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Chapter 187

JESSICA

“Are you sure you didn’t see anything?”

“No.”

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Grayson is suspicious. I can see it in his eyes when he found us in that cell after the Triad left. I know I’m supposed to tell him everything but how can I do that when he’s the one lying to me?

“Jess.”

I forced my hands steady on the bandage, keeping my gaze low. “I said no. You gonna ask me a third time, Alpha, or actually let me patch you up?”

A muscle ticked in his cheek. He didn’t believe me. He never would. Around us, others murmured–no casualties, they said. Lucky. Blessed. I heard the claim, but the forest still hummed with a different voice: the Triads‘ echo, patient and hungry.

My wolf growled low in my chest.

Grayson didn’t ask again. He just stared at me–tired eyes, jaw tight, and I realized, all at once, how damn wounded he looked. A slow exhale left him, and he released my wrist only to slide his hand to my waist. “Fine,” he said, voice rough but quieter now. “If you say no, I’ll believe you.”

Before I could react, he pulled me in, guiding me until I straddled his lap, the bandages forgotten. His arms wrapped tight around me, one hand spread firm across my spine, the other caging my hip as though he could fuse me into him.

“Grayson-” I started, but his mouth was already brushing my temple, his voice breaking softer.

“You scare me half to death every time you’re not in my sight. Do you know that? I fight, I bleed, I tear rogues apart–but it’s this,” his grip tightened, breath shuddering against my hair, “the thought of losing you, that ruins me.”

I realized I wasn’t just holding him… he was holding me. Broken, desperate, and impossibly alive.

Slowly, carefully, I cupped his jaw in my palms, tilting his head until our foreheads pressed together. “I’m… I’m sorry if I scared you again.”

always fail at protecting you, Jess.

his, searching, tracing the exhaustion and the edge of pain in them. Is that how he always felt? That no matter what he did, it

the tense line of his

ran through him. He buried his face in my neck, letting out a rough, uneven breath. “I… I just…” His hands

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Chapter 187

them all… but when it comes to keeping

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fears, the rage, the ache of knowing how much he carried. His lips parted instantly,

breathed against him, tugging gently at his hair, letting him feel the sharp insistence

“Understood?”

eyes dark and molten, nodding

from the crowd, sharp and loud, and my eyes flicked toward the others. Even if everyone was wounded, I knew we had a long night ahead–too many to fix,

someone’s

heat crawling up my neck, cheeks burning. Damn him. Always

rumbled through my chest and ignited something dangerous in me. Before I could even blink, he scooped me up, pressing me

curled around his neck, pulse hammering, every nerve

even think about trying to wriggle free,” he muttered, half command,

stubborn and because it felt good to make him carry me. “You sure you don’t want to keep bleeding on me a while longer?” I teased, not really caring if the others are seeing this

out a short, dangerous laugh. “Shut up, trouble.” His mouth ghosted the shell of my ear. “Get used

dared, soft and

and twice as binding. He set me down not in the middle of the chaos, but by Kade and the others–by safety–and his hands lingered on my waist as if the world were trying to pry us

let myself be happy, empty–headed and stupid with it. Tomorrow would bring the questions that might ruin us both – did Grayson know about the Triads? Did I have to find

word he hoisted me up again, carrying me through the darkness. I thought he was taking me

answer was a rough

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Chapter 187

are you taking me?”

“You’ll see, baby.”

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