Page 86 of Moon Kissed

His eyes flashed. “And the rest.”

Grip tightening on the phone, I gritted, “You disgusting dead worm.”

“Don’t worry, Daze,” Lucia said. “I know what to do.”

“Hang up and smash the phone.”

Heeding Badr’s orders, I hung up and smashed the phone. “Now what?”

“What do you think?” Badr nodded at Ava. “Your trial begins.”

“My trial?” I couldn’t stop the derision that bled into my voice. “What’s the point of this charade? You put me on trial for killing your brother, find me—surprise, surprise—guilty, andthen you do all the terrible things to me that you’ve been waiting to do.

“Why don’t we skip the bullshit, and go straight to the end?”

Badr’s expression didn’t change. “You’re right, Volana. And you’re wrong,” he replied, crumpling my brow. “I’m not putting you through a charade so that I can justify hurting you. Even if I wanted to, my wolf wouldn’t let me, and your vow wouldn’t let you. It’d be the shortest, most nonviolent battle in history.

“No,” he continued, beginning to pace. “You’re here for them.”

I frowned at the silent audience. “Them?”

“They’re the ones who are going to decide your fate and your punishment, but unlike you, they’re not savages,” he spat. “You’ll have your trial. You’ll have your chance to defend yourself. And then you’ll get what’s coming to you.”

Slowly, I sat back—taking that in. My fates had hurt me plenty and their wolves hadn’t stopped them. That must mean the plans they had in store for me were so bad, not even their lax wolves could stomach it. Instead they’ve offered me up to a mob.

They wrapped me in a nice bow and stamped me with civility, but I wasn’t fooled. This was a mob, and they were waiting for the gates to open, and the bell to ring for chow time.

“First,” Nyx said. “Swear to Luame that you’ll swear to tell the truth.”

“What? But I can’t. You know that Luame hates when we—”

Both Mom’s letters vanished in a cloud of fire.

“No! Fuck you, you blood-soaked bastard!” My screams ravaged my throat. “Stop it! Leave her letters alone!”

“Swear!” Orion violently shook off Edric’s restraining hand. “Do it!”

“Argh!” My roar of frustration rattled the chandeliers. “I swear! I swear on Luame that for the ten-minute-long duration of this trial, I will tell the truth.”

Fury lit Orion’s handsome face, riddling his scar stark white on his cheek, and twisting it into the true hideous reveal of his soul.

Badr stopped him when he dove for more letters. “Calm down. Ten minutes is more than enough time. This won’t take long.” Badr turned to Ava and the epsilons. “Are you ready?”

The smirk Ava gave me ground my teeth. “Ready.”

As strict, rigid, and backwards as our society was, there was one thing that I always believed we did right. In a trial, the only people that were allowed to decide on a person’s guilt or innocence were epsilons.

The reason was obvious. An epsilon couldn’t be commanded by an alpha to find in their favor. They couldn’t be persuaded by a beta to ignore the facts. And they couldn’t be pacified by an omega into wanting to protect them... from prison.

They were the best people to uphold justice unless, of course, they already had a grudge against you.

“First question,” Ava called.

Someone from the audience stood up. That was another difference in our justice system. Members of the community asked the questions. They had the right to since they were the community that had to welcome me back if I was released. That should only happen iftheydecided I was safe.

At least that was the theory.

“Yeah, my question is why did you fucking do it!” screamed Tracy, Nia’s friend. “Why did you kill Nia? She was the only one who put up with you! Who even liked you! What is wrong with you!”

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