Chapter 74

Chapter 74
Maddox

I walked into my study and slammed the door so hard the glass in the windows rattled. I let out a roar of frustration and swept a stack of papers off my desk with one arm. They fluttered to the floor like dying birds.

"Dammit!" I shouted at the empty room.
I was pissed. No, I was beyond pissed. I was vibrating with a kind of anger I hadn't felt in days. When I finally caught Jesse, when I finally brought him here to my territory I really thought it would be easy. 

I thought I could just put him in a nice room, give him some decent clothes, and he’d eventually see that I wasn't the monster he thought I was. I thought we’d just... flow.

But Jesse? Jesse was like a wall. A thick, fucking stubborn wall that refused to crack.

Every time I was near him, it was like a physical weight on my chest. His face, his eyes, the way he tilted his head, it all brought back memories I’d spent two years trying to bury under blood and war. It was overwhelming. Being in that room with him felt like drowning and burning at the same time.

And his defiance? It made my blood boil. How dare he? How dare a rogue talk to me like that? I’m an Alpha. People don't just tell me to "go to hell." They don't throw my kindness back in my face.

"I'm trying to be nice!" I yelled, even though he couldn't hear me. 

"I’m fucking giving him everything! Better food than half my pack eats, a bed that costs more than a house... and he treats me like I'm dirt."

I stopped pacing and leaned my hands on the desk, huffing. Why was he being so difficult? 

It’s just an allergy question. It’s just a walk in the garden. Is it really that hard to just say 'thank you' and sit down?

Then, slowly, a laugh bubbled up in my throat. It started as a dry wheeze and turned into a full chuckle.

"You’re so cute, Jesse," I whispered to the quiet room. "You really are."

He actually thinks his little attitude is going to work. He thinks that if he’s cold enough, or mean enough, I’ll just get bored and let him go. Does he really think I’m that weak? He’s so naive. 

He has no idea how this works. He thinks he’s chasing me away, but he’s doing the exact opposite.

Every time he snaps at me, every time his eyes light up with that pure, unfiltered hatred, I find myself wanting to be closer to him. I admire it. 

Most people just whimper or go quiet when I get angry, but not him. He stands his ground. 

He has this iron will that’s just... beautiful.

I sat down in my leather chair and leaned back, staring at the ceiling. I was going to enjoy this. I was going to enjoy every single second of watching him realize that his rebellion means nothing. I’ll watch him fight, and I’ll watch him struggle, and eventually, I’ll watch him break. And when he finally does break? When that fire in his eyes finally goes out and he realizes he has nowhere else to go?

Then he’ll be mine fully. He’ll belong to me in a way nobody else ever has.

But then, I thought about him sitting on the floor of that room, looking small and pale. I wanted to go back in there and shake him until he listened to me, but at the same time... I wanted to make sure the guards weren't being too rough. 

I wanted to crush him under my thumb, but I also wanted to wrap a blanket around him and tell him he was safe.

What is wrong with me? Am I losing my mind? One minute I want to own him like a slave, and the next I want to protect him from the whole world, including myself. It was a mess. I was a mess.

All these thoughts were only driving me crazy. I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes, but THAT was a mistake because as soon as the room went dark, I saw something.

There was the Jesse had looked at me just now, it was a carbon copy. It matched him so perfectly that it physically hurt.

Why did it have to be so difficult? A new image started playing in my head, one I usually kept locked behind iron doors. I could see the curve of his smile. I could almost hear the melody of his voice, that soft, low hum he used to have when he was happy. For a second, it felt like he was right there in the room with me.

Then the memory curdled and the smile vanished. All I could hear was the screaming. That horrible, high-pitched sound of a person who knows they’re about to die. I heard his voice crying out for me, and then the way it just... faded. 

Silence is a terrible thing to remember.

I didn't expect the memory to come back like that. Not today. I had spent so long years, really stopping that from happening. I had built a life on forgetting, or at least trying to. But now? Now it was all back, rushing into my brain because of a rogue in a guest room.

God, I hated rogues. Dirty, lawless pests. They were the reason I lost everything. They were the reason for the blood and the screaming and the years of empty silence. But then, a thought struck me, and I looked up at the ceiling.

Maybe I shouldn't be so angry. I took a deep breath, trying to steady my heart. 

"Thank you," I whispered. I was actually grateful. I was thanking the Moon Goddess. She had finally done it. She had granted me back my lost life. She had seen my grief and she had brought him back to me in the form of Jesse. It had to be fate. What else could it be? Why else would they look so much alike?

I made a vow right then, sitting in the quiet of my study. I am never losing him again. I don't care what I have to do or who I have to kill. I will keep Jesse safe. I’ll keep him so close he won't be able to breathe without me knowing. I’ll keep him even closer than I kept him before. I won't make the same mistakes twice.

After a few minutes, I felt the anger leave me. A smile started to crawl across my face. I thought about Jesse’s face earlier, that look of total, crushing despair. It was honestly priceless. 

The way his eyes went dead when I told him I killed all his rogue friends the other day? I almost felt bad for a second, but then I remembered why I did it.

I had lied, of course. Well, mostly. But Jesse didn't need to know that.

If I want to own him, I have to take away his hope. That’s how you break a wild thing, isn't it? You make them realize they have nowhere to run to. 

Once he truly believes there is no one left to fight for, no one waiting for him in the woods, breaking him will be the easiest thing in the world. He’ll have no choice but to turn to me. He’ll have to. Who else does he have?

"Nobody, Jesse. You have nobody but me."

It was a good plan. It was a perfect plan. He thinks he's being strong by acting cold, but he’s just a little bird with a broken wing, and I’m the only one who can put him back together. I just have to wait. I can be patient. I’ve waited two years, I can wait a few more weeks for him to realize that I’m his entire world now.

Now that I had crushed every bit of hope Jesse had, it was only a matter of time before he caved. 

That’s just how it works, right? When you have nothing left to hold on to, you grab the hand that's reaching for you. Even if that hand belongs to the person who locked you up.

​But there was still one problem. One annoying, loud, stubborn fucking problem... Rhea.

​She was the only thing Jesse still seemed to care about. Every time I had checked on him before, he would ask about her or mention her name. Why? I mean, seriously, what did my sister do to him? 

How did they even become friends? Rhea is a complete disaster. She’s loud, she’s impulsive, and honestly, she’s crazy. I wondered how they even survived being in a group together. 

Being around Rhea is like being in a room with a ticking bomb. She must have driven Jesse over the edge half the time they were out there.

​I actually admired him for it. I could barely cope with her for ten minutes, and he had looked after her for a month. It just showed how strong he was. But that connection had to go. I couldn't have him holding on to her while I was trying to make him hold on to me.

​I decided it was time to pay her a visit. I needed to remind her who was in charge.
​
The walk down to the dungeons was cold. I reached her cell and found her sitting on the floor, her wrists tied up in heavy chains that were bolted to the wall. 

She looked a mess. My poor little sister's hair tangled, but when she saw me, she didn't look scared,she actually smiled. Of course she did. She was the definition of crazy. I wish I was an only child.

"Hello, sister." I said crouching.