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A mountain sprang between the step Seph took back, right into Chase’s hold.

“Will you look at that? Two besties, reunited.” A smirk curved Chase’s chapped lips. Bitterness had hollowed him out, and his sharp cheekbones made him gaunt like a ghost. One intent on haunting me.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” Ajax snapped, trembling with anger.

“Why not? Can’t I get a front-row seat while you pass off my hard work to a spoiled omega?”

The tendon in Walden’s neck snapped straight, and he let out a warning growl as Seph swallowed hard.

“You’re not a victim.” Seph wrenched herself out of Chase’s clawed hold. “You are only getting what you deserve.”

Chase’s scent suffocated my lungs. A storm determined to drown. If he was going down, I was going with him. It sat oily in the unnatural sheen of his gaze. What better way to ruin someone like me than a scandal that would forever clutch at their heels?

“Security,” Walden barked, sensing what was happening as I did.

“Tully promised to wear my mark, but she traded up instead. I’m being punished because I’m not Baylark Pack.” He shouted his reckless words to the room, and the tension pulled taut like barbed wire.

The gathering crowd became a smear of faces as my vision blurred.

“Lies,” I choked out.

“And it’s Hartlock Pack, by the way.” Pan rolled his eyes.

Chase scoffed as three huge alpha guards surrounded him and he put his hands palm up.

“I’m exposing Tully Hartlock for the liar and coward she is.”

“Leave Chase, you're finished.” I lifted my chin.

My stomach, tossed like his stormy scent, wasn’t unsteady enough for me to look him in the eye. Did he feel it? The way Itook my power back? I did. The next breath I took was weighty with knowing. Never again would someone hurt me like he did, and I wouldn’t let my life be ruled by the pain he inflicted.

Pan and Lloyd squeezed in on either side of me, touching just enough for me to know they were there if I needed them. Was this how Esta felt when she chose the wildlands and her pack? Having them behind me was the shield I needed to lean into my strength.

Chase let out a rusty laugh, and every eye in the room was on him.

“You’ve already taken everything from me. My pack, business, reputation. I’ve got nothing else to lose.”

My pack rumbled with disagreement. But it was Thorn who spoke. His voice was a low, dangerous rasp. “She asked you to leave.”

He wasn’t looking at me, though. His gaze was pinned on the red marks Chase had left on Seph’s pale shoulders.

“Or what?” Chase’s nostrils flared. “You should thank me. She was a terrified little mouse when I met her. You think she’s going to make your name proud?” Chase lunged forward, startling the guards hovering near him.

“This won’t be the—”

“Speak to her again,” Walden’s whispered threat carried in the dead silent room. “And I will raze the very memory of you.”

The guards grunted as they dragged Chase backward. He didn’t make it easy for them. Tumultuous sea. A storm I’d survived. His wild cockiness faded as he saw his brothers in the crowd, and his insults turned to begging. They tracked him, like Seph, as security dragged him from the room. There was no recognition in their carefully blank expressions.

“Wait, before you go.” I held out my hand.

I knew Chase would come. Something in my stomach warned me he would slip past security and approach me here today. Thethought niggled at me like a premonition. So, I made alternative plans to ambush him as well. I waved to a woman wearing a red suit by the wall and she cut through the crowd, the red like a blood trail. It contrasted with Chase’s stark white cheeks.

“Are you Chase Campion?”

“Yes.” His voice had a tremor in it.

She whipped out an envelope.