Share

End Terms

Author: Paul Wright
last update publish date: 2026-05-04 02:55:57

LEO

My mother smelled like pine and something I didn't have a name for but recognized anyway.

I pulled back first because I needed to see her face. She let me look, which meant she understood that I needed it.

She was older than the photos from my childhood but the same in the ways that counted. The gray eyes I'd inherited. The set of her jaw. The quality of stillness that I'd always thought was just mine.

"You're real," I said.

"Yes."

"How long has he had you."

"He hasn't had me." Her voice wa
Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App
Locked Chapter

Latest chapter

  • Born To Race, Bred To Fall   End Terms

    LEOMy mother smelled like pine and something I didn't have a name for but recognized anyway.I pulled back first because I needed to see her face. She let me look, which meant she understood that I needed it.She was older than the photos from my childhood but the same in the ways that counted. The gray eyes I'd inherited. The set of her jaw. The quality of stillness that I'd always thought was just mine."You're real," I said."Yes.""How long has he had you.""He hasn't had me." Her voice was careful. "I came voluntarily. Two days ago, when Briar told me what was happening." She held my gaze. "I've been free the whole time. I came because Magnus asked and because I thought it might help end this."I pulled back further. "Briar told you.""Your uncle and I have been in contact for years. He kept me informed." She paused. "I knew about you. Everything you were doing. He told me.""And you stayed away.""Yes."A silence that had seventeen years in it."Later," she said quietly. "All o

  • Born To Race, Bred To Fall   Alive

    ASHLeo wasn't moving. I came around the eastern corner at a run and found her standing in the access road holding a photograph, Wren beside her, a man I didn't recognize three meters away watching them both.I put myself between Leo and the man."Aldric," he said immediately, hands visible. "Messenger, not a threat."I looked at Leo.She turned the photograph toward me.I looked at it. A woman, maybe mid-forties, dark hair going gray at the temples. The resemblance to Leo was immediate and structural—same eyes, same jaw, same quality of self-containment in how she held herself."Your mother," I said."She's alive." Leo's voice was completely flat. The flatness that meant something had hit too hard to process in real time. "Magnus has her."I turned to Aldric. "Where.""I don't have location information. I was given the photograph and the meeting request. Nothing else.""Who contacted you?""A third party. I don't know Magnus Carver personally. I was retained through an intermediary t

  • Born To Race, Bred To Fall   Maren

    LEO I was three minutes into the preliminary governance session when Ash's message came through. Single line. *Step out. Now.* I excused myself, which Soren accepted with the patience of someone who'd learned tonight wasn't a normal night, and found Ash in the corridor with Juno on comms and an expression that meant the situation had moved. He told me about the transfer and the Southern facility and Maren. I listened without interrupting. "She called Maren," I said when he finished. "From inside the facility we emptied tonight." "The facility isn't fully empty," Juno said. "We extracted the prisoners and secured the staff in the east wing. But the building itself is still standing, still has infrastructure, still has the experimental records Wren didn't have time to wipe." "Magnus funded it and someone restored the communications," I said. "Maren gets the first call." "Either Maren is still working with Magnus," Ash said, "or someone is using her channel to reach someone else.

  • Born To Race, Bred To Fall   Confirmation

    ASHThe formal confirmation took forty minutes.Charter law required it in full—verbal acknowledgment of each founding clause, witnessed signatures from pack representatives, a recorded declaration that went into the permanent territorial record. The Tribunal clerk moved through it methodically while eleven pack representatives watched from the witness stands.Leo stood in the center of the floor and answered every clause clearly and without hesitation.I watched from the edge.Rafe was beside me, cleaned up from the fight but moving carefully. Two cracked ribs, the Rebellion medic had said. He was pretending they weren't there."She's steady," he said quietly."She's always steady.""Not always." He kept his eyes on his sister. "You don't see the version that isn't. She saves that for people she trusts."I looked at him."I'm not warning you," he said. "I'm telling you something useful." He paused. "When she goes quiet and stops moving, something has actually reached her. That's when

  • Born To Race, Bred To Fall   Rafe

    LEORafe was already awake when we got back.He was sitting at the warehouse table with Juno's tablet in front of him, the involuntary conscription filing open on the screen. He'd clearly been reading it for a while. His face was the particular stillness he got when something had landed hard and he'd already finished reacting to it privately.He looked up when I walked in."I know," he said."Rafe—""I've read the clause. It's valid." He set the tablet down. "Magnus filed it correctly. Witnessed, timestamped, accepted by the Tribunal clerk twelve minutes ago." He paused. "I have to fight.""We can challenge the filing. Juno, is there any procedural—""I've been looking for ninety minutes," Juno said from across the room. She looked exhausted and furious. "The involuntary conscription clause has only been used twice in recorded charter history, but both times it held. The legal basis is solid." She paused. "I found one possible challenge. The clause requires the conscripted champion to

  • Born To Race, Bred To Fall   Before The Fight

    LEO I went alone. Ash didn't argue, which meant he understood, not that he agreed. He stood at the warehouse door and watched me go with that steady look that said he was calculating every risk and choosing to trust my judgment anyway. That look was going to be a problem for me long-term. Greywood Arena was empty at three in the morning. The main floor was dark, the stands hollow, the lighting system down to maintenance level. My footsteps echoed. Calia was in the center of the floor. She was in training gear, no makeup, hair pulled back. Without the performance of her usual presentation she looked younger and harder at the same time. She'd been crying recently—not now, but recently. Her eyes were clear and her jaw was set and she watched me cross the floor without moving. We stopped four meters apart. "You came," she said. "You asked." "I thought you'd send someone." "I don't send people to things I can handle myself." I looked at her. "Say what you need to sa

  • Born To Race, Bred To Fall   Grid Position

    ASH I didn't sleep. Four hours of lying on a cot staring at the ceiling, running threat assessments, thinking about that message Leo had shown me before we went inside. "You won't make it to the finish line." No sender ID. Untraceable, Juno said, which meant professional. Which meant this wasn'

  • Born To Race, Bred To Fall   The Final Entry

    LEO Nobody had my race entry code except Juno. I looked at her. She already had both hands up. "It wasn't me." "Who else—" "Nobody." She was typing fast. "I generated that code myself on an isolated system. It was never transmitted. It was never stored anywhere external." She stared at

  • Born To Race, Bred To Fall   The Second Trial

    LEO The drive Ash gave me contained more than just trap locations. It had names. Council members who funded the experiments. Doctors who ran them. Guards who dragged unconscious racers into underground facilities. And at the top of the list: Alpha Magnus Sterling. I spent the night memorizi

  • Born To Race, Bred To Fall   Blood And Truths

    LEO I stared at the cloth until my vision blurred. "Where did you get this?" Juno didn't meet my eyes. "Someone left it in my locker two days ago. I didn't know what it meant until now." "Why didn't you tell me?" "Because I didn't want you distracted before the race." She pushed the clo

More Chapters
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status