Chapter 142
JESSICA
“Let him go!”
64
55 vouchers
I scream, spit flying, heart ramming my ribs as Theo’s claws dig deeper–wet, squelching, bone–close. Riot gurgles. Blood spills down his neck in sick pulses.
“Uh–uh.” Theo doesn’t look at me. Just bares more fang, talons grinding into Riot’s jugular. “Stay there if you want him to live.”
I freeze.
Every nerve is screaming for me to move but he has him. One twitch, one breath, one wrong word, and Riot’s
gone.
“Theo-” My voice breaks. “Please. Don’t.”
He turns his head, slow as death. That molten stare sinks into mine–feral, starving, already dragging me under.
“Why did you come back,” Riot croaks, blood coating his teeth. “You were supposed to run.”
I can’t answer. I can’t move.
Theo growls low, dark, as if he’s savoring the way Riot spits that pain, like it’s proof I’m his.
“Because she wanted to watch,” Theo says, claws dragging up Riot’s neck. “Didn’t you, omega?”
Riot snarls. It’s broken, a wet sound in his throat. Blood drips. His boots scrape against the stone as he tries to rise-
“What the fuck are you doing, Jess?! I told you to run!”
“And what?” My voice cracks out sharp, shaking, feral. “Let him kill you?”
“Let me die like a wolf!” Riot snaps.
“You’re not dying for me,” I spit. My voice is shaking but full. Fire under it. Shame too. But I hold it.
Theo chuckles low. “Listen to her.” He jerks Riot back by the neck, claws pressed into the tendon. Riot hisses. “She’s not running anymore.”
I step forward.
I feel the heat crawl down my spine, the shift licking at my bones like it wants out. My wolf’s pacing. Growling, Watching both of them bleed for me.
“Get your fucking hands off him,” I growl.
9:36 Thu, Sep 4
Chapter 142
64
55 vouchers
Theo tilts his head at me, amused. Eyes glowing. He’s tasting my heat now. My scent. My stupid, wolfish, fucked–up bond that keeps pulling me toward him like I was made to kneel here and submit.
But I don’t drop.
“You’re fucking insane…” I breathe, but my feet are already backing up, slow, my spine brushing cold stone.
Theo stalks me like he’s got all the time in the world.
“Am I?” His claws flex, twitching like he wants to touch. Or rip. Maybe both. “You’re the one who came crawling back, Jess. You brought your scent into my territory. You stood there and watched while I had him by the throat.”
He grins.
“Was it fun?” His voice drops, soft, cruel. “Letting our pack off leash? Letting them taste what you gave up?”
My jaw clenches. “You don’t know what I gave up.”
“No?” Theo slams a hand beside my head, pinning me against the wall without touching me. His other hand still grips Riot, claws buried in the boy’s throat like a leash. Blood drips between his fingers. “Do you know how much I’ve worked hard for it Jess?”
“I’ve built a pack for you-”
“You built a pack for me?” I spit it like venom, stepping forward now, heat snapping in my gut. “You’re sick, Theo. This is a fucking cult. You turned them into monsters and—”
“And you turned me into one!” he roars, voice slamming through the room like a war cry. His claws jerk Riot up–too hard. Blood sprays from his neck, hot, wet, metallic. Riot gags, boots slipping, fingers clawing at Theo’s wrist.
I freeze. My wolf lunges.
Theo’s eyes burn when they catch mine.
There’s no point saving Theo now.
After everything that he’s done… I failed to realize this is always his main goal. He wanted to own the pack before when he offered to join his coup against Grayson’s father.
Riot might have done it for him but we all played in his game. In his twisted, manipulative game.
“Jess–run-” Riot chokes it out, barely audible, face slack with pain. And then he moves. Fast. Raw. Stupid. He launches at Theo from the floor, a half–shifted mess of ribs and fury, arms still trembling from blood loss, eyes wild. He slams into Theo’s side like a wolf with nothing left to lose. “Fuck it. I can’t hold him longer. Run!”
“Shut up!” I bark at him, but it’s not hate–it’s panic. I’m moving now. Claws tearing through my fingers. Skin breaking. My wolf howling to shift.
9:36 Thu, Sep 4
Chapter 142
“I told you to leave me!”
64
55 vouchers
“You think I would?” I shouted, feeling my bones cracking. “He’s mine,” I growl, voice slipping deeper, broken with shift. My bones scream. My body’s cracking open, the heat peeling me inside out.
My knees hit the stone. Palms split open. Fingers stretch long and snap back, claws punching through skin like knives through wet paper. My spine jerks–pop–pop–pop–as the wolf rips its way forward.
Theo’s already turning.
He lunges.
Fast. Too fast.
His hand wraps around Riot’s hair, dragging him up by the roots like a shield, like bait.
“Try it, Jessica,” he pants, chest heaving, eyes glowing white. “Try me and watch him die for it.”
I don’t stop. I launch. My feet dig in and I’m airborne–half–shifted, snapping, seething. My claws catch Theo’s side and rip. Flesh parts. Blood sprays.
Theo roars, spinning, tossing Riot away like a ragdoll into the wall. Sickening thud.
“RIOT!”
I hit Theo head–on. We slam to the ground–teeth, elbows, fur. He’s shifting too now, faster than me, bulkier, bones bulging under skin.
He rolls, pins me. My back cracks against the floor. His claws dig into my shoulder, holding me down, grinning like a goddamn demon.
“Still weak for him?” he hisses. “You could’ve ruled with me-”
I snap my jaw at his throat. He jerks back. Too slow. My teeth catch his arm. I bite down.
Hard.
Theo howls. His fist collides with my ribs, once–twice–enough to see stars. I snarl, twist, and rake my claws across his gut, deep enough to spill something slick and red.
Suddenly- Riot’s on him.
Bleeding. Staggering. One eye swollen shut. But he’s got a chunk of broken wall stone in his hand and he brings it down on Theo’s back with a snarl that’s more wolf than human.
Crack.
Theo roars, spins, backhands Riot across the face–but it’s too late. I’m up again. My shift finally takes place.
I dropped to all fours, bones finished breaking. “Mine,” I spit.
9:36 Thu, Sep 4
Chapter 142
Theo turns too slow. Cocky. Claws still dug into Riot’s chest like he thinks he gets to keep him.
He grins when my knees hit the floor.
He thinks I’m begging.
64
55 vouchers
I leap before I’m finished shifting. Half–girl. Half–wolf. All teeth. I hit him full force and something in him cracks loud under my weight. He stumbles, loses Riot. Good. Let the bastard bleed.
He slashes across my ribs–deep–but I don’t feel it, not really. I’m already on his shoulder, tearing the tendon from the socket. I bite until I taste the iron warmth of his blood slicking my teeth and let it flood me.
Teeth, tendon, tear. My mouth is full of him. Heat spilling. Scream buried in fur. He claws my flank but it’s weak. Useless. I take the second bite slower.
I dig in, deeper, past the tendon–snap–he screams but I don’t stop, I can’t, my mouth is too full of him, my claws too deep, his blood too hot and fuck I want more.
I don’t know where the biting stops. One minute I’m tearing Theo’s neck, the next, I’m slashing his throat with my claws.
He gurgles something–might’ve been my name. Might’ve been a curse. Doesn’t matter. My paw catches his windpipe. I rip through. Wet. Hot. Final.
I blink.
And I realize what I’ve done.
I just killed Theo.
田
AD
Comment
