Page 61 of Moon Cursed

“Another part of your fairy tale that made no fucking sense.” I heard him moving around behind me, checking behind all the doors for the fictitious trap. “Leaving our daughter alone in the cold, dead hands of a leech? Yeah, right.”

I sighed, shaking my head. I didn’t bother giving him the whole background on Lucia, and why I trusted her with my baby. Giving Badr more potential verbal weapons wasn’t a good idea when he was still determined to be an asshole.

It was quiet save for the tip-tapping of keys, and Badr’s bold snooping. I put in the call to Lucia. “Okay, they should be up around now for Hope’s nighttime feed, so it shouldn’t— What the hell are you doing!”

Badr looked around from his spot perched at the foot of my mattress. “What?”

“Why are you sitting your disgusting, manure-covered ass on my bed?”

“It’s mud!”

“What were you? Raised by—”

“Wolves,” he drawled.

“Pigs.” I shoved back, went into my closet, then returned carrying a towel. “Here. You know where the bathroom is. Clean yourself up.”

“So you can attack me while I’m naked with soap in my eyes? No, thanks.”

“Once again,” I forced through gritted teeth. “I’m not the one attacking people when they’re vulnerable and can’t defend themselves. I’m also not asking. You’re not talking to Hope while you’re dressed up like a swamp monster. You’ll scare her.” I shoved the towel at him again. “Clean yourself up. There’s another closet attached to the bathroom. Borrow someone of Edric’s clothes.”

Badr still looked me up and down suspiciously, but he took the towel and went. Edric spoke in my head as soon as the door shut.

“Are you sure about this? Should you be giving up even more secrets to him when he doesn’t trust you, and we damn sure don’t trust him?”

“I’m not sure what choice we have. I already have an enemy in Orion, and look at how spectacularly he fucked up my plans for the forum? The worst part is, I know he did it, but I can’t do a damn thing about it.”

“No, the worst part is that Ash won’t do a damn thing about it. For all we know, she wants your fates to fuck this up so that you can’t strike back and she can turn a blind eye.”

My stomach turned. If that is what Ash wanted, it was already working in her favor.

Edric and Nyx were on my side, and Paxton had given up the fight, but Orion and Badr were plenty dangerous to me all on their own. Badr already admitted he came back because he knew he could wreck my life, and there was nothing I could do about it.

“Nothing I can do except for convincing him right here and now that we’re on the same side,” I replied, “so that’s what I’m going to do. But ignoring him for right now, what about the sketch? Did your sister recognize the shadow? Has he ever come into Sunella’s office?”

“I’m sorry, Daze, but she said no. She’s never seen anyone who looks like him before.”

I deflated, flopping down on my bed as the shower kicked on. “Where is this fucking guy! Want to know what’ll end the war this week? Finding him and biting out his heart!”

“We can do that if we go wide with the sketch, Daze. Do you remember that trick your vamp friend did to text the video to every cellphone in the known universe?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Everyone was freaking out about it, but it was actually a very simple hack. All she had to do was get into the database of our cell providers, and send a message designed as an emergency alert.”

“Huh.” I nodded slow. “It is kind of obvious when you explain it like that.”

“My point is I can do the same thing, but more precise this time. Making sure that certain numbers don’t get the ‘emergency alert.’”

“Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”

“Daze, I know you’re worried about revealing our hand too soon, but it’s different now. Before we didn’t want the shadow to know we were onto him, because we had no idea who the man was. He could be standing right behind us, and we wouldn’t know we were about to get our souls ripped out.

“But we know what he looks like now. He can’t sneak up on us. He can’t hide in the shadows anymore, so let’s drag the bastard out. Let’s show this sketch to all of Wolf Nation. We say he’s an escaped child murderer—because that’s exactly what the fuck he is—and we’re looking for information that leads to his capture. We’ll attach a hefty award to get everyone motivated, and I’ll make sure the alert doesn’t go out to the clan leaders or alpha council.”

I worried my lip, mind racing with all the possibilities, and Edric hearing them all. “Even if we leave out the leaders and the council, can the million-dollar search for a child killer really be kept under wraps? They’re going to find out. The shadow is going to find out!”

“We need to take that risk, Daze. We have to bring the fight to him, and I know you know that,” he pressed. “Seriously, I never understood why you’re so determined to kill everyone when you only have to kill him. He’s the problem. He’s the cause. And killing him is the solution.”

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