Page 85 of Heart Broken Mate

I don’t know how they did it. Magic or sorcery, but there were right there behind me. And the two Twins stood with Viper right beside them.

“Very impressive,” one of them said. It was hard to tell the difference between them. They looked exactly the same way. “You have a lot of tricks up your sleeves, we see. Do you have any others, or have you come to the end of the road?”

It does look like I have come to the end of the road. I looked lost and couldn’t imagine how fast my fate had turned. Everything was going splendidly until moments ago. I had a burning question in my mind. How did they do it?

I moved away from them instinctually, my hind limbs hitting a tree behind me. This shouldn’t be happening. Panic was beginning to set in, and I looked around for Luke. He was still not any closer.

The trees around me started to move, and suddenly, the forest was filled with a different kind of smell. It was one I was very familiar with too. It was Ilad. He appeared through the woods, almost like a wraith, and stood beside me. He had a set look before him, filled with intention and purpose. He was a different boy from the one I had seen just hours ago.

“I told you all they needed was a reason, Hayley,” he said. “I gave them one.”

Suddenly they started to appear in the trees, and they filled them. Some of them walked behind me and stood there. There were small, but they were ready for war, and they weren’t perturbed that they were standing before The Twins.

The segregated clans came after all.

Chapter forty (Luke)

I had it easy taking the concoction, turning fully into a wolf, and jumping over the valley, but when I got to the other side, I knew something was wrong. I could sense the panic grow in Hayley, and it felt like she was reaching to me, looking for me and calling for me. The only thing that mattered then was her, so immediately I got to the other side of the valley, I turned right and started towards her. I was just about twenty feet away when I felt them. Their presence was strong and intoxicating.

If they had made it to the other side already, then all the plans we’ve made failed. We haven’t even gotten to the moon stone. How do we fight them without it? But I didn’t stop. They were with Hayley, and she needed my help. It doesn’t matter if there was no logical way for us to win this without the stone. What mattered the most was being with her at this moment.

I pushed myself harder and didn’t feel any fatigue because of the vial and the wolf form I was in. It didn’t matter that I had been running for hours. I was invigorated and ready for war. I got closer to her now, and she was not alone. That friend of hers, Ilad, was with her, and he looked at The Twins as though he could take them on his own. But he wasn’t alone either. I finally saw them all, and they filled the forest in large numbers.

They came, that was the thought that rushed through me, and I sighed in relief, but it was only short-lived. It wasn’t only The Twins and Viper that crossed the other side of the valley. I could see some more Tarloux soldiers moving in. The oneson the other side of the valley still remained there, so I didn’t understand where these were coming from. But I didn’t have time to get an answer to that as everyone collided, and another battle broke out here. There wasn’t supposed to be a battle here. It wasn’t part of Bonne’s part.

This was where we recovered the stone and then returned and went in search of The Twins to kill them. How much things change in such a little time.

I was about three feet from the battle and watched for a while as people fought and died on either side. There were many more segregated clan members than there were in the Tarloux army, so it was pretty obvious what the outcome would be. They don’t need me.

I needed to move on to the next stage of the plan. It was time to get the moon stone. At that moment, Hayley looked at me and nodded. We were both thinking the same thing. This had gone on for long enough. It was time to put an end to it. Making a quick turn, I started towards the woods and the direction of the moon stone.

(Hayley)

I turned around at the same Luke did, but before I did, it was as though The Twins were before me one moment, and then the next, they were gone. I It was just Viper before me, and he started to chase me. I didn’t care. I have always known how to handle him, and right now, there was a disparity between our abilities as I was fully turned, and he was still in his werewolf form. I ran towards the stone instead, hoping to get to it before The Twins did because if they did before me, this would have all been for naught. They were not supposed to be here, which waswhy we put the stone here. But they were, and we’d have to deal with that.

Running on my forelimbs and hind limbs made it impossible to use the trees to push myself forward, but I was doing just fine on my own and didn’t need the trees. Behind me, Viper turned, and he started to catch up to me. I didn’t like that. I wished he would just leave, but it didn’t look like that was going to happen as he pushed himself against one of the trees and used it to lob himself in front of me.

Nice trick, I thought. But I didn’t have the time for this.

I continued to push myself and flew over him, hoping to continue with my race. I couldn’t feel or sense The Twins, which was a bad thing. But I could sense Luke, who was making a better distance than I was since he didn’t have Viper dogging him. I landed behind Viper and continued running, leaving him behind. The Twins must have set him on me to derail me. I suspected they had sensed the stone was close and had gone searching for it.

The race continued between Viper and me, and he kept using the trees to lob himself forward, but this time, he was getting in front of me. He was too much of a distraction, and I knew I better find a way to get rid of him fast and focus on the task at hand. I scoffed, and I stopped running since Luke was now closer to stone. I turned around and looked at Viper, who had stopped too and taken a stance before me. This was what he wanted, A fight between the two of us.

Was he looking to prove himself to The Twins, or did he just have a score to settle? I have never fought him in his wolf form, but I didn’t expect it to be any harder than when he was in hiswerewolf form. He growled at me, telling me he wanted this and would savor it. The look on his face was that of someone that intended to win this.

Well, I had no intention of losing either.

He charged first, just as he always does, and I stood my ground, welcoming his attack. He came from the left, using the streamlined nature of the werewolf wolf form to his advantage, which made it easy for him to maneuver in the air. But I wasn’t a fool. As he moved to the right again, trying to throw me off, I jumped right at him to tell him there would be no time for antics. I smashed into him midair, and we both collided on the ground. He pulled himself up immediately and came after me again. This wasn’t like one of the drills that James put us through. This was life and death.

Viper’s new charge told me all I had to know. He wanted this win badly, and he would be putting all his effort into making sure he got it. Beating me would crown him a winner. Killing me would disorient Luke, and then they could easily get to the stone, recover it and use it. This was all part of their plan.

He came at me with his left forelimb. I tried to get out of the way, but I wasn’t fluid enough, so it hit me in the face, and with an almost unbelievable force. It knocked me to the ground, and Viper did the thing he had been doing with the tree again. He used one of them to lob himself forward, and he lobbed right into me, knocking into me while I was still down and keeping me on the ground. I couldn’t believe my own trick was being used against me. I wished I knew how to use it while I was in my wolf form.

Viper was stronger and faster than I expected him to be, which could only mean one thing. The Tarloux had a trick up their sleeves. If Bonne could enhance our strength and speed with his herbs, they could too.

I needed to focus on winning this.

Viper was on the ground and getting ready to come at me again. He wasn’t even taking a break. Whatever was running through his veins was extremely powerful. Then I remembered one of the hunters that used amphetamines to fight against Luke and me. They had been strong and fast just like this, and they had a deathly determination about them, the same one Viper had on him now as he charged toward me for the fourth time in the last thirty seconds. No wonder he gained on me so fast. He was spiked up.

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