Chapter 185
Jessica
It wasn’t a dream, wasn’t it?
For no dream could hold me so tightly and surely. I think I’m going to lose my mind.
I can hear Grayson’s heartbeat, as my ears are on his heart and his lips are on my head.
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This man…this alpha, is now mine. I don’t think I have ever felt so happy. I tilt my face up, and his eyes find mine–dark, fierce, the same eyes that once scorned, once condemned, now blazing with something I scarcely dare name. “Are you happy?”
“I am.”
His hand slid lower against my back, guiding me through the circle as the rhythm of the pack rose like thunder. Around us, Alphas raised their cups, celebrating with us.
“No one can steal you from me now, Jess,” he murmured.
I tilted my head, pressing my brow to the hard cut of his jaw. “You’re so possessive, you know that?”
“Possessive?” His lips brushed my hair as he breathed me in. “No, little wolf. I’m territorial.”
I laughed softly against him, tilting my head so my lips ghosted the edge of his throat. “That’s the same, babe.”
“No,” he growled, though his mouth curved faintly against my temple. “Possession is wanting. Territory is war. And you…” His hand pressed firmer against the small of my back, guiding me in a slow turn. “…you are the land I would burn kingdoms for.”
Heat stole my breath, though the night air was cold and sharp. My fingers dared to trace the line of his collar, the edge where skin met fabric. “You say that now,” I whispered, eyes glinting up at him. “But tomorrow you’ll call me trouble again.”
“And you are. Trouble that stalks me, trouble that haunts me. Trouble I would bleed for, again and again.”
Fair.
We both laughed as though aware of how absurd we might sound. Yet if there is ever a night when we are permitted to be foolish, to be reckless, to care nothing for the weight of the world, it is this night.
He spun me then, a swift turn that made my skirts flare and the moonflowers in my hair tremble. When I fell back into his arms, his eyes alight with that cruel, impossible tenderness he never let the world see.
It was perfect. It was everything I had dreamed of. We were so bound, so lost, so utterly caught in that
moment when-
A howl ripped from the woods, high and piercing.
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Chapter 185
“W–what’s that?”
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Grayson’s arm tightened around me, his gaze never leaving the dark edge of the trees. He gave the smallest nod to Kade, whose chair scraped against stone as he rose, already moving, already scenting the air. The laughter of moments ago was gone, swallowed whole by silence and the sharp bite of fear.
Another howl followed, deeper, closer, carrying with it the stench of blood.
“Listen to me, Jess.” His head bowed, eyes spearing into mine, dark as fate itself. “Stay close to the others. Jack!”
Jack stepped forward at once, already nodding, as though he had read the command before it was spoken.
“Grayson, no!” My fingers seized his arm. “Don’t go.”
“Jess-”
Around us, chairs overturned, claws struck stone, Alphas rushing to Kade’s side. The sound swelled. Shit. It’s not a single rogue. Too many. Far too many.
“Stay.” One word, law and vow, before he turned, already striding into the storm.
“Grayson!” My feet moved before thought, skirts tangling, heart clawing out of my chest. I would have followed, gods, I would have chased him into the dark-
But Jack’s hand clamped hard around my wrist. A silent shake of his head, grim and final. His eyes told me what his mouth did not: do not defy him. Not now.
“Please,” I choked. “I can’t let him-”
“If you run after him, you’ll both die. That’s not bravery. That’s suicide.”
My pulse pounded like a war drum, drowning out the chaos outside the walls–the snarls, the sickening crunch of bone, the howl that split the night like lightning. Grayson’s howl. My entire body lurched toward it, every instinct in me screaming to go, to find him, to fight beside him.
“I don’t care!” My voice cracked, breaking on the words. “I can’t just sit here while he-”
“You think he doesn’t know that?”
From the tree line, I can hear the wolves. I close my eyes, breathing it in. Grayson is out there fighting, and 1 hate the fact that I am not with him–but Jack is right. If I run to him, I’ll only become his weakness.
Tears burn behind my lids. “Where does he want us to go?”
“Down to the cellars. That’s his order for an emergency like this.”
Safe. He wants me safe while he bleeds for us. For me,
“I can’t leave him.”
15:48 Tue, Sep 16
Chapter 185
“Jess, listen to me—he’d rip out my throat if I let you disobey him. Do you understand?”
I understand. I need to fucking understand.
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So, even with doubts clawing at my heart, I nodded to Jack and let him drag me out of that place. My skirts snagged on overturned chairs, my shoes slipping on stone slick with spilled wine and worse.
Every step away from Grayson felt like my own ribs being torn apart. The bond screamed, stretching thin, hot, demanding I turn back.
“Don’t fight me, Jess,” he snarled low, dragging me faster toward the stairwell. “If he knew I let you near that field, he’d never forgive me.”
I stumbled, nearly falling, and whispered through clenched teeth, “And if he dies, Jack? What then?”
He didn’t look back. His silence was answer enough.
“Whose attacking us, Jack?”
“Another pack. Maybe more than one. I caught the scents–eastern bloodlines, some from the north. Old enemies.” His grip tightened. “It’s not a raid. It’s a coup.”
My stomach lurched. A coup. Against Grayson. Against us.
“No–no, that doesn’t make sense. They wouldn’t dare-”
“You’re not just Grayson’s mate, Jess. You’re… the blood of two worlds. Half wolf, half rogue. The prophecy- the old bloodlines–they all saw you as the one who could lead. The one who could unite–or destroy.”
My stomach lurched, twisting in knots. Lead? Me?
Jack’s eyes were sharp, serious. “You didn’t know?”
“I know what?”
“The Triads. They’ve been waiting, watching. They want you to step forward, to lead them. But… Grayson- he’s blocking them. Every move, every attempt, he’s there, shielding you.”
The Triads… the strongest, most feared werewolves across all the northern bloodlines. Legends whispered that no one challenged them and lived to tell the tale. And now, they wanted me.
I froze. “Why would he do that?”
“Because they’re not wolves, Jess. They’re rogue–blooded, chaotic. He trusts no one to touch you, to claim you -except him.” Jack’s voice softened, a low rumble. “He won’t let them use you, even if it’s what you’re meant to do.”
A chill crept over me.
The Triads… they had been my dream all along. To stand among the strongest, the fiercest, the legends whispered about in every northern bloodline… to be seen for what I was meant to be.
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Chapter 185
…
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And yet–Grayson was out there, blocking them. Shielding me. Protecting me. I knew that. My wolf knew it. My heart knew it.
But why hadn’t he told me? Why would he not tell me?
