His Trouble Maker

Chapter 181

JESSICA

“Have you been practicing?”

I curl my fingers into the collar of my shirt, tugging it up just enough to hide the crescent bruises Grayson left last night. Heat claws up my neck, prickling at every pulse, and I can feel Kade’s eyes on me.

“Mind your own business, Kade.”

Kade’s hand lands on the table with a soft thud, and I catch the faint shift in his gaze sliding toward the marks at the base of my throat. I stiffen, tugging the collar a fraction higher, letting my hair fall just enough to obscure the bruises. Every instinct in me screams to hide, yet a part of me burns with the challenge–the defiance I can’t seem to suppress.

After Grayson and I had our talk last night, he’s sure as hell punished me from slapping him. I’m glad I can barely walk for tonight’s ceremony.

Grayson snorts, low, amused, but there’s an edge to it, a warning tangled in his voice. “Brat,” he mutters. “Don’t piss Kade. He’s the one making sure tonight will be perfect.”

“Oh, I’m sure he won’t mess up,” I hiss… Beneath the smirk, beneath the snarl, my stomach tightens. Coil after coil of anticipation, dread, and something I refuse to name twists deep inside me. Years with Grayson have taught me this is the right path for us, but that doesn’t make it any easier.

Kade leans back, his arms crossed, eyes glinting. “Tonight, he wants the marking done right. No hesitation. You’re his… you understand what that means.”

I do understand. Too well.

“Yeah,” I murmur, barely loud enough for him. My stomach tightens again, harder this time, heat pooling low. “I know what

it means.”

Staring at the collar, Kade licks his lips and shakes his head. “Someone looks nervous.”

His tone should annoy me, and part of me wants to snap, but the truth curls around my ribs like a vice: I am. Fucking nervous. I am not supposed to feel this way. I am supposed to feel confident about finally having Grayson as my official mate–but I don’t. All I feel is this stupid, looping thought about messing it all up, about flinching, stumbling, betraying the bond before it’s even sealed.

I am not fragile. I am fierce. I am fired. And yet my stomach betrays me, twisting, fluttering, sinking, as if already bowing to what tonight will do to me.

Kade leans back, smirk playing on his lips. “You know, you could just admit it. Nervous. It’s okay. Makes it easier for him to… claim you.”

Claim me.

thoughts about this? Because I don’t want to be

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Chapter 181

spit, voice sharp, brittle. Lies, lies,

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and pats my head before leaning in for a slurpy kiss -right in

shove back against him reflexively, chest flush, jaw tight. “Don’t-“I hiss, trying to pull free, but my hands tremble.

did not.” Grayson’s eyes narrow, jaw tight, the

trying to ignore him. But I take his anger, swallow it down like bitter medicine, if it means I can slip away for a few minutes, clear my head. Because looking at him knowing I’ll be marked

coming, and I don’t want you

that hover on my tongue–the truth that danger seems to orbit, that trouble finds me whether I’m careful or not–but I press my lips

okay? I’ll be back in

get a chance to argue; I’m on my feet, moving before he can say a word, sprinting through the woods with my heart hammering so hard it feels like it might tear out of my chest. My

tonight, of

overwhelming.

I feel the familiar pull of adrenaline and nerves, twisting in my gut, making my breaths short, shallow, sharp. The woods blur around me, but my mind

I can’t ignore.

reach the small clearing where Jack is waiting, up on

the words come out

my legs–the muscle memory of being more than human. With a sharp push off the balls of my feet, I

laughs, low and amused, leaning over the branch to watch me land. “Not bad,”

here?” I snap, brushing imaginary dust from

branch with a graceful, almost predatory ease. “I could ask you the same thing,” he says, eyes glinting as he gestures toward a

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Chapter 181

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