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I nodded at him and started up the stairs, and Hayley followed me.
“Do you want to talk about what just happened?” she asked.
“No. Some other time.”
She didn’t push it, and I was grateful for that. We got to the door, and I sighed to get myself under control. I knocked on the door, and a gentle call asked us to come in.
Nellie was seated on the floor with her legs wrapped underneath her. Jade was on a mattress placed on the floor in front of her. They had put it there because, at this stage of the illness, night terrors happen, and they didn’t want him to fall. I walked closer and sat beside her. I looked at Hayley, who, for a while, wasn’t sure what to do but sat beside Nellie and picked up her hand. Nellie smiled at her, a little color coming to her eyes.
“How much blood is on the kitchen floor?” she asked me and looked at me.
“Not so much. Bonne will clean it all up.”
“I told him to do it outside. He said you would behave yourself. Sometimes he forgets what it is like to be a werewolf.”
“I am very sorry, Nellie. Bonne told me what happened with Viper.”
“It is all part of the life we live, isn’t it? I understand why he wanted to leave it all behind now. But he knows, and I know it is impossible to do that. We’ve been visited with our own pain of what it means to be a werewolf. But you have to promise me one thing, Luke.”
“Anything,” I told her. I didn’t care what it was.
“The two of you,” Nellie said, holding both our hands now. “Bonne tells me all that happens, and I know our fate lies with the two of you now. You have to promise me. No matter what happens, those tyrants don’t win. I can’t let Jade live under their influence. I want a better world for my child. Will you help me make that possible?”
I wanted to talk, but Hayley beat me to it. She looked at Nellie as she spoke. There was conviction in those eyes of hers. She was certain of what she was saying.
“That will never happen, Nellie. I promise you. This only ends one way, or it doesn’t end at all.”
Chapter thirty-one (Viper)
As I walked down the heralding hallways, I didn’t feel any power or confidence. James had said the hallways were designed to instill power into you. Their arches, the taxidermal animals mounted on either side in close proximity. A constant reminder to werewolves that walked down the hallway that they were hunters. And not just any kind of hunter. They were top predators and must believe so. He said for an alpha, it tells you to be in control. You have these killers under your leash, and on your go, they can destroy cities and bring worlds down to their knees.
I opened the door to the throne room and stepped in. They were all waiting for me, and this time, they weren’t even talking. But their eyes were saying a thousand words per minute. I took my seat and, for a long time, was just quiet.
No one knew what to say. How do I broach this matter before us and maintain assurance that we aren’t rightly screwed? There was no way. I turned to Lenny and threw the first question at him.
“Is there any way we can get more children to give to the family before the week runs out? Not as many as we’d gathered before, but something good enough to appease them?”
“No,” Lenny said. The answer was short and straightforward. “My men were killed during the rescue, and the ones that survived have gone into hiding because they don’t want theirnames attached to a container filled with kids. Besides, it took James over a year to curate those kids.”
“Because the family wants only the best of the best. They won't settle for whatever mediocre substitute you have for them. You have failed the family.” Pique said.
I hated his guts, but he was right this time. There was nothing I could do. I have lost the family’s shipment and am now at their mercy.
“Your enemies are in your backyard, and you cannot go get them. Even when they were miles away, you couldn’t get them. It is getting rather disgraceful.” Pique added. It was obvious what his intention was, but he wasn’t the one in charge here. He might be representing the Tarloux interest, but he should recognize that there are recognized protocols, and he would do very well to follow them. I am a wolf that’s gotten its tail stepped on, and I am very angry.
“You should watch how you talk to me,” I told him. “I am still the Alpha here.”
“It doesn’t look like it to me,” he said. “There is a lone wolf just miles from here that would challenge you to your throne, and when he does, he’ll take it from you. Face it; you’re a failure.”
Lenny’s face met mine, and he shook his head. It was rather obvious what Pique was doing, and I shouldn’t reply to him. It would be best for me to ignore him. But James had told me about the Tarloux family. Everyone is dispensable to them, no matter how strong or powerful you are. You need more than power to get the Tarloux under your thumb. You need resilience, and you need to present to them the idea that power means the whole world to you. You will do whatever it takes to keep it.And power comes in two ways, as James put it. Autonomy and control. The first is what the Tarloux will try to take from you when they try to get to you. You can hold on to it for a long time, but you can’t keep it in the end. You will have to surrender it for immediate control—the control of the things around you. You show them that you still have that, and they will take a moment to consider you.
I have lost control of what was close to me. My city was barely under my control, but I wasn’t going to let this table here, this court here, get out of my control.
“I’ll advise you to keep your tongue reined in, Pique,” I told him.
“And what if that doesn’t happen?” Pique asked, glad that he had me just where he wanted me.
I knew then he wasn’t doing this because he wanted to. He had been commanded to, and this was the Tarloux way of seeing if I still had anything under control.
