Page 44 of Moon Cursed

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“...THESE CHANGES...”

I gripped Nyx’s parting gift tight, mind spinning.

The dull roar of the early morning mess hall washed over me. A million conversations going at once, but none of them penetrating.

All I could think about was what I had been thinking about for eight hours straight. Thanks to Nyx, I didn’t get a wink of sleep the night before. And by that, I meant I needed to truly thank him. After almost two years of hating and fearing this man, I now knew he wasa manand what he looked like. The biggest question mark hanging over me, and Nyx put a period on it with one drawing.

But how do I find him?

One look confirmed I’d never met this person before. When you lived a life as isolated as mine, it wasn’t surprising that I didn’t know many people, but still, I’d always known the members of the alpha council and all the important people among the clans. To be near Luame’s chosen is a blessing, and all the rich, powerful, and famous wolves of Wolf Nation were eager to be blessed, even if it meant treating me like an object.

All that said, I knew the alpha council, their families, their friends, and I’ve known them my whole life, so who was this person? How had they gotten so close to the council, they convinced them to sell their literal souls and become devils incarnate? How have they managed to twist and weave Wolf Nation’s future around their finger, and the only person who knew the truth of their evil was a scared little boy who went into the forest one day to play with his twin.

“—worried? Daze? Daze, are you listening to me?” Nia tapped my shoulder, snapping me back to reality. “I asked you if you were worried about all of these changes?” Nia clutched the pamphlet Ash handed out after the assembly the day before.

Yes, the woman was all ready with a laminated, color-printed pamphlet detailing all the new changes coming to Corvin Academy. No one would ever call her unprepared.

I glanced around. The cafeteria staff took to Ash’s changes with enthusiasm. The breakfast buffet was set up and set out by the time I walked in that morning, and going by my heightened hearing, the staff were all in the kitchen—cleaning up before their early break and moaning about their sudden pay cuts.

“The better question is are you cool with them?” I asked her. “What do the omegas think of her plans?”

“Honestly...” Her eyes darted around like this was privileged information. “We love them.”

My brows popped. “Wow, really?”

“Yeah, really. Almost everything she changed were changes we wanted anyway,” she whispered. “No one wanted to admit it, but a lot of us were struggling in the alpha classes. It’s like everyone was talking Greek, but we were the rude foreigners who didn’t bother to learn the language, so they weren’t going to translate for us.

“And the honor board,” she gushed. “Do you think I could get on it? When is she giving out the applications?”

“Tonight,” I blurted, making up my mind on the spot. “At the open forum.”

“Perfect.” Nia sat back, looking pleased with all the world. “I just can’t believe all of this is happening. When you said the council was sending a new vice and we couldn’t trust them, I figured she’d blow in and undermine everything we’ve been trying to do. Instead, Vice Ash is actually improving academy life for us. The council is taking us seriously, Daze”—she threw her arms around me, hugging my shocked self tight—“and it’s all because of you.

“Luame was right. You do bring about a new and better age for wolves.”

I smiled—the first time I did in twenty-four hours. All I felt was tense and worried with all these enemies running around right under my nose. I was glad at least one person felt hope.

The doors opened, flicking my attention away from Nia.Speaking of enemies...

Orion strode in looking gorgeous as fucking usual. He had on new, thick-framed glasses that worked too well with his bare, tattooed chest, and leather jacket. The guy looked like a hot biker nerd. He could both drill me over the seat of his motorcycle, and recite all the numbers in pi while doing it.

Orion joined the buffet line, loaded his tray with sweet potato and bacon breakfast burritos, asked the serving staff for a beer, was told Ash banned alcohol for all meals except for dinner, asked for an orange juice instead, and then took his burritos and juice to a table... directly across from me.

Our eyes locked in heated glares as he sat down and began eating—not looking away from me for a second.

I couldn’t be sure, but I had an inkling Orion was giving me an answer to my ultimatum, and it was a big, fat fuck-you.

A figure moved on my right.

Crash!

I jumped, ripping away from Orion as Paxton nose-dived on my table, splaying flat out to open and raucous laughs.

“S-sorry,” he rasped, straining to put himself back on his feet. He managed to get half his body on the floor, and gave up. “At least I didn’t spill milady’s breakfast.” Paxton pushed the tray of breakfast burritos over to me. Resting next to it was a carton of banana milk.

“Oh my gods, banana milk?” I snatched it up, sniffing it to confirm my eyes weren’t lying. “Where did you get this? How did you get this? Why did you get me this?”

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