Chapter 40 Brother’s War
Malia's POV
I need some air.
When I ran from the greenhouse, from Rowan’s confession and Aiden’s ultimatum, I find myself at the athletics field, a vast expanses behind the main buildings where students train and practice shifting.
There’s nothing there now, just grass and goal posts and blessed silence. I drop down on the bleachers and press my face to my hands.
How did it all come crashing down so fast?
Two days ago, I was happy. Aiden took me on a perfect date. We kissed beneath the stars. He called me his.
But the connection doesn’t go that way.
It won’t let me pick just one when it has tied me to three. I’m still sitting there, trying to stop crying and catch my breath when I hear footsteps.
I look up, but I hope it’s July or Freddy.
It's Rowan.
He appears rough—hair messy, eyes red-rimmed as he’s been crying too. The greenhouse confrontation is etched all over his face.
“Malia,” he says softly. “I'm so sorry. I shouldn’t have—I never should have kissed you without your permission. Not when you’re with Aiden. That wasn’t fair."
"Rowan—"
“No, let me say this.” He pulls up a chair, leaving a little space between us. "I was selfish. Desperate. I saw you slipping away, and I panicked. But that doesn't excuse what I did."
“The connection makes everything difficult,” I whisper. “You’re not the only one. I feel the same way—like I’m being tugged toward you all—”
It’s too much for me to say, so I trail off.
“But you chose Aiden.” His tone is laden with resignation. “And I have to respect that, but I just can’t. I am, but you’re not going to hear me say that I can’t let you go, I’m just not going to say it even though it’s tearing me apart.”
Fresh tears spill down my cheeks.
"I'll be here. Be your friend, always be your friend. But I can’t –“ His voice breaks. “I can’t keep wishing for more when you’ve already given your heart to someone else.”
He reaches out like he might touch my hand, then thinks better of it.
“I just wanted you to know I’m sorry. For making things more confusing. For helping you feel torn. For—”
“I told you to stay away from her.”
My heart leap. Tears streaming down my face, From some twenty-odd feet away, Aiden is seething.
His blue eyes are ice, then he turns to look at Rowan, who is sitting too close to me.
“Aiden,” I stand quickly. “This isn’t—”
“Isn't what?” He strides forward, controlled rage in his every movement. "After he kissed you, isn’t you and my brother having a private conversation? After he spilled his love?"
"I was apologizing," Rowan says, standing as well. "Trying to fix things—"
"Alone with her? Sitting near enough to under her?" Aiden's voice drops to a dangerously low level. "That’s not apologizing. That’s staking a claim you have no right to."
"I have every right to!" Rowan own anger flares up again. "The bond binds me to her as much as it binds you!"
"The bond is no excuse to disrespect the boundaries!"
Students begin to congregate now—lured by raised voices, by the sight of the Moonfall brothers shouting at one another in the open air.
Phones come out, recording. Always recording.
"Stop," I beg as I step between them. "Both of you, please. People are watching—"
"Let them watch," Aiden growls, not looking away from Rowan. "I want everyone to know what my brother is. A snake, and a snake who lost."
"Lost?" Rowan laughs bitterly. "This is not a contest—"
"For us everything is a competition! It's always been like this!" Aiden's composure begins to crumble. “And for once, for ONCE I won. I won something you wanted, and you can’t handle it!”
"This is not what it's about!"
"Then what is it about? Tell me!"
"It's about the fact that you're so preoccupied with owning her that you're making it impossible for her to breathe!" Rowan yells. "She’s not a piece of property, Aiden! She’s not a trophy! She’s a human being who should be able to live her life and make her own decisions!"
"She made her choice! She chose ME!"
"Did she? Or did you just arrive first and now you’re going to hold everybody else at bay?"
Aiden moves so fast I barely see it.
One second they're shouting. Then, his fist meets Rowan's jaw. The sound carries across the field like a gunshot. Rowan staggers back, his lip blooming with blood at the mouth corner.
The crowd is silent.
“Aiden, no!” I shout.
But it's too late. Rowan regains his feet and charges at Aiden. They collide with savage force, both briefly staggering backward before meeting again. This is not like their practice sparring. This is real.
Both brothers have finally allowed years of resentment to explode. Rowan's fist slams into the ribs of Aiden. Aiden counters with an uppercut that whips Rowan's head back.
Blood sprays. They grapple, trading blows, neither willing to give up.
“STOP!” I try to intervene, but they shoo me away.
July appears out of the crowd, clutching me firmly. “Don't! You'll get hurt!”
“But they’re going to die at each other’s hands!”
The fight grows quieter.
Aiden gets Rowan in a headlock. Rowan escapes with an elbow into Aiden's stomach. Now they're iddling both fittings are claws are coming out, eyes are emitting light growls.
Furniture from the surrounding training rooms is overturned. Gear scatters.
The circle widens as the audience swells around them. Phones are everywhere, recording every hiccup of brutality.
"Someone stop them!" I cry, twisting in July's grasp.
But no one moves, everybody just looks. Witnesses to the drama.
When the Moonfall heirs devastate one another.
Rowan pins Aiden to the ground, fist raised.
But Aiden flips them, flipping the situation.
His claws rake down Rowan's shoulders, Rowan's shirt is soaked with blood.
The students crouch, still recording, still whispering unwillingly.
The guards haul the two brothers away.
As they drag me past, I catch Aiden's eye.
The rage has drained from his face, and now there is something worse there.
Disappointment…hurt. As if this was all somehow my fault. Then he's gone.
Rowan doesn't even glance at me.
Just let's himself be kidnapped, blood dripping onto the grass.
The field quickly empties, until it’s only me, July, and Freddy — who showed up in the chaos.
And the stares.
So many stares, hateful, judgmental, blaming.
"It’s all her fault," someone mutters loud enough to be heard.
"Playing them off against each other."
"Look at her, hybrid trash."
"She's ruining them."
The words strike like physical blows.
“Ignore them,” July says fiercely, still holding me. “They don’t know what they’re talking about.”
But they're not entirely wrong, are they?
Those brothers were fine before me, the fact that they’re arguing now is because of me.
“I need to go,” I whisper.
“Malia —”
“Please. I just — I need to be alone.”
July hesitates then nods. “Okay, Malia.”
I turn and walk away on trembling legs, conscious of every gaze following me. Every whispered conversation.
Every disgusted look. The hybrid that came to Mooncrest and annihilated the Moonfall brothers.
That’s what they’ll say.
That’s what they already believe, and maybe they're right. Maybe I am destroying them.
Maybe everyone would be better if I had never in my life ever come here at all.