His Trouble Maker

Chapter 182

JESSICA

2$ 0000, 58%°

It was hard to decide what to wear. | don’t think | have enough in my wardrobe either. Grayson had a lot of

clothes here but | have nothing but his shirts.

My heart won't stop pounding, like it’s trying to escape before tonight can chain it down. | hate this. | hate how

nervous ! am. Jack saw it-he calledout without even blinking. And he’s right. I'm terrified. Not of Grayson,

not of the ceremony, not even of the bond. I'm terrified of me. Of faltering. Of proving I'm not the fierce,

unbreakable girl I've always told myself | was.

“Trouble?”

| bite my lip, grateful he can’t hear my thoughts anymore. The mirror betrays me, though-his reflection filling the

doorway, steady, unshakable, eyes locked onlike I'm the only thing that matters.

He never wavers.

“Keep doing that,” he says, voice low, dark amusement curling through it.

My brow furrows. “Doing what?”

His gaze flicks to my mouth, and heat curls down my spine when | realize-he means my lip. “That.” His smirk

grows, wicked and sure, like he owns the ground I'm standing on. “Makeswant to ruin your composure all

over again.”

My cheeks burn. “Grayson-"

He steps closer, until the solid weight of his presence surrounds me. My breath stutters when his hands settle on

the back of the chair I'm perched on, cagingwithout touching me. “You're nervous,” he murmurs, his lips

brushing the shell of my ear. “I might not be able to hear your thoughts but I can still read your expressions,

Jessica.”

“Geez. Thanks for remindingyou're my obsessive stalker before.”

That earnsa low chuckle, “Do you know my mother used to love you when you were a kid?”

1 blink, thrown. “What?”

“She used to say you had fire in you. Said you were going to be in trouble one day.” His lips graze my temple,

soft but deliberate. “She was right.”

My throat tightens, heat crawling up my neck. “Trouble? That's what she called me?”

“Mhm.” His fingers trail down the side of my neck, pausing just above the collar of his shirt that drowns me.

“Beautiful trouble.” His voice drops lower, husky. And I'm the idiot who can’t get enough of it.”

| try to laugh it off, but it comes out breathless. “You're ridiculous.”

His reflection in the mirror shows his grin-wolfish, devastating. “You really are trouble, Jess.”

“Am 1?”

1/3

17:47 Mon, 15 SeptA

Chapter 182

$ .53%

“You wreck me, Jess. Every damn day. | used to think | was in control-of the pack, of myself-but then you...” His

eyes burn into mine through the mirror, unblinking. “You turnedinside out.”

My heart lurches, hammering so hard it hurts. “Grayson-"

He cutsoff with a low growl, his forehead pressing against the side of my head, voice raw against my skin.

“I'd burn this world for you. Do you understand that? I'd tear it apart, claw it bloody, just to keep you in my

arms.” His hand slides lower, gripping my hip like he’s staking a claim only | can feel. “And | don’t regret a single

second of it.”

Heat rushes throughso fiercely | can’t breathe. The mirror catches everything-the flushed pink of my skin,

the wild look in my eyes, the way his mouth hovers at my neck like he can’t decide whether to kissor bite.

My throat closes, and before | can stop it, the burn behind my eyes spills over. A single tear slips free, trailing hot

down my

cheek. Then another.

“Jess?” His hand stills on my hip, trembling just enough forto notice. “Hey... look at me.”

| shake my head, pressing my lips tight, but the tears keep falling anyway, traitorous and relentless. “I'm

scared... Grayson.”

“So am I.”

“No.” | tried very hard to not fall apart. “You're Grayson Westwood. You don’t get scared.”

“That's a lie, Jess.” He paused and | saw him on the verge of tears too. “There have been a million times I've

been scared- because of you.”

My breath catches, my tears freezing midfall. “What?”

“Every tyou run off without tellingwhere. Every tyou throw yourself into danger like you're fucking

invincible. Every t| think I'll lose you, that sbastard will take you away from me...” His forehead presses

hard to mine, his words breaking apart as his grip onshakes. “That terrifies me, Jess. You terrify me. Because

you're the only thing in this world | can’t control. And if | lose you, | lose everything.”

“Grayson...” | whisper, small, fragile.

His thumb brushes another tear away, but his jaw clenches, eyes wild. “So don’t you dare say | don’t get scared.

I've been scared a million times, every single one because of you. Because loving you this much-it's the one

thing that makesweak.”

His words gut me, tearingopen in ways, | never thought possible. Then he moves. Swift, decisive. His hands

leave my hips only to grab mine, tuggingup from the chair and pullingacross the room. My heart

stumbles with every step, confusion tangling with the ache in my chest.

“Grayson-what are you-"

He doesn’t answer, not right away. He pushes open the wardrobe door, and for a moment, | don’t understand

what I'm seeing.

Then | do.

213

Mon, 15 Sept

Chapter 182

Hanging there, delicate and impossibly beautiful, is a dress. White. Flowing. A wedding dress.

My breath lodges in my throat. “You...” My voice falters, shaking. “You got me... a dress?”

He turns to me, and for the first time, he looks like the boy I knew before the alpha, before the blood, before the

fire-his eyes glassy, his chest rising and falling too fast. “Because | want you to know this isn’t just about a mark.

Or a bond. Or sceremony everyone expects us to get through.” His voice breaks, the words spilling rough,

jagged. “It’s about us, Jess. You and me. | want you as my wife. Not just my mate. My forever.”

My knees nearly buckle, tears blurring the edges of the dress, of him, of everything. “Wow.”

Grayson'’s lips twitch, the faintest ghost of a grin. “Wow? That's it? | bare my damn soul to you, and all you can

say is wow?”

A shaky laugh escapes me, tears still streaking down my cheeks. “What do you wantto say? That it's the

most beautiful thing anyone's ever done for me? That you're insane? That I'm two seconds away from ugly-

crying on your shirt?”

He leans closer, crowdingback until my shoulders hit the wardrobe, the wedding dress brushing against my

arm. His grin sharpens, wolfish. “Ugly-crying | can handle. But you callinginsane?” His mouth hovers just

above mine, teasing. “That's just foreplay.”

Heat floods my face, a gasp catching in my throat. “You're ridiculous.”

“And yet-" His hand slides around my waist, tuggingflush against him. His voice drops lower, velvet-dark.

“You're still looking at that dress like you're already imaginingtaking it off you.”

“Grayson!” | smack his chest, but the laugh that slips out ofbetrays how warm, how alive | suddenly feel.

His teeth graze my jaw, playful, dangerous, but when he speaks next, it's no longer a tease-it's a growl, low and

aching. “It’s full moon already, baby. Can't you feel it?” His nose brushes down the side of my throat, inhaling me

like I'm air. “Every part ofis howling for you. For this. For us.”

And | know, deep down, if | said yes, if | said the words; he'd dragstraight into forever without hesitation.

3/3