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“I’ll send you back in pieces to the ones who sent you here.”
“You can try,” he said and grinned at me. I had growled and jumped across the table. I wasn’t Hayley, and I didn’t have her speed, but years of getting beat up by her have taught me that the best attack was one people were not expecting.
Pique perked up and braced himself for my attack, his growling sound roaring through the throne room, but I didn’t go for him directly. I dropped to the floor before him just at the last moment, and before he could react to the sudden detour and turn around to attack me, I stuck my claws into his stomach and tried to pull his innards out. My claws got in, but they never latched on to anything. He moved out of the way fast and fellagainst the table. He had a sharp reflex and pushed himself off the table just as I came for him. He was on the other side already, surprise etched on his face. He thought he had me with the first attack.
We were both crouched on the ground as the others in the room moved away from us. Lenny stayed the furthest away, and he looked like he had no interest in watching two werewolves go at it. I know how disturbing it must be for a human to watch us fight. We attacked each other with vigor and strength, like we wanted each other dead from the very first punch, and I guess there was a truth to that. We didn’t fight to enjoy it like humans like to do. We fought to kill, to make a statement, to establish dominance, and dexterity barely comes to focus when that happens. I was looking at Pique, who was growling and watching me closely.
He was a hunter, trained by the family, so I knew he was a formidable opponent, and I also understood why he’d been at my court since the beginning. He was here to take me out in the event of my failure. They were counting on it. They knew I wasn’t James, and there was no way I would wield the same amount of control and the love of the people that James had. I was weak, and if Pique killed me now, they would waltz into town and take it, suggesting that they needed to do it or the city would have gone to hell without a ruler at its helm. They would be the necessary devil, and before the end of the year, all the werewolf children in Nillport would start training to be werewolf hunters and werewolf killers. Another cog in the Tarloux machine designed to kill other cogs that were going errant. I could see now why other older families never liked them, why they have always wanted the Tarloux gone but couldn’t do it because of their power.
I couldn’t let them take the city unopposed.
Pique came for me next, and there was a litheness to how he attacked. It was almost like he was floating in the air, and I had a déjà vu of fighting Hayley again. The way she always moved and how she could use standing structure to lob herself forward was like a cheetah cutting through the air. People who move like that, almost streamlined against the air, are good at making last-second decisions in the air. You would think they are coming for your right, but then as you guard that, they go for your left. So, I left myself open and let him come to me, so he could fully commit and wouldn’t have time to move away as I blocked him.
He moved to his left very sharply, and was attacking with his fangs. He was too fast for me to move away, so I moved backward instead, and he had to push himself forward, but he had expended all the potential energy he had gathered to make the attack. I stepped forward immediately and kicked him in the groin. He stumbled to the ground, and before he could recover, I pounced on him, trying to claw at his throat and be done with it, but he wriggled out from under me and threw me against the table. He didn’t come at me immediately. He was still in pain. And by the look on his face, he had expected me to be an easier challenge.
I took the fight to him this time, and he was more careful, looking to understand my tactics. But I had none. I was simply waiting for his attack and was forcing him to make one. When I got close enough to him, and he saw I was still very much open, he came at me, and he moved to his left again. I tried to get out of the way, but he was faster than me, and he punched me in the stomach. I fell to the ground as pain wracked me. Luckily, he didn’t extend his claws. He didn’t have the luxury to do that.
I was up again and watching him. He had gone left before. I needed him to go left one more time and then attack him.
He was getting frustrated that the fight was taking longer, and he came at me again. This time, he went left again. He might not have noticed it, or maybe he had thrown caution to the hair, but he had gotten predictable now. He got me this time, under the chest with his claws searching for my lungs, but I was out of the way swiftly, blood dripping from my chest.
The two of us stumbled to the ground, and when I stood back up, I led the attack. I moved to the left, too, simulating him, and he had it easy to move with me and block my attack, but I was going to use his own poison against him. I moved away from the left just in time, and he was caught in that position. He was swift and fluid, but he favored moving to the left, and when I moved left to force him to move left, too, he had committed too hard, and there was no way he could recover fast enough to save himself. I stepped closer to him before he could turn and swiped at his neck with a claw. Blood spurted out, and he stared at me, his eyes wide with surprise as he fell to the ground and grappled against his throat as though that would make him stop the bleeding. He was dead in seconds.
I looked up from him and to the other. Klint had a gentle smile on him, and Pique had gone white.
“I know,” I told Klint. “I’ll send the Tarloux a message. We need their help. I’ll send their delegate along with the message too.”
I looked at Pique on the floor and felt proud of myself. This is what it means to become a leader. I have taken charge, and the truth remained that I needed help and wouldn’t be able to handle what came next on my own. Besides, Klint was right.Whether I invited them or not, the Tarloux would come because they had two reasons to be in Nillport. Their missing shipment and the moon stone, which just happened to be centered around the same person.
So, maybe, they had just one reason to be in Nillport. Hayley. The sensible thing will be to invite them now instead of having them walk in and take over. This way, I can still make demands.
I knew just what to do. Along with the message I would send to them, I would attach Pique’s head.
“It’ll be a message well received. You’ve made the right choice, Viper.”
Have I? I was clueless. But I guess we’ll find out in time.
Chapter thirty-two (Viper)
My view from the roof was impeccable. I watched it all play out. The street was thrown into a raucous first as people scampered about, and I heard someone come up the rails. I didn’t have to turn back to see who it was, as I could tell by the smell coming from him.
“They are here, Lord Alpha,” Klint said, and for the first time, he called me his Alpha. I turned around and nodded at him. I expected he would turn around and leave, but he walked towards me and stood on the roof with me. “You did the right thing,” he said.
“I know,” I said with another nod. I couldn’t even keep my throne for two months. I looked away from him and back to the streets as the people ran into their houses. This was what the Tarloux was about. Control by fear. I couldn’t see their line yet, but I could hear them. The army marched towards my city. Soon, the streets cleared, and it was all quiet, but I could still see people peeking from behind the blinds in their homes. They all wanted to get a look at them. “Tell me about them again, Klint,” I said and turned to Klint as the sound of the soldiers got closer. I would have to go down soon to welcome them.
“Alright,” Klint said, and he rested against the ledge on the roof. “They are a powerful family. The most powerful since the royalty were exterminated. They exterminated the royals themselves and took control of the entire werewolf community. There was a lot of resistance to their leadership in the beginning becauseit seemed unnatural, so they are not strangers to opposition and resistance. Because they aren’t, they have also gotten very adept at dealing with it. They employ different methods for different sources and have never been contested since they came to power centuries ago. They have ruled long, and they have ruled with an iron hand. You can’t go up against the Tarloux. It is a suicide mission.”
“Hayley and her new lone wolf friend have made that their target.”
“Yes, they have. And it is good that we have aligned ourselves with the winning team.”
“Have we?”
“Do you know the sheer size of Tarloux’s army? Do you know why when they conquer cities, they don’t bother with the men and the women? They take only the children. Children at such a young age are malleable. They train them to believe in the Tarloux and make them into soldiers. Formidable soldiers. You fought Pique. You saw the skills he showed. That is the kind of training they get as a Tarloux soldier. They are the best-armed force in the werewolf community and are virtually undefeatable.”
I nodded but didn’t entirely believe that. I have gone up against Pique and defeated him. Hayley is a hundred times the fighter I am. She wouldn’t have a hard time cutting through the Tarloux army, and she wouldn’t be doing it alone. She would have the lone wolf with her, their new moon stone, and whatever army she could gather. The only advantage we have now is if the people remained fearful of the Tarloux and refrain from rising against them. But the other thing the Tarloux have in excessbesides soldiers are enemies. You don't establish your reign on tyranny and conquest without making a horde of enemies along the way. That is the design.
The noise of the moving soldiers was now closer, and I could see them. They were dressed in the red and black colors of the family, and they moved as a unit. Their movement was so uniform it seemed like I was watching a slow-moving red and black worm eating up my city.
