The walls of the apartment seemed too small for the storm brewing inside it.
Maya stood rigid, Lila cradled against her chest, while Damon loomed like a shadow just beyond reach. His silver eyes glinted in the dim light, restless, furious, aching.
Ana positioned herself near the door, her posture sharp and ready. Her presence was a shield, though Maya knew even Ana's courage would be no match if Damon decided to unleash his wolf.
"You need to leave," Maya said again, her voice steady despite the trembling in her hands. "Now."
Damon's jaw clenched. His gaze flicked from Maya to Lila, then back again. "She's my daughter. Do you think I can just walk away now that I know?"
"You walked away before," Maya shot back, venom in her tone. "You had your chance. You chose silence. You chose your curse. You don't get to rewrite history just because you're curious now."
His wolf snarled beneath his skin, and she saw the flicker of silver ripple through his eyes. "I didn't know, Maya," he said, voice raw. "You should have told me."
Her chest tightened, fury rising. "And what would you have done, Damon? Dragged me back into that gilded prison of a penthouse? Let the council use me? Use her? I was nothing but a contract to you."
"You were never nothing," he growled, the words ripped from his chest.
"Don't," she snapped. "Don't you dare stand there and pretend like you cared. You let me go without a fight."
Silence crashed between them, broken only by Lila's soft coo.
Maya stroked her daughter's hair, grounding herself. She wouldn't let him shake her. Not now.
"You're not taking her," Maya whispered, her voice steel.
Damon stepped forward. Ana blocked him instantly, chin raised.
"Touch her and I'll scream loud enough to bring the whole building down," Ana warned.
His eyes flicked to her, irritation flashing, but he reined himself back. He wasn't here to terrify them. Not this time.
He was here because of the child.
The next morning, Maya found a legal envelope slipped under her door.
Her stomach dropped when she opened it.
Petition for Custody.
Her hands shook as she read the words, bile rising in her throat. Damon wasn't just threatening—he was serious.
She sank onto the couch, clutching the papers as tears blurred her vision.
"Bastard," Ana muttered, pacing furiously. "He's really going to drag you into court over this?"
Maya's voice cracked. "He has money, power… everything. How do I fight that?"
Ana crouched beside her, gripping her hands. "You fight because you're her mother. Because no judge, no Alpha, no one can replace that. Do you hear me?"
Maya nodded weakly, but fear gnawed at her gut. Damon's reach was endless. If he wanted Lila, he could bend laws, bribe judges, tear down every wall she had built.
The thought of losing her daughter made her chest seize. She pressed Lila close, whispering fiercely, "I won't let him. I won't."
Damon, meanwhile, was unraveling.
He sat in his penthouse office, legal documents spread before him, but his mind wasn't on strategy. It was on the memory of the child's tiny hand reaching toward him. On the way Maya had held her, fiercely protective, as if the world would have to burn before she let go.
His wolf growled endlessly, demanding ours, ours, ours.
He had filed the papers in a moment of desperation, convinced that legal force would secure what was rightfully his. But now, staring at the polished wood of his desk, he wondered if he'd made everything worse.
Because Maya's face—God, her face when she read those words. He could imagine it. The betrayal. The fear. The hate.
He wanted her to trust him, to let him in. But all he seemed capable of was breaking her further.
Days turned into weeks.
Court hearings were scheduled. Lawyers whispered about compromises, settlements. Every step of the process was agony.
Maya stood before judges, her voice steady, her spine straight, even when her insides quaked. She told them about her daughter's daily routine, her sleepless nights, her love. Every word was laced with truth.
Damon, in his expensive suits, sat across the courtroom like a carved statue of control. But his eyes betrayed him. He didn't look at the lawyers, or the judge. He looked at Maya. Always at Maya.
And at Lila, when she was there—his expression softening, betraying a longing so deep it cracked his mask.
The court saw a man with resources, influence, the ability to provide a life of luxury. They saw a mother who had fought tooth and nail to build stability on scraps.
The battle wasn't fair.
But Maya refused to bow.
Outside the courtroom one evening, Damon caught her arm.
"Maya," he said, voice low, urgent.
She jerked away as if burned. "Don't touch me."
"I don't want to fight you like this."
"Then stop," she snapped.
"I just—" He raked a hand through his hair, frustration etched into every line of his face. "I just want to be part of her life."
Her laugh was sharp, bitter. "Now you do. Now that you've decided she matters."
"She's my blood," he growled.
"She's my heart," Maya shot back, tears stinging her eyes. "Do you understand the difference?"
Damon flinched, as if her words were blades. For a moment, his mask cracked completely, and she saw the man beneath—the one who had once looked at her like she was more than a contract.
"I made mistakes," he whispered. "I was a coward. I thought letting you go would keep you safe."
Her voice trembled, but she held his gaze. "It broke me, Damon. And I'll never let you break her."
She turned and walked away, leaving him standing there, hollow, desperate, his wolf howling inside his chest.
The war had only begun.
Maya tucked Lila into bed that night, her hands shaking, her chest aching. She pressed a kiss to her daughter's forehead and whispered, "He'll have to kill me before I let him take you."
And in another part of the city, Damon poured himself another drink, staring into the darkness, whispering to himself, "I'll burn the world down before I give up on her."
The lines were drawn.
Neither of them knew yet that the war between them was only the beginning—that love, twisted and broken as it was, still smoldered beneath the ashes.
And sooner or later, it would ignite again.