Chapter 20: Fury

REED

Three hours since Marcus left, but here I was, still laying in bed, and I still couldn’t get Asher out of my head.

I still couldn’t get the confrontation in his room away from my mind. The denial even when I knew something was wrong and he was clearly injecting himself with something. I knew deep down something was going on in his life but yet he had looked me straight into the eyes and lied about it.

I knew he would keep lying to me, and the thought of that has been haunting me every single day.

I’d replayed that moment a thousand times, the way his breath had hitched when I’d stepped closer, the flutter of his pulse at his throat, the defiance in his eyes even as something else flickered there. Fear? No, not quite. More like… panic. The kind of panic that came from having secrets.

I was sprawled on my bed, staring at the ceiling of my room, but all I could see was him. Those lips, the curve of his jaw, the lean lines of his body that he tried so hard to hide under oversized hoodies, and that scent, fuck, that scent.

Even heavily masked by something I couldn’t fathom there was something underneath that called to every Alpha instinct I had. Something that made my wolf pace restlessly beneath my skin, demanding I find him, claim him, and protect him, but protect him from what? And why was he lying?

I’m still lost, no matter how hard I try to keep searching, I still keep being stuck. I still can’t understand him no matter what.

Asher was alone, a lone Alpha, if that’s what he was, a weak fragile Alpha without pack protection? In a school full of Alphas who would see him as prey? The idea filled me with a rage I didn’t fully understand.

I wanted to corner him again, make him tell me the truth, but more than that, and this was the part that kept me awake at night, I wanted to taste those lips. I wanted to see what he looked like when he wasn’t running, when he wasn’t hiding. I wanted to hear my name on his tongue when—

The door to my room slammed open with enough force to rattle the frame. Callum stood in the doorway, his face flushed and his eyes wild. “Reed. Rooftop. Now.”

I was on my feet instantly, reading the urgency in his stance. “What-”

“It’s Asher,” Callum said, and my blood turned to ice. “Mason and his crew. They lured him up there with a fake note from you. Reed, they’re- you need to move. Now.”

I didn’t wait to hear more, I was running before I even registered the decision to move, taking the stairs three at a time, my wolf surging forward beneath my skin. The hallway blurred past me. Students jumped out of my way, responding to the Alpha rage that must have been rolling off me in waves.

A fake note using my name. They’d tricked him into going somewhere isolated, and Asher, Asher who’d been avoiding me so carefully for weeks had gone anyway because he thought I’d asked him to. The trust in that, however reluctant, made something fierce and possessive roar to life in my chest, and if they’d hurt him, if they’d so much as touched him. I would kill every single one of them.

I hit the rooftop door so hard it bounced off the wall behind it, and the scene that greeted me turned my vision red.

Asher was on the ground, surrounded by a pool of blood that looked black in the late afternoon sun. His shirt was torn half off his body, revealing skin that was already mottling with bruises. His face was a mess, split lip, swollen eye, and blood streaming from a cut on his temple.

He wasn’t moving, and Mason, that piece of shit Mason Hartley had his pants pulled down, was positioning himself over Asher’s limp body, his hands groping, and violating.

The roar that came out of me wasn’t human. It was pure Alpha dominance, the kind that made lesser wolves submit or flee. The kind that said this is mine, and you will die for touching what’s mine.

“GET AWAY FROM HIM.”

I watched with savage satisfaction as they all jerked back, their wolves recognizing a superior predator, but Mason, the fucking idiot, tried to stand his ground, tried to pull up his pants and face me like he had any right to still be breathing.

I didn’t give him the chance.

I crossed the distance between us faster than he could blink and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him clear off the ground. My fingers dug into his windpipe, and I watched his face turn purple with a detached sort of pleasure.

He clawed at my hands, making pathetic choking sounds, and all I could think was how easy it would be to just… squeeze.

To watch the life drain from his eyes, to make him pay for what he’d done, and what he was about to do-

“Reed!” Callum’s voice cut through the haze. “Reed, he needs help! Asher needs-”

A weak, wet cough came from behind me. The sound of Asher choking on his own blood.

I dropped Mason like the trash he was and spun around, falling to my knees beside Asher. Up close, it was so much worse. His breathing was shallow and irregular. There was blood, so much blood pooling beneath his head, soaking into his hair, and his eyes, when they fluttered open for just a second, were glazed and unfocused.

“Get him to the infirmary,” Callum said urgently. “Now, Reed. We can deal with them later.”

He was right, as much as every instinct in me screamed to tear Mason and his crew apart, Asher was dying. I could see it in the pallor of his skin, and I could hear it in the rattle of his breathing.

I slid my arms beneath him as carefully as I could, trying not to jostle any injuries. He was so light, too light, and up close I could smell it, beneath the blood and fear and suppressants, that scent I’d been chasing.

Fear, definitely fear, and in distress, and it made my wolf howl with the need to protect, and to kill anyone who’d caused this.

“I’ve got you,” I murmured against his hair as I stood, cradling him against my chest. “You’re safe now. I’ve got you.”

His head fell against my shoulder, and I felt the sticky warmth of his blood soaking into my shirt. Behind me, I could hear Callum on the phone, snapping orders at someone.

“As for you,” I said, my voice deadly quiet as I looked at Mason and his crew, “this isn’t over, not even damn close. Every single one of you is going to pay for this.”

I let my Alpha power roll out, making them all flinch and cower. “And if you’re smart, you’ll spend the time before I come for you getting your affairs in order because when I’m done making sure he’s okay?” I smiled, and it was all teeth. “I’m going to destroy you. Every. Single. One.”

Mason was still on his knees, gasping for air, one hand at his bruised throat. The others looked like they wanted to run but didn’t dare move without permission.

“Get out of my sight,” I snarled. “Before I change my mind about letting you live.”

They scrambled away like the cowards they were, and I was already moving, carrying Asher toward the stairs. His blood dripped steadily, leaving a trail behind us, and each drop felt like acid on my conscience.

I should have been watching him. I should have realized he was in danger when he’d been avoiding me. I should have protected him better.

“Hold on,” I whispered, taking the stairs as quickly as I dared. His heartbeat was faint against my chest, too faint. “Just hold on, Asher. Don’t you dare die on me. Not before I—”

Not before I what? Claimed him? Made him mine? Found out all his secrets and kissed away every lie until only truth remained?

All of the above.

Callum was ahead of me, clearing the path, and I could hear the wail of sirens in the distance. Asher made another small sound, something between a whimper and a gasp, and my arms tightened fractionally around him.

“I’m sorry,” I said, even though he probably couldn’t hear me. “I’m sorry they used my name. I’m sorry I didn’t get there sooner, but I swear to you, Asher or whoever you really are, I will never let anyone hurt you again.”

It was a promise I intended to keep, and Mason Hartley and his crew? They had no idea what was coming for them, but they would learn.

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