Chapter 101
JESSICA
The table’s too fucking small for four of us. Pierce’s elbow keeps brushing mine, and every time it does my wolf twitches, half wanting to snap at him, half wanting to lean in.
The stew’s hot enough to burn my tongue but I keep eating anyway. Better to feel something than sit here counting the ways we’re all fucked. Theo’s across from me, spoon clinking slow, lazy, eyes on me like he’s picturing shit he used to threaten me with
Pierce clears his throat. “Eat,” he mutters, low, almost a growl. He was the one who suggested we all try to breathe the same air. “I cooked for everyone. Now, I want all of you to give me atleast a little amount of peace.”
“Miss the good old days, Jess?” he murmurs, voice soft enough the other two almost don’t catch it.
My spoon clatters against the bowl.
Grayson’s head snaps up. His jaw flexes like he wants to put Theo through the fucking wall.
“Shut your mouth,” Pierce grates, voice so cold it makes the hair on my neck lift.
I breathe out slow.
This is really not a good idea.
Theo leans back, wood creaking under him, still smiling that ugly little smile. “We’re all rogues now, sweetheart,” he says softly, like it’s a love song.
“Doesn’t matter who fucked who over, does it?”
My wolf snarls so loud in my head it makes my ears ring. One second I’m across the table–next, I’m on him. My hand fists his collar, slams him into the
wall so hard the beams shudder.
“You think I forgot what you fucking did?” I spit the words, voice shaking, breath coming ragged, chest heaving so hard it hurts. “Let’s kill him,” I said, looking at Grayson who had that same forlorn look on his face.
Theo’s grin twitches. Then it dies. His nostrils flare, eyes flicker down my neck, then snap to Grayson, sharp and vicious. “You fucking idiot,” Theo breathes, voice gone hoarse. His gaze cuts between us, wild, something ugly crawling across his face. “You imprinted her?”
Grayson’s snarl rips the air. “What the fuck did you just say?” His chest heaves, shoulders bunch, veins tight at his neck like he’s two seconds from breaking Theo’s jaw.
“I can smell it, Grayson,” he spits, words sharp as claws. “Your fucking claim–half–formed, crawling all over her skin. Don’t fucking lie to me.”
My wolf lunges against my ribs, snarl ripping my throat raw–But it curdles halfway up, claws snagging on something cold and ugly in my chest. “I’m what?” I rasp, voice cracking on the edges.
Grayson’s eyes cut to me–wide, dark, wrong kind of fear twisting there. “I didn’t fucking do it,” he snarls, voice shaking, rough, like it hurts to even say it.. “Jess, I swear to fucking god–I didn’t imprint you!!
“Then who the fuck did, Alpha?” he rasps, eyes flicking between us, hungry for the ruin. “Because from where I am standing she’s imprinted.”
“I’m imprinted?” I snarl again, but it comes out broken, shock rotting the fury at the edges.
“Jess let’s not jump into conclusion=”
But it’s too fucking late. Half–bonded? To who? My vision blurs at the edges, sweat rolling down my back, breath catching so sharp my ribs ache,
“Grayson?” My voice shreds on his name, barely more than a rasp. My hand fists at my side, nails biting skin. “What the fuck is he talking about?”
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09:42 Tue, 26 Aug
Chapter 101
Grayson’s chest heaves, veins standing out at his neck, jaw so tight I hear his teeth grind. “Jess-”
No.
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No. This is fucking insane.
My thoughts snarl over each other, messy, ugly, tripping in panic.
I’ve never felt it. Never felt the mark crawl under my skin, never felt that bone–deep snap they all fucking talk about.
It couldn’t be-
Realization hits like a fist in the gut–hot, sour, twisting.
It couldn’t be him.
It couldn’t be Riot.
My wolf lunges at the thought, claws raking my insides, a vicious, terrified snarl tearing at my chest.
Grayson moves, boots scuffing the boards. His hand catches my arm–hot, rough, grounding. “Jess,” he says, voice low, shaking, like he’s trying to pull me back from the edge.
I jerk at the contact, breath snagging, chest squeezing so tight I can’t pull in air. His thumb drags over my skin, slow, desperate, like he’s trying to tether
- me.
“Look at me,” Grayson growls, closer now, heat of his body pressing into my side. “Fucking look at me,
Fuck. Fuck, I can’t breathe.
Jess.”
Grayson’s heat crowds my side, bigger, heavier, wolf coiled just under his skin but I don’t his touch. I can feel my bones cracking and I’m too second away from losing it when I hear a loud growl.
“Jessica!”
I force my head up–vision shaking, sweat stinging my lashes-
And there he is.
Grayson’s eyes, blown wide, rimmed in red–Alpha burn glowing molten under his skin. Rage and fear snarling together, wolf so close it’s leaking through every ragged breath he takes.
Fuck, fuck, what is happening to me?
My nails bite so deep into my palm I feel skin break, wet warmth spreading across my lifeline.
Grayson’s hand slides up my arm, rough heat burning through cloth and skin and bone. “Breathe with me, Jess,” he rasps, voice frayed, eyes locked on mine like he’s drowning too. “In–out–fuck, look at me.”
My wolf claws at my insides, half–crazed, half–terrified.
She wants to snap at him. Wants to curl up in his heat. Wants to tear out her own goddamn heart to see what’s missing.
“Eyes on me, baby,” Grayson bites out, words so low and ruined it scrapes across my skin.
His forehead almost touches mine, breath hot, chest heaving.
I see sweat drip down the cut of his throat, pulse hammering so hard it makes his voice catch.
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Chapter 101
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Around us, the room feels too fucking small, walls breathing with us, floorboards creaking under the weight of too many wolves trying not to lose it.
I suck in air that tastes of sweat, fear, and the copper tang of my own blood–and for a heartbeat, it almost feels like enough. Almost.
“Why?” The word snaps out, raw, ugly, half–choked on spit and panic. “Why can’t I feel it, Grayson? Why the fuck can’t I feel you?”
My vision swims, sweat slicking my lashes, heartbeat punching at my throat. His thumb scrapes my jaw, rough and shaking.
“I don’t know,” he snarls, voice cracking like he hates it. “Fuck, Jess, I’d give anything to know.”
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Pierce shifts behind me–boots dragging, a low rumble in his chest, wolf restless, scent sharp like burned pine. “Easy, Jess,” he mutters, low and rough,
but he doesn’t touch me.
“During… my first heat,” I rasp, words tearing up my throat like glass. My gaze drags up, catches on Grayson’s mouth, the sharp cut of his cheekbone, the vein jumping in his neck–feral, burning, barely fucking holding on. “I let…” My chest stutters on the words, lungs refusing to work, sweat trickling down my spine, soaking the back of my shirt. “I let Riot touch me.”
His pupils blow, black swallowing out the red, chest jerking like I’d slammed a fist into it. “When?” he bites out, voice gone to gravel, breath hitting my lips in short, savage bursts. “During the heat?”
My throat locks, tongue thick, heart stumbling. “I didn’t know,” I gasp, the words tumbling raw and ugly. “I just… wanted it to stop. I thought it was just… fuck, Grayson, I didn’t know it meant anything.”
Pierce curses under his breath, a sharp, ugly sound–he drags a hand over his mouth, knuckles white, nostrils flaring, wolf scent spiking sharp and acid.
“I let him touch me,” I whisper again, voice shredding smaller, body trembling so bad my knees knock, sweat stinging my lashes. My wolf paces in my chest, claws scraping bone, ears pinned, tail low–ashamed, furious, fucking confused.
“Jess,” Grayson snarls, voice cracking on my name like it hurts. His forehead crashes against mine, breath punching out of both of us. “Fuck–fuck–baby, look at me,” his thumb jerks up to my jaw, rough, desperate, almost bruising. “Tell me what he did.”
My lips part, lungs wheezing air that tastes of salt and blood and him. “I let him touch me,” I say again, voice gone ragged, heat crawling up my neck. “Is that why I can’t feel you?”
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09:42 Tue, 26 Aug
Chapter 102
