Page 72 of Heart Broken Mate

Neither of them said anything about the lone wolf, but as they got to the court, one of them turned around and faced me.

“You killed our delegate and sent him in pieces to us,” he said. There was no callousness in his voice, just interest in whatever answer I would give him.

“He disrespected me,” I said, and he scoffed.

“Pique can go overboard sometimes. But you passed a test. Now, tell me, Viper. What do you want from us?”

This was the moment I had been waiting for. I looked at the two of them, and for a moment, I faltered. But it passed soon enough as I told myself I deserved this. I had been under James’s tutelage for a long time, and he’d prepared me to be a leader. In whatever capacity that turns out to be, I would be a leader.

“To keep me in charge here. You will need a viceroy as you do in other clans in your empire. Make me the viceroy here.”

The first one smiled at me and shrugged. “You know the people. You know the politics. Once we get our stone, you can have the clan. But there are fulfilments that must be met. Do you understand what I mean by that?”

“Yes,” I said. “Shipments.”

“Good. There is a war coming. We will lose soldiers, and we’ll need to replace what we lost.”

“You’ll have as many soldiers as you want,” I told them.

Chapter thirty-three (Luke)

We all stood around him as the time got closer. A wave of anticipation was all around us, and we watched out there in the cold that had settled early. Nellie wanted him to ascend inside, but Jade wanted it to happen outside. He’s dreamed of this day for a long time and had suffered to get here. I could see the eagerness in his face, but anxiety effused out of him. He wanted this more than any of us could understand. He didn’t want to be the sick boy he had been for a long time anymore. He wanted to be able to do the things his father and godfather could do. He wanted to be a werewolf and not a child anymore.

He knelt there, his two hands touching the ground as we waited for the moon to move out of the dark clouds and touch him. I took two steps forward, looking at Nellie, who, unlike the rest of us, had fear in her. Some kids die during their ascension because the power gets too much for their bodies to handle, and they just shut down. I knew that that wouldn’t happen to Jade, but the mere knowledge of that scared the bejesus out of Nellie. She had nursed this child for the last couple of years toward this moment. What if he dies before he can finally enjoy the new freedom he so much deserves? I knelt beside Jade and took his hand. He looked up at me.

“Are you scared?” I asked him.

“No,” he said and shook his head. He wasn’t lying.

“Good. But don’t be tense,” I told him. “Relax and just let it happen. Don’t worry about what will happen when the first lighthits your body. Just let it go through you. Let it happen. It is nature finally healing what has been left unhealed in you for a long time. It is you finally becoming whole, and you deserve it.”

He nodded his head, and I nodded back at him before stepping away and standing with the others. The clouds were moving away now, and the moon would be here at any moment. I joined them and watched as the moon moved over us and then toward Jade. I had told him to relax, but I could barely do the same myself. I held my breath as the first streak of light touched him, and he screamed out loud. It was a shriek that reached deep into him. Nellie started towards him, but Bonne got in her way and stopped her.

“He’s in pain,” she said as Jade screamed again, and the scream shifted to a gentle growl.

It was starting.

“There’s no growth without pain,” Bonne told her. “Trust in him. He has this handled.”

He managed to calm her down a bit, but he didn’t let her go because he didn’t trust that she wouldn’t dash at him if he did. He looked at me, and I nodded at him. Jade was doing fine. The growl came with the second scream. He was getting closer to it.

I looked at Hayley, who was beside me, and she had a stern look on her face, taking in all that was happening intently. It looked like a learning moment for her. This must be the first time she had seen someone else ascend. It usually is an eye-opening moment. The evident pain in the person’s face and voice, the terror in the air, and the possibility of death hanging around. She was tense, just like the rest of us. But she kept it together very well.

The next growl came from Jade, and I could see his claws becoming extended. He fell to the ground suddenly and started to spasm. That happens, but it shouldn’t take long for him to snap out of it. Bonne once said he thinks it is the venom from the fangs slipping into his body and poisoning him before his cells recognize it as something similar to them also.

The spasms stopped, and he was quiet for a long time. It was close to over now. The screams were gone, the spasms gone, his fangs had been made, his claws extended. All that was left was for his eyes to glow. We all waited around him for that to happen. He took his time, but finally, he turned to us and went back on his knees. He growled quietly, the humming till in his voice, drilling into the ground, and reaching us. He had a growl that sounded eerily similar to Bonne’s father’s, Kurt. The man that had practically raised me and taught me what it meant to be a werewolf.

Jade growled again and then looked up finally and glowed his eyes. We all tracked back at the sight of it. They were golden and beautiful.

Jade growled at us one more time before he turned around and looked like he wanted to run into the woods, but then he stopped and fell to the ground. He was tired. Bonne walked to him and picked him up. Nellie was beside him, and she looked at her kid with awe in her eyes. The infirmity in him was gone. He wasn’t a sickly child anymore. But there was something else in him now that would need nurturing. Bonne’s eyes met mine again as they started towards the house, and I knew he was the right person to handle this. He smiled at me and looked to his left. Fig was back.

I turned around and watched the man approach us as Bonne and Nellie headed to the house. They needed to be together now, and we would be fine on our own.

“What do you have?” I asked Fig as the moon moved underneath a cloud again, throwing us into darkness.

“Bad news,” Fig said. “It’s true. They are here.”

The Tarloux family. I knew they would show up at some point, but I didn’t expect them to be here so fast. The thought of them being so close made my skin crawl, and I got a mess of irrational thoughts rushing through my mind.

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