Page 35 of Jace’s Mate (East Coast Territory #1)

J anice eyed the pathetic excuse for a man trembling in front of her and felt a cold, oily wave of revulsion roll through her.

Sniveling sod. That didn’t even begin to cover it.

She’d known Wilton was weak—hell, that’s why she’d chosen him in the first place.

But this? This simpering, slack-jawed coward wasn’t just weak. He was a liability.

She tilted her head slowly, watching him like a hawk might watch a twitching rodent before deciding whether it was even worth the trouble. What in hell am I going to do with him?

Killing him would be easy. Almost too easy.

But if she let him live, he’d spill everything the moment someone offered him a warm meal and a hint of safety. He had no spine, no pride, no loyalty—only a gnawing hunger for power, which made him easy to manipulate and utterly untrustworthy.

Wilton stared at her, his eyes wide and watery. “I know I failed but… I can fix it!”

His voice cracked on the last word. Pathetic.

Janice gave him a smile that never touched her eyes as she picked up her crimson gloves and slowly, deliberately began to slide them back on, finger by finger.

“You’re no longer valuable, Wilton.” She lifted her chin.

“I’m the future Alpha of Gustov’s pack,” she said casually, as if discussing the weather.

Her tone turned mocking. “I know—it’s a small pack. ”

She paused, letting the contempt drip from her words.

“For now,” she added coldly.

Her eyes sharpened as she advanced, letting her heels click across the floor with calculated menace. “But I have plans. Or rather… had plans.” Her voice dropped like a guillotine.

She smacked her gloved hand against the wall, making Wilton flinch.

“You,” she said, her voice a venomous whisper, “were supposed to create chaos. Sow doubt. Destabilize the East Coast Pack so that when I challenged Gustov, there’d be no one left strong enough to back him.

” She took another step forward, then another, rounding his desk like a predator circling her prey.

“But no. Instead, you bumbled around like a drunk raccoon, let your precious niece slip through your fingers, and handed Jace his mate .”

She leaned in, her breath warm and mocking against his cheek. “You know what that means, don’t you?” she purred.

Wilton shook his head slightly, blinking like he was about to cry.

Her crimson nail trailed slowly along his cheekbone, then pressed down hard as she whispered, “It means you —you sorry little parasite— strengthened him.”

She drove her nail down his skin in a single, unbroken slash, leaving behind a narrow ribbon of blood. He gasped, but she didn’t care.

She stepped back abruptly, smoothing her jacket with an air of finality. “Now I have to scrap years of preparation. You ruined it. Ruined everything. ” Her words cracked like a whip.

Without a backward glance, she stalked toward the door, her heels clicking like gunshots across the hardwood floor.

She didn’t even acknowledge Wilton’s whimper as she passed into the hallway. Two guards lounged against the kitchen wall, watching with wary eyes.

“You’re free,” she said with a sneer. “Find another pack.”

The guards straightened slightly, exchanging glances.

She didn’t care.

They weren’t worth the oxygen they breathed, much less a place in her future empire.

She wasn’t collecting strays or weaklings.

When she took over Gustov’s territory—and she would —she’d build a pack of elite, vicious, loyal wolves.

Warriors. Not this drooling garbage she’d scraped from the bottom of a whiskey barrel.

She stepped outside, the sunlight bathing her pale skin in gold. It should have been warm, comforting.

Instead, it just reminded her of all the time she’d wasted on that useless man inside.

She didn’t sigh.

Janice didn’t sigh.

She seethed —quietly, coldly.

Sliding into the back seat of her limousine, she tapped the window. “I need to speak with Gustov,” she told her driver, her voice clipped and sharp.

It was time to pivot. Time to plan again.