I have a rule.
Whatever first thing I do whatever line I cross – it’s going to be with my mate.
I promised myself – a long, long time ago that if anyone was going to get that part of me, if anyone was going to wreck
me so bad I couldn’t crawl away from it later…
It was going to be the person the Moon Goddess chose for me.
Someone worthy. Someone fated and I’m pretty sure it’s not Grayson Westwood.
“Logan.” He pauses mid–chew, a banana halfway to his mouth, legs swinging off the back of his truck bed. I actually ask
him to skip class for me.
“Hm?”
“Kiss me.”
He chokes so violently he nearly falls off the tailgate.
“I’m sorry–what?”
“Just once,” I say, already regretting it, already spiraling. “Quick. Nothing weird.”
“You want me to–are you-” He blinks. “Jess. Are you fucking serious right now?”
Logan’s cute. Objectively. We’ve been friends since forever. He is safe. Harmless.
I shift, swinging my legs down from the truck bed and standing, brushing imaginary dirt off my jeans like it’ll help.
“It’s not a big deal,” I mutter, avoiding his eyes. “We’ll forget it even happened.”
“You seriously want me to kiss you?” His brows pull together. “Did something happen, Jess?”
I force a laugh. “Nothing happened.”
He gives me a look.
Dry. Flat. Oldest–friend–who–knows–better kind of look.
“Jess.”
“Nothing happened,” I say again, sharper this time. “Not that kind of happened.”
Which is technically true.
Grayson didn’t kiss me.
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Chapter 18
He just…did everything else except that.
I cross my arms, legs tense like I might bolt even though there’s nowhere to go.
Logan’s watching me like he’s piecing it together anyway.
*
“You don’t even like me like that,” he says, half–laughing, half–squinting at me like he’s waiting for the punchline.
“Exactly,” I snap. “That’s the point.”
He blinks.
“…I’m the control group.”
“Exactly.”
He stares at me for a beat longer, then huffs out a laugh – low, a little bit exasperated, a little bit concerned.
“Shit,” he mutters. “Who messed you up this bad?”
I look away. “So you won’t kiss me?”
“Jess.”
“It’s not that deep,” I mutter, heat crawling up my neck. “It’s a five–second thing. We move on.”
“You think kissing me is gonna undo something someone else did?”
“It might.”
“Is this about Grayson?”
My head snaps up. “It’s not-“I cut myself off, biting the inside of my cheek.
Logan freezes and that’s all it takes.
“It is,” he says, softer now. Brow furrowed like I just told him I wa
dying. “Goddamn. What the hell did he do to you?”
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I shake my head, laugh- ugly, bitter, sharp at the edges.
“He told me he wants to fuck me.”
Logan drops his banana, literally drops it. “HOLY SHIT. HE SAID WHAT?”
“Logan-”
“No, no, no, back up, back the actual hell up-” He’s pacing now. Hands on his hips. Turning in a full circle like the information is physically too much for his body to handle. “Grayson Westwood–Alpha Asshole himself—looked you in the eye and SAID that to you?”
“It wasn’t-“I scrub a hand down my face. “It wasn’t exactly like that.”
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“Jess. There’s literally no version of that sentence that’s okay.”
“I know.”
“Holy shit.” He’s still staring at me. Still horrified. “And you declined?”
The way he says it – like I’m the crazy one here – like I’m the villain in this story – has me blinking.
“You wouldn’t?”
His whole body recoils.
“ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOT.”
He throws his arms out – fully scandalized – walking away from me like he needs five feet of space just to survive that idea.
“Jess. Be so serious right now. Do you know how many women in this pack would pay to be ruined by Grayson Westwood? There’d be a line.”
“Gross.”
“True.”
He turns back, still pacing, shaking his head like this is hands–down the most unhinged conversation he’s ever had.
“And he said it to you – you of all people – like it wasn’t even a negotiation–like it was just…fucking fact.”
I cross my arms, glaring at nothing. “Yeah, well. It didn’t feel like a compliment.”
He snorts. “Did it feel like a threat?”
I pause. I hate how I pause. “…Worse,” I mutter.
Logan stops pacing. Looks at me real slow. “Worse than a threat?”
I meet his eyes. “It felt stupid. Really plain stupid. I don’t like him, okay? I mean, he’s such a bully. He’s a-”
I throw my arms up like maybe the sky has the vocabulary I’m missing.
“He’s a bossy, controlling, always–in–my–face pain in the ass. Like, congratulations, you bark orders and people jump- must be nice living on top of the food chain when you were born into it.”
Logan shifts. I pace faster. “If he weren’t a Westwood? No one would even look at him.”
I stop. Turn to Logan. “You know it’s true. If he didn’t have that name–if he wasn’t born into it–no one would give a shit about him.”
My voice is getting louder. Shakier. I can feel the adrenaline flooding now, but I don’t stop. “He’s not some genius. He’s not some great leader. He’s just a violent, arrogant, emotionally constipated bully who got lucky with a bloodline.”
“He thinks he can show up and say things like that to me–like he can tie me up, blindfold me, throw me against a wall and
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I’ll just say yes? Like I’ll just break like everyone else?”
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I scoff, pacing again. “I don’t care if he’s Alpha or Warrior or Moon–blessed or built like a damn statue–I’m not impressed. I won’t bow. I won’t beg. And I sure as hell won’t-”
I stop because Logan’s not reacting anymore. His face is pale and his eyes locked on something over my shoulder.
No. No way.
I turn, slowly, praying to the moon goddess that Grayson Westwood is not standing behind me.
“G–Gray..”
His face is grim. “Pierce couldn’t reach you.”
My heart knocks sideways. I check my phone and realized the battery just died. “Something happened to your parents,
Jess.”
The world stops. Logan curses under his breath – a soft, horrified “Shit.” But all I can do is stand there. Frozen. Stupid. Numb. “W–What?” My voice cracks like it doesn’t know how to work anymore.
Grayson’s jaw clenches. His eyes flick to Logan – just once, just brief- then back to me like I’m the only thing on this entire planet he gives a damn about right now. “Rogues. Your parents were attacked near the east ridge. Pierce told me to get you.”
“No…no…”
That can’t be…
Gray steps closer. I noticed how his hand lifts, like he’s going to reach for mine but he stops halfway. “Let’s go,” he says.
