Michelle
I hated this place.
The air was damp and heavy, the ground uneven beneath my boots, and the silence of the trees pressed on like a suffocating blanket. Liam had dragged us into the middle of nowhere, and I couldn’t take it anymore. My temper had been simring since we left, but now it boiled over.
"This?" I snapped, spinning on him with my arms outstretched. "This is where you brought ? To rot in the wilderness like so kind of animal?"
He didn’t flinch. He never did. Liam’s calmness infuriated more than anything else. He stood there with that sa maddeningly detached expression, his silver eyes flickering in the dim light.
"I had no choice," he said finally, his voice clipped but even. "Considering the circumstances, this is the only place safe enough to regroup."
"Safe enough?" I barked out a laugh that sounded more like a growl. "You call this safe? We’re exposed here, Liam. If she—if Josie—cos after us, we’ll have nowhere to hide."
His gaze sharpened, but his face remained cold. "You think I don’t know that?"
I stepped closer, my voice rising. "Then why didn’t you tell about her powers before? You kept in the dark, like a fool. I should have known. I should have been ready!"
His lips curled, though not in amusent. "You were the one living in the pack, Michelle. Not . How, exactly, was I supposed to inform you of things happening under your own nose?"
The words cut like knives. My body trembled with rage. I balled my fists at my sides, feeling the nails dig into my palms. "Don’t you dare put this on !" I scread. "I could have handled her if you hadn’t hidden the truth!"
Sothing flickered in his eyes then, the tiniest crack in his composure, and before I could lash out again, he moved. His hand shot out, gripping my wrist, his strength like iron. He spun against a nearby tree, pinning there with one arm across my chest.
"Enough!" he roared, the sharpness of his voice vibrating through . "Stop acting like this—you’re driving insane!"
I struggled, thrashing against him, my hair whipping into my face. "Let go!"
"Not until you shut up," he growled. His face was close now, too close, his breath hot on my cheek. "You ruined everything with your recklessness. I had plans, Michelle. Real plans. And you—" His grip tightened. "You destroyed them by insisting this was the best way. And now the witch will co after ."
The word witch made my stomach twist.
"I didn’t ruin anything!" I spat, even though the sting of his words cut deep. "This isn’t my fault. I don’t fail. I never fail."
Liam’s laughter was short, bitter, and cruel. He leaned back slightly, his eyes like shards of ice. "Never fail? Then why am I the one who had to save you? Tell , Michelle. Who pulled you out when everything collapsed? Who kept you alive when Josie almost killed you? Certainly not you."
My throat closed up. For a mont, I couldn’t speak. The truth of it burned, but admitting it would kill .
"You’re a failure," he said flatly. "You should never have provoked her. You could have ended it quickly, simply killed her. But no—you wanted to play your little gas. And look where it’s brought us."
His words echoed in the hollow of my chest. I turned my face away, refusing to let him see how much it hurt. Maybe I had made a mistake. Maybe I had underestimated Josie more than I should have.
It shouldn’t have happened. None of it should have happened.
But it did. And now, it burned like acid in my veins.
"I’ll think of a plan," I whispered, more to myself than to him. My eyes stared unfocused at the ground, but inside, my mind twisted and turned. "I’ll get even. She won’t win."
His grip loosened, but his anger didn’t fade. "Stop," he snapped. "Stop using that brain of yours for once. Do you even understand what you’ve done? I was so close to making them trust . So close. And you—you pulled off track. And now we’re here, hiding like rats because of you."
His words dripped with venom, and yet I couldn’t let them sink in. I wouldn’t.
"Don’t talk to like that," I hissed, finally eting his eyes again. "You may be powerful, Liam, but you’re nothing compared to Josie. If we want all of her powers, we can’t afford weakness. Not now."
His jaw tightened. "And what do you suggest we do, then?"
A slow, dangerous smile crept across my face. The idea had been brewing quietly, darkly, but now it surfaced. "We kill the Alpha."
The silence after my words was deafening. Even the wind seed to pause, the leaves hanging still in the air.
He stared at as though I’d sprouted horns. "You’re insane," he said flatly.
"Am I?" I tilted my head, stepping closer to him. "Think about it. Kill the Alpha, and Josie will break. She’ll spiral into madness, unable to think, unable to fight back. She’ll be vulnerable, Liam. And then..." I licked my lips, savoring the thought. "It will be easier to take her powers. To kill her once and for all."
His expression didn’t soften. He looked at like I was dangerous—and maybe I was.
"You’re doing all of this because you want the n," he said finally, his tone sharp. "Don’t think I don’t see it. This obsession of yours—it clouds everything. Why kill them when they’re the very thing you want?"
His words hit the nerve I kept buried deep. But I wouldn’t let him see that either.
"The only one I want is Kiel," I said, my voice steady now, cold with certainty. "And once his family is gone, once there’s no one left standing at his side, he’ll have no choice but to turn to . I’ll be there for him, Liam. I’ll wipe his tears, hold him through the pain, make him realize I was the one all along."
His eyes widened slightly, as though even he hadn’t expected that level of madness. But I ant every word.
"You’re delusional," he muttered, shaking his head. "It’s a crazy idea."
"Crazy?" I leaned closer, until I could see my reflection in his eyes. "No, Liam. It’s the most realistic idea we’ve had yet. Everything else has failed. Everything. This—" I pressed a hand to my chest, feeling the thrill of it rush through . "This will work. And when it does, Josie will be nothing but a mory."
He hesitated. Just for a mont. And that was all I needed.
"You," I whispered, "need to prepare a charm. Sothing powerful enough to rip her powers from her body. With it, we won’t just win, Liam. We’ll beco the most powerful creatures in the world."
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