Chapter 83
Chapter 83
JESSICA
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He’ll come back. He always comes back. He- He has to. He always–he always–Grayson, please–please, come
back–please-
Come back. Come back. Come back. Please-
I can’t-
I can’t breathe.
I press my back to the wood, panting, swallowing hard, my body shaking and slick and treacherous. My wolf’s
clawing at me, pawing at my ribs, whining go to him, go to him, go to him.
I press my palms over my ears.
No. No. Shut up. Shut up shut up shut up.
“You’re not okay.” Riot’s voice strains like he’s choking on the need to pull me into him. His breathing’s sharp now, ragged. He’s holding the leash on himself, but it’s fraying. “Sit down Jessica.”
I shove off the door–too hard–my body lurches like it’s trying to go back to him. My legs buckle. I stumble. My
wolf howls mine mine mine mine. “Don’t tell me what to do.”
I stumble. My legs fold. Riot’s hands are on me before I hit the ground.
I jerk away like he burns. “Don’t touch me.”
“You said you wanted me to do this.” His jaw ticks, eyes dark. “You picked me.”
“No, I didn’t-” My knees crashed to the floor. I brace on my hands, shaking, sweat dripping from my jaw onto the wood. “I didn’t pick you–I didn’t–I picked not dying.”
“That’s still picking me.”
I claw at my thighs like I can tear the heat off. My nails bite into my skin. It doesn’t help. Nothing helps. The ache
gets worse.
“Grayson.” His name falls out of me. I didn’t mean to say it.
Riot stiffens. I can feel it. His wolf snarls through him. Mine purrs back, proud and eager.
“Grayson–Grayson, come back–please–I didn’t mean it–I didn’t–I didn’t-” My shoulders heave. My ribs rattle. I can’t stop saying his name. I can’t stop tasting his scent even though it’s already fading. Riot’s scent is flooding the room now–heavy, sweet, drowning me—and I hate that it feels good.
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“You think I don’t feel it?” Riot says. His jaw ticks. His voice cracks, just a little. “You think I don’t feel you burn for
me?”
“I don’t.” My head shakes. I press my forehead to the floor. “I don’t want you–I don’t–I don’t–I want Grayson–I
want-”
“You want to live.”
The truth guts me. My wolf hums, smug and greedy.
“Thate this.” My voice is raw. I claw harder at my skin. “I hate that he’s gone. I hate that you’re still here.”
Riot doesn’t move. He doesn’t touch me. But his scent drapes over me like a net I can’t crawl out of. I scrape my nails over my arms, dragging skin, needing pain, needing something real. “Since when?”
His head tilts. “What?”
“Since when did you know?” The words rip out of me, sharp, desperate. I choke on them, rage and grief crashing together in my throat, choking me. “Since when did you know I was yours?”
I had a conclusion. Of course Riot was always close. Of course he wanted to train me, wanted his hands on me,
wanted me sharp and strong–he was grooming me for this. And I didn’t see it. I didn’t want to see it. Because if I did, it would mean Grayson–Grayson–he knew. He had to know.
Goddess–please–please tell me I’m wrong.
Riot’s jaw ticks. He breathes hard, like it physically hurts to admit it. “Since the first time I touched you.”
I flinch. “Liar.”
He doesn’t blink. “I felt it.”
“When?” My voice splinters. “When?”
“During your first heat.”
“You could’ve told me.”
“You wouldn’t have listened.” Riot’s voice stays tight, but the edges are starting to fray.
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“You could’ve tried!” I shove off the floor, staggering to my feet. My legs tremble, but I keep going, bracing against the wall like I can stay upright through sheer rage.
“You could’ve told me before I built my whole life around Grayson. Before I–”
Before I loved him.
Before I picked him.
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“You wanted it to be him,” Riot snaps, his voice slicing through me. “You needed it to be him.”
“Because I loved him!” I scream. “Because he was supposed to be mine!”
“You loved the idea of him.” His jaw flexes. His breathing sharpens. I can see his restraint snapping, his wolf pressing too close to the surface now.
“You think you love? You think you’d let me touch you if you really loved him, huh? What is it, Jessica? You that
kind of slut now?”
Crack.
My hand flies before I can think. Before I can breathe.
The slap lands sharp across his face, the sound snapping through the room like a gunshot.
His head jerks to the side.
My palm burns, my whole body trembling, heat and shame crashing through me all at once.
Riot doesn’t move. He stays there, breathing hard, his cheek blooming red where I hit him.
“I hate you,” I whisper, my throat raw, my ribs squeezing so tight I can barely get the words out. “I hate you.”
He drags his eyes back to mine, slow, dark, steady. Riot has always been an asshole. “You don’t hate me, Jessica.
You hate what I do to you.”
“You hate what I make you feel.” Riot stalks toward me, slow, lethal. “You hate that your body’s starving for me.”
“You hate that your wolf’s clawing toward me while your mouth still sobs for Grayson.”
That’s not true.
He’s bluffing.
“Shut the fuck up!” I shove him hard, but he absorbs it like stone, like he’s not moving until I make him.
“You hate that you leaned into me when I caught you.”
“Stop talking–shut up-‘
“You hate that I can smell how fucking, wet you are for me right now.”
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I swing again–another slap, savage,/desperate–but his hand snaps around my wrist, tight, bruising, unshakable.
“You think you’re going to hit me again?” His voice drops, slow, dark, dangerous. “Go ahead. Hit me. Tear into me. Claw me bloody. I’ll take every scratch. I’ll take every fucking slap. And you’ll still crawl to me in the end.”
I thrash in his grip, shaking, burning, my wolf yipping mine mine mine in my ribs. “Let me the fuck go, Riot!”
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Chapter 83
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But Riot doesn’t loosen his grip. He doesn’t even blink. I yelp as he slams me against the wall, caging me in with his body, his grip bruising.
His heat smothers me. His scent floods my mouth, thick and sweet and suffocating, sticking in my throat like I’ll choke on it. I can’t think. My legs tremble. My wolf is clawing closer, panting, whining, dragging me toward him.
“Riot, let go-“I shove at his chest, desperate, but my arms are shaking, my hips already tipping into him, my body glitching even as my mouth says no.
His lips ghost over my jaw, my pulse.
“You feel that?” he growls, his breath scraping hot against my skin. “Your wolf’s clawing for me. She’s done pretending.”
“No-“I gasp, shoving harder, but he pins me tighter. His hand fists in my hair, jerking my head to the side, exposing my neck.
My heart spikes, terror crackling sharp and electric. He’s aiming for it–the mark–the soft hollow where his teeth
would claim me. Where he’d own me. Forever.
“Don’t,” I choke, voice splintering. “Riot–don’t–don’t you fucking dare-”
His nose drags along my throat, slow, deliberate, inhaling deep like he’s already biting into me. “You think I don’t know where to sink my teeth?” His voice scrapes low, deadly. “You think I can’t feel it pulling me in?”
I freeze, breath shuddering, skin slick with panic and heat. My wolf is howling yes, yes, yes–pressing against the inside of my skull–mark me, claim me, take me. But I’m clawing to hold control. I shove at him again, but it’s weak. My hands tremble. My whole body’s already leaning into his grip.
“Riot, please–please don’t-” I’m begging now, desperate, terrified.
His mouth brushes the shell of my ear, his voice a rough rasp. “I could do it right now.” His lips press to my pulse
point, slow, brutal. “You wouldn’t stop me. You’d fall apart in my arms the second my teeth sank in.”
“No-“I sob, but my body glitches, slick, aching, dragging toward him like I don’t own it anymore.
“You’d hate me for it,” he whispers. “But you’d love me for it too.”
My knees give out. Riot catches me like he was waiting for this, his arm locked around my waist, his mouth still buried against my throat.
“Say it,” he breathes, voice vibrating against my skin. “Tell me to stop.”
I can’t. I can’t speak. I can’t get the words out when my body’s already screaming yes, yes, yes inside me.
“Tell me to stop, Jessica.”
I shake in his arms, teeth grinding, ribs crushing in like they’re trying to fold me in half. But I don’t tell him to stop. I
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don’t say anything. And Riot’s teeth drag just enough over my skin to make me burn.
