Page 21 of Moon Kissed

I took that as my cue. Spinning around to give her the full look at me, I grinned widely. “Hello. Nia is my new best friend. She’s not my girlfriend and not”—I winked exaggeratedly—“my accomplice. Did I say it right, Nia?”

Nia looked like she wanted to jump across and punch me in the face. Beside her, Tracy paled.

“But— You!” she cried, leveling a finger on me. “I thought everyone was lying. What are you doing here? You can’t be here!”

“Tracy, stop,” Nia hissed. She dragged her friend away to the far side of the room. Seven other guys and girls peeled off and followed them. Her actual friends I assumed.

I didn’t have to wonder if they were talking about me, because I heard them clear as day.

“Dagem’s making me follow her around. It’s completely unfair,” Nia said. “Why am I being punished on my first day?”

“Is she as crazy as people say?”

“Crazier. There’s nothing but a monkey playing the flugelhorn in that skull of hers.”

I snorted, smothering a laugh. That was pretty funny. If Nia was my actual friend instead of my pawn and unwitting accomplice, I might actually like her.

A shadow fell over my table. I glanced up at a short, freckled woman with curly shorn hair and a hairnet.

“What can I get you?”

“I’ll have the crème brulee pancakes, please.” I handed her the little menu. “It says there’s a choice of syrup?”

She nodded.

“If it’s not too much trouble, can I have maple instead, please? Thank you so much.”

“Not too much trouble? Please? Thank you?” She chuckled. “You’re very polite for an epsilon.”

She didn’t seem to know who she was talking to, but naturally, she knew what she was talking to. A shifter wolf’s nose was better than her ears.

I laughed. “No one pays me to be rude, so why waste the energy?”

“Now that’s a good saying. I’m stealing it.” She looked around. “Hey, it’s not on the menu for the students, but we’ve got a nice, hot pot of Tanzanian coffee brewing in the back. Would you like a cup?”

“I’d love some. Thank you...?”

“Holly,” she added, then flashed me a wink and took off for the kitchen.

The mess hall started filling up with students loading up for their first official day of classes. Loud and clear above the chatter, Ava and her friends complained about the mixing.

“—ridiculous,” Ava spat. “Dagem’s making the alphas and epsilons pay because a homicidal fugitive forced her way into our school? Sunella said she had a breakdown and flipped out, but why does that mean she gets away with killing Castor?”

“Sunella lied,” Edric dropped. “I listened to the entire interrogation—if you can even call it that. She spent hours questioning her while the psycho demanded a cheeseburger. Volana didn’t give up a single thing about where she’s been forthe last year, or why she killed Castor. The whole thing was a joke.”

“What the hell?” one of their crew cried. “Why did Sunella lie? Why did she let that bitch go to our school?!”

“Because she’s blackmailing Dagem and the council.”

I didn’t expect Edric to keep the secret... and he didn’t.

“A murderer is running free through our school, and no one is going to do anything about it. They can’t piss her off, and they damn sure aren’t going to kill the mother wolf,” Edric continued. “Are you seeing where I’m going with this, or do you need me to keep spelling it out?”

“What?” she rasped. “What does this mean?”

“Dammit, Zania,” Ava snapped. “He’s saying that if we want the bitch out, we’ll have to do it ourselves.”

I kept my gaze fixed on my nails as all eyes in the room turned on me. If I heard Edric from clear across the room, then so did everyone else. Alpha, omega, beta, and epsilon. I didn’t know what they were thinking— Well, to be accurate, I didn’t know what the silent ones were thinking. For all the ones who were whispering and hissing their threats and agreement, they were coming through loud and clear.

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