Enemy of my Enemy

𝕱𝖎𝖋𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓

Fire. Burning, agonizing fire coursed through her veins. She felt her knees buckle- The world was melting down around her. She was vaguely aware of Grayson catching her before she could come completely crashing down. Her breathing was ragged, sweat drenched her hair, and she was finding it too difficult to make her lungs function properly.

"What the hell did you just do?" Grayson shouted at her. But his voice seemed so far away that it wouldn't have made much of a difference had he been whispering- God, was it normal to be able to feel your pulse beating inside of your skull?

He took her chin and tilted it to the side, so that he could get a better view of what she'd done with his claw. A single streak of red, almost perfectly parallel to the one that Lorenzo had given her. The difference was that the start of this one loomed dangerously close to the corner of her eye.

"You're burning up." His voice was shaking. "You're burning up, Bianca, what do I do?"

She would have laughed, if she could. Why was he getting so worked about this, when she herself wasn't even that fazed? "I'll be fine in a bit," she murmured, trying to find a point in the ceiling to focus on. It had been this way the last time, too. Being permanently marked by an alpha was no small matter, and it came with its fair share of consequences. But she'd needed to show him she was serious about the offer she'd made him. Speaking of...

"Do we have a deal?" she gasped, only just realizing her own claws had sunk deeply into Grayson's arm. She didn't let go, though, and he didn't make a move to pull away.

"What?" he sputtered, apparently having forgotten everything Bianca had said before this.

"I'll help you regain your wolves' respect. I'll help you take the Blackburn pack."

"What do you get out of this?" He seemed genuinely concerned for her mentality.

"I want..." She let out a raspy exhale. "I want half of what you take from him. Money, land, wolves- Half of all of it."

"Half?" he laughed. His voice was still trembling, but that haughty tone of his had returned. "Why on earth would I agree to that?"

"The one advantage you thought you would have is slipping away from you. You know that. Lorenzo knows that. By the end of the month, every single pack in North America will know it. If it comes down to a war, there isn't a single pack out there that will choose to side with you against the Blackburn wolves."

"Your point?" Grayson's breathing turned heavy, and Bianca could tell she'd made him nervous.

"I'll help you gain small victories, just a few at a time. My cooperation will buy you time, trust, influence, and a lot of allies."

"And you'd prefer to stick a knife in your father's back like this, than to wait until he comes to save you? If he succeeds in taking you back, you'll only have to wait a couple of decades to get the entire pack to yourself. Your offer doesn't seem all that promising for you."

"He won't come for me." Bianca had never been surer of anything else in her life. "You're giving him too much credit, Briare. The fact that Lorenzo isn't the sick creature that Vincent was doesn't make him a saint. He's still a cruel, twisted piece of shit who's probably feeling grateful to you right now that he doesn't have to attend my PTA meetings anymore." She went for a laugh, but failed miserably.

The pain was subsiding now, though very slowly. It would most likely continue to ache for a number of days, but she was sure it was hurting less than when Lorenzo had done it. Maybe it was because she'd grown a stronger tolerance to pain during the past year, or maybe because she'd been expecting it this time. The most likely reason for it, though, was that because she'd been the one to direct the cutting process, she'd been able to make sure the scar was as shallow as it could get.

"Fine, then," Grayson finally replied.

There was something about the way he was looking at her that made her feel comforted, for some reason. It wasn't pity or sympathy directed at her sob story. Rather, it was like he could see right through her, as though he and he alone was capable of fully understanding her.

"One quick question." He seemed to realize his hand was still on her chin, and hastily moved a couple inches away from her. "What makes you think I'll hold up my end of the bargain?"

"Excuse me?"

"Once I get influence, respect, allies, and every other thing you can get for me, what's going to stop me from breaking my word and having you killed?

"I've been through worse. Don't worry about me." Sierra. Henry. Lorenzo. "Besides," she laughed shakily, "I have a feeling it won't be particularly easy for you to follow through on your threat." She didn't elaborate further, letting him decide whether she meant this as I'll kill anyone you send after me or I don't think you'll send anyone after me.

I am irrevocably in love with you and there is no room for anyone else in my heart but you, she could hear him speak in that exasperatingly sarcastic tone of his. Or maybe, just maybe, it's just that I have an urge to want to fuck you.

Bianca couldn't tell which was the truth and which was the lie. She had been offended by that second comment an absurd amount, though it probably had less to do with the fact that he was a power hungry alpha using her as blackmail, and more to do with the fact that she was a girl and he was a boy who was older than her. She'd never had to worry about such problems before, for obvious reasons, and technically speaking, she wasn't worried about it now. Of course, Bianca would rather pull a Sierra and dive head first off a cliff than fuck her way out of a disadvantageous situation, but that didn't mean she was above the likes of seducing Grayson if it meant gaining influence over him.

But she was probably overthinking things. The word 'seducing' had terms like 'falling in love with' attached to it, but despite his faults, Grayson Briare would never be stupid enough to fall for the daughter of his enemy. No, she'd simply use this weakness he'd stupidly revealed to her to keep him at bay.

"You know, you're different. Than what I'd expected you to be," Bianca mumbled sleepily. Her body was utterly exhausted from having tried to fight off the pain for so long.

"Different how?"

"Based on the rumors, I thought you'd be a bit more... Unhinged?"

The corners of Grayson's lips twitched upwards. "Well, you're just as arrogant and stubborn and fearless to a level of stupid as I'd thought you'd be." His face then turned serious. "But I hadn't... I didn't think..."

"What?"

"I didn't think you'd remind me so much of... Me."

During the course of the past twenty minutes, he'd gone from threatening to carve out her eye, to kissing her, and now, to sharing his honest thoughts with her. Bianca didn't know what to make of that.

"Allies, then?" She offered him her hand, which sounded a lot easier than it was. Though the injury she'd had him inflict on her had been on her face, her entire body had been affected by it. It took her all the effort in the world not to wince as she lifted up her arm.

"For now." He clasped her hand gently, then set it down back by her hips.

"For now," she nodded. "Help me up. We have work to do."