She was back in prison. Or wherever the hell they sent her. Reliving something I’d never seen.
I lowered my arm slowly, the weight of it suddenly unbearable.
“You can go,” I said, quieter this time.
My voice sounded foreign to my own ears.
She didn’t move.
Part of me wanted to grab her again. To throw her out. To scream until she remembered who she hurt.
But another part-one I didn’t want to name-just stood there, watching the girl who used to be a legend, now reduced to a ghost.
I clenched my jaw. Turned away.
“Leave,” I said again, this time with steel in my voice.
She wasn’t hearing a damn thing I said.
I could see it in her face-blank, distant, smeared with blood and tears. Her eyes were glassy, wide with panic, scanning for something, anything to hold on to.
Then she lifted a trembling hand and roughly wiped her face, smearing crimson across her cheek. Her gaze snapped to my mouth.
And then-clarity.
She read my lips. Understood.
“Leave.”
Her body flinched. For a second, she looked like she couldn’t believe it.
Was that hope flickering in her eyes?
The girl who had crawled in here like a shattered thing-now staring at me like she’d been handed a second chance at life. As if my dismissal was mercy, not disgust.
Her lips trembled. “I’ll go. Right now,” she choked out, voice raw, hoarse-more breath than sound.
She scrambled up from the floor, using both hands and knees. Her injured leg buckled, nearly giving out beneath her. Twice she stumbled, nearly fell flat again.
But she forced herself upright.
Didn’t even look back.
She bolted.
Like a hunted animal finally released from the cage.
And I let her.
I didn’t move. Didn’t call her back. Just stood there, jaw tight, fists clenched, watching her figure disappear into the hallway until there was nothing left but silence.
I didn’t know how long I stood there before I turned and sat beside the bed.
The air in the room had grown heavy again, thick with the sterile scent of medicine and something deeper-grief.
I reached out, fingers brushing over the outline of my sister’s face.
Tessa’s cheeks had grown hollow.
Her once bright eyes remained closed, lashes unmoving, sunk into bruised shadows.
So still.
Too still.
“I let her go, Tessa,” I murmured, my thumb tracing the curve of her pale brow. “Just like that. After everything she did to you… I let her walk.”
I swallowed, throat dry.
“Would you hate me for it?”
But there was no answer.
There never was.
Only the quiet hiss of the ventilator. The steady beep of the machines. The crushing weight in my chest.
I’d told myself for months that I hated Riley.
That I wanted her to pay.
But when I looked her in the eyes just now-saw how broken she was, how terrified, how ruined-I didn’t see a predator.
I saw a ruin.
And still… I couldn’t figure out whether that made things better or worse.
I leaned forward and pressed my forehead against the edge of the mattress.
“I should’ve finished her,” I whispered.
Riley’s POV
The fluorescent lights of the Healer’s Ward burned into my eyes. I could barely see through the blood and tears that blurred my vision, but I didn’t stop.
I couldn’t.
I stumbled down the corridor, slamming into walls and brushing past startled wolves. Some of them gasped, others recoiled at the sight of me-bloodied, limping, barely upright-but I didn’t care.
Let them look.
Let them see what the Ebonclaw Pack does to its own.
There was only one thought in my mind: get away from Ronan. As far as possible. Before he changed his mind and decided he hadn’t had enough.
I ran harder, heart pounding, lungs burning. My injured leg screamed with every step, but I ignored it.
A Broken Alpha Heiress’s Revenge
So I didn’t see the man coming out of the private consultation room.
Not until I slammed straight into him.
The impact jolted me back, and I nearly fell to the floor-but a strong arm snapped around my waist, steadying me before I hit the ground.
“Riley.”
That voice.
Familiar. Soft. Careful.
Terrifying.
I looked up and found myself staring into Maddox’s eyes.
His amber gaze reflected the panic in mine, like he’d already seen the fear before I even knew it was there.
He reached for me like I was something fragile.
But all I felt was revulsion.
I shoved him away with all the strength I had left.
He barely budged, but he let go. I turned without a word and tried to walk away, only to feel his hand clamp down on my wrist.
Firm. Unyielding.
Just like him in the courtroom five years ago.
“You’re hurt,” he said, voice low, gaze flicking to the blood on my forehead. There was a flicker of something-guilt? Concern? I didn’t care.
He had no right to look at me like that.
More Kickass Werewolf Reads
Dive into our collection of free werewolf romance novels—where fierce Alphas, daring heroines, and heart-stopping twists await. Every story burns with forbidden desire, loyalty, and destiny. Don’t wait—here’s a world where love bites hard and nothing is stronger than the call of the mate.
Leave a Reply