His Trouble Maker

GRAYSON

I smell rot.

Moss, old blood, mildew crawling through bark. No wolves. And that tells me exactly what I need to know, there’s nothing here so it’s either Pierce is fucking with me or he’s….betraying me.

That last thought made a fucking snap inside me.

He’s ahead of me again, saying something. I don’t hear it. I’m already inside the spiral. Already halfway gone.

I’ve known him since I was young. Since blood meant brothers and secrets meant loyalty. Since we took our first shifts and swore on bone that no matter what happened, we’d never turn on each other. We used to bury our kills together. We used to run the ridge and mark the trees. He stood beside me when I bled for this pack.

And now we’re walking into corpse territory and he expects me not to notice the silence?

I pick up speed.

I shove past a low branch and let it snap behind me. Pierce will never betray me. What the fuck was I thinking?

“You okay?” Pierce asks without turning.

I should laugh.

I don’t. I just say, “You better be right about this pack.”

“They’ll help.”

“You ever think maybe Riot’s not the only one who knows how to set a trap?” I say it slow. Heavy.

Pierce turns.

That’s the first time he’s looked me in the face in ten minutes. His brows lift. Calm. But I see the flicker. Just a second too long before he speaks.

“You think I’d lead you into one?”

1 stare at him.

I don’t blink.

“You’ve done worse.”

throat shift as he swallows, as he forces his expression back into that neutral, too–fucking–smooth blank he thinks

do. I always

to tell me no one could read him. Not even his mother. Not the alphas he served before me. Not the girls he

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Chapter 125

now he brings me here, into this silent, rotting forest, chasing some half–buried rumor about a pack that’ll help

wants to steal the power from me. I’m used to it now. I don’t even breathe differently when it comes. I

to lose.

was never supposed to

the first symbol into my skin, the one who bled with me when I

When Riot stood in my place and took my pack. When the others turned. I had one constant. One fucking anchor. And now

laughing and bloody and alive. But I know that weight in my gut. I’ve felt

his weight shift. “Who are they?”

itself. And now I’m standing in the

throat. And that’s it.

into the nearest tree. Hard.Bark gives under his spine with a crack. I feel ribs shift. His breath punches out in a grunt I don’t even register as human. My forearm jams up under his chin until I see the whites of his eyes. His heel scrapes against the dirt like he’s deciding whether to fight me or faint.

his throat and lean in close, until I’m breathing down on him. “You lied to me,” I spit. “Or you’re about to. And if you don’t give me a name

jaw locks. His fists clench. His wolf flashes behind his

him to give me an excuse

I haven’t watched you?” I grind my arm tighter against his windpipe. “You’re

throwing him to the ground., Shit. SHit. I fucking knew what he

Jessica!

“You sold her,”

by the collar, haul him upright with one hand, and slam him back

his face, “so I know which part of you I’m going to

his lips shape cowardice before his tongue