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CHAPTER FIFTEEN – Blood Oaths & Burning Lies
The Wolves gave Emily three days to decide.
Three days to name her sacrifice.
Three days to prove her loyalty.
Three days to choose between survival and love.
The ring on her finger burned hotter with each hour—
like it could sense her hesitation.
Like it knew she hadn't made peace with what they were asking.
Because how could she?
Betray Luke, or lose everything.
---
Tessa watched her carefully during those days.
Never spoke.
Never interfered.
But Emily knew—every move was being monitored.
The Wolves didn't give ultimatums unless they already knew the answer.
Still… Emily wasn't ready to give them what they wanted.
Not yet.
---
On the second night, she found an envelope slipped under her door.
No name. Just one word scribbled in a sharp, elegant hand:
> "RUN."
Attached was a photo.
It was of Luke.
Bloody.
Unconscious.
Tied to a chair in what looked like a warehouse basement.
Emily's breath caught in her throat.
And in the corner of the photo—barely visible—was a mark.
A wolf sigil.
---
She didn't wait.
She snuck out of the manor at 2:13 a.m.
Climbed the stone fence.
Took Noah's stolen motorcycle and rode through the backroads until the forest gave way to industrial decay.
She found the warehouse.
And she found him.
---
Luke's head was slumped. Blood crusted along his hairline. His lip was split. Wrists bound.
"Luke," she whispered, falling to her knees beside him.
His eyes fluttered open. "They told me you'd come."
"Who?" she demanded, untying the ropes. "Who did this to you?"
He smiled bitterly. "You're not gonna like the answer."
Before she could respond—
The lights blazed on.
And Tessa Hale stepped out of the shadows.
With three other masked Wolves behind her.
"It was never personal," she said. "It was survival."
---
Emily stood up slowly. "You betrayed him."
"No," Tessa said. "He betrayed the legacy. I warned you, Emily. This was always about more than you and your stupid rebellion."
She walked closer, heels echoing.
"We let you into the Wolves to see what you'd do. And guess what? You failed."
Emily's voice was ice. "You want me to sacrifice him."
"I wanted you to choose the Wolves. To choose yourself. But now...?"
Tessa raised a gun.
> "Now, I'm cleaning up your mess."
---
Emily didn't hesitate.
She lunged.
The gun fired—loud, ringing—and chaos erupted.
Luke tackled one of the guards.
Emily kicked the weapon from Tessa's hand.
The other Wolves scrambled, but Emily was faster, meaner, and burning with something they hadn't planned for—
Love.
Not the soft kind.
The sharp, vicious, I-will-burn-for-you kind.
And when it was over…
Tessa was on the floor, bleeding from a cut across her cheek.
The others had fled.
Luke was holding Emily's hand, panting.
"You okay?" he asked.
Emily didn't answer.
She looked at Tessa. "You were never going to let me win."
Tessa laughed, teeth red. "This was never about winning."
> "It was about surviving long enough to see who you really are."
---
Later that night, Luke patched up her hands in the basement of an abandoned dorm.
Neither of them spoke for a long time.
Until finally, Emily said, "I didn't name you."
Luke looked up. "I know."
"They wanted me to."
"I would've understood if you had."
"No," she said firmly. "Because I'm not like them."
He leaned forward.
"Then what are you?"
Emily stared at him.
> "I'm the girl who's going to tear down everything they've built."
And this time when they kissed, it wasn't desperate.
It was deliberate.
Like fire finally finding dry wood.
Like war wrapped in silk.
Like an oath sealed in blood.
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