*If you haven’t read The Powerful Luna and Alpha Academy and plan on reading them, this chapter is a massive spoiler alert. If you have already read them, go right ahead and enjoy*
Ava’s green eyes dart around the group, it excites her to be able to build a bond with like-minded women, she has seen enough in just her short time within the opal moon pack to know that she respects these women a whole lot and knowing their stories grows that respect more, knowing that others went through struggles, sometimes only seeing the end product it is hard to know what went on behind the scenes, it is easy to forget that others struggle just as hard or in cases even more.
“I guess I am next. Well, my story isn’t as hardcore as those. I met Hunter at Alpha Academy, being alpha blood with strong wolf. My emotions were a bit chaotic. Hunter and I were attracted to each other right away, even before our wolves had awoken, when we had to leave the academy, I didn’t take it too well, but I was sure that Hunter would come to me as soon as he got his wolf. He didn’t, he didn’t come till after I had my wolf and then it still wasn’t straight forward, it was all so easy at the academy”
Ava sighs as she subconsciously squeezes Alina’s hand a little tighter before continuing.
“Hunter’s father decided that he didn’t want to hand over the reins to the pack at all, he wanted to kill Hunter’s mate to stop him from being able to take over, so with near new wolves we had to do a hostile takeover of the New Moon pack. Hunter had to kill his father to keep me safe”
Jade grips Ava’s free hand to offer support.
“Do you want hear my first or my second story?”
All three other girls say in unison.
“Both”
Jade chuckles and shrugs her shoulders, she can be open to an extent, but there are some things she has to keep to herself. She trusts these girls but somethings that are just too personal and too dangerous to know.
“Opal moon used to be a lot smaller than it is now, even this piece of land was never ours originally, there was a complete jerk of an alpha who decided he wanted me to be his mate. He kidnapped me and then sent people to attack Opal Moon to stop Axel from coming to me. I was tortured heavily as he tried to make me give in to him. Of course. I wouldn’t. I escaped from the cells myself and on my way back to Axel I was taken again. I killed an alpha, Axel killed an alpha and three packs became one. That is how Opal moon became what it is today”
Jade thinks back with a grim smile on her face, that all feels like a lifetime ago. Maybe it was. Sometimes she wishes for the easy life when Opal Moon was a small, insignificant pack, when they wouldn’t have got entangled in such a web of craziness, but no matter how much you wish for something, some things are just not possible, it doesn’t mean that she hates her life as it is, it would just be nice to have a bit of peace, nice for not such a large burden to be constantly on her shoulders. She continues.
“The second trial for me, it is relevant to what we are doing now, how exactly, I am not entirely sure but I know it is. This year we were invited to the alpha gathering, not the one that we held here, it was the annual one, where all the largest packs join, that is where we met Samuel and Anna and how we ended up in some crazy leadership role. Anyway, I digress because that isn’t the story. A luna took a fancy to Axel. She managed to feed him some sort of potion in copious amounts until our mate bond was weakened to the point that he forgot about me, married that b*tch and tried to kill me”
A collective gasp can be heard, something that can break a mate bond? That is beyond dangerous.
“That b*tch made Axel lock me in the cells and turned the whole pack against me. Jasper, my own brother, couldn’t go against Axel’s order. Anyway, it is done now and that b*tch got what was coming to her”
Jade still fantasizes about killing her a couple more times. One death would never be enough.
“Somehow, during that process my blood became alpha blood and I am pregnant, so I am not sure how this all ties to the dark witch but there is not such a big coincidence in the world that it couldn’t have been from who we are after”
Alexis grabs Jade’s hand to offer comfort.
“Did that girl give any clues?”
“Nope, she just said that a woman in a large hood gave it to her and she didn’t know anything else, this was even with Cressida present so I know it wasn’t a lie”
“Is there anyone that dumb in the world? Hello random lady, thanks for the random liquid, okay bye”
Jade laughs, she really thought she was straight forward, but she has nothing on Alexis.
“I thought the exact same thing, but how clever could she be? Trying to steal my mate from me?”
Always know the power of an enemy before going into battle, she underestimated JAde and lost her life because of it. The four girls sitting cross-legged in a circle holding hands, they all feel an infinite amount closer, to know that there are others that have been through things, been through bad things that have only made each individual that much closer, to feel a little less alone in this big wide world.
Jade coughs and breaks the relaxed silence.
“I know this sounds crazy, but the moon goddess visited me again and said that if I bite each person over your mark that we will be able to link, we will become like our own small pack without losing our connections to our original packs”
Jade’s eyes just focus on the mat of the training ring picking at her clothing as she says the words she has been holding in for a whole day, she is too nervous to make eye contact, but she felt that this was the right time. The level of embarrassment doesn’t really lower, she feels like a deviant trying to talk people into weird things. Now that it is out there is no taking it back, so she continues.
“Who trusts me enough to try it out?”
Alexis, Alina and Ava all look at each other. Alexis shrugs, she doesn’t care about another mark on her body at all and she is not afraid of being a trail blazer, so she shouts before anyone else has a chance to speak.
“Me”
She rips her hand out of Alina’s and Jade’s grip and thrusts her marked hand in front of Jade’s face. Jade stares wide-eyed at the marked forearm that is 10 millimeters away from her lips, her green eyes move from the ground up to meet Alexis’ blue-gray eyes. She chokes on a laugh at the unexpected enthusiasm.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course”
Jade grabs the back of Alexis’ wrist and her canines extend as she plunges them deeply into Alexis’ arm in the centre of the eight marks. All eyes are on Alexis as the teeth retract.
“Do you feel anything?”
Alexis pouts her lips and shakes her head, boring. What an anti-c****x. Jade sighs and releases her wrist.
“Well, I feel like a vampire. I can’t see why it wouldn’t work. I assume that the Moon Goddess wouldn’t make me do something weird without a good reason”
Ava lifts her arm to Jade.
“Try me”
Jade shrugs her shoulders and repeats the process.
“Woah”
Alexis leans back on her hands as a flash of light behind her eyes surprises her. She looks at Ava as Jade retracts her canines.
‘Can you hear me?’
‘Yep’
“It worked, so it must have needed more than one”
Jade looks at Alexis thoughtfully.
“So that means I need to mark myself?”
“I guess so”
Alina extends her arm. Soon all the eight ring marks have nice fresh tooth marks in them and they can all link. Jade breathes a sigh of relief, that was easier than she thought it was going to be. She is glad for the open minded women that she was gifted.
“Enough time wasted lets break you girls”
Jade gets rid of her hospitable smile and turns into drill sergeant.
After three hours, all that can be heard is grunting and groaning, sweat is soaking the mat.
“If you can still stand, you have more to give”
After another hour, the blood mixed with the sweat makes the surface so slippery, but it doesn’t matter because standing is no longer possible.
“Jade”
“If you can still talk, you have more to give”
An hour later, Jade cautiously steps into the ring with bottles of water and food.
“You girls did really good”
The three women lay on their backs. Alina is actually unconscious, she pushed her body to the limit and beyond. Alexis gives a weak smile but retracts it quickly in case there is a ‘if you can smile you have more to give’ because she truly has no more to give, the weak smile even hurt.
Ava lays on her back staring at the darkening sky, painful, so very very painful. She is pretty sure her blood is now lava and her muscles are now blades, she has hardly felt pain since she has had her wolf. But today she has made up for it. This is nothing like the academy. There is no easy route for the girls. Jade has lived up to her promise and Ava knows she can only get better from here and even though her body is so painful that breathing is a chore, she couldn't be happier.