His Trouble Maker

Chapter 194

Chapter 194

JESSICA

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My wolf howls before I even understand why. Heat slams into my ribs, a hot, traitorous claw. My knees wobble. Breath comes too fast. Both of them smell it – hunger and victory and something almost like fear.

Grayson’s eyes go bright. He looks like he’s found a prize. Riot’s mouth quirks, not amused – interested. “Oh,” he says, quiet and slow. “So that’s the truth.”

“Stay away from her.” Grayson’s voice is low and tight. He squares up as if he can stop the whole world by standing in front of me.

Riot doesn’t bother with him. His attention is on me, like I’m the only thing in the room. He steps closer, and the pressure of his presence makes the hairs on my arms rise. “The Triad told me you’d fight it,” he says. “That you’d cling to him because you think you have no other choice. But you do. You always did.”

“Riot.” I try to make the name a warning. It splinters before it leaves my mouth.

“You belong to the Triad,” Riot says. No flourish. No drama. Just a fact, delivered flat and final. “And the Triad wants you reclaimed. By me.”

My stomach drops like I’ve been kicked between the legs. Reclaimed.

“You can’t-”

Grayson moves without thinking, a raw animal motion. He lunges.

Riot catches him like he expected it. His hands are faster than they should be, steady in a way that makes my skin crawl. They collide–fists, elbows, teeth–metal scraping leather, a loud, ugly sound. Grayson’s first hit lands, a clean line of anger across Riot’s jaw. Riot tastes blood and smiles.

The fight isn’t pretty. It’s close and fast and cruel. They’re not any two men; they’re wolves, and the room smells like wet fur and adrenaline. I want to turn away. I can’t.

My wolf thrashes and thrashes again, torn between them. Grayson! she says. Riot! she says. I can’t make her stop.

like a switch flipped in the space between breaths. He’s not just fighting Grayson – he’s testing the bond. He wants the bond’s answer in

back, then wedges his shoulder into Grayson’s chest, shoving him against the

me, like a challenge. “Does she

of me wants to say no. My body betrays me and says

name and mean it and not mean

10:14 Mon, Sep 22

Chapter 194

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the Triad sends me to reclaim for nothing?” Riot leans in so close the heat of his breath fogs my mask. “They want

ends – not because someone wins, but because

the room.

Kade.

god looks at sparring children. “Enough,” he says. That single word pulls all

his lip and breathes like he’s

Theo says, low. He steps nearer,

“Tonight?”

will prove where your bond lies, Jess. Or we will choose

screams. My heart tries to explode out of my chest. Grayson’s hand finds my wrist

am. I am also, impossibly, electric. Want and hate

like he’s given us instructions

war in the same blink. Riot looks at me like he’s catalogued every weakness he can find. My wolf paddles

Grayson says. His voice is broken

you can keep her,” Riot says, cold as ice. “Prove

mouth. I have no idea what to say. I have no idea what

I can think, before the bond or the Triad or

Triad steps out of the shadows holding a sealed envelope with my name on it.

that before you make

wants to burn the thing, to tear it open and not look. To rip it into pieces

open

single line inside makes the room tilt and