Chapter 72

Jesse

The camp was too quiet without her. Too still. Even though I knew she was gone, I still looked for her everywhere.

It wasn’t just that she had left, though. It was that she had been taken from me. It was the fact that Logan had stolen from me once again.

The air choked me, thick with the fog of her absence. It clung to everything and bookended every thought. Even the cot where I had last seen her, bound and sleeping like some tragic offering, mocked me now with its emptiness.

Part of me was devastated by the loss. Another part of me was absolutely furious.

And I needed some place for all of that anger to go.

“She’s gone?” I repeated, pacing in a slow circle around the trembling scout in front of me. He had been the first to confirm that Logan had taken Evelyn out of the camp. He had just finished telling me that he had seen them returning to the palace.

“You’re saying that you didn’t stop them? That you just let her go?”

“I didn’t know,” he stammered. “No one saw her until it was too late. And there were so few people left in the camp to defend it that—”

I didn’t let him finish.

My claws ripped through his throat before I even realized I’d shifted. They raked parallel lines across him, deep enough to immediately gush warm lifeblood onto my hand.

Blood hit the canvas in a hot spray, too, and stained the floor. The body collapsed with a dull thud, his last breath rattling out as the rest of the space went deathly still. I flicked the blood from my hand and watched it spatter beside his lifeless body.

My second-in-command, Lucas, stood a few paces away, his eyes wide and lips parted in silent disbelief.

“Clean it up,” I muttered. “I don’t want to see this piece-of-shit scout again.”

Lucas didn’t move. “Jesse… He was just a serving boy. He didn’t have the means to stop Logan’s retreat even if he had wanted to.”

“He was meant to serve me, and he failed.”

Lucas was quiet for a moment before he softly said, “All of this for just another healer?”

I turned my eyes on him, slow and sharp. “‘Just a healer’?”

He swallowed. “You’ve never reacted like this over anyone. Not even when Logan outplayed you in that battle where you first met her.”

I looked down at the blood on my hands. It dripped from my knuckles, sluggish and hot. It was like I’d torn something out of myself along with the serving boy’s life.

“She wasn’t just a healer,” I said, voice low. “She was the princess.”

It felt good to say it, to know I was hurting her from a distance like she had hurt me with her fleeing.

Lucas blinked. “What?”

“She’s the Alpha King’s daughter. She’s been playing everyone for fools, but I saw the truth in her. We had the greatest asset in this war, and that fucking serving boy lost her. Anyone else responsible will pay.”

He stared at me, horror dawning across his face like a rising moon. “We had the princess… and we didn’t even know?”

“I knew,” I said flatly. “I followed her home once. A long time ago. Back when we were basically kids. I knew what I saw then. Regardless, a prisoner of war has slipped between our fingers. We will never have an opportunity like that again.”

Rafe’s jaw clenched. “And you didn’t say anything? Jesse, we could’ve ended this war with a single ransom letter.”

“No,” I snapped. “There was more to this than just a ransom letter. It’s bigger than that. Besides, she’s not just another bargaining chip. Not to me.”

I didn’t say the rest. That I wanted her for more than leverage. That I wanted her beside me, not as a prisoner, but as a queen. That I had offered as much to her before and been flat-out rejected. I could still feel the sting.

But before Lucas could press further, an unfamiliar voice called from the edge of camp. One of the scouts came jogging over minutes later and pulled the tent flap asunder. When he stepped into the space, I noticed that there was a stranger at his side.

I tensed. I knew what it looked like. I was still bloodied, and the serving boy’s corpse was at my feet. It was bad timing optically, and I had little patience just then to deal with and court a stranger’s favor.

The man with the scout stepped forward like he owned the place, brushing dust off a sleek black coat and adjusting the cuffs of a designer shirt far too clean for our muddy terrain. He was clearly not a soldier. He had quite obviously never participated in the war, given his clean, well-rested complexion.

“Sir, this man requested an audience,” the scout said breathlessly.

“Jesse, I presume?” the stranger asked with a faint smirk. “My, I have heard some things about you. My name is Scott. Formerly of Logan’s pack. Recently exiled.”

I narrowed my eyes. The word “exiled” echoed in my head. I wondered what this man had done to betray Logan’s trust. But him being Logan’s enemy did not automatically mean that he was also my ally.

“And you’ve come here for what? Redemption? Revenge?” I asked.

“Revenge, mostly,” Scott admitted. “I thought our interests may be aligned. And on the way here, I heard you lost something… someone… recently. Funny, we seem to have been running in the same circles all along. So I’d like to propose an alliance.”

My interest piqued despite myself.

“I have a new penthouse in neutral territory,” he continued. “It’s off-grid and secure. Frankly, only Evelyn knows about it, but she won’t suspect a thing. She’ll think I’m another lowly exile. Besides, the deal I struck with her seems to no longer be her priority. But that doesn’t mean I can’t still reap the rewards. You’ll find it’s quite the place for a rogue leader and his war council.”

“So you’re offering me a space?” I gestured around me. “We already have plenty of space. These woods are ours.”

Scott smirked, smugly amused. “I also have information,” he said. “Plans. And the name of every fool who helped Evelyn and Logan humiliate us.”

He took a step forward. “You see, Evelyn struck a deal with me to get back at a former rogue. She’s someone we could use too. And then there is the fact that she thinks I am her ally, that she can trust me. She doesn’t need to know how bitter this exile has made me.”

“And you’re willing to give this all to us?” I asked. It seemed too easy.

Scott nodded. “In exchange for the complete and total destruction of Evelyn and Logan, yes.”

His fury was palpable even a few paces away.

Lucas gave me a side glance and crossed his arms over his chest. “He could be useful,” he muttered to me.

Or dangerous.

But I wasn’t in the mood to be picky. With Evelyn’s escape, our situation had just gotten dire. We needed help, and if this recent exile was willing, who was I to turn him away?

“Welcome to the rebellion,” I said with a grim smile.

Scott returned the grin. “Let’s burn their world down.”