Page 57 of Moon Kissed

“Oh, Ava, one more thing,” I cried. “Your mama’s ugly too.”

“Fuck you, bitch!”

Her shout rolled off my back.

Nia trailed behind me. “What’s going on? What are you all doing here?”

“Someone snitched about the party last night,” Paxton replied. “We’re only allowed alcohol at mealtimes, and no hard stuff. Dagem found out we blew up that rule and...” He shrugged. “Here we are.”

“First,” Mason said, pushing through the pack to come up next to me. “There is nowe, fish. You crashed our party last night, got a taste of the good life, and then you no doubt snitched to Dagem so that you could end up here with all of us again.” Mason scoffed. “Pathetic fucking leech.”

Paxton’s lips curled. “I’ll take blood-sucking leech over self-obsessed jackass any day.”

“Then you’re already winning at life,” Mason tossed back, dismissing him completely, and turning his grin on me. “Anyway, it’s ridiculous that these fuckers think they can treat us like children. We’re all grown. We’re all past the drinking age. Sothisis what we say to their detention.”

I crooked a brow at him. I had no idea why he was saying this to me, or why he was doing it so casually. I tossed him half a flirt to mess with Orion and Edric and get them to bust themselves for destroying my homework.

He doesn’t seriously think he has a chance with me? In front of my fates? In a room full of people? While we’re seconds away from getting blasted with demerits?

“You don’t care that Raza is going to rain demerits on you when she walks in?” I asked.

A snicker sounded behind me. “Trust me, she won’t be stopping in anytime soon,” Ava replied.

I just sighed. If Ava seriously did what she was implying she did to Raza, then I was starting to get a picture of her that was becoming more and more pitiful. Life can be tough for epsilons. We didn’t quite fit anywhere. We were seen as both special and spare parts, so we were shoved into temples scattered across Wolf Nation and forgotten about.

Since we couldn’t be with each other, and because shifter wolves invented the term pack mentality, we were often alone and on the fringes of society. The result was that most epsilons did whatever it took to fit in—including throwing banned parties and attacking teachers to make themselves look cool.

Patting the air next to Ava’s shoulder, I threw her sad eyes. “It’s going to be okay, Ava. You’re notthatugly. One day you’ll have friends too.”

“What the fuck are you talking about!”

Laughing. I brushed past Mason and continued on.

He stuck right on my heels, proving alphas were born with reckless confidence on top of theircommandvoice. Ten eyeballs were burning the back of our necks. The growls had already started.

“So where you been the last year, Volana?” he asked.

I sat down at a desk in the front and pointedly took out my homework. Bold as shit, Mason laid himself on my desk and notebook.

Nia veered off fast, finding a desk as far from the both of us as possible. She wasn’t about to get between whatever was about to happen.

“Went backpacking through Europe,” I replied. “Did some eating, sightseeing, paragliding. Fun times. What about you?”

“Didn’t have as much fun as that.” Mason couldn’t have been more relaxed or breezier. He had to know he was pissing off fouralphas and an omega who were more than happy to rip off his limbs for even thinking of touching me. He knew.

He just didn’t care.

“I spent the whole time drawing lots and taking bets,” he continued, “on why you killed Castor and who you’ll kill next.” Mason leaned in close. “Want to make me a winner?”

My tone was no less breezy. “How? What’s your theory?”

“It’s exactly what you said that night. You—” Mason drew a line across his neck, crossing his eyes and sticking out his tongue. “Because you didn’t want to pop out that prick’s brats. So you killed him.”

“Prick?”

“For sure.” Mason uselessly dropped his voice. “I knew the guy. Castor was a self-righteous asshole who thought he ruled the world because his daddy’s on the alpha council.” He shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know why everyone’s coming down on you so hard. Far as I’m concerned, you did us all a favor taking that shit out.”

Crash!

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