Page 103 of Moon Cursed

Cygnus smiled at me—if such a vile contortion of his face could be called that. “Better. Continue, son.”

Badr jerked a firm nod in his direction. Placing his hands on either side of my head, he bent down, whispering in my ear, “This is for my brother.”

I bit hard on my lip, penning in a scream.I’m sorry, Castor. I’m sorry, Hope. I failed.

Badr clapped his hand over my eyes. “Alpha council of Wolf Nation, I challenge you to right of defeat.”

“Wha—”

“Now!”

Pure, bright beaming sunlight burst from his pores, bleeding through his fingers and dousing me in brilliant white light.

Screams and bellows went up all around me. I saw nothing, but heard everything.

“Orion, Edric, Nyx, get them!”

Chains rattled and hit the floor. In an instant, a blast of heat singed my skin. I felt it as keenly as the smooth, slithering somethings that wrapped around my body and tugged.

Vines.

I instinctively phased through the manacles, letting the vines lift me into the air and out of the melee. All I could do was gape down at the sight beneath me.

Edric wrapped a steel-plated Jabari in a vortex of wind, sucking the air from his lungs, and finishing the job Paxton started. Beside him, Orion stood over two smoldering, burnt-out corpses that I couldn’t begin to identify. He made short work of them, like he did the shrieking, burning secret police officers—in and out of the kitchen.

I heaved at the smell of charred skin in the air. Ripping away, I landed on Nyx. An eager writhing mass of vines wrapped around Denis’s and Hakim’s heads—squeezing, squeezing, squeezing—

Pop!

Their headless corpses flopped on the floor.

Elijah roared. Snatching up a sword, he ran at Badr—heaving the weapon high.

“Look out!” I shouted.

Nyx pounced. Shifting in a blink, he bounded behind the charging Elijah and snapped at the floor, raking up wood, boards, and Elijah’s still solid feet.

“Ahhh!” Elijah phased straight through the floorboards, disappearing into the cold and dark below—forever.

His weapon lay forgotten, marking his final resting place. Badr snatched it up... and turned on his father.

Cygnus stumbled blindly across the floor. “Stay back!” He blasted his sun power. “Don’t come fucking near me!” Claws ripping free, he wildly sliced the air—letting off his power like a lighthouse, sweeping it over all seeing and unseeing. “I am your leader. I am your king! Surrender and your death will be quick!”

Badr didn’t slow. “It’s over, Cygnus.”

“You stupid boy!” Spittle dotted the table, before he tripped over it. “I should’ve bitten your mewling head off in your crib! One look at you, and I knew you were worthless. Weak!” His frenzied swipes raked gashes across the table. “You have no idea what I tried to give you. Give all of Wolf Nation! You’ve destroyed our destiny for some delusional whore!”

Badr scoffed, narrowing in on his flailing prey like a hunter—a wolf. “This is the part where I give some long, whiny, tearful speech about how you abandoned me, treated me like second to worst, and tortured me with your cruelty.

“Right about now is when I say all the magic words that suddenly gets you to hear all that you’ve ignored, and you’ll go to your death finally carrying the guilt and shame you never felt in life,” he said, “or at least that’s the abused, neglected-kid fantasy you deluded yourself into thinking I’m living in.

“Here’s the thing, Cygnus: I’ve never given a flying fuck that you think I’m worthless or weak. You’re a pathetic, moral-less, sack of shit who ran away from your responsibilities with your tail between your legs. Why in the hell would I want your approval on the man I am? You’re not even a man yourself.”

“Argh!” Cygnus roared, charging claws-raised in the direction of his voice.

Badr snapped to the side and tripped him, sending him skidding across the floor on his face.

“I don’t have a father. I never did,” Badr said, his voice calm and placid like a still lake. “But I did have a brother, and I do have a daughter, and I will have a strong, beautiful, and terrifying mate who stands up for what’s right no matter what it costs her.”

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