Chapter 212
JESSICA
“Having fun down here?”
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Grayson shifted, taking my lips and sucking the breath out of me. My hands quickly grab his shirt to stop him, but he withdraws just as fast, eyes locking behind me.
“You must be Cid.”
What in the hell does he think he’s doing?
“So you’ve heard of me.”
I frown, watching the two men exchange terrifying looks.
Lots of the other wolves are already watching, maybe wondering why a stranger is putting up this kind of attitude with their respectable member.
Grayson bent low, fingers closing around a blade left on the rack. The sound of steel sang as he lifted it–then with a flick of his wrist, he tossed another across the floor.
It clattered at Cid’s feet.
“You know how to use this?” Grayson’s voice was cool, deadly. “Your alpha wants to assess my skills.”
A ripple went through the crowd.
Cid smirked. He bent, picked up the blade, and tested its weight like it was an extension of his arm.
“You need a weapon to prove your skill?”
The sudden insult itched Grayson’s throat. He swallowed hard, jaw flexing, eyes never leaving Cid’s.
“It’s not for me,” he said, cracking his neck, rolling his shoulders in a slow stretch. “It’s a consideration for you.”
Gasps rippled through the wolves around us, a low murmur of disbelief and excitement. Nobody talked to Cid that way.
Cid’s smirk twitched, the kind that meant trouble. He angled the blade down, pointing it lazily toward the ground, though his eyes burned with violence.
“I want a prize.”
My stomach dropped.
Cid tilted his chin in my direction, the motion subtle but clear. “Her.”
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Chapter 212
The murmurs in the crowd surged louder.
:
I watched how Grayson’s body went rigid, protective fury radiating off him in waves.
“I’m not going to bet my mate.”
“Fights without stakes are just training, strangers. And I don’t waste my time training the weak.”
The crowd howled their approval, stamping their feet, urging Grayson to take the bait.
Grayson’s jaw clenched. He looked at me–not the crowd, not Cid–me.
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I didn’t know what Cid was doing, only that every word was bait, sharpened to lure him in. He didn’t want me -he wanted to break Grayson. The realization settled cold in my chest, and strangely… it comforted me.
“Just a night,” Cid said. “You win, she stays untouched. You lose, she’s mine until dawn.”
Kirill moves behind me. His fingers slightly graze my arm. “He’s bluffing,” he murmurs, fingers tapping slowly on my skin. “Nod for Grayson.”
He wants me to do what?
Kirill’s mouth tilts at my ear. “Do it, little wolf. Let him fight for you.”
My pulse skitters, throat dry. Grayson stares at me like I’m the only thing in the world.
Kirill is like a devil whispering in my ears. “One little nod, and he’ll kill for you. Doesn’t that thrill you?”
My heart hammers, beating a wild tat against my ribs. This is insane–so insane–and yet I feel myself nodding.
Grayson’s eyes snap on me, dark, hungry. His whole body goes rigid, blade rising, like that tiny nod just lit
him on fire.
The crowd loses it, howls ripping the air.
“Good girl,” Kirill praised before I felt him step back and melt into the crowd.
Heat floods me, sharp and wrong.
Grayson and Cid step toward the center of The Cradle.
I’ve seen Grayson fight before–warriors, betas, omegas, even alphas. Always brutal. Always merciless.
But never like this.
Never for me.
“Does it excite you?”
I froze, lungs locked tight, hardly daring to breathe. You’ve been listening all this time?
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Chapter 212
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A soft laugh, inside, under my skin. Always. You think I sleep while he looks at you like that? While another man touches you?
Heat prickled down my spine, sharp, wrong, dizzying.
Out in the circle, Grayson and Cid squared off, blades glinting, but all I could hear was her–my wolf- purring, hungry.
So tell me, Jess… does it thrill you, knowing he’s about to spill blood for us?
It’s just like the old times… when we were hunted, when they wanted us broken.
My throat goes dry. Shut up.
She only purrs louder. You love it. The danger. The eyes. One man fighting, the other whispering at your skin. Your mate raging, your alpha circling.
Stop it, I snap back at her inside my head, but it comes out like a gasp.
Why haven’t you told anyone, Jess?
My stomach twists. Told them what?
That you remember.
Her laugh is low, cruel, intimate. The moon goddess whispered it to you. It’s not just Grayson. You have other
mates.
–
My breath catches; the noise of the fight blurs. Sparks of steel, growls, boots on stone all of it dull next to her voice sliding inside me.
You act like you’re his. Only his. But you’re not. You never were. You’re tied to more than one, Jess. And you know it.
“No…” The word leaks from my lips before I can stop it.
Yes, she purrs. You feel it. That pull. That hunger. Grayson fights because he thinks he owns you. Kirill touches you because part of you already belongs. And there will be more. You’re theirs. All of theirs.
My pulse hammers, wild and dirty.
Out in the circle, Grayson roars, blade flashing, but her voice keeps curling around my throat, dark, hungry.
You remember everything, little wolf. Stop pretending.
“No…” My whisper trembles.
Yes. The purr turns sharp, almost a growl now. You’ve heard her, Jess. You’ve heard the goddess and you’ve heard me. Stop pretending you don’t.
My throat closes. “I-”
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Chapter 212
I stagger back a step, the noise of steel and shouts blurring.
You’ve been marked, little wolf.
A gasp tears through the crowd.
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I whip my head toward the circle just in time to see Grayson hit the ground, blood streaking down his jaw, his sword skittering across the floor.
Cid stands over him, blade poised, eyes wild with victory.
My wolf purrs, slow and cruel in my head. Now watch what happens when your mate loses.
And then Cid’s gaze lifts, his smile finding me in the crowd, and I know he just won me.
