Chapter 127
JESSICA
“We’re getting out of here before dawn.”
Riot instinctively untie my ropes as if the name I’ve said said made me scared as fuck. Theo is my wolf. I’ve turned him and made him into a monster for me. He’s my monster but why is Riot reacting like this?
There’s no explanation.
I’ve succeeded.
I created the first hybrid and he’s going to be loyal to me. Faithful. He’s going to crouch down to the ground and kiss the floor just so he can obey me.
I let Riot yank me by the arm, drag me through wet moss and root–knotted earth like I’m weightless, like he’s in a rush now and I’m the bag he forgot to pack. His breath is short. His eyes won’t meet mine. He’s scared and trying not to look it, and that’s the part that makes me grin.
I did that.
I made something worse than him.
And now he thinks it’s coming.
“You think Theo’s going to hurt you?”
He’s not taking me back to the pack. He can’t. He’s just trying to hide now.
I laugh. Loud enough to echo.
He whips around and grabs me by the throat. Hard. Shoves me against a tree. “What the fuck did you do to him?”
I choke on the pressure but I don’t stop smiling. I let the heat rising in my gut.
fear slip out from my eyes just enough to bait him, just enough to mask the
“You turned him into a thing,” Riot says. “He’s not yours. He’s not even a wolf anymore.”
“He’s mine,” I rasp. “You saw it. You felt it.”
Riot’s hand tightens. My feet lift half an inch off the ground. “You created a monster you cannot tame.”
He’s either so scared or something else happens. “What did he do?”
I have no choice to ask because if he’s dong something worse then I don’t know what I will feel. I did what I had to do to save the pack from Riot. The pack and everyone in it. And also, because I had something to give. It’s a blessing to be the most powerful in
this violent world.
So what?
What did my first hybrid do that made Riot this scared as hell? What is going on? And also, where is Grayson and my brother?
Riot stepped back and denied me all of the answers I needed. For long minutes, I watch as he ties me back to the tree before he
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burns everything. It’s like he’s erasing everything including our scent.
I struggle to sit and watch him do it with feral growls. “What happened? Answer me!”
“Now, now,” Riot glares at me and smirk. “Why would I ease your fucking mind Jessica?”
“Fuck you–fuck you–fuck you tell me what happened!”
My wrists tear raw against the rope. I jerk forward so hard the bark cracks behind me. “What did he do? What did Theo do? Tell me!”
I’m screaming it now, full–body rage, spit flying, throat shredding. “Where’s Grayson?! Where’s Pierce?! Why aren’t we moving–why are you scared?! Tell me, you piece of shit!”
I can’t stop shaking. My legs kick at nothing. My body is fire and my brain is worse. I can’t think. I don’t want to. I just want him to break–just say it–just say the words–say what the fuck went wrong.
The truth is I don’t know what I’ve done. I don’t know what I made. I don’t know what Theo is anymore. I’m not even sure if it will kill him or not. Maybe I broke him. Maybe I built him. Maybe I fucked up so bad there’s no coming back, not for any of us.
I’m a desperate, stupid wolf who wants to rule this world with her teeth.I want to own it. I want every single fucking one of them to kneel. I want Riot dead. I want him wrecked and choking and dragged by the same rope that’s cutting into my skin. I want him to feel what I felt. Helpless. Hollowed. Tied down.
I want my revenge for every time he touches me and makes me his whore. “What did he do to you?” I whisper. “Did he tear through the pack? Did he fuck up your plans?”
Free.
That gets him. The fist hits fast–my head cracks back against the tree. I spit blood and keep smiling. “You can’t stop him,” I say.
And you know it.”
Because Riot never ties me up unless he’s scared.
“Do you know what he’s done, Jessica?” He smirks and I don’t know why cold drops into my stomach, stirring it deeply into my guts.” Do you know what you did?”
He crouches in front of me slowly, like a wolf circling something wounded. His hand comes up and he drags the back of his knuckles across my cheek, gentle. Mocking. I try to jerk away but he grabs my chin hard and forces me still.
“I want you to hear this right,” he breathes. “He didn’t just kill them.”
His breath hits my neck.
“He ate them.”
My blood runs ice cold. I stare straight ahead like if I don’t look at him, it won’t be true. He’s lying. He has to be fucking lying.
Theo wouldn’t. Not unless–Unless I told him to. Unless I made it that way. Unless I built him to tear first and think later. Unless this is what he thinks I want
1 blink, and I see it. Blood on his chin. Teeth flashing red. I see his face tilted to the sky and howling with bone between his jaws. I see him lapping brains from the dirt like it’s soup I made for him. He’s not even fucking there and I can still see it.
I did that.
My stomach twists sideways. For a second I think I’m going to throw up, but it catches in my throat and curdles there. I breathe
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through it, hard. I bite the inside of my cheek until I taste iron, and then I bite harder.
I won.
ས . 82%
+13
I built a fucking monster, and now Riot’s looking at me like I’m the thing worth fearing. That’s what I wanted. That’s what I asked
for.
Then why am I shaking?
My wrists are raw. Rope sliced in. I pull again anyway, hard enough to split the skin. I want him to look scared again. Not smug. Not pitying. Not like he knows something I don’t.
“I watched him rip their jaws off and grin. I watched him lap brains from the ground like soup. I watched him drag your brother’s Beta across the floor with his tongue.”
He leans in. Nose to mine. I feel his breath on my lips. “You’re proud of that, baby? You proud of the monster you fucked into existence?”
I don’t blink.
He shifts closer and then–he bites me. Sharp and brutal–his teeth clamp down on my earlobe, sudden and deep enough I feel cartilage crunch.
I scream and slam my head forward, but he already has my throat again. My back hits bark and he presses, hand locked tight enough to choke the sound.
“There’s no pack village anymore Jess,” he growls, mouth smeared blood from me. “There’s no pack to rule. There’s no ours to lead. It all leads to the decay of bodies leading to your lover’s death.”
What?
“What did he do?! WHAT DID HE DO?!”
“You’l see,” Riot whispers. “If Grayson’s still breathing when he walks through that village–he’ll know.”
My whole body jerks. “What the fuck does that mean?!”
“It means your sweet boy’s gonna walk into the home he used to lead and see every one of them dead. Gutted. Strewn in bits across the floors like fucking confetti. He’s gonna smell you on it. Your bond. Your orders. Your fucking legacy.”
I stop breathing
“And he’s gonna know,” Riot murmurs, leaning closer. “That his mate did it. His girl turned his people into a graveyard.”
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