Tempted By my Evil Lycan Stepbrother novel Chapter 53

Chapter 53: Sweet Revenge

Riley’s POV

Olivia’s face went white.

“N-No! Wait- “she shrieked as two of Ezra’s-men strode toward her.

They didn’t hesitate for even a second. One grabbed her by the arm. The other reached for her shoulder like they really meant to drag her all the way back to the blasted camp and toss her to the fire.

“Odin, Odin, help me!!” she screamed, kicking her legs. “Look at them! Fucking monsters-Let me go!!”

“Get your hands off my sister!” Odin roared.

He shoved himself in front of Olivia, his eyes bloodshot. Even half injured, he still looked ready to fight Ezra and his teammates.

“Riley, tell them to let her go!” he snapped his head around to me. He might really hate me if I didn’t do something.

I narrowed my eyes, “Sure. But isn’t she going to apologize for what she said? Because I’m one hundred percent sure she wanted to screw me over.”

Odin hadn’t even replied. And Olivia started screaming again, half-choking, “I was simply looking out for our team. Are you going to punish me for that? And what you are trying to do to me is completely brutal! Odin, that’s her true color, right there. Cold and brutal!”

Odin’s jaw tightened. And then he said to me, “Riley. Don’t make me get disappointed in you.”

I almost laughed.

Disappointed?

His sister almost crucified me, and he didn’t say a damn word. And now he was disappointed?

I think I just lost all feelings for him.

Silas stepped forward too at this moment. “Olivia spoke out of fear. Let’s not take it this far.”

Ezra didn’t even look at them.

His cold green eyes stayed on Olivia for one long second, then shifted to me Like none of them mattered and only my answer

did.

My heart gave a hard thump in my chest.

“Well?” Ezra asked. “It’s your call, Riley.”

The men holding Olivia paused, waiting for my reply.

I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at her. A part of me really did want to let him throw her back. She had been accusing me all this time, acting like I was some disease infecting the team. Even after Ezra saved all our asses, she still found a way to blame me.

And I just hate how sickly intimate she and Odin were.

But I forced myself to breathe.

We still needed four people. This damn game wasn’t over yet.

“If you throw her back now, our team’s done,” I said to Ezra finally. “We need four people to complete the Hunting Season. So let her go.”

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Olivia let out a shaky breath.

Odin’s shoulders loosened ajute foe

Ezra’s teammates immediately released her and stepped back. No argument. Because said so.

Ezra tilted his head at me. “So you’re begging for her now?”

“I’m saving our team, not her. I still need to defeat you, remember?”

The corner of his mouth lifted.

He stepped closer, so close I could smell blood and smoke on him. “You always make the practical choice.”

My pulse sped up, but I forced my expression to stay cold. “And you always enjoy acting like a tyrant.”

He gave a low chuckle. “Only when people deserve it.”

For one stupid second, I forgot everyone else was standing there. Then Odin cleared his throat harshly, and the spell broke.

Ezra straightened and looked past me toward the woods. “Fine. Keep your team together. But the next time we meet, don’t expect mercy.”

I lifted my chin. “Who says I want it?”

His eyes flashed with something dangerous and amused at once. “Good.”

Then he turned and signaled to his teammates. They began gathering the tags from the robbers they’d beaten down.

Then, they handed the tags to me.

Ezra took a few steps, then looked back over his shoulder at me. “Till next time, sister.”

He held my gaze for a moment longer, then disappeared into the trees with his men. I almost chased after him, but I stopped myself. The forest felt strangely empty without him.

Behind me, Olivia was still trembling, her face pale and stiff. She looked furious, humiliated, and shaken all at once. But for once, she didn’t open her mouth.

Good.

I wasn’t in the mood to hear her bullshit.

We gathered our points from the boars and from the robbers Ezra’s team had driven off. It wasn’t as much as I wanted, but it was still decent. Enough to keep us in the game.

Once we left the den area behind, Silas moved up beside me.

“We need to avoid the lower eastern ridge now,” he said quietly. “Too many teams saw us there.”

I nodded. “Yeah. We move northwest first, cut through the ravine line, then circle back toward the stream basin before dark”

Odin spoke up behind us. “Wouldn’t that slow us down?”

“Maybe,” I said. “But it also makes us harder to track. Right now, everyone knows we’re injured. That makes us prey.”

Silas gave me an approving look. “And if we reach the stream basin, we can restock water and herbs.”

Odin still looked disagree. But before he could argue again, a sharp buzzing noise cut through the silence.

I stopped.

“What the hell is that?” Odin muttered, looking up.

+15 Bonus

A small black thene suut over the trees.

My eyes widenet

Before any of us could react, the thing tilted in the air and dumped a whole bucket of dark red filth right onto us!

SPLATTER!

Warm, sticky liquid drenched my hair, shoulders, and arms. The stench hit me a second later, so rotten and vile I nearly gagged.

“Fuck” Odin shouted.

Olivia screamed. “Oh my God, what is this?!”

Silas wiped at his face and looked up, but the drone was already zipping away through the trees.

“It’s blood.” I gritted.

Then Olivia’s voice rang out, shrill with anger and panic. “They have a fucking drone? Are you kidding me?”

“Remember what the principle said before the game? Popular players get sponsors and support packages,” Silas said, breathing fast. Yeah, they got everything while we get treated like dirt.

#

But why blood?

Why dump blood on us and run?

This wasn’t humiliation. It had a purpose.

Then suddenly, I remembered where we were headed.

My blood ran cold.

“Shit,” I whispered.

Silas turned sharply. “What?”

I looked toward the line of ravines ahead, my stomach dropping. “This is the carrion hounds’ path.”

Everyone went still.

Odin swore under his breath.

Olivia’s face drained of color. “N-No…”

r

Carrion hounds weren’t like Ironback Boars. Boars were brutal, but they were still beasts you could predict. Carrion hounds were different. Faster. Crueler. And once they smelled blood, they wouldn’t stop.

Worst of all, they liked human flesh.

And right now, we reeked like a feast.

Olivia panicked instantly.

“This is your fault again!” she shouted, stumbling toward me. “Why did you lead us here? Why are we always walking into traps with you?”

1 spun on her so fast she flinched.

“Shut the fuck up and listen unless you want to get eaten.” I snapped under

my

breath.

She froze.

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I turned to the others. “Odin, Olivia move the packs. Now. Get everything off the ground and take it up that slope.”

Odin grabbed Olivia’s wrist inmediately. “Move!”

I looked at Silas. “Find the carcass they used for this blood. There has to be one nearby Cut it down fast.”

He didn’t waste time asking questions. He just nodded and sprinted toward the trees.

I dropped to my knees near a patch of wet rocks and yanked up a clump of dark green moss growing underneath.

Stink-moss.

Thank God.

I crushed it hard between my fingers until the foul smell burst out even thicker. Then I smeared it across a side trail leading downslope.

My hands moved fast.

Don’t panic. Think.

A few yards away, I found torn strips of hide and bloody scraps where someone had prepared the bait. I scooped them up and hurled them one by one farther down the false trail.

Behind me, I heard Olivia crying, “They’re coming! Riley, they’re coming!”

“I know!” I snapped.

Silas came running back with a skinned carcass slung over one shoulder, blood still dripping from it. He tossed it near me.

I pulled a pouch of bitter resin from my belt. We’d collected it earlier for smoke cover. Now it might save our lives.

“Hurry,” Silas urged.

The first howl split through the trees.

Then another.

And another.

My heart slammed against my ribs. I shoved the resin into a crack between two stones and struck my blade against flint.

Spark.

Nothing.

“Come on,” I hissed.

Another spark.

This time the resin caught.

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A bitter, choking smoke rolled up at once, twisting through the trees and warping the blood scent in the air.

“There!” Odin shouted from uphill.

The first carrion hound burst from the brush.

It was bigger than I remembered, all slick gray fur and jutting bones, with a muzzle too long and teeth too many to fit inside it properly. Its nose twitched wildly. Behind it came three more.

Then a whole damned pack.

+15 Bonus

I could almost feel death breathing down my neck. Then the lead hound jerked its head toward the downslope trail. The stink moss. The drifting smoke. I let out a sharp bark and tore off the other way. The rest of the pack followed.

I grabbed Silas’s arm. “Up Now.”

We scrambled uphill after Odin and Olivia and threw ourselves beltind a thick ridge of rock first as the pack thundered past below.

No one spoke. We just listened.

At first, there was only the sound of paws pounding dirt.

Then-

We heard screams.

Olivia slapped a hand over her mouth.

Odin slowly peeked over the ridge. “Holy shit…”

I crawled up beside him and looked down into the ravine below.

A hidden group had been waiting there.

That was Camila’s allies.

Probably lying in ambush for us, expecting the hounds to come straight to our trail. But instead, we led the pack crashing into them like a nightmare.

One student tried to climb a rock wall and got yanked down by the leg. Another was swinging a spear wildly while two hounds circled him from both sides. Blood sprayed across the stones. The whole ravine had turned into chaos.

Then, through the smoke and panic, I saw Camila.

Her face was twisted in horror as she screamed orders no one could follow.

“Don’t panic! Stay in cover!” She screamed. “We got this-fuck!”

No, you don’t. I said that in my heart as a slow, satisfied smile spread across my lips.

Sweet revenge.

“You did that on purpose,” Silas whispered.

I kept my eyes on the ravine below. “They wanted us dead.”

Another scream echoed through the trees.

Silas let out a low whistle. “Remind me never to piss you off.”

Maybe I was as brutal as Olivia had accused me. And I wasn’t ashamed of it. I wanted to be the predator, not the prey. And it seems like Ezra was the only one who understood me.

With screams still echoing in the valley, I turned to my teammates, my gaze firm. “Biggest enemy down. Now let’s go win this game.”

+15 BonusS