Chapter 56: Breaking the Chains

Claire’s POV

Jared’s letter burned a hole in my palm.

I sat alone in my quarters, rereading every word, searching for some hidden meaning, some sign that this was just another one of his manipulations. But I found none. The desperation in his words was too raw, too unlike him.

He wasn’t lying.

I didn't owe him anything, though.

I wanted to think that Jared had changed, that he had finally recognized the monster in his reflection and wanted to be free of it, but I was a stupid, naive girl once. However, I knew better as the woman I had become.

Jared didn't care about me, which is why he was so desperate.

He was losing, that's why.

He wasn't requesting my return out of love for me. He begged me to come to his aid.

I was startled out of my reverie by a loud knock on the door.

I called, putting the letter down, "Come in,"

Derek entered, staring at me with his sharp eyes.

He nodded toward the parchment and said, "Well?"

I took a slow breath. "I’m not going back."

His body loosened a little, but his face was still unreadable. "You sure?"

"I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life."

I had been bound for so long by the burden of my past relationship with Jared. My greatest heartbreak, my first betrayal, and my first love had all been him. I had allowed him to determine my value, my decisions, and my future for years.

No longer.

"I choose me, Derek," I said in a low voice, practically to myself. "For the first time, I choose my own life."

Derek's mouth opened slightly as though he was about to speak, but we were cut off by another knock.

This one was hurried. Immediate.

After giving Derek a cautious look, I got up and opened the door.

Nolan's face was pale as he stood there. "We have a problem."

Derek was at my side as I followed him out into the courtyard.

The tense energy in the air chilled me, even though the morning sun had just risen and was illuminating Redwater.

A group of people had assembled close to the gates, muttering incoherently. With their hands on their weapons, warriors stood alert. And in the middle of everything—

Jared.

With his face bruised, his clothes ripped, and his once flawless Alpha presence diminished to a shadow of its former glory.

With his hands up in surrender, he stood by himself.

"Claire," he said in a hoarse rasp. "I came to talk."

The guards stood on either side of him, prepared to attack at Derek's signal. Jared didn't fight, though. He didn't flinch at all.

"What the hell is this?" Derek snarled and moved forward.

Jared never took his eyes off mine.

When he said, "Lila has taken everything," "My own pack turned against me because of her. I barely made it out alive."

There was a heavy silence after he finished.

"And that’s supposed to make me feel sorry for you?" I asked icily.

Jared's Adam's apple bobbled as he swallowed hard. "No. But it means I have nothing left to lose."

The warriors blinked, poised to attack as he moved closer.

"Claire," Jared said in a tone that bordered on begging. "You were correct regarding her. It was too late for me to notice it. She desires total destruction rather than just Redwater.

I firmly stated, "Then that’s your problem," "Not mine."

Jared's mouth clenched. "Her plans are more sinister than going to war. Dark magic, which our species was never intended to handle, is what she has been experimenting with. Claire, she's not merely assembling an army. She is bringing forth monsters.

A shiver ran down my back.

"What are you lying about?" Derek yelled.

Jared chuckled bitterly. "Do I look like a man who’s still playing games?"

I looked him over. He had a thinner face and a slouched, usually cocky posture from fatigue. My stomach twisted, though, because of his eyes.

They were terrified.

Do not be afraid of us.

Be afraid of her.

Adding, "She has an army of wolves who no longer think for themselves," Jared went on. "She has twisted them, strengthened them, and made them faster, but without thinking. Totally within her authority. Claire, they are painless. They never stop.

My ribs throbbed with my beating heart.

"Why should we believe you?" Derek inquired in a suspicious tone.

Jared glanced in his direction. "Because if I were lying, I wouldn’t have come alone."

That much was true. Jared wouldn't be here pleading for our assistance if he still had any control over Midnight Moon.

Jared said, "She’s coming," in a softer tone. "She won't just take Redwater when she does. She'll set everything on fire."

A cool wind carried the lingering smell of uncertainty through the courtyard.

Derek's hands clenched into fists. "So what exactly do you expect us to do?"

Jared turned back to me.

"I expect Claire to kill her."

There was a sharp gasp from the warriors surrounding us. Breath tightened in my throat.

"Excuse me?" I whispered.

"She won’t stop, Claire," Jared said. "Not unless you end it."

Anger twisted into a knot inside of me. "You don’t get to come here, after everything, and ask me to clean up your mess."

"This isn’t about me anymore!" he screamed. "You think I want to be here? Do you believe that I am begging you for help? I would sooner die than admit you were right! I was wrong, though, and now the only way to stop Lila is to kill her before she destroys everything that gets in her way.

The pure desperation in his voice made me shudder.

"And why does it have to be me?" I demanded.

Jared sighed and ran his hand through his disheveled hair. "Because you’re the only one who has ever escaped her and lived."

He finished, and there was a thick silence.

Derek was watching me and awaiting my answer.

I spoke more softly and stepped toward Jared. "You had an opportunity to prevent her. You had an opportunity to support me. You threw it away as well.

Jared grimaced. "Claire—"

"I won’t let you use me again." I lifted my chin and spoke steadily. "You want to see her killed? Then murder her yourself.

Something unreadable flashed across his face. I'm sorry. Pain.

Then resignation.

"I can’t." His voice broke. "I tried."

He drew a trembling breath. "Claire, she's more than just stronger. She is unstoppable.

I felt a new wave of fear come over me as he spoke.

I didn't want it to show, though.

"Then we’ll stop her," I suggested. "Without you."

Jared looked at me for a while. Then he nodded slowly.

"I hope you do," he whispered to her. "Because if you don’t…"

A haunted look settled into his darkened eyes.

"Then we’re already dead."

The air shattered with a deafening howl before I could reply.

A guttural, deep sound—one that instantly silenced all the wolves in Redwater.

I had never heard anything like that before.

Not your typical wolf's cry.

Not human.

Something else.

Derek tensed up next to me.

Jared went pale. "She’s here."

I drained the blood from my face.

Because a creature that shouldn't have existed was standing at the forest's edge, just past the gates.

A wolf, with dark veins pulsing beneath its fur, its body twisted and elongated, its eyes glowing an unnatural red. Its mouth opened wider than that of a typical wolf, exposing rows of sharp, abnormal teeth.

It was more than a wolf.

Lila had made it herself.

And then, in a faintly human voice—

It said something.

"Claire…"

One word: monstrous and guttural.

My heart stopped.