Chapter 27
They call me a beast, and maybe I am. But beasts don’t destroy what’s theirs. Beasts don’t look their mate in the eye while she’s falling apart and call her a liar.
People do that. Monsters with human faces, and now I was one of them.
I didn’t just fail Lyra—I broke her. I took everything that was already bleeding inside her and drove the blade in deeper, convinced I was the one betrayed. When all she needed was for me to believe her. To listen to her.
Now I stood here, staring at Pierre, barely seeing his face anymore. Just flashing images: Lyra’s bruises, her voice breaking, the way she looked at me like she needed me, the panic in her eyes when she tried to speak and I didn’t listen.
And fuck, that crushed me.
I hadn’t protected her when it mattered. I’d cornered her, punished her for a crime she never committed. I’d torn into her like she was the enemy, when the real monster was standing right here, dared smirk like she was some kind of trophy
Pierre was still talking, like he had the right to use words after what he did. And all I could think was: How many pieces of Lyra did I help him break?
“You should’ve seen her face in the end,” he said, smiling like a damn lunatic. “So scared. So quiet. Just like Kaia, the night before she—”
Nope. I stopped thinking and just snapped.
My body shifted mid-breath, spine cracked and jaw snapped into a snout, claws punched through skin. I hit the concrete floor in full wolf form with a sound that shook metal.
Pierre didn’t even blink before I launched and was on him.
One second he was smirking. The next, I slammed into him so hard his body hit a stack of crates and brought half of them crashing down. He groaned, more shock than pain, but I didn’t let up.
My teeth sank into his shoulder, deep and punishing. I shook my head once, and flesh tore like wet paper. He screamed. God, it was satisfying.
He tried to shift but I didn’t let him. I pinned him down with my full weight and clawed his chest open. Once. Twice. A third time, until his howls bounced off steel.
“You hurt her!” I snarled through our mind link, spit flying. “You fucking touched her like she was yours!”
He started to shift again and this time I slammed his skull into the floor. Concrete cracked.
“You think you’re walking away from this?” I barked. “You think I’ll let you breathe after what you did?”
His eyes weren’t smug anymore. No smile. Just fear. Good. I lunged for his throat and then they pulled me back.
Dom hit me from the side like a linebacker, locking his arms around my chest. Calla stepped between us, claws raised. Two of Pierre’s wolves gripped my hind legs, trying to drag me backward.
“Pierce, stop!” Dom yelled. “You’ll kill him!”
“I want to kill him!” I thought. “I want him fucking dead!”
My claws skidded across the floor as I thrashed, snapping my jaws inches from his face. Pierre was wrecked, his shirt was shredded, blood everywhere and face swollen and unrecognizable.
I could’ve finished it. I didn’t.
I shifted back, muscles screaming, lungs raw. Pain cut through every nerve as bones rearranged. When it was over, I stood there, human, naked, shaking, covered in his blood. The silence? Deafening.
Everyone stared, but no one breathed when I walked over to him. Slow. Calm. I looked down at what was left. He blinked, barely, lips twitched like he still had something smart to say.
I crouched. Real close. Enough for him to see exactly how done I was.
“You don’t get to break people and walk away,” I said, voice ice. “Not anymore.”
He coughed. Still trying to play tough. Idiot.
“You should’ve killed me when you had the chance,” I whispered, that made his eyes widened. “Because next time you get near her, I’ll kill you slowly. And I’ll smile while I do it.”
* * *
I didn’t even remember leaving the warehouse.
My hands were shaking on the steering wheel, my chest was tight like I’d been stabbed from the inside out. My ears rang: rage, grief, and shame all blurred together.
Because all of it made sense now.
First, her silence. The way she looked at me, like she was begging me to understand something she couldn’t say out loud. Second, the second bite. Then her scent. The bruises. She didn’t betray me. She’s been violated. And I… I destroyed her.
The second I stepped into the safehouse, the air turned to glass in my lungs. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t fucking think. I grabbed a bottle from the counter and smashed it against the wall.
The sound was sharp, final. Glass scattered like shrapnel across the floor. Dom was there in seconds, right after me.
“Alpha—?” His voice edged with alarm, eyes narrowing as he stepped in. “What the hell just happened?”
“I was wrong,” I said, barely recognizing my own voice.
“What?”
I turned to him, jaw tight. “I was so fucking wrong!”
Dom stepped closer, more cautious now. “Mind to explain?”
“I should’ve listened,” I ground out. “I should’ve trusted her.”
I couldn’t stop pacing. My fists were clenched so tight, I could feel my nails digging into my palms.
“Pierre raped her.”
Dom froze mid-step. His entire body went still like I’d just leveled the entire floor.
“She didn’t cheat,” I said louder, voice shaking with rage. “She didn’t want him. He drugged her, tried to mark her and I—” My throat closed. “I accused her. I called her a liar. I threw her out like she asked for it.”
I dragged my hands down my face, pacing the length of the room, because if I stood still for one second, I was gonna fall apart. That’s when the past hit me like a punch.
Her name was Kaia, Pierre’s mate. Perfect little Luna-in-training with too much perfume and a mouth that never stopped running. And for years… years—she looked at me like I was hers.
Always hovering, always brushing against me. Laughing too loud and standing too close. I ignored it, shoved it down. Until one night.
One night I was drunk, alone, pissed off from another fight with our Alpha. She showed up at my place, soaked from rain, no coat.
“I need to know,” she said, eyes wide, lip trembling. “Do you want me or not?”
I told her to leave, she didn’t. She kissed me, and I let her. And I hated myself for it.
Afterward, I told her straight. “This doesn’t mean anything,” I said. “I won’t love you. I won’t take you from him.”
She didn’t cry, didn’t argue—just got dressed and then left. I thought it was over, but I was fucking wrong. The next morning, the whole pack knew. She told everyone I forced her, said I broke into her place, and said I raped her.
Pierre didn’t even look me in the eye when they dragged me in front of the council, she was his mate—his word over mine.
I was out before the end of the day. Exiled. Marked a traitor. A monster. Three days later, she killed herself. No note, just silence. And now? Now I know why Pierre hates me. Why he’s spent years twisting the knife.
“You did,” Pierre had said. “Whether you meant to or not. You broke her. Just like I broke yours.”
And I let him. I let his lie destroy me. And worse… I let it destroy Lyra.
I collapsed onto the bar floor, back against the cabinets, heart pounding like it was trying to get out. Dom stood over me. Quiet. Watching.
I stared at the floor and finally said, “I have to fix this.”
Dom didn’t move. “So what now?”
I looked past him, out the busted door where the cold hit like knives.
“Now?” I said. “I’ll find her.”
“And if she doesn’t want to be found?”
“I’ll find her anyway.” I clenched my fists. “I’ll say what I should’ve said that night. And if she never wants to look at me again, fine. But I’m not letting her carry my sins anymore. I am.”
