Chapter 19
Chapter 19
First Glimpse of the Storm
There are many lies throughout the night.
Cologne and silk. Wine and laughter. Alphas are intoxicated with power and blind to the consequences.
They talk about solidarity. Of tranquility.
But underlying their words, I detect decay.
The marble threshold is crossed by my foot.
Nobody looks around.
Not quite yet.
Let them believe that I am but another shadow.
Allow them to forget what they discarded.
Since I left here, I've worn a lot of skins.
Victim. Ghost. Weapon.
I'm wearing the storm tonight.
I pass through the crowd without encountering any opposition. Nobody takes a second look.
Until I get past Selena.
She gasps.
Eyes enlarge.
As if she's seen the dead, the color disappears from her face.
Close.
She's witnessed worse.
Me.
She takes Jake by the arm. Whispers quickly. In a desperate situation.
He dismisses her.
Rotates.
The world then comes to a halt.
He fixes his gaze on me.
He doesn't blink.
Do not exhale.
The link then explodes.
A flash of heat. Gravity and pressure. Like the earth colliding with the moon.
All the wolves in the room sense it.
However, only he is aware of its meaning.
He moves forward a step.
I retract one.
He goes after it.
Like a prophecy, the crowd parted.
He pauses a few steps away. His eyes were burning with an inquiry.
However, I don't respond.
Not quite yet.
Thus his hands tremble.
Because his skin is covered in wolf claws.
Since he notices me.
He, at last,, understands what he has lost.
My wrist's mark pulses once. Where silver was, violet flame dances.
He looks down at it.
Then get back up.
He inhales, "You're not... the same,"
The first of two.
I grin.
Sharp. Slow. Deadly.
"No," I reply. "I'm better."
The second.
He surges like a wolf.
He doesn't move, though.
Because he is stopped by something.
A worse thing.
Something behind me.
The audience lets out a gasp.
I also sense it.
Like oil on glass, a chilly emptiness slipped into the space.
Each Alpha rotates.
Wide-eyed.
Mouths quiver.
Here comes the Whispering Shadow.
Kade.
Not invited.
Released.
There won't be a storm.
It's here.
Jake lets out a deep growl.
From behind me, Kade laughs.
And leans in close enough that I am the only one who can hear.
"Ready to show them who you really are, little moon?"
My grin speaks for me.
For I am not merely here to be noticed.
I'd come to put a stop to the charade.
And set everything on fire.
The link is ripped by a second pulse.
However, Jake is not the source of this one.
It's mine.
And all but one Alpha fall on their knees.
Because the throne is claimed by a new force tonight.
And the storm is just getting started.
At first, they don't notice me.
The point is that.
I'm passed by eyes that are fixated on Luna gems, bloodlines, and titles. Power is only identifiable to them when it has a well-known name. A regal last name. A gleaming mask.
Not when it creeps through the gaps while wearing a silent disguise.
Not when it's walking in high heels like a vengeance.
The chandeliers are sparkling. There's champagne. Alphas in tuxedos circle like vultures.
They are circling their own demise without realizing it.
The air flows with me as I go between them.
Chilly.
Close.
Something ancient, trembling.
Every action I take serves as a reminder that kids are still developing their reading skills.
Until she sees me, that is.
Selena.
She laughs until she stops laughing.
She locks her spine. She gasps.
Naturally, she grabs for him.
It's too late.
Jake has already started to turn.
After that, time passes.
Our gazes meet.
Like a match to gasoline, the pull ignites.
Not subtle. Not pliable.
Aggressive.
A blast that robs the room of sound from mouths and air from lungs.
He holds on to the table's edge as if it were an anchor.
It doesn't.
He is pulled forward by the bond.
The wolf roars beneath his flesh. In a desperate situation. Deranged.
He still doesn't get it.
Not entirely.
However, his soul does.
Because it knows who I am before his head does.
I don't have a racing heart.
My hands are not trembling.
Since the day I bled in the snow by myself, I have been getting ready for this moment.
This isn't a reunion.
It's retaliation.
Like he has the right, he reaches for me.
But there's a little pause.
And I can know everything from that flicker.
He recalls.
He is aware.
My wrist's mark flashes. Silver is no longer used. Black-purple now. Iridescent.
A present from the shadows.
A cautionary tale for the blind.
He notices.
He continues to move closer.
"You're not... the same."
Between us, the air gets tighter.
I cock my head. Allow him to experience the seriousness of what he released.
Let it drown him.
"No," I reply. "I'm better."
It hits a chapel-like thunder.
His wolf, a beast that recently discovered he was imprisoned by a falsehood, is tearing at his insides.
Once more, his eyes fall on my target.
And I sense it this time.
The pull.
The suffering.
The mate bond screams as it attempts to rise from a grave it was never intended to be in.
It's not complete, though.
It's broken.
Corrupted.
And now mine.
Not his.
No more.
He staggers back.
Just one step. Then another.
Now, the crowd senses it as well.
The change.
The snap.
It's as if something holy has been inverted.
My name is spoken.
Gentle. Unsteady.
Another alpha looks at a ghost with his mouth hanging open.
However, I'm still alive.
I made it through.
I also took hell with me.
The temperature decreases by ten degrees.
Ash, blood, cold, and gloom are all cut off by a fresh smell.
Not my.
Kade.
He walks in as if he owns the place.
Burning obsidian eyes.
Beneath his smile were a thousand knives in a calm storm.
He was not invited.
Nobody dares to stop him, though.
Like the darkness itself entering, they split for him.
He pauses at my shoulder. Remains silent.
He doesn't have to.
Just his presence shouts war.
As Jake's gaze shifts from me to Kade, the destruction becomes apparent.
Now he gets it.
The connection might still be there.
However, I am nobody's property.
Not him in particular.
As I open my mouth to speak, Kade leans in first.
"Little moon, are you prepared to reveal your true self to them?"
The language is soft.
The danger below them isn't.
That's when it occurs.
The second pulse.
Not from Jake.
From me.
Born out of rage.
Of treachery.
Of a spirit reforged in darkness.
It bursts outward.
A power nobody anticipates.
A command that nobody can comprehend.
The Alphas fall to the ground.
Echoes of gasps.
Eyes enlarge.
Not from shock alone.
But out of force.
They are powerless to resist.
Due to the fact that this power is not borrowed.
It is not inherited.
I own it.
It also requires obedience.
Jake is the only one still upright.
Seldom.
It makes him shudder.
Yet doesn't tumble.
Because he is protected by the mate bond.
And I allowed it.
For the time being.
For the reason that I want him to see it.
The ruin.
The crown.
The tempest.
Me.
As the girl he tossed away emerges as the Alpha he never deserved, I want him to see every breath I take.
Then
A third heartbeat.
This one, however, is unique.
Warmer.
Older.
Twisting.
Kade narrows his eyes.
Jake lets out a gasp.
I also freeze.
Because I didn't come up with this one.
Or him.
It originates at the room's edge.
From a figure covered in bone and silver.
Keep your face hidden.
Mark is shining.
Recognition blazed in the eyes.
They raise their chin.
And the connection in my chest changes once more.
Not shattering.
Separating.
Jake gets one thread.
The other
To him.
And all of a sudden, my inner storm is unsure of where to land.
All Alphas are forced to kneel when Lily exercises her power, but a mysterious stranger shows in and causes a second mate bond. Two threads tug at her soul now. One from her history. One from a potentially more hazardous and sinister source. Whether Jake can win her back is no longer the question.
It will determine which bond will take her first.