Chapter 272
272
272
Riley’s POV
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The venom in their voices coiled around me like a nest of snakes.
“She’s always been filth. Now she dares strut in here like she belongs?” one of them sneered, spitting on the polished floor as though the very air I breathed offended him.
“Riley, just admit you crawled here to fawn over our golden boy. Stop pretending you’re above it. You’ve always been a fraud-playing saint while rotting underneath.”
“Brains don’t save a wolf with a blackened heart. Top of Mooncrest High or not— you ended up caged, a criminal. A disgrace.”
Their jeers swarmed like gnats, buzzing around me, relentless, insidious. They circled the table and, without hesitation, claimed the seats as if the space was theirs.
One swaggering brute, the reek of cheap cologne clinging to him like rot, dropped into the chair beside me. His hand slithered across my shoulder, fingers digging in like claws. His grin was a mask-lecherous, foul.
“Tell me, Riley. What do you crave? Steak, wine? I’ll buy you whatever you want. You look starved. After prison food, surely your pretty mouth hasn’t tasted anything fine.”
The dominance in his touch stung like an insult. My wolf snarled inside me. I whipped my arm, snapping his hand away with a force that made him stumble. My voice came low, cold, carrying the bite of steel:
“Keep your hands off me.”
The man’s face darkened instantly, rage boiling. He surged to his feet, jabbing a sausage-like finger inches from my face.
“You dare shame me in front of everyone? You should be grateful I even acknowledge you. Without me, you’ll never set foot in the Stormridge’s finest hall again!”
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3:22 pm 36
272
A chorus rose in his defense.
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“Yeah! When Zao offers you favor, you kneel and thank him. You’re lucky he even looks at you.”
“Don’t forget-he may have scraped the bottom in Mooncrest’s exams, but he’s a foreman now. He commands wolves on sites, rakes in hundreds of thousands a year. More than you’ll ever see.”
Zao-the bloated fool, drunk on his own ego-preened under their praise. His hands flashed before me, heavy with gaudy gold rings. He shoved them under my nose like trophies, the gems catching the chandelier’s light, as if their gleam could blind me into submission. Then, with a flourish, he slammed down his phone and a ring of keys—the BMW emblem winking like he’d just flung down the crown of a kingdom.
Mia sat stiff beside me, her discomfort rolling off her in waves, her hands twisting in her lap. My own disgust simmered hotter, tighter. Their noise was nothing but the clamor of carrion crows.
I pulled out my phone. Lucien’s number sat pinned at the very top of my contacts, my one lifeline, my tether to strength. I was seconds from calling him when the brute moved fast.
Zao’s hand shot out, snatching the device from me.
“What’s this? A scrap of metal?” He sneered and, before I could react, he hurled it to the ground. The sound of shattering plastic and glass cracked through the air.
Pieces scattered across the plush carpet like bones picked clean.
The phone Lucien had given me.
A gift. A link to him. Precious. Sacred. And now, reduced to debris at the feet of jackals.
“Oh look at that-worthless junk. Breaks with a flick. What, did you drag it out of a scrapyard?” Zao’s laughter was joined by the hyena howls of the others, their cruelty feeding off each other.
Something inside me snapped.
The wolf surged.
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8:23 pm 00 DD
272
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My hand moved before thought. The slap rang sharp, echoing like a whip-crack across the chamber. His head snapped sideways, the bloom of my strike reddening his flesh instantly.
“You filthy swine,” I hissed, every word laced with venom. “Look at you. A pig parading in gold, stinking of arrogance. You think I’d take your cast-off scraps? Pathetic.”
Again and again, my palm met his face, each strike fueled by fury, by insult, by the sight of my shattered phone on the ground. His skin went scarlet under my blows, swelling, puffed and raw like some grotesque mask.
Gasps rippled through the room. The pack of jackals froze, their laughter strangled in their throats. Eyes wide, mouths slack, they stared in disbelief.
They hadn’t expected me to bite back.
But I was no one’s prey.
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