop, as if they were listening. Like the world was holding its breath.

The next day, I found out that Celeste had called for an official challenge. That she wanted me to cast out as a threat to the pack.

That Marcus was considering the idea.

That Kade was dead, but none of that mattered yet. Because at that moment, under the stars, I realized something frightening and true:

I had power, not the kind you're given, but the kind you bleed for and the kind they can't take away. And no one-not Marcus, not Celeste, not even Kade-was going to bury me again.

Not without a fight.