Page 120 of Moon Kissed

“What? Mason?” someone cried. “But I thought he dropped out.”

“He left a note in his room.”

“It was a fake?”

“He was murdered?”

“Not by me,” Orion roared. He thrashed in Arabella’s hold. “It was her! She killed him!”

I shook my head, sighing. “If I killed him, where’s the body, Orion? I don’t have the means or power to make a body disappear.”

“Is this true?” Costas shook him. “Who is this Mason? What do you know of his disappearance!”

Badr shoved out in front of him. “It’s not what you think. She’s twisting everything. There was an accident, but it was self-defense. Mason was a vile piece of shit who was hurting someone, and we had to stop him—”

“By burning him?” Costas sliced in. “Did you or did you not destroy the body and cover up your crime?”

Orion tried to twist free of her. “Yes, but—”

“Yes!” Costas shouted. “That’s all I need to know.”

“That’s not all! I did it to cover uphercrime!” All eyes swung to me. “Volana killed him, not me.”

I rolled my eyes. “This is getting more and more ridiculous. Orion hates me. He’s made no secret of that, and believe me, the feeling is mutual. If I killed Mason, why in the hell would you help me cover it up?”

“She’s right. It doesn’t make sense,” Andrew cried. “Why wouldn’t you give her up? Why would you put her on trial for Hall and the lunch lady, and conveniently leave out what she did to our friend?”

“He did it.”

“He’s a psycho!”

“Just like his father.”

“No,” Orion shouted as Costas hauled him away. “NO!”

Badr grabbed his father, shaking him. “Father, do something. Do something!”

Cygnus didn’t move. He didn’t react.

Giving up on him, Badr turned on Edric. “You can stop this. Tell them it wasn’t like that. Say something!”

I flicked to Edric, eyes narrowing. “You see into my thoughts, lover, so you know what else I had in mind for him. Think hard about if you want to let this play out, or force me to go with Plan B.”

Edric looked from Orion to me, then back to Orion. “Orion was doing a good thing for a good person that night,” Edric began, “but yeah, he burned the body so that no one would ever find it.”

“Edric!” Orion and Badr bellowed. Betrayal coated the cries like acid.

Stepping to my side, Edric took my hand and laced our fingers through.

Badr looked like someone punched through his stomach and ripped everything out.

“I don’t want there to be any doubt or any accusations of a frame-job,” I continued, “so I’m going to open the school to the secret police. Miss Costas, come back with however many people you want to photograph, print, test, and question everything. Don’t stop until you’re sure you have the right person.”

“You can be sure of that,” she gritted, straining to get Orion through the gates. “I’ll have the entire team here within the hour.”

I inclined my head. “I, your headmistress, will allow this because Cygnus and I have worked everything out. I will stay on as headmistress and all my changes to the school will stand—with the full approval of the alpha council. Right, Cygnus?”

Sweat beading on his brow, Castor’s father looked out over the anxious, bug-eyed, and angry faces... and nodded.

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