Chapter 102 Provocation Went Wrong

    SERAPHINA

    No.

    No, no, no.

    Grace was in love with Alpha Jude and Alpha Gideon had just witnessed her kiss him.

    When I provoked Grace earlier, I hadn’t imagined my words would be the match that ignited this powder keg. Now, I could see it clearly, unmistakably in the murder zing through Alpha Gideon’s bloodshot eyes as they locked bon /bAlpha Jude.

    For one suspended moment, the clearing went still.

    Even the wind seemed to freeze, holding its breath as though it too sensed theing storm.

    “Alpha Jude! HOW DARE YOU!!” Alpha Gideon’s roar tore through the night air like a war drum and then, everything erupted

    He didn’t move.

    He vanished.

    A blur of obsidian rage tore through the clearing, his clothes shredding as his body burst into a monstrous ck wolf, taller and broader than any I’d ever seen. Muscle and fury coiled beneath his furb, /band his blood–red eyes zeroed in on Alpha Jude like a predator bwho /bhad waited far too long to sink his teeth into prey.

    “Dad, NO!” Grace screamed bas /bher fatherunched forward with bone–cracking force.

    Alpha Jude barely had a second to react.

    “GET BACK!” he barked, shoving Grace aside mere moments before Alpha Gideon collided with him in midair.

    The impact shook the earth.

    They crashed to the ground in a cyclone of fangs, fur, and fury. Blood sttered across the field as Alpha Gideon’s ws ripped down Alpha Jude’s chest, except Alpha Jude shifted bjust /bbin /btime, bones snapping and reforming into his sleek ck wolf to prevent his throat from being torn out.

    Chaos exploded around us.

    The surrounding bAlphas /bstaggered back bwith /bhorrified shouts, scrambling

    “Alpha Gideon’s blost /bit!” Reed gasped.

    bto /bavoid being bcaught /bbin /bthe whirlwind of violence.

    eyes

    They’re bgoing /bto kill each other! Cecins shouted ideas the bground /btrembled beneath the force of the blows.

    Grace was already panicking, trembling with fear and disbelief. Her voice cracked as she screamed, “DAD, STOP!! IT WAS ME WHO KISSED HIMILHE DIDN’T EVEN KNOWII PLEASE STOP THIS PLEASEb!/bb” /b

    Only it was toote

    They didn’t stop

    I stood frozen, horror thick bin /bbmy /bthroat like a stone

    “1. I didn’t mean for this to happen.” I whispered under my breath, guilt curdling in my stomach.

    Two Alpha instructors Locked in a battle to the death. Because of a kiss. Because of a secret. Because I pushed Grace.

    This is my fault.” I muttered.

    “Don’t me yourself” Asher’s voice came bfrom /bbehind me, low but certain. He stepped beside me, watching the chaos with haunted eyes. “It was bound to happen eventually

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    Chapter 102 Provocation Went Wrong

    My head snapped toward him. “You knew?”

    +8 Pearl

    He nodded solemnly. “For years, but Grace hides her emotions well. She smiles so brightly, no one notices her heartbreak. Not even her father.”

    “The problem is that now everything’s ruined because of my stupidity,” I said bitterly, clenching my fists.

    “You’re not the bonly /bone at fault.” Finn bsaid /bquietly, appearing at my other side. His gaze didn’t leave the bfight/b. “I’ve suspected it for a while. I noticed how she watched Alpha Jude when she was around other men. That kind of longing can’t be hidden

    forever.

    “You bknew /bbtoo/b?” I blinked in disbelief.

    He nced bdown /bat me. “I had my suspicions. Though they were only confirmed when I gave her flowers she was allergic to. She still epted them, just so she could argue with Alpha Jude. She wanted to provoke him.”

    The realization settled over me like ice. It all made sense now, why Finn was suddenly at ease around her, why Asher supported her so easily. Grace’s entire harem act had been smoke and mirrors to distract from the one man she truly bloved/b.

    Then Ryker’s voice cut through the tension.

    “I bsaw /biting miles away,” he said, his tone uncharacteristically serious. He sat shirtless under a tree, his torso wrapped tightly in bandages. “A father can barely tolerate another man near his daughter, let alone a friend. This fight was inevitable.”

    Our eyes met, and I blinked. I hadn’t expected such insight bfrom /bRyker. Before I bcould /brespond, another thunderous snarl dragged my gaze back to the battlefield.

    Alpha Gideon lunged again with no hesitation, only lethal rage. He went for the throat.

    Alpha Jude countered, twisting beneath the onught and driving his teeth into Gideon’s nk with the raw power of an Alpha btrained /bfor war. Blood spilled freely.

    Flesh btore/b.

    Fur flew.

    The grass turned crimson.

    They didn’t pull punches. They didn’t flinch. They didn’t stop.

    I pressed my hand to my lips in horror. “Why doesn’t Alpha bJude /bsay something? Why not just exin it? Grace kissed himb, /bhe didn’t return it. He could bstop /bbthis/bb./b”

    It’s simple, he’s not fighting to defend himself,” a voice murmured behind ite.

    Ronan

    His bwarm /bchest brushed my back, grounding me in that moment. I didn’t turn, I couldn’t. My voice was barely a whisper,

    Then what is he fighting for?”

    To protect her,” Konan said.

    bMy /bbreath hitched.

    Suddenly it was bobvious/b.

    Alpha Jude was’s fighting for pride. He was lighting to keep bGrace /bsafe, beven /bfrom her own bfather/b.

    Alpha Gadeon mmed Alphia Jude binto /ba tree. The crack was deafening. Splinters burst blike /bshrapnel, but bAlpha /bJude retaliated bwith /ba crushing headbutt bthat /bsnapped bAlpha /bGideon’s jaw to the side.

    Sull, they kept bgoing /b

    bAlphas /baround us shouted, panic rising. Alpha Hugo looked visibly shaken

    Alpha Jude was bleeding.

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    Chapter 102 Provocation Went Wrong

    Gideon was snarlingb. /b

    +8 Pea

    Their bodies were battered and torn, their limbs trembling with exhaustion but their eyes, those Alpha eyes, held nothing t fury

    Is it possible…Alpha Jude loves her too?” I couldn’t finish the question, afraid of what the answer might mean.

    “He’s her bfather’s /bfriend isn’t bhe /btoo old for her?” I murmured.

    Asher answered quietly. “bAlpha /bJude is younger than the other instructors. He’s only twelve years older than Grace.”

    “That doesn’t bchange /bthe fact that he’s her father’s friend,” Ryker pointed out, standing slowly, his tall form barely radiating bpain/b.

    bThis /bwon’t stop…” someone whispered. “Until one of them dies.”

    Alpha Jude roared, hurling himself at Gideon with every ounce of strength. The two wolves rolled across the field in a whirlwind of fury, blood, and teeth. Their bodies were so torn up and bloodied it was hard to tell them apart.

    Gideon’s left eye was shed.

    Alpha Jude’s shoulder hung, dislocated and bleeding.

    Yet neither backed down.

    “Enough!” Alpha Hugo growled from the side, stepping forwardb, /blikely about to intervene-

    Until Grace’s voice rang out, shaking the earth more than bany /bblow had.

    want bto /bkill each other because of bme/b?” she screamed, “I would rather die first!”

    “So you two w

    The world stopped.

    I gasped as she turned band /bstrode straight toward the edge of the cliff, toward the waterfall.

    “GRACE!!” bAlpha /bGideon shouted, panic slicing through his tone like a de. “IT’S DANGEROUS COME BACK!”

    Standing at the edge, bher /bface streaked with tears, she turned around. “You want to kill him because of me, right? Well, you don’t bhave /bto. He doesn’t love me,” her voice cracked, and her gaze locked with Alpha Jude’s, “He never bwill/bb…/bb” /b

    The ache in her words bhit /bme so hard I felt breathless. What stunned me more, what disturbed me, was the pain I felt bin /bbmy /bown chest. Why did her heartbreak feel like my bown/b?

    I didn’t know.

    I couldn’t answer.

    bRonan /bwas still close behind me, band /bI felt the quickening of my heartbeat.

    Then something in the shadows moved behind bGrace /b

    My wolf stiffened bRonan’s /baura pulsed sharply. I bstepped /bforward.

    “What is that?” I whispered.

    Fim narrowed his eyes. “Is bthat /ba person!”

    bAlpha /bJude, already halfway to the cliff, froze.

    Then–chaus

    A gure emerged from the shadows behind Grace, in the next heartbeat, he grabbed her.

    IT’S A ROGUE!” Alpha Hugo bellowed.

    The clearing erupted into screams.

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    Chapter 102 Provocation Went Wrong

    “GRACE!!” both Alpha Gideon and Alpha bJude /byelled at once, sprinting toward her.

    My legs moved too but in the next moment, the rogue jumped bover /bthe edge of the waterfall with Grace.

    +8 Pe

    “GRACE!!!” Alpha Gideon’s roar boomed across the bclearing /bbut my feet froze in horror as the sudden memory of the rui that belonged to the rogues shed in my mind.

    My breathing stopped for a moment and ba /bbsharp /bpain happened in my chest

    I fell to my knees, clutching my chest. “Why did L..see that bagain/bb?/b”