His Trouble Maker

Chapter 178

JESSICA

“Focus, Jessica.”

verter Vauchers

“Yes, alpha.” I inhale deeply and close my eyes. When I open them, I set my eyes on the target and pull the arrow until it lands on it. “Bullseye!”

Chuckling, I turn around to see Grayson’s reaction but he’s busy talking to Kade. Always busy. Ever since that day, he seems to be very occupied. He told me they have to put off the marking for another week.

I don’t know what to think about it.

Grayson never asked me for my opinion. He just assumed I wanted to be marked by him which is partly true but I also wanted him to consider me in every plan that he got going around his head.

I stalked toward them, boots crunching in the dirt. “Grayson.”

He lifted a hand without looking, a silent command to wait. My teeth ground together. My pulse throbbed in my throat. He could command a whole damn pack with that gesture, but I wasn’t one of his wolves–was I?

I don’t wait.

If he thinks that hand is enough to leash me, he’s forgotten who I am.

The distance between us closes in three strides, and before Kade can shift aside, I’m sliding my hand up the back of Grayson’s neck. I tilt my face into his, lips grazing the cut of his jaw before pressing a kiss there.

“So,” I purr, nails pricking the back of Grayson’s neck, “what’s worth your attention more than me?”

Finally, I turn my gaze on Kade, my mouth still brushing Grayson’s jaw.

“Well, well,” he drawls, tilting his head as if cataloguing every brush of my mouth against Grayson’s jaw. “Didn’t know I was interrupting something… intimate.”

“Kade.”

“What?” Kade smirks, spreading his hands. “I’m just appreciating the view. If you don’t want her tested, maybe don’t parade her in front of wolves who like a challenge.”

“What did I do?”

Grayson’s eyes darken, wolf–black, hunger barely caged. For a heartbeat, I think he’ll take me right here in the dirt where anyone could see. But then he releases me so abruptly I stumble back.

“Training’s over.” His voice is steel. “Everyone out.”

at the order, the field emptying fast. Only Kade lingers, arms folded, a smirk playing at his

Chapter 178

not him. “Almost like you’re

trees quake, but Kade just chuckles and drifts

round on Grayson, heat and fury sparking off me.

jaw ticks, eyes still rimmed in black. “You shouldn’t provoke

the one keeping

his hand clamping my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. “I delayed the marking for a reason, Jessica. You think I don’t want you? You think

“Safe from what?”

he looks away. His chest heaves, breath unsteady. “There’s a traitor in

way he said that, it almost felt like he’s been thinking about it for weeks now. I know Grayson and I know he thinks everything thoroughly before concluding everything. So him saying this to me means that he already has

“Who?”

Kade’s watching everyone now. We’re all alphas here, Jess.

through the night before I can answer–raw, panicked, tearing across the valley. Both our heads snap

Grayson growls, already moving. He whips his head

clawing to run. My blood sings with the sound of that

my bow from the dirt. “If there’s blood in my pack, I’m

he bolts toward the tre blur of muscle and rage. I chase, every step burning with the promise that whatever waits for us

run, but I barely feel it. My wolf is awake, hot and ravenous, scraping at my

is in my skull even though he doesn’t look back. Breathe through it. Don’t cage her.

apter 178

power in the burn of my lungs,

just move through the wild;

the ground before it gives. Breathe through the rage. It’s yours,

chest and snarl it back down. The shift doesn’t take me. I take

it. I know he does. He glances over his shoulder, eyes black, burning–and the pride there punches through me harder than the run. For one heartbeat, the danger around us doesn’t matter. What matters is that he sees me. That I’m not just the hybrid that ruiend his pack, his burden–I’m becoming the thing he’s been forging with blood

here.” The command tears out of him, low and savage,

Ligh

a traitorous pull to submit. My knees almost bend before I catch them,

nails biting into my bow’s grip, “I don’t take orders. Not even

My boots chew up the forest

wanted me to stay back. Maybe he wanted me

beyond them, one

my chest, not in hunger but in panic. Her whimper tears through me, raw and

I know this slaughter.