CHAPTER 122:Drake And Conflict
DRAKE
The woods were quiet tonight too quiet.
The moonlight slithered through the trees like silver veins, but it did nothing to warm the chill sitting in my bones. My claws itched, my mind racing, and every step forward sent a pulse through the earth as though it could sense what I was becoming.
I hadn’t come here to hunt.
I came for Adam.
Shifting mid-stride, my bones cracked and snapped, skin tearing and reforming into fur but something felt wrong.
I glanced at my paws as I moved. They weren’t white.
They were black.
Pitch-black.
A dark aura rippled off me like a storm cloud, clinging to my fur, thick as smoke. What the hell was this? My wolf had always been white pure, bright, a symbol of who I was.
Now, I looked like something cursed.
But I didn’t stop.
The run helped me think helped me burn the anger off but not even the wind against my face could shake what I’d seen in my nightmares: Marcus. Tessa. The lab. The cold steel against my skin. The straps. The needles. The pain.
And Adam… he saw it all. He was the one who pulled me out. He knew what they did to me.
So why the hell was he here with her?
I reached the old cabin buried deep in the woods and slowed as voices drifted out from inside.
Adam’s voice. Calm. Too calm.
And then hers.
I moved closer to the window, silent as shadow, eyes narrowing.
My heart stuttered.
Tessa.
No. Not here. Not near Adam.
She stood just behind him, half-hidden, her hair spilling down in soft waves. That face it was her. I’d never forget it. She was the one who stood by while they caged me. Watched while they broke me.
I could feel the rage crawling beneath my skin.
My claws shot out.
No words. No warning.
I burst through the door, my wolf half still clinging to my limbs, teeth bared in a snarl.
She was there.
I lunged only for Adam to slam into me with a force that knocked the air from my lungs. We crashed into the wall, the ground vibrating beneath us. My claws scraped stone before retracting. My body convulsed, shivering as fur gave way to flesh.
Human again but barely.
“What the hell are you doing?!” I roared, breath ragged, chest heaving. Fury crackled down my spine like fire.
Adam didn’t move. He didn’t even blink.
“She’s not who you think she is,” he said, calm as winter frost.
I whipped my head toward the girl the mirror. The same golden hair. The same lips I’d kissed before they turned to poison. She clung to Adam’s side like he was the only thing keeping her from collapsing. Her wide eyes shimmered, terrified—but not in the way I remembered Tessa trembling, full of mockery behind the fear.
Her aura was wrong.
It was… softer. Not venom. Not sharp. It didn’t claw at me the way Tessa’s always had.
I narrowed my eyes. “That’s Tessa.”
“No,” Adam said quietly, stepping just enough to the side for her to be seen clearly. “Her name is Emmanuelle.”
I stared. My wolf growled inside, confused.
“She looks exactly like her.”
“They’re stepsisters,” Adam said. “Same father. Different mother's.”
Her voice trembled when she spoke but she didn’t hide. “I’m Emmanuelle,” she said. “Tessa and I… we share blood. But not a soul.”
Her hands balled at her sides, white-knuckled. Her chin lifted, fragile but unyielding.
“My mother built everything we had. After she died, my father remarried. Tessa’s mother came in smiling and by the time I realized what she was, it was too late. They stripped everything. My name. My mother’s company. Even my room. I was thirteen when they threw me out with a suitcase.”
Her voice cracked but she didn’t break. Not fully.
“I’m not her,” she said again, quieter. “I never was.”
I said nothing.
Just stared.
Watched the quiver in her shoulders. The way her breath hitched. The way she didn’t lie. Tessa had always been too smooth, too sharp. Emmanuelle… felt like bruised silk. Still bleeding. Still standing.
But her blood his blood ran through her veins.
I took a step closer, eyes narrowing. “You carry his name,” I said, my voice like cold steel. “That’s enough.”
She looked down, but not away.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “For what he did to you. But I’m not them.”
I scoffed, the sound bitter. “I don’t take comfort in words from humans.”
I turned my gaze to Adam, cutting through the space between us like a blade.
“Why is she here?”
“Because I’m helping her,” he said, voice firm.
My fists clenched. “You want to help her get that company back? That company? The one her family used to cage me like a monster? You’ve lost your mind.”
Adam’s jaw twitched. “I made her a promise.”
I stepped in close, dropping my voice to a growl meant only for him. “They tied me to a bed, Adam. Injected silver into my blood. Branded me like livestock. You remember?”
His eyes flickered. “I remember everything.”
“And you’re still standing beside her?” My voice was quieter now. More dangerous. “You’re in love with her.”
His expression darkened. “I’m not. Don’t insult me.”
“You’re protecting her. You only ever protect what you love.”
“I’m a prince, Drake. I don’t break my word.”
“But you’ll break your bloodline for her? Your people?” I sneered. “A human girl?”
“She’s not like the others.”
“That’s what they always say.” My voice cracked on the edge of something deeper something twisted and burned raw.
The power in me stirred. Thick and heavy, coiling through my limbs like smoke through a dying fire. The shadows in the corners shifted, stretching, clawing toward the light. The darkness in me it knew her scent. And it hated her.
Adam saw it. I could tell by the flicker in his eyes.
“You want vengeance?” he said, voice steady. “You’ll get it. Tessa. Marcus. Everyone who used you. But not her. She’s not the enemy.”
I looked at her again. Still trembling. Still hidden behind him. But her gaze locked on mine and it didn’t flinch.
Not pity.
Not fear.
Just truth.
And I hated her for it.
I stepped back half a pace. Let the shadows cool, just enough to speak.
“You have to choose,” I said, my voice low, final, echoing. “Me or her.”
Adam went still.
“I’m your brother. Your childhood friend. I fought beside you, bled beside you, when no one else did. And now you’ll stand for her?”
I waited.
Let the weight of the silence fall between us like a blade.
Let’s see, I thought bitterly.
Let’s see just how deep his loyalty runs.