76 Chapter 76


    Valerie’s POV 1


    My hands shook as I gripped the steering wheel, the cheap stic hot and slippery with sweat despite the air conditioning sting at


    The highway stretched endlessly ahead, a ribbon of cracked asphalt leading toward the wild territories where civilized wolves


    feared to tread.


    full power.


    *What the hell am I doing?*


    The question had been circling through my mind for the past three hours, ever since I’d thrown my designer bags into Gabriel’s beat-up


    sedan and peeled out of our driveway like a woman possessed. My face still throbbed from where Sera’s ws had raked across my


    cheek, leaving angry red welts that would probably scar. The bitch had actually managed to shift and fight back-something I’d never


    seen her do before.


    Something was different about her now. Stronger. More dangerous.


    I caught my reflection in the rearview mirror and winced. The once-perfect features that had caught Gabriel’s eye were now marred by


    three parallel scratches running from my left temple to my jaw. Foundation could only do so much to cover the damage.


    That omega freak ruined everything.


    A horn red behind me, jolting me from my self-pity. I’d been driving twenty miles under the speed limit, lost in my spiraling thoughts.


    I pressed harder on the elerator, watching the speedometer climb as thendscape outside grew wilder and more deste.


    The truth was inescapable: I was fucked. Completely and utterly fucked.


    Sera would tell Damien everything-about me kidnapping her brat, about trying to sell her to that disgusting old man. And Damien, as


    the Alpha King, wouldn’t just let it slide. He had resources I couldn’t even imagine, connections that stretched across every pack


    territory in the region. There was nowhere I could hide where his reach wouldn’t eventually find me.


    Unless…


    I’d been driving toward the border territories for hours now, watching the well-maintained roads give way to potholed backwoods paths, the neat suburban developments reced by dense forests and abandoned gas stations. This was rogue territory-thewlessnds where pack exiles and criminals made their homes. Where even the Alpha King’s authority grew thin.


    It was also where people went to disappear. Permanently.


    “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I muttered, my voice high and strained in the silence of the car. “This is insane, I can’t actually be considering this.”


    But what choice did I have? Go back home and wait for Damien’s enforcers to drag me away in chains? Hope that somehow Sera would show mercy to the woman who’d tormented her for years?


    Ha. Fat chance.


    The sun was setting by the time I reached the edge of truly wild territory. Thest functional street light flickered weakly behind me as I drove deeper into the forest, following a dirt road that was barely more than a trail. My expensive heels and designer dress were


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    76 Chapter 76


    The trees pressed closer on either side, their branches scraping against the car’s windows with sounds like fingernails on ss. Every shadow looked like it might contain yellow eyes and bared fangs. My heart hammered against my ribs as the road deteriorated further. forcing me to slow to a crawl to avoid bottoming out on the deeper ruts.


    And then I saw them.


    Yellow eyes gleaming in the darkness between the trees. Not just one pair-dozens. They moved parallel to my car, keeping pace but staying just out of sight, like sharks circling prey.


    My foot found the brake pedal without conscious thought, bringing the sedan to a shuddering stop in the middle of the narrow track.


    The engine ticked quietly as it cooled, the only sound in the oppressive silence of the deep woods.


    A branch snapped somewhere to my left. Then another, closer this time. The yellow eyes were getting braver, moving closer to the edges


    of the road where the headlights could catch them properly.


    I’d read about rogues in school, back when we’d studied packw and territory management. They were wolves who’d been exiled from


    their birth packs for crimes too severe to forgive-murder, rape, treason. Without the civilizing influence of pack bonds, they devolved


    into little more than animals, living by violence and taking what they wanted from anyone too weak to stop them.


    They were also the only wolves in the region who might be interested in what I had to offer.


    My legs felt like jelly as I stepped out of the car, the forest floor soft and treacherous under my heels.


    “I know you’re watching me,” I called out, my voice cracking embarrassingly. “I’m not here to cause trouble. I just want to talk.”


    A low growl answered me from the darkness, followed by another, then another. The sounds seemed toe from all directions at once,


    a chorus of predators sizing up their prey. My wolf cowered deep inside me, every instinct telling her to submit, to roll over and show


    her throat in hopes of quick death.


    “I have information!” I shouted into the darkness. “Information about the Alpha King that your leaders would want to hear!”


    The growling stopped. The silence that followed was somehow worse than the threats had been.


    Then they stepped into the light.


    There were six of them, all male, allrger than any wolves I’d ever seen. Their eyes were the t yellow of true predators, and their lips


    were pulled back to reveal fangs stained with old blood. Their clothes were torn and filthy, hanging in rags from frames that were more


    muscle than anything else.


    Thergest one, a brute with salt-and-pepper hair and a face full of scars, took a step closer. When he smiled, I could see that half his teeth were missing.


    “Well, well,” he rumbled, his voice like gravel in a cement mixer. “What do we have here? A pretty little pack princess, all alone in the big


    bad woods.”


    The othersughed-a sound like hyenas around a fresh kill. They began to circle me, moving with the casual confidence of predators who knew their prey had nowhere to run.


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    76 Chapter 76


    “I’m not just some random wolf,” I said quickly, backing toward my car. “I know things. Important things about Damien Nightshadow and


    his weaknesses. Things your pack could use.”


    “Oh, she knows things,” another rogue sneered, this one younger but no less dangerous. “Ain’t that precious? Tell me, princess, what


    makes you think we give a shit about pack politics?”


    My back hit the side of my car. Trapped. The metallic taste of fear flooded my mouth as the circle of rogues tightened around me.


    “Because he’s been hunting your kind!” I blurted out desperately. “Killing your people, driving you out of territories you’ve held for years!


    Don’t you want revenge?”


    The scarred leader held up a hand, and the others stopped advancing. His yellow eyes studied me with the calcting look of a predator


    deciding whether its prey was worth the effort to kill cleanly.


    Finally, he nodded toward the darkness beyond the headlights.


    “Go tell the Alpha we’ve got a visitor. One who ims to know things about the King.” He turned back to me, his smile showing far too


    many teeth. “You better hope you’re not wasting our time, princess. Our Alpha doesn’t like to be disappointed.”


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