Chapter 80: Brewing Betrayal

Chapter 80: Brewing Betrayal Reed POV The fire from Blaze’s final strike still sizzled behind us as we walked into the edge of dawn. The market was quieter now. Cowed. Scorched in places. Word of our interrogation had spread like wildfire, and even the dark-blooded things that haunted these alleys gave us a wide berth. But Blaze wasn’t speaking. Not even a glance. His jaw clenched so tight, I could hear the bone grind. Shadows simmered around him like a storm about to snap. "Say it," I muttered. Still silence. I stopped walking. "You’re going to explode anyway. Might as well do it now." He turned slowly, eyes glowing like molten gold. Fury, raw and roiling, broke through his calm like a dam collapsing. "You knew." My chest tightened. "You fucking knew, Reed." "No," I growled, stepping toward him. "I knew about the ceremony. The mating dance. My father’s idiotic desperation to find a Queen for his little golden throne. But the Hunt? That I didn’t know." "You expect me to believe that?!" he spat. "You knew this ’ceremony’ always involved a hunt. It’s tradition. You just didn’t think it mattered. Because she was just another human, right?" "Don’t put words in my mouth." "You don’t even know what she means to you." That stopped me cold. The truth had been circling me for hours, clawing at the edge of my instincts. But when the goblin said special, and her scent hit my memory like lightning through my spine... I knew. She was mine. Not just mine. My mate. The bond was faint, confused by our early meeting and masked by her scent... but it had been there. That’s why I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Why her absence cut deeper than wounds I’d carved in war. I stepped forward slowly. "She’s my mate." Blaze’s magic flared. "Say that again." "She’s my mate, Blaze." The fire in his chest seemed to recoil — not out of fear, but betrayal. The kind of betrayal that warps loyalty into poison. "You knew I loved her." "I didn’t know you saw her that way." "She’s my beloved, Reed!" Blaze shouted, voice cracking with pure frustration. "And you stood next to me this whole time—what, mocking me in silence? Pretending she was just some human you want?" "I didn’t know," I snarled. "Not until tonight. I didn’t let myself think she could be my mate because she’s human. Because my father would rather eat silver than let me claim a human as Queen." "So you buried it." "I buried everything." Blaze’s chest heaved. The sky behind him was turning pale now. Morning was moments away. "They’ll be releasing the humans into the forest," he said, voice hollow. "Two hundred of them. Just to be hunted. For fun. For entertainment." "I know." "She’ll run. She’ll bleed. And they’ll smell her. She’s probably terrified right now—" "I SAID I KNOW!" I roared. Silence hit like a hammer. I took a breath. Another. "She’s my mate," I said, softer this time. "And I’m going to find her. I’ll tear down that forest if I have to. I’ll gut every pup who touches her. I don’t care who they are." "Even your father’s soldiers?" "Even the King himself." Blaze stared at me. The fire in him wavered. Dimmed. Not out of peace — but pain. "I should’ve protected her," he whispered. "We still can." He looked away, jaw clenched. I stepped toward him. "Blaze." He didn’t answer. I felt the shift in his scent before he moved — the sudden heat, the spark of combat. Then— He struck. A blast of heat smashed into my chest, sending me skidding back a few feet. I dug my boots in, growling. "You want to fight me now?" I snarled. "This is what you think she’d want? You think this helps her?" "I don’t care what helps," Blaze snapped, eyes burning again. "I needed to hit you." "Well, next time aim better." He laughed bitterly. "If she dies in that forest, I’ll never forgive you." "If she dies in that forest," I said coldly, "none of us will walk out of it alive." The wind shifted. The scent of sunrise. Time was up. We stood there a moment longer. Just two monsters broken by the same girl, forced apart by something neither of us could change. Finally, Blaze turned away. "I’m going north," he said. "I know one of the border guards stationed at the hunt line. I’ll try to get in that way." "I’ll go straight through the ceremonial gate," I said. "If they want their Alpha heir to join the fun... I’ll give them a damn show." We didn’t say goodbye. Didn’t look back. We just walked — two different paths toward the same burning purpose. To find her. To bring her home. Or burn the world trying. BLAZE POV They called it a tradition. A legacy. A rite of passage. But what it really was? A game. A hunt. A slaughter disguised as culture. And it made my blood boil. Two hundred humans, thrown into a forest like rabbits for sport. Just so some muscle-bound mutts can sniff each other out, show off their claws, and earn scars they can wear like badges at the next full moon. Disgusting. And now she was part of it. Clause. My beloved. Shoved into a nightmare made by mongrels because some pompous King wanted to play matchmaker for his heir. What kind of sick father puts together a mating hunt and sprinkles human flesh through the trees like party favors? And that bastard Reed just stood there like he’d been surprised by it all. He didn’t know? Bullshit. Even if he didn’t know the exact details, he should’ve known his people well enough to expect blood. Wolves don’t love — they claim. They hunt, bite, mark. They don’t protect. They own. And now they wanted to own her. My fingers clenched so tightly, sparks hissed across my knuckles. I didn’t even realize I was smoking until I tasted the ash. But I didn’t let it show. Not when Reed turned to me, voice low, expression suddenly haunted. "She’s my mate." For one sharp second, I thought I might kill him. Right there. But I didn’t move. Didn’t speak. I just stared. The words echoed like fire in my skull. Mate. Beloved. There’s no rule that says a soul can’t be claimed by more than one being. It’s rare. Ancient. But I’ve seen it once before. A witch marked by both a vampire and a fae prince. Torn in two until she burned herself alive just to end the pull. Now Clause was ours. Both of ours. But only one of us would keep her. I nodded at Reed. Calm. Almost understanding. I even managed a crooked smirk when he growled something about tearing through the hunt to find her before anyone else could. "If she dies in that forest," I’d said, "I’ll never forgive you." I already don’t. Because now I knew what I had to do. I won’t let him have her. Let the wolves tear each other apart in their madness. Let Reed think we’re allies, brothers in arms, blood-bound in rage and redemption. The moment I find her, I’m taking her. Far. Away. No thrones. No mates. No pack. No ancient bloodlines or moon-blessed heirs. Just me and her. Wherever that is — I’ll find it. A world without wolves. And if she still chooses him, if she looks into my eyes and says she wants him... Then maybe I’ll burn myself with my own fire. But until then? She is mine. And I don’t share. Not even with fate. Not even with her other mate. ****** The sun was up. Mocking, golden, soft — like it hadn’t witnessed the madness of the night before. Like it hadn’t watched me set goblins on fire, or nearly rip the wolf prince’s throat out because he dared to say her name like it meant something to him. My demons chuckled at my hypocrisy.A mere few hours ago, I’d planned to kill her. Drain her. End her.A fragile little human who dared make me feel too much.And now?Now I wanted to tear the world in half for her.Now I snarled inside at the thought of another man—another species—touching what was mine.The same hands I’d sharpened to slaughter her, now curled around a vow to protect.I should’ve felt guilt.But all I felt was hunger.Hunger to take her. Keep her. Lock her away from every other beast with teeth.Including Reed. the very thought of her in the hands of another — of being hunted like an animal for sport, because some mutt king wanted to find his heir a mate — made my fangs grind against each other with rage. What a stupid, brutal tradition. A fucking meat parade disguised as royal ceremony. And she was in the middle of it. My Beloved. Caged. Sold. Marked for death in a blood sport, for nothing more than the entertainment of wolves who still howled at the moon and sniffed asses for hierarchy. I should’ve burned their entire race for that. And Reed—Reed stood there, telling me she was his mate like it was supposed to mean something. Like that absolved him. Like it erased the fact that his kind started this whole damn mess to begin with. He said he didn’t know. That he’d only just realized she was his mate tonight. That his father had gone behind his back, planned the Alpha Hunt without telling him who would be sent into the forest. But I didn’t give a damn. Because at the end of the day, the humans were still purchased. Labeled. Delivered like cargo. She was sold like cattle. And I had to stand there listening to some half-feral dog heir talk about fate bonds like it made it okay. It didn’t. Because she’s mine. Mine. And I don’t care what Reed is to her. I don’t care what mystical wolf-bond howls in his gut or what instincts scream inside his skull. Because I bled for her. I burned for her. I chose her before fate ever tried to scribble her name in someone else’s bones. Let the gods curse me. Let the mate-bond rip Reed’s soul apart for all I care. I don’t share. Not with wolves. Not with fate. Not with anyone. He can call her his mate all he wants. But I’ve tasted her. I’ve felt her blood claim me. I’ve heard the way her breath hitches when I’m near — mine was the name written in her heartbeat, even if she didn’t know it yet. So let him chase shadows. Let him hunt. Because when I find her? I’m not giving her back. I’ll take her — even if I have to burn every last wolf in that forest to get her. Even if she never forgives me for it. Even if I have to drag her away from him in chains, kicking and screaming and calling me monster. She’ll be alive. And she’ll be mine. And maybe, just maybe, once the ash settles... she’ll understand that monsters like me don’t love gently. We devour.