Page 52 of Heart Broken Mate

“Hayley? Hayley is just a street rat like me. She didn’t descend from royalty. That’s impossible.”

“But, my lord, she did. She is a Peline. She has their look, and the lost tribe welcomed them. She is a Heline, and the lone wolf is a Peline.”

I have heard of these myths and stories, but James had always taught us to disregard them. He’d always said the only things that matter the most are those you can prove and disprove immediately and not those that you require faith to hold onto. Myths are stories people make up to keep hope. There is nothing tangible about them as they don’t affect real life.

It looks like he was wrong about that too.

“What does this mean, Laird?” I asked him.

“If the murderer and the lone wolf emerge from the jungle and possess the moon stone, they will be more powerful than any werewolves that have ever lived. They could come back here and lay claim to the throne, and you will not be able to stop them. No one would be able to stop them. They will be powerful beyond measure.”

I sighed and looked into the starless sky. I had barely been the alpha for a month, and there was the possibility of a challenge to my throne already. And who else would dare to if not Hayley? She’d always been my nemesis.

“How do I stop them?” I asked.

“There is no record that states it is possible to stop the bearer of the moon stone. They would be powerful beyond measure and cover every aspect of a possible adversary. I have no idea how to stop them, you lord. What my men and I can do is remain in the jungle and wait for them to reemerge, and before they can activate the power of the stone, we attack them and try to kill them. If we fail to do that, then I am afraid, my lord, you will have to abdicate your throne.”

He bowed once more and walked away. I was alone there in the dark for a long time, and the night’s cold didn’t bother me anymore.

“You can come out now,” I said out loud, and a figure came out from the dark corner of the roof. He had been there for over an hour now. “You heard all he said.”

“I did,” Klint said.

“What do you think? Do you believe in any of what he said?”

“It doesn’t matter what I believe, but what the man saw. And I could tell he wasn’t lying. He’d seen the lost tribe, and the thing he said about the moon stone must be true. Then, we have a bigger problem on our hands than we can handle.”

“What do you think I should do?”

“What I have been advising you to.”

“I would give up all he worked for.”

“If you don’t do it, and the girl returns will all that power, you will be handing over the throne to his murderer. Which do you think would be better?”

I sighed and looked deeper into the dark, glowing my eyes to see further. It was a very quiet night, and nothing was happening on the streets. All that mattered was happening here on the roof.

“You know, I used to stand down by that telephone poll,” I said and pointed down the street. “I would stand there and look up at the Palace. I started to do that two years after I ascended and would watch all that was happening. I would watch the werewolves go in and out, moving in packs, and I knew something was missing in me. I had my friends on the street, but they didn’t understand the rush I get sometimes or why I was always so energetic. I wanted to chase the moon. They were not like me. The people inside the palace were like me, and I longed to be with them, but I couldn’t cross the road and walk into the Palace because I thought I would be out of place, and god knew I was right. I was tattered and smelly. Then, one day, I was down there on a night unlike this. It was hot, and everyone was outside. One of those wild nights when the party inside the Palace just never ends.”

“I know one of those nights,” Klint said. “They were James’s favorite. He loved having werewolves together and making sure we remained peaceful. People say we are naturally unruly, and it is just our nature to fight and kill. James never believed that. He thought nature was made, it was learned, and it can never be absolute.”

“He told me something like that when he walked up to me by that pole that night. I had seen him around, and I knew he was powerful, but then, I didn’t know how much. The street had taught me to be fearless and never fazed by anyone. So I looked at him and asked if he could get me into the party. What don’t you just walk in? he asked me. I told me I’d have looked out of place. Oh, everyone looks out of place. That’s why it is thePalace. It is supposed to give a sense of cover to everyone. Then he walked with me into the Palace, and I found a new home that night. He saved me from the streets. He gave me this place. Would it be right to hand it over to them, Klint?”

“I think it is better to hand it over to them than for them to come to claim it. You’re not a fool, Viper. James was the only person standing between the Tarloux family and this place, and he’s gone. No amount of deals will keep their hands off it. You will only be delaying the inevitable. You’re not James, and no one will ever be him. It is time to change the rules of the game. The bigger dogs want to play. Throw them the toy, don’t let them drag it from you and tear it into pieces.”

Chapter twenty-four (Luke)

We walked for hours, and soon, the sun set, and we were walking in darkness. It seemed like we had been walking forever when before us, I saw dotted lights that looked like fireflies on trees, but I could hear streams of noise coming from the noise. As we approached it, I saw they were huts with light streaming out of them. We were in a village. I didn’t know what to expect from the lost tribe, but a village was far from my mind. But it made sense. They were hiding away with magic, and we could see this only because the leader wanted us to.

We continued towards the village and passed people, who were all gawking at us and whispering to each other. They were all werewolves and had the same smell as those on the outskirt of the village that had stopped us. I don’t know why I felt that way, but it seemed that these people were smelling the way werewolves should. They smelled of the earth because they were one with it.

The leader led us through the village until we got to a hut in the center of the village, and he stepped towards it.

“This is mine,” he said and pulled open a raffia curtain, showing them the inside of the hut. It was made with sticks and leaves, with mud to hold them together. It was colder inside than I thought it would be, and there was a lamp sitting at the center of the hut.

“No door,” Hayley said.

“We don’t need one. We are not hiding anything from each other. Sit, please.”

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