GRAYSON
I smell rot.
Moss, old blood, mildew crawling through bark. No wolves. And that tells me exactly what I need to know, there’s nothing here so it’s either Pierce is fucking with me or he’s….betraying me.
That last thought made a fucking snap inside me.
He’s ahead of me again, saying something. I don’t hear it. I’m already inside the spiral. Already halfway gone.
I’ve known him since I was young. Since blood meant brothers and secrets meant loyalty. Since we took our first shifts and swore on bone that no matter what happened, we’d never turn on each other. We used to bury our kills together. We used to run the ridge and mark the trees. He stood beside me when I bled for this pack.
And now we’re walking into corpse territory and he expects me not to notice the silence?
I pick up speed.
I shove past a low branch and let it snap behind me. Pierce will never betray me. What the fuck was I thinking?
“You okay?” Pierce asks without turning.
I should laugh.
I don’t. I just say, “You better be right about this pack.”
“They’ll help.”
“You ever think maybe Riot’s not the only one who knows how to set a trap?” I say it slow. Heavy.
Pierce turns.
That’s the first time he’s looked me in the face in ten minutes. His brows lift. Calm. But I see the flicker. Just a second too long before he speaks.
“You think I’d lead you into one?”
1 stare at him.
I don’t blink.
“You’ve done worse.”
I watch his throat shift as he swallows, as he forces his expression back into that neutral, too–fucking–smooth blank he thinks I can’t see through,
But I do. I always fucking do.
He used to tell me no one could read him. Not even his mother. Not the alphas he served before me. Not the girls he fucked and dumped and forgot.
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Chapter 125
But I could. I always fucking could. That’s how I know, he doesn’t approve of me for Jess. Never did. And now he brings me here, into this silent, rotting forest, chasing some half–buried rumor about a pack that’ll help us reclaim control from Riot–as if any wolf with a spine would willingly stand behind me after what I let happen to her.
I’ve been betrayed, by my father, by Riot who is my half–brother, soldiers and everyone who wants to steal the power from me. I’m used to it now. I don’t even breathe differently when it comes. I just count the pieces I have left and decide which ones I can afford
to lose.
But Pierce… Pierce was never supposed to be on the list.
He was the one holding the knife when I carved the first symbol into my skin, the one who bled with me when I swore I’d never be owned again. My beta. My fucking brother.
He was the one thing I never doubted. When Riot stood in my place and took my pack. When the others turned. I had one constant. One fucking anchor. And now he won’t even look me in the eye.
I want to be wrong. I want this to be some fucking test. Some dumb, reckless gamble that ends with us laughing and bloody and alive. But I know that weight in my gut. I’ve felt it before. The second before betrayal breaks skin.
“Answer me,” I say low, and I step forward just enough to watch his weight shift. “Who are they?” I don’t blink. “Names. Structure. Rank. What did you promise them?”
Riot didn’t just fuck with my territory–he fucked with my trust. With the concept of allegiance itself. And now I’m standing in the middle of rot and moss and no wolves in earshot, and my best friend won’t give me a straight goddamn answer.
He clears his throat. And that’s it. That’s all it takes.
1 grab him by the collar and slam him into the nearest tree. Hard.Bark gives under his spine with a crack. I feel ribs shift. His breath punches out in a grunt I don’t even register as human. My forearm jams up under his chin until I see the whites of his eyes. His heel scrapes against the dirt like he’s deciding whether to fight me or faint. I dare him to try.
Pierce’s breath punches out. I press my forearm across his throat and lean in close, until I’m breathing down on him. “You lied to me,” I spit. “Or you’re about to. And if you don’t give me a name in the next three seconds, I swear to every god that ever made me, 1 will gut you and hang your insides on that fucking branch.”
His jaw locks. His fists clench. His wolf flashes behind his eyes.
I want him to shift. I want him to snap. I want him to give me an excuse to tear him open and find the truth in his bones.
“You think I haven’t watched you?” I grind my arm tighter against his windpipe. “You’re fidgeting for the last….fuck.”
A realization dawned on me and I growled, throwing him to the ground., Shit. SHit. I fucking knew what he did.
Jessica!
“You sold her,”
My claws split out of my knuckles before even think. I grab him by the collar, haul him upright with one hand, and slam him back against the tree so hard it shudders.
“Say it,” I snarl into his face, “so I know which part of you I’m going to rip out first.”
His mouth opens. Closes. I watch his lips shape cowardice before his tongue finds the words. “I had no choice.”
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Chapter 125
I laugh. It’s not a sound anyone’s ever survived.
I lean closer, letting him feel the heat off my body. Let him see what it costs to lie to me.
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“Wrong answer,” I say. Then I drive my claws into his gut–slow, angled up under the ribs, just enough to nick something soft. Just enough to remind him his life belongs to me.
“No choice?” I whisper. “You had me. You had us. You had a pack. And you gave her to Riot like a fucking offering.”
“She would’ve died!” he spits, head snapping forward. “He had her name, Grayson–he was coming for her whether I helped or not. I made a deal so he wouldn’t kill her-”
“You don’t get to make deals about her.” My voice breaks. “You don’t get to decide what happens to what’s mine.”
And that’s when I lose it.
I see her in chains. I see her gagged. I see Riot’s fucking hands on her.
And all I see is his face.
I throw him to the ground and shift halfway. My skin rips. My gums tear open. I feel my jaw dislocate with the force of my shift and I don’t stop it–I ride it. I want the monster. I want him to see exactly what he unleashed.
I’ll rip his lungs out and feed them to the crows. I’ll bite through his femur and leave him crawling. I’ll carve Riot’s name into his back and send him to deliver the message: Grayson is not dead. Grayson does not forgive.
Because he didn’t just betray me.
He fed my fucking mate to the monster who’s spent his life trying to become me.
And now I’m going to show him the difference.
Commant
