บททั้งหมดของ Chasing the Riot: The Alpha's Second Chance: บทที่ 91 - บทที่ 100

JARETT'S POVThe rain showed no signs of abating by the time the fire settled into a deep, steady red glow.Helena was completely asleep within ten minutes, her breathing heavy and rhythmic against my collarbone. Her body had given up every single ounce of tension it had held since Vane's men first crested the northern ridge weeks ago. With every slow, even exhale, she sank deeper against me, anchored by the heavy wool blanket and the simple, quiet reality that we were both still breathing.I did not sleep. My mind was far too stubborn for that, far too disciplined in its restlessness. It stayed wide awake, busy cataloging every second of the last hour, just as she knew I would. I tracked the slow rise and fall of her shoulders, the warmth gradually blooming beneath her damp clothes, and the soft, steady pulse beating against the inside of her wrist where my fingers rested over hers.Sometime around midnight, the storm outside shifted its mood. The howling wind died down from a roar t

Helena's POVThe cold hit me like a slap the second Jarrett opened that door.It wasn't just the mountain air. It was the way it stripped everything away. For twelve hours, the shrine had been the entire world - small, and stone-walled, and ours. Now the wind was in my lungs and the mud was back under my boots and the crown was suddenly too heavy in my hand.I didn't put it on right away. I couldn't. Not while Brennor was standing there looking at Jarrett like he wanted to apologize for existing."Your Grace," Brennor said again, quieter this time. Rain was still caught in his beard. His eyes flickered to me, to the blanket on the floor behind us, to Jarrett's sword, and then very deliberately back to my face. Good man, Brennor. He had been guarding that path since before I could hold a dagger properly."How many?" I asked.My voice came out wrong. Rough. Used up. I cleared my throat and tried again, and this time it sounded like a queen."Scout count, Brennor. How many?""At least si

Helena's POVI held it out.The iron was freezing against my palm, still carrying the cold from the mountain air. For a second, no one breathed.Edric didn't reach for it. He looked at my hand, then at my face, and his smile finally cracked. Just a little but enough to show the teeth behind it."You still think this is about that?" he said quietly.He stepped past me, past my outstretched arm and past the table where Corvin had gone the color of old parchment. He walked straight to the hearth where Brennor was standing."Brennor, show her."Brennor's shoulders shook. He didn't look up. His hand fumbled inside his leather coat and pulled out something wrapped in oilcloth. He unwrapped it with fingers that would not stay steady.It was a letter. The seal was already broken. It had a dark blue wax and a vane's sigil.And underneath it, was a second seal. One I knew better than my own name.It was my mother's hawk in silver.My knees locked. If Jarrett's hand hadn't still been on my back,

Helena's POVThe smell of antiseptic hit me before the light did, coupled with bleach, cold metal and that fake lemon cleaner they use in locker rooms. It burned the back of my nose.I tried to open my eyes but my eyelids felt glued shut, gritty, and heavy like I'd been crying ash for days.Beep. Beep. Beep. The rhythmical sound of the heart monitor echoed right next to my head.I felt something like a warm solid anchor holding my hand.I forced my eyes open. The fluorescents above me were brutal, white and buzzing. I blinked until the blur cleared and I could see Jarrett.He was folded into this tiny plastic armchair that had no business holding a guy who is 6'4", his knees jammed up against my bed. His dark hair was sticking up everywhere, like he'd been running his hands through it for hours. Red rimmed his eyes. Stubble darkened his jaw. His Wolves hoodie was inside-out. He looked like he'd gone ten rounds and lost.When he saw me looking at him, his whole body jolted."Helena,"

Helena's POVThe buzzer for overtime screamed a second time, louder and more urgent.Jarrett still hadn't moved. His forehead was still pressed to mine, his gloved hand still warm on my neck, his breath uneven against my mouth. For three seconds, the whole arena, the cops, the media circus outside, the dead girl with the silver bracelet - all of it disappeared.Then the door banged."Brooks! Manager Voss! Overtime starts in sixty seconds!" It was Morrison, panicked, pounding on the supply room door so hard the thin metal rattled.Jarrett pulled back, but slowly. Reluctantly. Like it physically hurt him to create space between us. His eyes never left mine. That dangerous amber was gone, swallowed back into the dark, exhausted green I knew better than my own playbook."Stay behind the bench," he said, his voice low and that unnatural bass gone, replaced by something human and wrecked. "Do not go near Callahan. Do not go near the Titans' tunnel. You understand me?""Jarrett-""Helena."