Chapter 73 When Empathy Breaks
Ryder pov
"That's not—" Gio starts to protest, then stops. His shoulders sag. "Gods. You're right. Even now, part of me is glad he's suffering. Glad he's finally weak instead of me. What kind of monster does that make me?"
"The kind empathy created." Jolie's voice softens slightly. "You're feeling too much too fast with no framework to process it. Elena warned me about that. She said forced empathy without training can break people."
She looks at the guards, then back at Gio. "Send them away. All of them. If we're doing this, it's just us."
"You'll kill me the second they leave." But Gio's already gesturing to his guards.
"If I wanted you dead, you'd already be dead." Moonfire flares around her hands. "Now send them away before I change my mind."
The guards look at Gio for confirmation. He nods tiredly.
"Go. Wait outside the building. No matter what you hear, don't come back in."
They file out slowly, clearly uncomfortable leaving their alpha alone with Luna's vessel. The door clicks shut behind the last one.
Silence fills the office.
"Now what?" Gio slumps in his chair. "You judge me again? Break what's left of my mind?"
"Now you tell me the truth." Jolie sits on the edge of his desk. "All of it. Why you really hate me. Why you've spent years trying to destroy me. And don't blame Father or the pack or tradition. I want the real reason."
Gio is quiet for so long I think he won't answer. Then:
"You were supposed to die." His voice is barely a whisper. "That first shift when you were sixteen. Your wolf was so small, so weak. Everyone said you wouldn't survive another one. And I was relieved. Because with you gone, I'd finally be enough."
He looks up at her with haunted eyes. "But you didn't die. You kept surviving. Kept existing as this constant reminder that the Rys bloodline could produce weakness. And every time someone looked at you with pity, they looked at me with doubt. Like maybe I wasn't as strong as I pretended."
"So you tried to make me disappear." Jolie's voice holds no judgment, just understanding.
"I tried everything." The confession pours out of him. "The training accidents. The starvation rations. The public humiliation. I thought if I made your life unbearable enough, you'd leave on your own. But you just kept taking it. Kept accepting the abuse like you deserved it."
"I thought I did deserve it." Her words are soft.
"I know." Gio covers his face with his hands. "And that made it worse. Because you never fought back. Never got angry. Never gave me a reason to hate you that made sense. You were just this scared, broken girl who kept trying to earn love from people who'd decided you were worthless."
"Including you."
"Especially me." He drops his hands. "When Thorne offered to take you, I celebrated. Finally, you'd be gone and I could be the only Rys child. The perfect heir. But even after you left, I couldn't stop thinking about you."
Jolie studies him for a long moment. Then she does something that shocks me.
She reaches out and takes his hand.
"Jolie, don't—" I move forward, but she waves me off.light flows between their joined hands as Gio's eyes go wide with fear.
"I'm not going to hurt you." Her voice is gentle. "I'm going to help you."
"Help me?"
"You've been drowning in empathy since I touched you in that clearing." The light pulses brighter. "Feeling everything all at once with no filter."
Gio's expression shifts as the moonfire works through him. "What are you doing?"
"Giving you tools to process what you're feeling." Jolie's eyes glow. "Not to make it go away—you need to carry that weight. But to help you function while you carry it. To let you sleep. To let you actually feel remorse instead of just drowning in it."
Tears stream down Gio's face. "Why? After everything I've done, why would you help me?"
"Because you're my brother." She releases his hand. "And because Elena taught me that judgment without mercy isn't justice. It's just revenge. You've been judged. You know what you are. Now you get to decide what you do with that knowledge."
Gio sinks back in his chair, breathing like he's been underwater for weeks and finally reached the surface.
"The Council will kill Father if I don't deliver you." His voice is clearer. "They'll destroy the Nightshade Pack, hundreds of wolves who had nothing to do with any of this."
"Then we don't let them." I speak up for the first time in minutes. "We go after the Council."
Both siblings turn to stare at me.
"That's suicide," Gio says flatly.
"So is letting them control us through fear." I cross my arms. "How many packs are they threatening right now? How many alphas are following their orders because they're too scared to fight back?"
"Most of them." Gio admits. "The Council has been consolidating power for years. Anyone who challenges them ends up dead or destroyed."
"Until now." Jolie stands, moonfire blazing bright enough to cast shadows. "They're threatening my father. Threatening innocent wolves. Using fear as a weapon and that ends tonight."
"You can't fight the entire Council." Gio looks at her like she's lost her mind.
"Watch me." Her smile is dangerous. "I'm Luna's vessel. I can make every Council member feel the weight of every cruel decision they've ever made. And unlike you, they won't get help processing it. They'll just drown."
"That's execution without trial." I point out.
"No." She shakes her head. "It's judgment. They've had years to be better. Years to choose compassion over control. They made their choices. Now they get to experience the consequences."
Gio stands slowly. "If you're really going after the Council, you'll need intelligence layouts, guard rotations and weaknesses."
"You'd help us?" Jolie's eyes narrow.
"I'd help you." He corrects. "I don't care about him." He jerks his chin at me. "But you're still my sister. And maybe—maybe if I help you now, it balances out some of what I've done."
"It doesn't." Jolie's voice is firm. "You'll carry what you did to me for the rest of your life. Helping now doesn't erase the past."
"I know." Gio's smile is sad. "But maybe it's a start toward a future where I'm slightly less of a monster."
I watch this exchange and realize something. Jolie isn't just Luna's vessel. She's not just a divine judge who can make wolves feel their victims' pain. She's something more fundamental. Something that was always inside her, even when she was the weakest wolf.
She hopes for broken wolves like Gio who thought they were beyond redemption. For victims who thought they'd never be strong. For everyone who was told they'd never be enough.
"We need to move." I check my watch. "The siege forces will have noticed something's wrong by now."
Gio moves to his computer, pulling up files. "The Council fortress is three hundred miles north. Fifty guards minimum, all ex-military. They'll have silver weapons, suppressant drugs, everything designed to neutralize divine vessels."
"Good thing I'm not just a divine vessel." Jolie's eyes glow bright. "I'm also really good at breaking things."
My radio crackles. "Boss, we've got major movement. All four positions are mobilizing."
"Copy that. We're coming out." I look at Gio. "You're with us."
"They'll kill me." He states it flatly.
"Then help us end this." Jolie heads for the door. "Either the Council wins and kills Father, or we win and you get a chance to actually earn back some dignity, your choice."
Gio grabs a laptop and follows. "For the record, this is the stupidest plan I've ever heard."
"Welcome to the Iron Fangs." I slap him on the back maybe harder than necessary. "Stupid plans are our specialty."