Chapter 59

Logan

The moment I saw her, all sense left me. I was rendered speechless, unable to move or even breathe. She was bruised, bound, and shoved into the clearing like a prize.

Even my heart stuttered to a stop. I knew I’d failed her already.

Evelyn’s eyes found mine immediately. I didn’t need words to know what she was thinking: Don’t do anything stupid.

But it was too late for that. I was already past stupid.

Stupid was letting her walk willingly into Jesse’s clutches. Stupid was watching her slip through the safety of the palace. I was well beyond doing anything logical to get her back.

Yet she held my gaze, trying to mutely communicate her confidence and calm in her stare. I tried to latch on to her expression and to let it quell me as well as I steeled myself to meet Jesse’s smirk.

Jesse’s rogues began to appear, staggering out of their tents and into the clearing we were facing off in. Some licked their chops, practically salivating at the prospect of a fight. They lined the perimeter, allowing us some space, as their faces twisted in smug anticipation.

Jesse had this audience in the palm of his hand. Everyone there expected him to finally humiliate the great Alpha.

Or so they thought.

“Well, well, well,” Jesse drawled. There was a wine goblet still in the hand not clutching Evelyn’s hair. It gave him an air of casualness like we weren’t standing on the edge of bloodshed.

“Didn’t expect you to actually come crawling into my camp, brother,” he continued. “Desperate to get your sweet little wife back, huh? I don’t blame you. She’s quite the looker. If she were my wife, I’d be certain to never let her go.”

I said nothing. My jaw was tight enough to ache as I resisted taking his bait. Every instinct screamed to rush forward and tear him apart. But I waited. For Evelyn’s sake.

He trailed a finger along her shoulder. She flinched but didn’t back away. Her eyes still didn’t leave my face.

That one movement lit something wild in my chest. “Fight me,” I shouted. “Man to man. Duel me for her freedom.”

He scoffed. “I don’t owe you anything.”

“Name your terms,” I said, clenching my fists.

He held up the finger he had used to stroke her.

“Fine. We’ll settle this. If you win, you leave with your precious little wife. If I win…” He turned back to Evelyn with a crooked smile. “She stays here. With me.”

Evelyn’s face went white. She didn’t speak, but her eyes flared with something between horror and fury. That look, that crack in her determined facade, was enough to make a snarl escape from deep in my throat.

I didn’t hesitate. “Done.”

Evelyn shook her head slightly, just once, like she disapproved of my suggestion to duel and already knew this wasn’t going to end how I wanted it to.

But I needed to try. For her and, admittedly, for me. I couldn’t let Jesse take this from me, too. I wouldn’t leave her to his mercy.

Jesse relinquished Evelyn, forcing her to the side with a slight shove. His rogues descended on her, pulling her farther away to make room for us while keeping her sufficiently restrained.

Alex took a long step back as well. Jesse tossed off his cloak and dropped his goblet to the ground with a clatter. The remnants of his drink splashed onto the dirt as he drew two blades, fitting one in each hand. He bared his teeth for good measure, showing an array of sharp fangs prepared to rip and puncture.

I rolled my shoulders, cracked my neck, and stepped forward, every nerve singing.

“Try not to die too quickly,” he said, winking.

“Oh, don’t expect it to be quick,” I said. My own hands were empty of weapons. I didn’t need them. “I plan to take my time ending you.”

He growled, and then he lunged.

The duel started with steel and fury.

Jesse moved like a predator, fast and unpredictable. There was no grace to his movements, no practiced stances or strategy. He was radiating barely leashed fury. I wondered how he had even learned to fight in the first place.

But I matched him, strike for strike, muscle memory and my own sense of rage carrying me through the chaos. His blades missed me as I dodged, and the gathered rogues jeered and shouted, thirsty for blood. Dust kicked up with every dodge, creating a hazy cloud before every swing.

I got a cut across his thigh, my claws scraping deep, parallel lines into his leg. The metallic scent of blood wetted the air.

But he didn’t falter. He slammed a fist into my ribs.

I twisted his arm and nearly disarmed him.

He kneed me in the gut and drove his elbow into my shoulder, knocking the air from me momentarily.

Back and forth. Blow for blow, we traded angry lashes until the world smelled like blood and my arms were speckled in crimson splatters. I didn’t even know if the blood was mine or his.

We were both relentless until a combination of Jesse landing a strike to my head and general exhaustion blurred the edges of the world.

I saw the opening through the haze, feeble and fleeting. I went for it.

And that’s when he feinted and shouted, “Enough!”

His blade sliced low, then high, and I didn’t see the second move coming in my mildly confused state. It caught me under the arm, deep. Hot pain bloomed as I staggered back, clutching my side.

He didn’t stop. But neither did I. My claws flashed out, and I nearly caught him with a brutal scrap, but suddenly I was being pushed back.

A kick to the chest sent me sprawling into the dirt. But this one wasn’t from Jesse.

A rogue stood over me—one I didn’t recognize. I heard Alex cry out as he was restrained by another. Before I could get the upper hand, the other rogue had me restrained.

When I looked up, my half-brother stood over me, smiling as he trained his dagger on me. He aimed it at my throat, a silent but potent threat: If I wanted to kill you now, I would.

“No, don’t!” Evelyn shouted from the side. “You cheated!”

“I didn’t promise to hold myself back from using all of the resources at my disposal,” he said, not even looking at her. His eyes were boring holes into me. “My rogues are an extension of me. I am just using all that was available.”

I couldn’t bring myself to turn and look at her. If I saw her fear… I would rather Jesse stab me then and there.

“You see now how loyal my rogues are to me. They will never allow me to fall. Remember that,” Jesse breathed. “Guess you don’t get the girl.”

He turned to his rogues, chest heaving with exertion. “Get him out of my sight.”

Two of them moved to drag me to the edge of the camp, but Jesse stepped closer and crouched beside me.

“Take a good look as you leave, brother. This is my territory,” he said softly. “You set foot in it again, I’ll gut you before you say her name. That’s a promise.”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t trust myself not to say something that may hasten my end. I knew that I was lucky enough already to be leaving with my life. It seemed unwise to push it.

And besides, there would be time for my retort later. This wasn’t the end. Far from it. As long as he held Evelyn captive, I would always have a reason to seek him out and try to destroy him.

As the pack of rogues shoved me and Alex toward the surrounding trees, I twisted to look back one last time.

Evelyn stood at the edge of the crowd, still bound, her hair tangled and face streaked with dirt. But her eyes were steady. Even despite the fear I’d heard in her voice, she was not afraid or broken. Just resolute.

And that made it worse. It took everything in me to look away.

I was forced out of the camp with blood on my shirt and anger in my chest. Beside me, Alex was mute, undoubtedly thinking about the mess that had been caused over the last few hours. My mind was already spinning with other ways we might be able to slip her free. But it would take planning and time.

I feared I didn’t have the patience for it.

"Wait for me, Evelyn," I murmured, "I'll save you."