Chapter 96
Grayson POV
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Her breathing is wrong. She’s shivering, hurting–and I can’t do a damn thing. Fuck. What kind of mate does that make me?
I scrub my hands down my face for the fiftieth time. Try to blink the image of her out of my head–But she’s still there. Broken. Bleeding. Looking at me like I wasn’t enough to stop it.
Because I wasn’t.
Because I left her.
If I hadn’t been stupid enough to walk away from that damn cabin, if I’d just stayed–if I’d listened to my instincts instead of trying to give her space like some civilized fuckin‘ coward-
None of this would’ve happened. She wouldn’t have been taken. Wouldn’t have had to shift to survive. Wouldn’t be lying there now, half–human, half- wolf, half something else I can’t name.
“You okay?” Theo asks from the corner, voice low.
I don’t look at him.
I haven’t looked at him since we got her out.
Since I saw the bruises on her hips and smelled the rot of magic and wolf–scent clinging to her skin.
I’m not done being angry with him.
I’m not sure I ever will be. But he’s the one who got me out. He’s the one who pulled me from Aria’s grip before they could shatter something I couldn’t rebuild.
So I don’t answer.
“You want a smoke?”
I grit my teeth. “Fuck you.”
He shrugs. “Sorry, man. I don’t do guys.”
Prick.
What is he doing here anyway? After Jessica’s unexpected shift last night, we were forced to run for our lives. She wounded Riot’s but I know what he did.
He killed the alpha and our father. While I am the rightful heir by name, him, killing the alpha, the power is already transferred to him.
I also knew the councils are snakes. I just didn’t know all of them would turn their back on us.
Those fucking assholes.
When I am done with my revenge, I will gut all of them and dance in their graves.
“She’s strong,” Theo says eventually, like that changes anything.
“I know.”
“She shifted. That’s rare for–“–
“Don’t.” I cut him off before he could make it sound like a good thing. “We’re not friends. I will still exile you for plotting a coup behind my back.”
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Theo exhales and tosses the cigarette back in his pack. He doesn’t light it. Just move to the window, keeping watch. There are still some things we
haven’t discussed.
A lot of things. Like the fact that he knew. That he always fucking knew Riot was rising. And he didn’t stop him. Didn’t warn me. Didn’t say a goddamn word while the pack rotted from the inside.
Maybe he thought I’d be too blind to listen. Maybe he was right. But he still chose silence. He still chose Riot.
I glance at Jessica again.
“I should’ve killed him,” I say quietly, more to myself than to Theo.
“Theo,” I repeat when he doesn’t answer. “I should’ve torn his throat out that night in the ring. When he challenged me in front of the council.”
“You weren’t ready,” he mutters.
“I was ready. I just didn’t know he’d already bought them.”
Silence again.
He shifts his weight. Coward.
“We’re rogues now,” I say. “You realize that? You, me… her. Outlaws. Exiled. Marked.”
Theo finally looks over his shoulder. “You think I give a shit about the pack brand? That name means nothing if it bends to Riot.”
“It was ours.”
“Was.”
I stand up and roll my shoulders. The fire in my chest hasn’t cooled–it’s just waiting.
“Don’t mistake this for forgiveness,” I say. “I’ll gut you myself the second I’m done gutting them.”
Theo doesn’t argue. “Fair.”
We were in that argument when the door creaked open.“Ah, group hug?”
Pierce.
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He’s covered in mud, blood, and gods know what else–his shirt torn, knuckles scabbed over, a fresh claw mark across his neck that doesn’t look treated.
Theo straightens. I rise, but slowly.
thought you were dead,” I muttered.
Pierce grins. “Disappointed?”
“I’m not celebrating either.”
“Typical. I come bearing gifts, and nobody claps.”
“What the hell do you want?” I snap.
He walks in fully now, boots tracking dirt across the floor, and glances over at Jessica. Something flickers in his expression—something uncharacteristically careful–but it vanishes before I can name it.
“I heard about the shift,” he says. “Half the woods are whispering about the girl who burned Riot’s enforcers down to the bone.”
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Chapter 96
“She didn’t burn anyone,” I growled.
He lifts a brow. “No? Then you should see what’s left of them.”
That stops me cold
Pierce shrugs off his jacket and tosses it over a broken chair.
“Riot’s sending scouts. Two, maybe three. They’re sniffing close to the eastern ravine. That buys us time. Not much, but enough.”
“Enough for what?” Theo asks.
Pierce smirks, eyes glinting. “To start a war.”
I feel it then–like a heartbeat in my spine. Riot is no longer a shadow on the hill.
63%
He’s a god in the making, and the only thing between him and the pack is a fractured heir, a half–shifted girl, a traitor, and a psychopath with a death
wish.
Perfect.
I glance at Jessica again. Her breath is uneven. Her body was twitching. “She’s not ready,” I say. “None of us are.”
Pierce shrugs, teeth flashing. “Doesn’t matter. War’s not asking.”
“She won’t survive another break,” I mutter, almost to myself.
“She might not,” Pierce says. “But she also might burn the whole fucking forest down. Either way, Riot loses something.”
Theo crosses his arms, posture rigid. “What are we saying? We use her like bait?”
“No.” I growl. “She’s not a weapon. She’s a person.”
Pierce laughs, low and dry. “She was. Before Riot. Before all this. But you saw her last night. You heard her.”
I did.
The growl that wasn’t just pain.
The way the shift cracked through her like bone lightning–unnatural, too fast, too much.
“She’s changing” Pierce adds, watching me too close. “And not just wolf. There’s something else in her now. Something Riot couldn’t fully break. That’s
what he’s afraid of
Or pissed about,” Theo mutters.
Inod, slow. “He doesn’t want her dead. Not yet. Which means she matters. Which means she’s leverage.”
“Exactly, Pierce says. “So let’s stop pretending this is a rescue mission. This is survival. And survival’s bloody.”
A beat passes. My jaw clenches. I don’t like the way he says that. She was never supposed to carry this war on her back. But here we are.
“We wait,” I say, “Until she wakes. Until she decides.”
Pierce’s expression shifts, but he doesn’t argue. Just nods once, then turns away, cracking his neck like the tension’s something he can snap loose. “Take care of my sister, Grayson,” he mutters as he leaves the room.
I will always take care of her. He doesn’t need to say that. However, this is bigger than both of us. And I don’t know what kind of monster is going to wake
up in her.
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Chapter 96
If she wakes up at all.
I reach for her hand. It’s cold, fingers twitching with phantom memory. I hold it anyway.“You don’t owe us anything,” I murmur. “But if you come back, I swear–I’ll burn the whole world to keep you safe.”
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Chapter 97
