Page 50 of Moon Kissed

This would end one way. My victory was inevitable.

In a few short months, the alpha council would be dead, leaving Wolf Nation without her leaders and an empty throne begging to be mine.

Wolf Nation would have her first queen.

LATER THAT NIGHT, Islipped back into my dorm room—bone weary.

Step one of the poison plan turned out not to be quick or simple, but it was finally done. Hopefully my long night trampling through the woods wasn’t for nothing.

I crossed the threshold and halted. “Sitting alone in my room in the dark? That takes creepy to a whole other level.”

The lamp flicked on, illuminating the strong, muscled figure reclining in my armchair.

“Edric.” I crossed to the other side of the room to the fireplace, keeping him in my sights the entire time. “Something I can do for you?”

“Where were you?” Edric cocked his head. “You showed up at that party to make sure you were seen, and then you disappeared.”

“I believe you meant to sayand then you were thrown out.”

He smiled enigmatically. “Answer the question.”

“No.”

We stared at each other—the silence pressing down like an anvil on my forehead.

“Why are you here, Volana?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” I crossed to my wardrobe, picking out my nightclothes for bed. “You’re the one breaking into women’s bedrooms in the middle of the night. How many of my panties did you sniff your way through before I came in?”

“Ten,” he rebounded without skipping a beat. “Orion was right. You’re like a cherry sundae drizzled with honey. Too bad Iwasn’t in the detention hall when you were setting up your fake alibi. I would’ve devoured you whole.”

“Oh, yeah— W-well, you— Uh—” I snapped my stuttering mouth shut, face flaming. I wasn’t expecting that reply at all.

Edric chuckled. “Hmm. That’s an interesting reaction. You’re a lot more prudish than I was expecting for a girl who drops her pants in the middle of a classroom.”

I spun around, slamming the wardrobe shut. “Thank you for that observation. Let me gift you something in return. That’s the door,” I snapped, pointing to it. “Enjoy the smack on the ass when it hits you on the way out.”

Another laugh. “By the way, tell me about that letter taped to your vanity.”

I tensed at the mere mention of it.

“It’s all gibberish, so of course it’s written in code. What does it say?”

“What do you want, Edric?” I veered the conversation sharply away. “Why are you here?”

He leaned forward in my seat. “I’m here because Badr won’t make a deal with you, but I will. Turn yourself in, Volana. Accept your punishment for what you did to Castor, and I’ll—”

“You’ll what?” I broke in. “You’ll nothing. Why? Because you have nothing I want, sweetie, and if you did”—I raked him up and down—“I’d be the one devouring you whole.”

His smirk went nowhere. “Do it, and I won’t tell anyone where Lucia is.”

I went very still. “You don’t know where Lucia is.”

“Don’t I?”

“No!” Edric’s widening grin sent my mind whirling. “You don’t. Lucia told me your little sim card trick didn’t work. She stopped your intrusion.”

“She stopped the big, noisy, bust-through-the-front-door intrusion. She didn’t stop the smaller, quieter, slip-through-the-window one.”

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