Chapter 96
“So you want to be a part of the chaos, huh?” I asked, stepping closer to him.
“I want to belong,” he said fiercely.
Goddess, didn’t we all.
He pulled something from his belt. A silver dagger. Ornate, old. Too delicate for someone
like him.
“Found this in the woods a while back,” he said. “Figured it was worth something.”
My stomach turned. That was a ceremonial pack dagger. How the hell had he gotten his
hands on that? Someone had lost it.
And now this idiot had it.
I stepped closer, my tone light. “So you know the rogues who are attacking the packs?”
He stood up straighter, feeling important. “Some of them.”
“You know anything they’re planning?”
He smiled, eager to share everything he’d heard. Goddess, this kid was a disaster. Even if
Pierce let him into the faction’s inner circle, he was too stupid to know when to keep his mouth shut. He’d end up dead pretty quickly.
One way or another.
“I know their next hit.”
I raised my eyebrows feigning that I was incredibly impressed.
“Some place called Lakepoint,” he said, stumbling over himself to share everything he knew. “It’s on the outer edge of Moonstone territory. Not a lot of security. They’re going to hit it before the rest of the pack can regroup.”
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I nodded slowly.
Then my expression shifted.
“You shouldn’t have come here.”
He blinked. “What?”
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I moved faster than instinct. My hand shot out, seizing the wrist that held the dagger. I twisted hard. Bone ground against bone, and he cried out–a sharp, surprised yelp that cracked through the quiet night.
His fingers opened involuntarily, the blade clattering to the ground. He tried to pull away, but I was already behind him, one arm wrapping around his neck, the other covering his
mouth.
He struggled–young and strong, but untrained.
Desperate.
I tightened my grip, my breath steady even as my heart pounded.
“Shh,” I whispered against his ear. “It’s over.”
He thrashed once more. Then he went still.
His body crumpled to the ground like a broken marionette, limbs folding in on themselves. He landed in a tangle of roots and fallen leaves, his eyes open and glassy.
I stood there a moment, staring down at him.
Just a kid..
No older than I was when I first entered the roguelands. Skinny. Cocky. Stupid in the way young wolves often were–eager to prove themselves, to be useful, to be seen. Desperate for a place at the table, even if it meant blood on their hands.
And now he was dead.
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Chapter 96
Because of me.
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I exhaled, slow and shaking. My lungs felt tight, like the trees had closed in around me.
No anger. No adrenaline rush. Just that familiar, hollow drop in my gut.
I crouched beside him and closed his eyes gently with the heel of my hand.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “You picked the wrong house.”
I grabbed his ankles and started dragging the body deeper into the woods. Branches snapped beneath his weight. My arms burned. Sweat slipped down my spine. Every foot felt heavier than the last, but I didn’t stop until the trees swallowed us both.
I found a shallow dip in the earth beneath a tangle of thornbush and rolled him into it, then pulled leaves, dirt, and broken brush across the body until it was hidden.
Not buried. Just gone enough.
My hands were shaking by the time I finished.
I wiped them on my jeans and stood still in the dark, the silence pressing down like a hand on my back.
I wasn’t like the others in the faction. Not really. I didn’t want to be.
But I couldn’t go back, either. Not to Carly’s warmth or Erin’s quiet loyalty. Not to a life
that could be soft.
I wasn’t soft anymore.
I had blood under my nails and shadows on my soul.
And if I didn’t keep walking this knife’s edge–if I didn’t do what needed to be done–Carly and Erin were going to get hurt.
I couldn’t let that happen.
I stepped back onto the trail, picked up the silver dagger, and wiped it clean against the
Chapter 96
inside of my jacket. Then I slid it into my belt.
The handle felt too familiar.
Like it belonged there.
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I exhaled once, long and slow, and turned away from the cottage’s soft, glowing windows.
I knew where I had to go next.
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