Chapter 25 When the Wolf Breaks
Grayson:
The moment I stepped away from Evie’s door, my wolf clawed at me.
Not a gentle nudge. Not quite a protest.
No... he raged.
Mate is hurting. Mate is crying. FIX IT.
I pressed a palm to the stone wall, breath shaking. I didn’t want to hear him. Not right now. Not when her broken voice was still echoing inside me like a wound that refused to clot.
She bowed her head. She said she’d comply. And it felt wrong. Everything about it felt wrong.
As if I’d asked a queen to kneel for a crime she didn’t commit.
My wolf snarled, pain lacing every note of his rage.
You did wrong. Fix it. Go back.
I shut my eyes. My throat tightened. Just remembering the look on her face when she whispered, “I will comply...” Gods. I’d rather take a silver blade to the ribs.
“Enough,” I muttered.
But my wolf didn’t listen.
She hurts. You caused it. Go back. Fix it.
“I can’t.”
Liar.
My hands curled into fists. He was right. I didn’t want to admit it, but he was right.
Every bruise on her body… was made by me.
The wolf whimpered, that’s the only word for it, a sound too raw for anything else. It shook me so hard my breath stuttered.
I remembered last night. Her flinch. Her tears. Her voice breaking beneath my weight.
My stomach twisted.
“What the hell have I done?”
You broke, mate. You believed lies. You failed.
I dragged a hand down my face, almost stumbling backward.
This wasn’t who I was. This wasn’t how Alphas treated their Lunas. This wasn’t how mates treated each other.
I knew that. My wolf knew it.
But heartbreak makes bad men of good ones. And Chloe… I had loved her. I had buried her. I had mourned her with every aching corner of my soul.
I couldn’t do that to Chloe’s memory.
I pushed away from the wall and headed down the corridor, each step heavier than the last.
I needed clarity. I needed space. I needed...
“Grayson.”
Of course. Isabella was waiting.
Her poise, perfect, her dress immaculate. Her grief sculpted into something poisonous.
I should’ve kept walking. But I froze.
She always knew where to strike. “Your wolf sounds distressed,” she said, feigning concern. “Maybe you should give it a sedative.”
“He’s reacting to the bond,” I said stiffly. “It’s normal.”
“Is it?” She stepped closer. “Or is he reacting to manipulation?”
My jaw clenched. “Isabella...”
“She’s playing into your guilt,” Isabella said, voice dropping to a hush that slithered under my skin. “She knows exactly how to look fragile. How to look broken. Enough to make you question your decisions.”
“She is broken,” I snapped.
Isabella arched a brow. “Because of her own choices.”
My wolf roared so loud it made my temples throb.
Lies. Lies. LIES.
I forced him down.
“Evie isn’t dangerous,” I said. “The footage proves she tried to help Chloe...”
“The footage,” Isabella interrupted, “proves what they want it to prove.”
I stared at her.
She sighed softly. “Grayson… my daughter told me everything. Every fear. Every cruelty she endured. Every moment, Evie undermined her.”
“She didn’t..."
“People don’t show their true faces in public.” Her eyes gleamed. “I know Evie sheathed her claws for your benefit.”
My chest tightened.
Because part of me, the part that had spent months trusting Chloe’s words, still believed it. Still clung to it. Still needed it to be true.
Because if Evie was never a threat… If Evie were never cruel… If Evie never hated Chloe…
Then what did that make me?
A fool. A puppet. A man who punished the wrong woman.
No.
It couldn't be true.
“She kept things from you,” Isabella continued. “Always. Even as children.”
“She didn’t,” I said weakly.
“She did.” Her voice dipped into something softer, dangerous. “Chloe told me how she tried to make her feel unwanted. Like she didn’t belong beside you. Like she wasn’t good enough.”
I closed my eyes. Images flashed:
Chloe crying. Chloe trembling. Chloe saying Evie made her feel small.
The memory was still real.
“Grayson.” Isabella touched my arm. “My daughter loved you. She loved you so deeply it killed her to lose you.”
My wolf snarled.
Evie loved us first. Evie loves us still.
I ignored him.
“And now,” Isabella whispered, “you want to abandon her memory? For a girl who has disrespected her since childhood?”
I exhaled a shaky breath.
“No,” I whispered. “Chloe matters.”
“Then act like it.” Her eyes were cold. “Keep your distance from Evie. Don’t let her manipulate you. Don’t let her twist your guilt. You must stay firm.”
“I’m trying,” I said. It sounded like a confession.
“Good.” Her lips curved. “Because you and I both know the marriage was necessary.”
I stiffened.
She continued, tone silk-wrapped steel:
“You needed to control her. To bind her. To keep Chloe's memory safe.”
My stomach lurched.
“And even now,” she whispered, “she needs that control. Evie has always been… unpredictable.”
I swallowed hard. My wolf howled in pain.
She is ours. She is innocent. You hurt our mate. Fix it.
But the pain of grief was louder still. The memory of Chloe. The fear that I had betrayed the dead.
“You were right,” I said quietly.
The words tasted like ash. “I can’t trust my feelings right now.”
She smiled victoriously. “Good boy.”
My wolf snapped viciously at the word, but I didn’t move. I couldn’t move.
Because the truth was too heavy to hold.
I found myself walking again. Down corridors I didn’t remember crossing. Past servants who bowed too quickly. Past guards who avoided my eyes.
My hands trembled again.
My wolf whimpered, a long, drawn-out keening that vibrated through my bones.
Mate is crying. Mate is scared. Mate thinks we don’t love her.
I slammed my fist into the wall.
“I can’t...” My voice cracked. “I can’t think when you do that.”
Then stop hurting her.
The answer was immediate. Sharp and undeniable.
I staggered. Images flooded me,
Evie’s flinch.
Evie’s tears.
Evie's whispered, “You just never wanted to listen.”
I pressed my forehead to the wall, breath shuddering.
“I can’t go back,” I whispered. “I’ll break both of us.”
My wolf answered, soft and brutal:
You already did.
My chest split.
Not literally, but it felt close.
I sank onto the edge of a bench, head in my hands.
I had spent months building a narrative:
Evie was dangerous.
Evie was jealous.
Evie hurt Chloe.
Evie couldn’t be trusted.
Because that narrative protected me. Protected my memories of Chloe. Protected the belief that I hadn’t failed her.
But today shattered that illusion.
And all I had left was pain.
I didn’t go back to Evie’s room. Not because I didn’t want to.
But because I feared what I’d do if she looked at me with those eyes again and whispered something soft.
Like forgiveness. Or love. Or my name.
So I sat there, heart bleeding into my palms, while the wolf thrashed inside me, the grief pressed a hand over my eyes, and the guilt whispered ugly truths:
You were wrong. You were blind. You were cruel.
And worst of all... You still want her.