Chapter 108 Hallow
Malia’s POV
I close my fingers around Cian's hand.
His hold was tight and constant, carrying me up the road with a power that was not reminiscent of pity. Just support. Just present.
The crowd is still watching. Phones are still recording. But Cian puts his arm in front of me and them, his body a barrier, and moves out. I follow because I have no other orders to go on.
We don’t speak. Without saying a word, we just walked.
Away from the quad. Away from the students who stare, and whisper their judgements. Away from the place where Aiden picked Lydia over me, chose her lies over my truth.
My vision starts to get cloudy with new tears but I force them away. Force myself to keep moving, one step at a time, Cian’s hand still in mine like an anchor.
He took us across the campus, through and past a few buildings I didn’t really look at until we arrived at the outdoor basketball court.
No one is here at this hour. Only the wind blowing through the chain link fence and the sound of cars far away.
Cian finally lets go of my hand and motions toward the bleachers. "Sit?"
I nod, climbing to the second row and slumping down on the cold metal. My legs are shaking. Everything’s shaking.
Cian sits next to me—close enough I could reach out and touch, but not touching, he’s giving me space while also simply being present. He doesn’t speak. Just sit with me as I try to remember how to breathe like a normal person.
My hair cascades down in a curtain over my face, shielding me from the harsh light of day. Or so I want to. Like if I can’t see anything, then nothing can see me.
"I'm sorry," Cian says at last, his voice low. “For everything. For not being there for you. For—” He stops. “For what Aiden just did.”
Hearing Aiden's name again sends another stab of pain through my chest. I fold my arms over my chest and try to hold on to whatever I am.
“He didn’t believe me,” I whisper. “I didn’t even do anything—not really—and he just—he believed her.”
“I know."
"He hugged her, Cian. Right in front of me. Like she was the victim and I was—" My voice breaks. “Like I was the monster.”
"You're not a monster."
“Aren’t I?” I look at him for the first time and my vision is swimming. “I hurt Victoria. I pushed Lydia. I can’t control whatever this is inside me. Maybe they’re all right. Maybe I am dangerous.”
“You’re not—”
“I threw someone into a wall!” The words explode from my mouth, louder than I intend. “Hard enough to crack concrete. With one punch. That’s not normal. That’s not even normal for an alpha. So what does that make me?”
Cian is silent for a long moment. When he speaks his voice is cautious. “You’re going through a lot, which none of us really get. Something none of us understand yet. But that doesn’t make you a monster.”
“Aiden thinks I am.”
"Aiden's—" His jaw tightens as he cuts himself off. "Aiden made a bad mistake. A very bad. But he's scared, Malia. So are we. The things that are happening to you — the electrical charges, the transformations — they’re not normal and he doesn’t know what to do with that."
"So he deals with it by choosing Lydia?" I’m flooded with bitterness in my voice. "As if she can just walk away with him as if I’m the problem?"
"I'm not trying to excuse what he did." Cian's tone is resolute. "That asshole screwed up! Bad. And I’ll tell him so. But—" He pauses. "You have to understand, he's on edge with his alpha. When you pushed him, when you challenged him — even accidentally — it triggered something. And he’s working so hard not to use his power on you, not to overpower you, that sometimes he goes too far in the other direction.”
"By comforting my enemy instead?" he asks.
"By withdrawing from a situation in which his control was slipping." Cian runs a hand through his hair. "Not that that makes it right. I’m just—trying to put it in perspective, that’s all.”
I do not want explanations. Don’t want to understand. I just wish the image of Aiden’s arms wrapped around Lydia would stop playing in my mind.
“The whole school saw,” I say quietly. “Saw him choose her. Saw me break down like some—" I can't finish the sentence.
“Screw the school.” An edge I rarely hear in Cian’s voice which carries is evident and adds more weight to his words. “Screw their opinions. Screw their judgments.” They don’t know you. They don’t know what you have.”
"Maybe they know more than I do." I curl up, pulling my knees up to my chest. "Because I don't know what kind of shitstorm I'm in for, Cian. I don't know what's going on with me. Every day it gets worse. The power, the visions, the nightmares leaking out into real life. And now I'm losing everyone because of it."
"You're not losing everyone."
"I lost Aiden today."
"No you didn't." His hand finds mine again. "He's a moron who made the wrong decision in a high-pressure situation. But he loves you. That doesn't just go away."
I want to believe him. But the image of Aiden strolling off with Lydia, hand in hand, is too recent. Too raw.
"I can't do this anymore" I whisper. "Can't keep fighting. Can't keep pretending I'm okay when everything's collapsing."
"Then stop pretending." Cian shifts closer. "Stop trying to be okay. Just—be what you are right now. Hurt. Angry. Scared. Whatever. But you don't need to do that for anyone."
He lifts my chin with his fingers so we lock eyes and I could swear the earth stop rotating…
Chapter : When My Heart Felt Raw
Malia's POV
Something about his words shatters the last of my composure. I turn into him, pressing the side of my face into his shoulder, and now at last I allow myself to break fully. The sobs comes fierce and unadulterated, rattling my entire body. Hours of tears withheld, pain swallowed, strength clung to desperately—it’s all coming out at once.
Cian wraps his arms around me immediately, pulling me close.
"I’ve got you," he murmurs. "Let it out. I've got you."
I sob until my throat is raw, and my eyes hurt and I am empty. Cry for the girl I was on that island, and how whole she felt, how much she wanted. Cry for the relationship that's falling apart in front of me. Cry for the future I thought we'd have that's vanishing like fog.
Cry for myself, idiotic and terrified of what I’m becoming, neglected and transforming. After the sobbing slows I remain pressed up against Cian’s chest, heart beating, hearing his heart beating, catching the rhythm of his breathing. Alone in his presence.
“I don’t know what to do,” I admit, my voice rough. I don’t know how to fix this.”
“Maybe you can’t fix it.” His hand glides in lazy circles across the small of my back. “Maybe you just survive it. One day at a time.”
He pulls back just enough to see my face, thumb clearing away tears I didn’t know were still falling.
“You don’t have to have all the answers, Malia. You don’t need to be strong all the time. You just have to keep breathing. Keep existing. Let those who love you help to carry the weight.”
“What if I hurt you too?” The fear I’ve been feeling since Victoria, since the glowing hands, since… everything started falling apart. “What if I go all –”
“You won’t if I have anything to do with it.”
“You can't know that.”
“I know you.” His grey eyes locked with mine with perfect certainty. “I know your heart. And no matter what’s happening to your body, to your powers, that doesn’t change. You’re still you in here.” He places his hand on my chest, right over my heart. “Still the girl who cares too much. Who fights for people who don’t have people to fight for them. Who loves with all her heart, even when it hurts.”
Fresh tears spill over. "I don’t feel like her anymore.”
“Because you’re in pain. Because you’re going through something impossible. But she’s still there.” His hand stays over my heart. “I can feel her. Right here.”
I place my hand over his, holding it more firmly against my chest. “I’m so tired, Cian.”
"I know."
"I'm so scared."
“I know that too.” He leans forward, pressing his forehead to mine. “But you’re not alone. Whatever happens next, whatever this power thing is, whatever Aiden does, whatever the school says, you’re not going to face it alone.”
The words settle over me like a blanket. Not fixing anything. Not making the pain disappear. But offering something I desperately need, presence. Witness. Someone willing to sit in the dark with me instead of telling me to find the light.
We stay like that for a long moment, foreheads together, breathing in time.
Then something shifts. The air between us changes. Charged.Cian draws back, his eyes searching mine. "Malia—"
I don’t let him finish.
I close the space between us and kiss him.
It's not our first kiss in the garden, not timid or gentle or seeking consent. This is panic. Craving. Warming itself in the only heat that makes sense at the moment.
For half a second Cian is still. Then he kisses me back with equal urgency, his face in one hand, the other drawing me closer.
His lips grind against mine with a hunger that matches my own. No pause. No need to hold him back. Just this moment, this touch, this confirmation that someone still wants me even when I'm coming down.
My hands are balled into fists in his shirt. His fingers run through my hair. We kiss like we’re drowning and each other is air.
Somewhere in the logical part of me, I realize this is the wrong thing to do, especially not here. I know I’m putting Cian in as a bandage for Aiden-shaped holes. Know it’s going to make everything even more complicated.
But I just can’t make myself care.
Not when his arms are the feeling of safe. Not when his kiss tastes like acceptance. Not when the only thing that helps the pain stop, even just a little, is being near him.
Finally, we're torn apart, both panting. His forehead bakes against mine, eyes closed, his hand still cradling my face.
"Malia" he whispers. “We shouldn’t—we’re not—
“I know.” My voice is hoarse."I know, but I just needed—"
“I know.” He kisses me again, but this time, much more gently. “I know.”
We lie intertwined on the bleachers as the sun sets lower and lower, dyeing the sky with orange and pink. No chatting. Just closeness, just presence, just enough for one another in this fractured moment.
—-----
What we don't see:
Beretta is behind the chain link fence, half inside the equipment shed. Forever on the hunt for windows of opportunity.
She already has phone in hand, camera pointed at the bleachers. Cian and Malia are hugging. The kiss that looks so damning from this angle—panic, desperation, and more than just friendly comfort.
She takes three pictures. Four, five.
Ensuring she gets that perfect shot. The one that stings the most. One that ends whatever remains.
She covers her mouth — not in shock, but in order to stifle the gleeful laughter trying to slip out.
This would be worse than this is.
Better than anything Lydia could've dreamed.
The double-duty scholarship girl, that was seen making out with her boyfriend’s brother, just hours after inciting a public scandal by attacking Lydia.
The photos will go viral. Could reinforce every awful thing that people arealready saying. Prove the lack of stability.
It’s going to break Aiden’s heart.
Will completely sever the relationship. Beretta backs away silently, phone clutched in her hand like treasure, already composing the message to Lydia:
You’ll want to see this.
She turns and disappear around the building, leaving Malia and Cian entwined in their blind moment.
They just have to deal with what’s coming, which they don’t yet know. And the proof of their mistake, riding now through digital networks.
Already spreading…