Jade's POV
"You're really doing this?" Big Ty; my personal bodyguard and friend, asked, putting my duffel bag in the trunk.
"I am," I forced a smile at him.
The morning was cool and lovely. Rooftops, driveways, everything was covered in heavy blankets of snow; it had stopped snowing minutes ago, however, the taste of pine and the frost still lingered in the crisp air. The sun had risen, blessing the universe with its mild warmth, however flocked by dull, depressing clouds which dimmed its light—another one of the drab skies in winter.
"The girls didn't come over to wish you luck?" He slammed the trunk close, leaning against it while serving me a look. "Or is Aurora too upset?"
I scoffed with a smile, opening the door to the backseat of my black sedan. "She has no choice, Ty. Besides, Becky and her can't be here. They are helping at Velvet Inferno."
"Does Mama Silk know about your decision?"
I shook my head. "She's gone away for the week." A relief—I didn't know how I was going to tell her about it. "She said she needed a break from the club."
"A'ight." He breathed. "I just hope you know what you're doing, Jade."
"I do." Hopefully.
"Let's go." He went round the trunk, heading for the driver's side.
Hesitant to get in the car, my gaze darted behind to the vast house standing in a two-acre garden with a view over the distant hills—my home for the past two years. If the gods allowed, I would survive the gauntlet and return to it.
"Jade?"
I turned to see Ty already in the driver's seat, his body slightly turned so he could look at me. I flashed him another smile; a smile that felt too tight, and I could into the backseat, closing the door after me.
"I will be fine." The lie was bitter in my tongue, or was it the doubt.
The engine roared awake, and the vehicle took off to The Cascade Mountains; to the place of memories I had never wanted to revisit, to the man who I had once loved.
____
Feet and paws crushing snow. Loud, incoherent voices. The wind. I could hear it all.
My ragged breaths rolled out as white clouds. Each hesitant step I took towards the misty clearing behind the snow-laden pine trees caused my heart to slam harder. I could turn around and take the crooked path back to where the cabin stood in the middle of the woods.
"No." I shook my head, reminding myself of the bastard who ran this world.
With the little momentum, I continued down the path until the smell of fur, sweat and blood clogged my nostrils. A minute later, I stood before the entrance of the little wood fence that wrapped the vast arena. No, it wasn't just an arena. It was a huge black scar on the white earth—a remnant of ancient werewolf magic; nothing grew or sprouted out of the land for it was a place of blood and death.
Every being and thing fell silent as I walked through the entrance. All eyes watched me, flowing my movements, take a stance at the middle of the arena. On one side of the arena, outside the fence, stood bleachers, large and sheltered, housing several Ironwood wolves; only a handful in their wolf form—all watching as though I were a pest. To the other side, also outside the fence, across the bleachers, was what we wolves called The Council Axis; the only slightly grand thing in the gaunlet—where The Alpha, His Beta and the Pack Council sat.
My eyes fell on him. Ironwood's Alpha; Kael Akeldama, the man who cast me aside—that was who he was, nothing else.
"Jade Willow." The blond man seated by his right spoke. I remembered him from high school days—Liam; he had been such a sweet boy then. "You wish to be an Ironwood."
I fixated my gaze on Kael whose countenance was cold and distant. "Yes, I do."
"Why?" Liam demanded. "You're an exile. So, why have you come back to the place you have been forbidden from?"
Whispers cut through the silence. Distaste and surprise cloaked the atmosphere as werewolves chattered in hushed tones among themselves. I couldn't help looking over my shoulder to the bleachers where the silent chaos had begun, and it all made my earlier resolve simmer down.
"Silence!" Liam hissed.
Once again the wolves kept quiet, tension, however, lingering. I returned my gaze to Kael with a small smile.
"I wish to prove the alpha," I gave Kael a smirk before turning to the bleachers, my hand gesticulating at them, "and the pack," I faced Kael once more with a wicked glint in my eyes, "that I am more than worthy of being an Ironwood." Worthy of being his alpha.
Silence.
Liam continued. "Jade Willow, you have been sent here, the gauntlet, according to ancient werewolf traditions to prove yourself worthy of acceptance into this pack…"
He trailed off.
The hairs on my neck rose as shivers shot up my spine. The silence was laced with a heaviness that forced my lungs to require more air. I could hear my heart plummet in my ears. I knew his next words. We all knew his next words.
I swallowed. Maybe it was instincts or not, however, it brought my eyes to Kael's. For a second or two, I saw something old and familiar in those ice blue eyes; it wasn't cold like air here in the mountains—it was warm, and my heart ached.
"It is to the death." Liam finally said, gaining my attention.
The words hung in the frozen air, their finality sucking the warmth from my bones. To the death.
"You are to go against one of our finest omegas." He went on. "Should you, by some miracle, survive, you will be granted provisional membership. But should you yield or be defeated, the Bloodmoon pack has claimed the right to take your territory and assets, per the agreement Alpha Kael struck with Richard West."
"What?!" I cut in.
I immediately threw Kael a stunned look; one he didn't meet. No, he couldn't… He didn't. I felt whatever hope and good feeling I had left for him crumble in seconds.
I turned away from him with a scoff, muttering under my breath. "To think he would consider the fact we were once bonded. What a prick."
Liam gave me a sympathetic look; one I responded with a scoff. "It is a direct order from the council."
My eyes glanced through the council which consisted of Kael; the head, a small man who looked well into his late seventies, a blonde woman who was elegantly dressed and a bald, brown skinned man.
"So, Jade Willow," Liam continued. I exhaled, trying to calm my nerves. "What's your verdict?"
My gaze locked on Kael. "Let them come."