GRAYSON


    Someone’s going to die.


    Someone’s going to fucking die.


    I’m not heartbroken. I’m not weak. I’m not going to crawl to her on my knees and ask her why. I’m going to rip the bastard’s throat out with my teeth and then drag her back by her pretty little neck and remind her who the fuck I am.


    I’m the Alpha.


    And she’s mine.


    Every. Goddamn. Inch. Of Her


    I’m running before I can think. Im into him so hard the air knocks out of his lungs before he hits the dirt.


    Pierce yells, “Grayson–what the fuck?!”


    of <b>his </b>sh


    Jessica’s screaming my name now. Like that’s going to stop me. I grab Logan by the back of his shirt and hurt him backwards so hard his body hits the <b>wall</b>, picture frames <b>crash </b>to <b>the </b><b>floor</b>, the fucking drywall cracks.


    “GRAYSONI” Jessica screams, stumbling Hair tousled Mouth red


    Pierce turns, frozen mid–step. “What the fuck-?”


    <b>I </b>don’t wait.


    I pounce


    Logan tries to speak–tries–but my fist’s already in his face. His head ms sideways. Blood sprays. My forearm pins his throat against the


    <b>wall</b><b>. </b>


    *YOU KISSED HER?” I rar


    His jaw’s already swelling. He chokes. “Gray–wait–1”


    “YOU KISSED HER?!” Im him down onto the floor so hard the boards <b>groan</b>. His head bounces. He coughs blood.


    Pierce yells, “Grayson, what the fuck is going on?”


    I see red<b>. </b>Full crimson haze. My wolf’s <b>wing </b>up my throat


    I grab Logan again–by the cor this time–andunch him across the room. He hits the bookshelf. Books rain like thunder. He groans, slumped. Dazed.


    I turn to her. My chest heaving. Rage boiling.


    “You let him fucking touch you?”


    STOPI she crie


    <b>“</b>Grayson–STOPI” she cries


    Toote.


    He’s choking on dirt and I’m not done. I flip him over, m my forearm across his throat, baring teeth. He tries to speak. I punch him again. “Try that shit again,” I snarl, voice so low it’s animal. “See if I don’t rip your goddamn tongue out


    Jessica shoves mr. “<b>Grayson</b>, STOPITI You’re going to kill him/


    I turn to her. Snart still dripping from my mouth. My chest is heaving. “<b>Good</b><b>.</b><b>” </b>


    She flinches.


    Pierce grabs my arm, but I rip out of his grip like it’s nothing. “Don’t fuckin


    “Don’t fucking touch me,” I snap.


    I take one step forward, then Pierce is in front of her–arms out, blocking me. His face pale.


    “<b>Grayson</b>, back the fuck off–she’s my sister.”


    <b>“</b><b>Oh</b><b>, </b>now she’s


    s your sister?”


    Pierce’s eyes narrow. “What the hell does that mean-?”


    I shove him. Hard. He stumbles back, nearly crashing into Jess. “You really didn’t know, huh?”


    Pierce looks between me and Jessica. “Know what?”


    Silence.


    Jessica’s eyes widen, lips trembling.


    Fuck.


    I stalk toward her. “Tell him. Go ahead.<b>” </b>


    “No–Grayson-”


    *<b>Tell </b>him, Jess<b>.</b><b>” </b>


    “Grayson,” <b>she </b>gasps, eyes wide with panic, <b>her </b>voice already cracking. “don’t-”


    I take another step. “Tell him, Jess


    “Stop,” she whispers again, but it’s weaker this time, like she’s already losing the fight with herself and maybe I’m still hoping she’ll say it. That she’ll take my hand. That she’ll stand in the fire with me.


    I will fight for us, Jess. I will fight for <b>us </b>just don’t do this to me: I don’t know how to feel


    But she doesn’t


    <b>She </b>looks at me like I’m a stranger.


    Her mouth opens.


    And the wordse out in a voice so soft, so strangled, it tears something inside me clean in half,


    “We’re done, Grayson.”


    DAUG


    Everything in me just–stops.


    “We’re done.


    She says it like a fact. Like it’s already over. Like there’s nothing left to fight for,


    And it doesn’te with yelling, or ps, or even tears–not yet. It justes quiet and steady, and somehow that’s worse. Somehow that kills more than screaming ever could,


    My heart keeps beating, but it doesn’t feel like it belongs in my chest anymore,


    It feels wrong, Heavy Loud. Out of ce.


    Jessica takes another step back, her breath hitching, arms wrapping around herself like she’s trying to hold her own bones together


    “Please,” she says, and now her voice does break, choked and shaking. “Please, Pierce. Get him out of the house


    I can’t fucking afford to lose her.


    Goddess, I can’t.


    <b>Jess </b>is everything.


    She’s the only thing that ever made any of this shit make sense.


    “Jess…” I croak out, stumbling forward like a man shot in the stomach. My hands reach for her without thinking, desperate, begging. needing, but she flinches back before I can touch her. “Please,” I whisper, dropping to my knees, my palms open, empty, shaking so hard! can’t hold them steady. “Baby, please don’t


    I can’t even finish it. She folds her arms around herself and steps farther away, backing herself behind Pierce like she’s hiding from me, like I’m the fucking monster in this story.


    I try to crawl toward her anyway, because my legs don’t work, because my brain’s gone, because I can’t not go to her.


    I can’t <b>just </b>fucking sit here while she throws me away.


    “Jess,” I choke, reaching for the hem of her shirt like if i could just grab her, if I could just touch her, she’d remember–she’d remember


    everything


    But she steps back again<b>. </b>


    Fast.


    Terrified.


    And that breaks me worse than anything else ever could.


    “We’re done,” she says, and her voice cracks right down the middle, raw and <b>wet </b>and miserable, and I know she’s hurting too, I can see it but she still looks at me like she can’t stand the sight of me.


    “Please,” I beg <b>one </bst time, barely able to get the word out through the tightness crushing my lungs, the thick, burning weight in my throat “Please<b>, </b>baby. Don’t do this. Don’t–don’t break up with me please?”


    She doesn’t say anything.


    She just shakes her head, slow and trembling and sure.


    09:47 Tue, 5 Aug


    Pierce moves in, hesitating, like he’s waiting for her to change her mind, to say something–anything–but she <b>doesn’t </b>She just presses <b>h </b>hand to her mouth ke she’s trying not to cry, shoulders shaking so hard I can feel it in my bones.


    Pierce mps his hand around my arm


    “Grayson-“His voice is sharp now, low, warning.


    1jerk away so violently I almost knock him over, but I don’t fight him, I don’t fight anyone. I just stare at her. I want to memorize her I want to <b>beg</b>. I want to drop my head in herp and fucking cry like a pathetic plece of shit who doesn’t deserve her.


    But she doesn’t want that.


    She doesn’t want me.


    So I push up to my feet, every joint locking, every breath punching <b>out </b>of my lungs like <b>ss </b>shards, and I back away one step at a <b>time</b>.


    I don’t even know how I make it to the door. What I did fucking know is that I just lost my girl.


    <b>AD </b>