Page 20 of Moon Cursed

“I’m guessing you guys lifted the no-hard-alcohol ban?”

Ava shrugged, chuckling. “Never should’ve been a ban in the first place. Not only are most of us adults, but we’re also wolves. It would take two barrels full of this stuff to get us drunk. So yes, we decided in our goddess-given wisdom to dump that silly rule and many others.”

“Like it, but if you want to know what we do now, then you’ve got to know silly rules are the least of our problems. The easy part is over,” I said. “Now comes trouble.”

Their smirks melted away.

“What do you mean?” Melisent asked. “We did it. We took over the school. You even got Cygnus Tahan and Sunella to back you as headmistress. Why would we be in trouble now?”

The seven of us weren’t up too early because we didn’t have to be. After a long, harrowing week, it was finally the weekend. I woke up that morning next to Edric, who refused to give up and return to his dorm no matter how hard and often I kicked him through the night.

The jerk reminded me of ourarrangement, and then he fucked the crap out of me—reminding me again why his ultimatum just might fucking work.

To get my mind off of fated-mate drama, I summoned my new and future alpha council to a morning meet-up that they no doubt thought was a victory lap.

Not so much.

“I got the alpha council to agree that as long as I attend the academy, I run it. They haven’t agreed to make the changes permanent, and they don’t want to. They’ll be looking for any and every excuse to say our experiment in equality failed, and once they have ‘proof’ that we failed, they’ll never give epsilons and omegas a chance to break from our assigned roles again.”

They exchanged looks, their expressions shouting that they wished right then that those drinks could get them drunk.

“Which brings us to the worst news.”

“There’s more?” Ayana cried.

“Sunella insisted on sending me a vice to ‘help’ me run the school. I choose the final candidate, but I know that won’t matter,” I said. “Every single one she sends me will be a plant and a loyal spy to the council.”

“You said we’d have trouble,” Ava said, rising up. “That’s no trouble at all. All we have to do is let the traitor send word that they got the job, and then we kill them. After we send back fake reports in their name, saying that all is well and Queen Daciana is doing a fine job. It’s not like the council can barge in here and prove they’re dead. Not after we close the gates and close them for good this time.” She clapped. “Done. Problem solved.”

The girls nodded and murmured agreement—problem solved.

“That is an elegant solution, but it won’t work,” I broke in. “The fact is I do actually need a vice to handle running the school, and before you offer, Ava, the job would be yours if you didn’t have the same schedule conflicts too. We all have classes.”

Ava plopped back down. “Do classes really matter now? I mean, we’re taking over the alpha council no matter what, so me getting a D in history doesn’t make a difference.”

I gave her a serious look. “That is exactly why itdoesmatter, Ava. When this is all finished, the seven of us in this room will be running the second-largest dominion on earth. Hundreds of thousands of wolves all over North America will depend on us to protect them and their rights. Are we going to tell them that we took that responsibility so seriously, we skipped classes and got drunk on mojitos every day?”

Silence fell. One after the other, the girls set down their drinks and pushed them away.

“No one out there believes we can do this,” I gritted. “To the rest of the world, an epsilon’s only purpose is to sit on a shelf looking pretty until someone decides to take us down and play with us. We will prove them wrong.Wewill graduate top of our classes with all the knowledge they didn’t think we deserved to be taught.Wewill drag Wolf Nation into a new era of freedom and equality. Andwewill bring about the Golden Age of Wolves, claiming our place as the best and strongest dominion on the planet.

“I’m ready to do that with you, ladies, so are you with me, or not?”

“We’re with you,” Ava said—soft, but firm. “You’re right, Daze, and I’m sorry. Wolf Nation doesn’t need any more empty-headed power mongers treating us all like we only exist to watch the council get rich and party. We absolutely do need to be in class learning everything to become better leaders than Sunella or Cygnus ever could be.”

“Yes.”

“Absolutely.”

“Studyingandmojitos,” Melisent said. “That’s what we’re all about. You will pry neither textbook nor rum from my cold dead hands, because I’m a lady!”

We laughed and it broke the tension.

“So what’s your plan, Daze?” Ayana asked. “How do we let a vice in here if we can’t trust them?”

A smile stretched my lips. “I’ve been workshopping that little problem. Sunella is a wind wolf, meaning she’s extra careful with the spoken word. After all, the wind knows all. So, after she sends her spy in, she won’t want them to deliver their reports over the phone because there’s always a risk it gets back to me.”

“Okay,” Ava drew out. “She or he won’t talk on the phone. They’ll probably text or email. How does that help us?”

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