Thirty seven

JADE POV.

Lexis swallowed, her fear saturating the air. It made my blood pump, adrenalin surging through my veins as I stalked her. All the ways I could shut her up for good played around in my head and something urged me on, telling me to just obliterate her and worry about the consequence later.

"Master..." Hayden's uncertain voice reached my ear forcing me to pause in my approach. Lexis was already at a corner, her face pale and wide open in terror.

"Please don't kill me" she managed to get out. "I just want Ryland to pay for what he did to me. I'll give you all my support to be the new Don, you have my words. I will never go against you ever".

I scoffed, then grabbed her face. She flinched violently and I let go quickly to see the nasty bruise on her chin where my thumb and my forefinger had grabbed.

"What the hell" she yelled, grabbing at her face in shock and trying to disappear into the wall.

I stared at my hand, the strength in them fascinating. Was I as powerful as Dearil already? Did I by any chance turn into a wolf the night they'd found me? Was it the transformation that had made me feel like dying and was this the outcome of that near-death experience? Was all that horrible feeling yesterday a build-up to something greater?

"Are you going to help or kill me?" She asked, her gaze trying to pierce into my very soul. She shook her head as if she'd found whatever answer she had been looking for. "I knew it was a mistake looking for you, you're worse than Ryland".

My gaze snapped to hers in a warning. "Do not compare me to your good-for-nothing bastard of a brother," I got out in a snappy tone that felt more like a growl.

Lexis' terrified eyes conveyed all her emotions. She was truly hung up on the fact that I was going to kill her any moment that she didn't keep her eye on me. I could put her mind to rest on the issue, but with everything she'd done to me in the past, I didn't have any reason to go easy on her. Torturing her psychologically was also a nice way to get my revenge, especially when I knew it would mess up her head and the effect of it would last longer.

I nodded after a while of pretending to think about her statement and my little action made her eyes widen further.

"But then again, you are right, I am way worse than he will ever dream of being, which is why I'll be killing him, but not because of you Lexis, it's because I'd already planned to kill him if I ever got out of here. You see your beloved brother set me up to get killed at Etral forest with the help of Mario, a trusted associate of mine. He'd be the one that I'd go for next after your brother, so don't worry, you're way down the list"

"It won't be easy... " Hayden started saying but I cut him off.

"I think it will be really easy. I know Ryland, and I am sure in the little time he's taken over, he would have managed to turn everyone against himself due to his impulsive behavior. He probably has a lot of enemies just waiting to get their hands on him at this very moment, one of them being me, so it will be easy, too easy if I do say so myself".

"You sound so confident" Lexis spoke up, her fear dissipating. "The last time we were home, he'd already tripled the soldiers and recruited more hitmen, so maybe you shouldn't act too irrational and get us and yourself killed"

"Do you doubt my abilities, Lexis, or are you suddenly having second thoughts about killing your brother. Did you think it through in the last few seconds, huh? I think you did, no, I am sure you did".

Her breathing sped up as her mouth opened and shut. She glanced at Hayden who also had the same question in his eyes.

Lexis turned her back to me then thought better of it and faced me, her fear for me still a palpable feeling in the air. "I am just worried that you are going to kill me once Ryland is out of the picture, and do not try to tell me I'm paranoid. I know what you are capable of, and you just said that I was way down on your list. I do not want to live a life where I am forced to watch my back at every waking moment."

"You are already on the run away from your brother, I do not think you would be getting a little sleep at all from fear in the years to come because I am sure Ryland will not just let you run free. The way I see it, you do not have a choice in this matter at all."

"Maybe if you just give her your word that you will not touch her... " Hayden suggested, his voice a bit shaky.

I glanced at him noticing the way his head was downcast. His mop of hair called to me and I ran my fingers through his thick soft curls.

"Lexis here knows that whatever she is getting is well deserved, but even if I do spare your life, you won't go Scot-free without a punishment" I let out, staring straight at her.

Lexis cleared her throat. "That is only fair, as long as I get to keep my head and watch Ryland suffer".

"Good. I will think of a way to punish you, but before then, you can rest assured that your name is off my hit list."

Lexis exhaled her anxiety and fear pheromones in the air lessening.

"But if you make one stupid mistake during this period and try to backstab me, I will kill you without a moment's hesitation. It will be a gruesome death too".

Lexis stared at me, her fear thickening the air again because she could see I meant every word I said, and she knew that somehow I had found out that she was having those kinds of thoughts.

"I won't do anything of the sort. I swear it".

"You won't have a chance to. Hayden" I called, grabbing his chin and forcing him to look at me. "You will keep your eyes on her."

"I will do anything you want me to do Master".

The word Master made me wince, the face of the man I'd once called that flashing before my eyes and the memories I tried to suppress flashing in my face. "Jade" I gritted out and Hayden stared at me, a confused expression on his face. "Call me Jade" I ordered, then sat down on the bed while Hayden stood, not sure how to react.

"You both may leave," I said, waving them off. "Get Ariel for me. I need to talk to her before we leave".

They both nodded, then stepped out of the room.

I didn't have to wait long. Ariel entered, then closed the door behind her.

"Are you finally in a good headspace"?

"What am I," I asked, standing up and walking towards her.

Ariel held out a hand to stop my approach and I paused. Her scent was aggravating, it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention. With just us in the room, every instinct told me that she was an enemy that I needed to destroy.

Ariel regarded me with the same amount of aggression as I did her." I do not know".

"Bullshit. I know I am no longer human. I can bloody feel it. Everything is different. Sounds are more louder now, I can freaking hear Hayden and Lexis arguing in the living room, and I can freaking see stuff that I never even noticed where there, and look at this" I paused, grabbing at one of the little glass decors on the table and with a light squeeze crushed everything to bit. I thrust my hand in her face, the scent of my blood saturating the air and we both watched as the wound closed up. "So, it's either you start talking or I beat a confession out of you" I growled, the sound startling in the enclosed space.

Ariel swallowed, her eyes wide with shock. "You are not even a full wolf and yet you exude so much power. I wonder if it is because you were bitten by a strong Alpha or you had a recessive Alpha gene in your blood before... "

I raised a brow because her rambling didn't answer my question.

"I don't have a clear explanation but this is not so strange. Dearil bit you and somehow the bite that should have killed you took which means that you are his Mate, you are his Luna, and you both are destined to be together by the moon goddess".

I remembered having the thoughts that we were mates as I died so Ariel confirming it made it all the more real but that didn't answer the question that I'd asked.

Thinking about me and Dearil being mates made my head feel like it was splitting in two, so I tucked it someplace in my memory where I didn't have to think about it. Our lives were very different and there was no way I would give up my empire just to serve by his side as his Luna, or whatever that title entailed.

If we ever crossed part, with my newfound powers, I wouldn't hesitate to kill him first before he could get to me. Astra had said the prophecy was that he would kill his mate even if he succeeded in finding her, so I didn't want to take any chances. And if an ugly pain in my chest made my heart feel like it was twisting in on itself, I would endure it. I was used to the pain anyways.

Thinking about my conversation with Astra, I couldn't help but chuckle bitterly. It was silly of me that I'd wished to experience what being mated and having someone to love me unconditionally felt like. Living a life of crime as I did, having someone you couldn't live without was a weakness I could not afford. I did not want Dearil's love, I do not need it. I was better off as a lone Island, just as I'd always been.

I glanced at Ariel who was watching me attentively, her gaze taking in every inch of me.

"You do not want to be Luna, do you?. You do not wish to be mated?".

"I already am aren't I? So what does wishing solve. I just need to know if I am as you are. I can't put my hand on it, but something feels off about me and your kind. I don't feel like your kind".

"That is because you didn't finish the transformation. You're an anomaly. You possess the strength of a wolf and the regenerating powers and yet, you're not a full wolf. You're like a freak of nature" Ariel said, the look in her eyes showing exactly how surprised and awed she was to be looking at me and analyzing me.

I couldn't believe that I wasn't even a true wolf. I guess I would never be fully accepted in both words, human or shapeshifter.

"Will Dearil come after me"?

"He will, but he is unable to scent you due to your nature and may probably think that you are dead... There have been very rare cases of humans surviving the bite and even rarer to have a half transformation, as I said, freak of nature".

It was all good, all the better if he thought I was gone off the face of the earth. Ignoring the tearing pain in my lungs, I held Ariel's gaze, and I could feel the power behind my words as I spoke.

"That settles it then. I will be leaving Etral never to return and if by chance Dearil doesn't believe me dead, then tell him I reject him as my mate, and that he should never come looking for me because if he does, he will meet his death".