Page 131 of Moon Kissed

I looked him dead in the eye. “Exactly.”

Badr frowned at me... then understanding dawned. “By the gods,” he whispered. “The shadow person. They do it. They kill the kings and frame us. Causing a war.”

“An inter-dominion war,” I pressed. “One that the mundanes get dragged into in a big way. They’re not like they were before. With all their cameras and satellites and surveillance. There’s no fucking away they miss a bunch of legendary creatures attacking and slaughtering each other on their streets.

“And when they find out we’re real, and dangerous, they panic and start hunting us down and killing us, so then we start killing them!” I cried, throat burning. “Of course, when mundane blood starts spilling, the fae enter the war, and we haveneverbeen a match for the fae.

“It’s a slaughter, Badr. It’s the end of the shifter wolvesandthe vampires unless...”

Badr nodded slow, lips pale. “Unless they don’t fight us as we are now. We’re not a match for the faenow. But a bunch of immortal super wolves who are invisible, travel through fire, are powered by the sun, suck the living water out of their enemies, and can turn fae armor into a prison of burning iron...” He shook his head. “That’s an army that can’t be stopped.”

“Exactly. Once the vampires declare war, the alpha council becomes the war council. Centuries ago, we enacted laws that give the war council unprecedented power. The power to do whatever it takes to protect the werewolf race. On that day, they put into law that every firstborn omega of the new generation must be sacrificed to the great cause of saving Wolf Nation.”

“Sacrifice the few to save the many.” He dropped back, gazing dully at the sky. “Of course that makes sense to my son-of-a-bitch father.”

“And all the while, they’ll be getting rich off that math,” I spat. “They’ll charge money to buy the soulsandthey’ll charge parents money tosavetheir babies’ souls. When the dust clears and the war is won, the alpha councilmembers Sunella, Cygnus, Liliya, Denis, Elijah, Jabari, and Hakim will rule forever as rich, powerful, immortal kings and queens of every dominion.”

I pinned him with a look. “Are you hearing me? They’ll be rulers of the fucking earth, Badr. Do you see now why they weren’t about to let a young, moral, idealistic guy like Castor Tahan get in their way?”

He gazed back at me. “You told Castor about your vision and he tried to stop it. He told that bastard what he knew, and he turned against his own son.”

I didn’t need clarification to knowthat bastardwas Cygnus. But I shook my head. “No,” I said, surprising him. “Castor was smarter than that. He always saw your father for the beast he was. There were never any rose-colored glasses on him.

“What Castor tried to do was find the shadow.”

“Of course.” Badr bobbed his head, blowing out a breath. “The person pulling the strings. The person trying to kick off a fucking war. Of course Castor knew not to waste time going after anyone but the mastermind.

“And they found out.”

I nodded, eyes leaking. “Whoever it is has to be close to the council, so he used his access as a councilman’s son to poke around. His first move was to make friends with a wind wolf. Their eavesdropping abilities are unmatched. Even Edric said wind wolves rely on sign language to ensure their private lives stay private.

“Castor made friends with Edric’s sister, which is no doubt how they hooked up. His sister agreed to slip him info on who was coming and going out of Sunella’s mansion. While she did, Castor worked on getting the money to buy her out of her contract,” I said. “I didn’t know that last part until Edric blackmailed me, but it all makes sense now. He told me he had a friend in Sunella’s camp. Edric’s sister must be that friend.”

“Is she a friend?” he asked, rising up. “You just said Castor got found out.”

“Not because of Idalia. Think about it. If Idalia admitted to spying for Castor, they would’ve gotten rid of her too. Just to be safe.”

“Then who was it!”

“That’s what Castor worked to piece together,” I shot back just as loud. My head was killing me. The pain seemed to radiate through my body, weakening my limbs. “Once he realized he’d been poisoned with wolfsbane.”

“Wolfsbane?! Who? How!”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. That’s what all of this has been about,” I cried. “Castor sent letters to two people that he thought he could trust. Two people with the power to help. One was Rici Bruno, the former leader of Wolf Republica.”

“Rici?” he repeated. “I knew him. Three years ago, Cygnus sent Castor to Italy to network with the European packs. He and Rici became good friends, but Rici died over... a year and... a half ago,” Badr finished, dread coloring his tone. “Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.”

“Rici was murdered too.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes. Castor warned Rici, telling him everything. That dark days were coming—that war was coming—and it was all being orchestrated by an enemy that he was trying to find. Rici was set to take over Wolf Republica, a pack with over thirty thousand wolves. He said that if Wolf Nation ever turned and started enacting these barbaric laws, Wolf Republica had to be ready to step in and stop us. Even if it meant taking out the alpha council.”

“The shadow found out about that letter,” Badr said. “That’s how they knew that Castor knew everything. But how?”

Hatred boiled in my gut. “Because ofher,” I hissed. “The second person to receive Castor’s letter. Headmistress Dagem.”

“Dagem? Makena Dagem?”

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