Chapter 255
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Carmen’s vision burned red, her mind flashing with the image of Riley limping, her once-bright ears dulled to silence. It was like a hundred silver-tipped needles stabbing straight into her heart.
She inhaled sharply, forcing her wolf back under control. Her voice was like ice cracking across a frozen river.
“Do you think your words change anything now? If you truly knew what you did, you’d be dead already. Death is the only real atonement.”
Without warning, she drove her boot hard into Ronan Duskcliff’s ribs, sending him sprawling. Her movements were sharp, precise—predator’s fury barely contained—before she turned and walked away without a flicker of hesitation.
From the shadows of the booth, Jace Hale finally rose to his feet. He stalked toward Ronan, his golden wolf’s gaze cold and merciless.
“If you claim to love someone and still destroy them… you deserve exactly what you got.”
He didn’t spare another glance before striding after Carmen.
“Carmen-where are you going?” he called, catching the faint trace of her scent in the air.
“Not your concern. Don’t follow me.” She didn’t slow, didn’t turn.
“It’s not safe at night. Let me-”
She spun on him, her eyes gleaming with a feral warning. “I’m in no mood, Jace. Stay away unless you’re looking to bleed. Tomorrow, I’ll pretend to be your girlfriend again.”
Then she stepped out into the Silverfang Den’s entrance, the night wind cutting across her face, cold and sharp as her own detachment.
A sleek black luxury car rolled to a halt at the curb, its purr deep and expensive. The doors opened, and a man and woman stepped out. The male’s sharp, commanding features marked him as one of the Blackmaw Pack’s power-holders
-Ronan’s father. At his side was a refined woman with anxious eyes, Ronan’s
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mother.
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They moved quickly toward the bar, but before they could reach the entrance, a lone figure stepped out of the shadows, blocking their way.
“Move,” the Alpha male growled, his tone steeped in impatience.
The woman didn’t budge. Instead, she smiled without warmth, her eyes dark with something feral. “Alpha Duskcliff… Forgotten me so soon? Strange. I’ve been counting the days since I got out, just to see your face again.”
A flicker of recognition froze his expression. He took in her features-a woman in her mid-thirties, dressed plainly, but a jagged scar carved down one side of her face, making her presence all the more brutal. Her scent carried the weight of blood and old violence.
“It seems you do remember me,” she said coldly.
Ronan’s father and mother exchanged a look, their faces draining of color. Harper.
She’d entered prison around the same time as Riley. Back then, Harper’s claws were already bloodstained-business rivalries had turned to street attacks, and one fight ended with her driving a blade into a rival’s ribs, even taking a hatchet to him in broad daylight. Twenty years was her sentence.
She should still be rotting in a cell.
But once she was inside, the Duskcliffs had approached her. Their offer was simple -make Riley’s life in prison hell, and they would shorten her sentence.
Harper had accepted without hesitation. From then on, Riley’s days had been nothing but agony-beatings, humiliation, a predator’s torment without respite. She wasn’t the only one. Alaric of the Ebonclaw Pack, Dean Elira Blackthorn, and Scarlett had also sent their own wolves to break Riley,
And now Harper stood here, free.
The Alpha Duskcliff of the Blackmaw Pack stepped back, instinctively treating her like a threat-his wolf recognizing the danger. His mate covered her mouth, fear sharpening her scent. “What… what do you want?”
Harper’s lips curled into a smirk that didn’t reach her eyes. She stepped closer, the air between them thickening with killing intent.
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寫
“What do I want? You truly have forgotten, haven’t you, Alpha?” She jabbed a claw- tipped finger into his chest. “I did your dirty work in the pit. Now, I’m out. I want my payment.”
His jaw tightened. “We gave you your payment-your sentence was reduced.”
Harper’s laugh was sharp and cruel, the scar on her face twisting with the motion. “That? That’s nothing. I’m out now, with nothing in my hands. I’m not greedy. One hundred thousand moon-coins, and I vanish from Mooncrest forever.”
Once, the Blackmaw Pack could have paid that without blinking. But now, after Lucien Duskgrave’s relentless dismantling of their holdings, they were bleeding out-pack coffers empty, the family on the brink.
His mate snapped, her voice trembling with both fear and defiance. “This is extortion. We could call the Enforcers.”
Harper’s smirk widened. “Do it. And when they lock me up again, I’ll tell them everything about our deal. Every. Single. Thing.”
The Alpha male’s wolf stiffened-he knew she wasn’t bluffing. Exposure would mean disgrace, ruin, and possibly his own cell in the dungeons beneath the Council’s Hall.
He stood silent for a long moment, then finally bared his teeth in a grimace. “Fine. I’ll get you the money. But when you leave Mooncrest, you stay gone.”
Harper’s eyes glinted. “Don’t worry. I’ve no interest in wasting my second life here.”
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