His Trouble Maker

Chapter 122

Chapter 122

JESSICA

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He didn’t tell me where they were going. He didn’t even look at me when he left. I said it. I called myself the alpha. I said it with my whole chest like I had the right, like I had the rank, like I didn’t care what it did to him.

But i did.

I knew what I was doing. I knew what it would sound like. I knew exactly what I wanted it to feel like when I said it out loud in front of him, and I still did it.

Because I wanted it. I wanted him to see me for what I am. I wanted him to stop protecting me like I’m something that can’t tear.

But now he knows.

Now he knows I’ve been holding it, biting it back, waiting for the second he’d push me far enough to say it out loud.

Grayson can do whatever he wants with that. He can run for a day or a month or the rest of his fucking life. That’s his right. But one thing is already written. If he can’t stand beside me as I am, then I’ve already lost him.

I plant my foot against the floor and pull with everything I have.

“Fuck.”

A low sound tore out of my throat as I yanked again, wrists burning raw against the metal, arms trembling from the strain. I didn’t know if the warmth dripping down my forearm was sweat or blood anymore, but I didn’t stop. I braced my heel against the floor and pulled harder, until my shoulder screamed and my breath hitched sharp through clenched teeth.

“Come on,” I whispered. My voice sounded like it came from someone else. “Fucking move.”

I let out a sound halfway between a breath and a growl before my whole body freezes sniffing that familiar scent.

No…that can’t be.

So faint at first I almost didn’t notice. But it slipped through the rot of wolfsbane like it had always known the way. It found me. Burrowed straight down into my lungs and curled itself tight around something I couldn’t name.

My wolf stirred before I could stop her, before I could push it down, and I hated how fast she woke for him. I hated that my body

remembered.

My throat locked up.

Please don’t let it be real.

I blinked hard, trying to shake the scent from my nose, but it only got stronger–thicker, fuller, coiling through the rot like smoke curling under the door of a burning house

No one had opened the door. I didn’t hear footsteps. I didn’t hear anything at all.

But I felt it.

stomach twisted violently, like it knew before

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Chapter 122

me. Then another. I felt dizzy and dry all at once, as if my blood

Not now. Not

The scent came closer.

time, but something colder. Deeper. The kind of fear that makes your muscles go soft and your

tight, but I couldn’t shut him out. I felt him before I heard him, the way prey feels the breath of the predator before the teeth come

And then-

“Hello, Jess.”

My eyes flew open.

That voice.

“Miss me?”

slammed against my ribs and then shrank just as fast, ears flat, belly

cold sweat slicking my back, heart thudding so loud I couldn’t hear anything else. I didn’t have to look. I knew that voice. I knew that smell. I knew

“Riot.”

empty, and the next–he was there. Fast. Horrifyingly fast. I

you too,

felt so dirty when I felt his tongue dragging along my cheeks. “Your boyfriend prepared you for me, huh?” He

locked up, trembling under the weight of him, breath stuttering in my chest like it’s trying to hide. My wolf’s silent. My rage’s useless. And I can’t stop the

“Get off me.”

throat–not choking me, not yet–but squeezing just enough to make my blood thrum louder in my ears. “Fuck,” he breathes, and

I can’t

that scared of me,

don’t answer. I keep my teeth clenched so tight my jaw

closer anyway, cheek brushing mine like we’re something intimate. “You should be,” Riot says, mouth dragging slow along my jaw, like he’s memorizing the shape of it again. “I’d be terrified if

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wraps around me like a hand, sliding

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affection. “Thought you could lie to– your little pack and pretend that bond doesn’t crawl under your

jerk my head away. His fingers curl into my jaw, tight enough I hear the

it does, doesn’t it?” he says softly. “Still there. Still inside you. Like

in my nose, under my skin. I can feel it

voice like he already knows. “Did he spread you open and tell

knots. I say

he says, dragging his nose down my neck, slow and savoring. “He

mouth grazes my throat, lips parting, breath humid and vile

fuck you

down harder, chain grinding against bone, wrists burning raw. The pain snaps

༄་རྣོ་ཤོE་ནོར་ ོ་མ

it,” Riot growls, his voice cracking into something lower, less