Chapter Two: Suicide Mission

Ivy

The Thorns were power incarnate, untouchable, ruthless, feared by anyone with half a brain. They owned everything: territory, politics, blood oaths. Crossing them wasn’t reckless; it was suicidal.

I didn’t know much about the brothers who ruled now, but I knew enough. Their names weren’t spoken lightly, unless you were ready to die.

And of course, that’s where I was being sent.

Not because I was the best fit.

Not because I had the training.

But because Alpha Brian wanted me gone.

This wasn’t an assignment. It was execution in disguise.

A thousand protests clawed at my throat, but I bit them back. Every tear that burned behind my eyes, I forced down. Brian wanted me to break, to fold under the weight of his cruelty. I refused to give him the satisfaction.

How much did they have to hate me to throw me to wolves like the Thorns?

“You have two days to get your affairs in order,” Brian said flatly, like we were discussing logistics, not my death. “Report to ACSC headquarters. You’ll receive further instructions there.”

“Yes, Alpha,” I said, my voice steady while everything inside me screamed.

He didn’t blink. Didn’t flinch. Just stared through me like I was already a ghost.

“Do not shame my pack, Ivy Mooncrest. Fail this mission, and your bloodline will be wiped clean.”

There it was again. The reminder that in his eyes, I was nothing more than a stain. My failure wouldn’t just condemn me, it would erase my family. My mother. My brother. Gone, as if we’d never existed.

I turned to leave, armor of composure cracking at the edges. But before I reached the hall, the door swung open. Emily.

Perfume first, expensive and suffocating, then her voice, sharp with entitlement.

“What’s this I hear about you sending Ivy to the ACSC, Brian? I thought that assignment would be mine.”

I froze just outside. The door was cracked enough to let every poisonous word spill through. I shouldn’t have listened, but I did.

“Keep your voice down, Emily,” Brian snapped. “And address me with respect.”

I almost laughed. Respect. Everyone in the pack knew she called him whatever she wanted behind closed doors. She’d been bragging for weeks that she was next Luna. Maybe she was. Maybe she’d already claimed him.

Once, I thought I’d wear that title. Once, his arms had been my sanctuary. His whispers, promises. His mouth, truth.

But my father’s betrayal had poisoned everything. Now I wasn’t a partner or a warrior. I was his mistake to erase.

Maybe that’s why he hated me so much.

He couldn’t kill me outright, so he found another way.

And still, deep down, something in me ached for the boy he used to be. The one who had loved me. The one who would’ve chosen me against the world.

But he was gone.

All that remained was a man who wanted me buried.

“This mission should be mine,” Emily insisted, her voice dripping greed. “It would earn me medals, prestige, the ACSC would never forget my name.”

Brian’s reply was cold, deliberate. “If this mission came with medals, I’d have given it to you.”

I stopped breathing.

“It’s a suicide mission.”

The words split me open.

He knew.

He knew exactly what he was sending me into.

This wasn’t strategy, it was slaughter.

“How?” Emily’s voice faltered.

“They want someone to infiltrate the Thorns,” Brian said casually, like he was reading a grocery list. “Ivy will be working in their club. Undercover. As a stripper.”

My stomach twisted.

Not a spy. Not an operative. A prop. A body dressed in silk and tossed to predators.

“She’s inexperienced,” Brian added, his tone laced with disdain. “She won’t last. Even seasoned operatives don’t make it out alive when the Thorns are involved.”

Emily gasped. Even she wasn’t ready for that kind of cruelty.

“What if it traces back to us?” she asked, quieter now.

Brian shrugged. “Simple. Her father was a traitor. If she cracks under interrogation, we’ll spin it. We will tell the Thorns that she was continuing his mission. She will have no ACSC record, so the Thorns won’t link her to them either. And if the Thorns want blood, we’ll hand over her family. Clean break.”

Something inside me detonated.

I wanted to kick the door open. To scream. To rip his lies out of the air and shove them down his throat.

But I didn’t move.

This wasn’t the moment to break.

It was the moment to decide.

So I turned away, silent, cold, shaking.

I would survive this.

I’d crawl out of hell if I had to, drag myself through fire and ruin. But I wouldn’t let Brian be right. I wouldn’t let him win.

Not this time.

When I reached home, the house felt smaller, like the walls knew what was coming. My mother looked up the second I entered, her hands stilling over the sewing in her lap.

“Ivy,” she said softly. “What happened?”

I tried to smile. It trembled and broke. “Brian gave me a mission.”

Her brow furrowed. “What kind of mission?”

“The kind that gets you killed.”

Her face drained of color. “What did he do now?”

“ACSC. Undercover at The Obsidian.”

Her breath hitched. “The Thorns?”

I nodded.

She stumbled to her feet, one hand clutching the edge of the table. “You can’t go. You won’t make it out of there alive.”

“If I don’t go,” I said quietly, “he’ll exile you and Jamie.”

Her hand flew to her mouth. “He can’t, ”

“He can,” I cut in. “And he will.”

We stood in silence, the air heavy between us.

“What people are you spying on?” she whispered.

“The Thorns,” I said. The name alone made her knees buckle. “He told me if I fail, he’ll give you to them. Word for word.”

Tears filled her eyes. For a heartbeat, she looked like she might break completely. But then something hardened inside her.

“Go,” she said. Her voice shook, but her spine didn’t. “Do what you must. And if you fail… you’ll die with honor. We’ll survive somehow.”

Her strength anchored me, even as it shredded me.

But I wasn’t ready to die. Not like this.

Brian thought he was sending me to slaughter. Thought he’d buried me already.

Fine. Let him think that.

I would walk into the wolves’ den with my eyes open.

I would play the part, read the room, and when the time came,

I’d twist the trap back on the ones who set it.

This wasn’t about redemption anymore.

It was survival.

And I was done bleeding for his rules.