<b>Chapter </b><b>120 </b>


    GRAYSON


    I don’t fucking know what I’ll do anymore.


    Fuck it.


    have run through the woods for almost ten times now but I still get my head intact as to what i should do next to recover from this


    mess.


    Pierce is right.


    Whatever is happening is partly my fault. I trusted her too much when I knew she had rogue blood in her. It’s a ticking bomb for everything that happened ‘till this day.


    Somehow, it’s been weeks of trouble and I have no fucking clue what kind of god I’ll pray on to surpass this.


    Should I just let Riot have the pack?


    I should just leave the vige under his regime and run away with Jess. I can make her safe and mine. I’ll seek for whatever healer


    there is to find a cure to whatever is in her.


    But even that sounds like a fucking fantasy. Jess doesn’t want to be kept. She doesn’t want soft hands and safe houses. She wants blood on her tongue and chains she can break through. She wants war in her belly.


    She wants to burn, and I keep trying to build her a cage made of calm.


    I’m a fucking idiot.


    My boots hit the dirt again, and I push harder, faster, like if I run fast enough the past week will rewind and I’ll catch her before Riot


    touches her.


    Personally, I don’t care about Theo either. I’m d Jess got her revenge but him shifting into something means I’ve lost another man and now it’s just me and Pierce.


    I slow, finally, panting, fingers flexing open and shut. My ws want toe out again. My wolf is restless–pacing inside my ribs, snapping at the walls of my chest.


    Find her.


    im her.


    Drag her back.


    But, I can’t.


    I chained her for a reason. For the very reason Pierce is now walking toward me, boots crunching through leaves, jaw locked, those storm–heavy frowns carved deep into his face.


    “I’ve got news.”


    “About Theo?” I ask, standing slowly. My body’s half–tensed already. Hope and rage fighting <b>in </b>my throat like twin wolves tearing each other apart.


    09:03 Tue, 2 Sept


    But he just shakes his head and sighs. “About the pack.”


    My stomach drops. Not because I didn’t see thising–but because I did. And still did nothing.


    “What about it?” My voicees out low, frayed at the edges.


    Pierce pauses like he doesn’t want to say it. Like he’s hoping I’ll put it together myself, save him the burden. But I’m already guessing. I can smell it.


    “They’re splintering,” he says finally. “Some of the younger betas–Liam, Hart, the twins–they’re talking about following Riot. He’s promising them power. Freedom. A future without you.”


    Iugh. A sharp, ugly sound that doesn’t reach my eyes. “Freedom? From what–discipline?”


    Pierce doesn’t answer.


    “Let me guess,” I continue. “They’re sick of being led by a wolf who won’t kill his own mate. Who chained her but couldn’t go through with the execution. Who lost control of a rogue hybrid in his own goddamn den.”


    Pierce flinches at that. My words bite because they’re true.


    “They’re saying your time’s up, Gray,” he says. “They don’t know where we are, and some of them are epting the fact that you’re gone.”


    Gone.


    I wonder if that’ll ever be an option for me.


    “How do you get this kind of information anyway?”


    Pierce’s eyes sh, something primal lurking behind them. He takes a step forward, nostrils ring slightly as if catching my scent. My muscles tense instinctively.


    “Unlike you, I didn’t totally cut off the pack,” he growls, voice dropping to that gravelly tone that reminds me what we really are beneath our human skin.


    I bare my teeth before I can stop myself. “I had my reasons.”


    “We all have reasons, Gray.” He circles me now, shoulders hunched forward, movements fluid and predatory. “Doesn’t mean we abandon what we are.”


    My hand shoots out, grabbing his wrist as he passes.


    “You forget your ce, beta,” I snarl, feeling my canines elongate slightly against my will. My grip tightens, bones shifting beneath my skin.


    Pierce doesn’t lower his eyes like he should. Instead, he leans closer, breath hot against my face. “And you forget what happens when an alpha abandons his pack<i>.” </i>


    I shove him back, harder than necessary. He stumbles but recovers with inhuman grace, crouching slightly, fingers syed on the ground. The sight triggers something ancient in me–the urge to dominate, to put him in his ce.


    “I didn’t abandon them,” I growl, circling him now. My muscles coil and release with each step, body remembering the hunt, the chase. “I’m protecting them.”


    09:03 Tue, 2 Sept O


    “From what?” Pierce snaps, body swaying with mine, mirroring my movements. “From Riot? From yourself?


    My control slips–just for a second–and a low, feral rumble vibrates through my chest.


    Pierce’s eyes widen, pupils dting until they’re almost ck. He drops his gaze finally, throat exposed in subtle submission.


    “I’ve called a meeting,” he said, looking away. “I’m not betraying you but I’m not tolerating you either. Some of the warriors areing to discuss our next move.”


    “What move?”


    He stares at me long enough to know my beta is gone. “You either with us or you’re out.


    I lunge forward, grabbing his throat, feeling his pulse hammer against my palm. “You will still need an alpha,” I hiss, feeling my ws extend, pricking the skin at his throat. A thin line of blood wells up, the copper scent making my nostrils re.


    His shocksts only seconds before his lips curl into a smile that’s all teeth–teeth that sharpen as I watch, his partial shit a clear warning. “I can be one,” he rasps against my grip.


    His kneees up fast, catching me in the stomach. I double over but don’t release him. Instead, I drag him down with me, both of us hitting the floor hard. We roll, a tangle of limbs and growls.


    “You think you’re ready?” I snarl, pinning <i>him </i>down, my fangs elongating. “An alpha takes more than strength”


    He bucks beneath me, nearly throwing me off. “Then show me what it takes!”


    This wasn’t supposed to happen today–a challenge, right here, right now.


    “Stand down,” I growl, applying more pressure.


    “Make me,” he spits back, his ws raking down my arm.


    It’s been so long since Pierce and I had an argument but fuck it if I’m letting him disrespect me like this.


    “You’ve lost everything, Grayson!” He pushes me hard, throwing his body weight forward. I stumble back but recover quid


    “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I snarl, feeling my canines extend, the shit rippling under my skin. The alpha in me


    wants to tear him apart.


    Pierceughs, a hollow sound. “Look at you. Still being a cocky bastard. You lost the pack, your father, and the gill but you be so arrogant as fuck-”


    “Shut your mouth!” I m him harder against the tree, bark cracking beneath the impact, My vision is with red, the feal part of me wing to break free.


    “Hit a nerve, did !?” Pierce grins, blood staining his teeth. “Everyone knows you can’t control your woll That’s why Chloe le-


    I don’t remember moving. One second I’m holding him against the tree, the next my fists are connecting with his tvce, over and over. But the bastard is justughing like a crazy lunatic.


    Pierce is on the ground now, and I’m standing over him, chest heaving Challenge me property or shut the Na


    “Why bother?” Pierce rolls to his side, coughing. “You’ll lose control.”


    314


    09:03 Tue, 2 Septe


    “I’m going to kill you.”


    Pierce shook his head. “You won’t Grayson. I’m the only person you have left.”


    34790%!


    +25


    He’s fucking right. I grab his cor and help him get up before I inspect his face. I made sure I did not hit the vital parts of his annoying face.


    “The meeting tonight, is it final?”


    Pierce nodded. “Yes. It’s final. It’s been so long. Let’s start the war, shall we?”