Page 63 of Luna: Posy 2

"I smelled it with the one who locked me in the cage," Beatrix said from where she was squished between the twins.

"Halder?" The king's eyebrows rose. "Or one of his wolves?"

"It was the same wolf who kidnapped us and brought us here." She fiddled with her fingers, and Zayne and Zayden cuddled her closer.

"The same wolf you have locked in your prison," Ariel clarified.

"Can you please give us a simple yes or no?" I asked.

"Good luck with that." Angelo rolled his eyes.

"Straight, plain English, ladies," the king scowled. "Is Leo Halder working with a demon?"

"No, he'spossessedby one," all four witches chorused.

Possessed?Quartz's ears perked up.Never killed a demon before. Should be a good fight.

"Luke MacGregor said Halder was planning an insurrection and sowing seeds of rebellion against the king," I said, tuning out Quartz's blood lust. "A possessed alpha with a pack at his command is terrible enough, but imagine if he succeeded in taking the crown."

"I'd rathernotimagine that, thank you," King Julian said dryly.

"So it's a demon making Halder act like this?" Wyatt asked.

"We learned that his behavior began to change about a year ago," Mase said. "Could he have been possessed all that time?"

"Sure. A year is nothing to a demon." Sara shrugged.

"How did he get possessed?" Ash asked.

"Yeah, how does that happen, anyway?" Wyatt chimed in.

"We can take a peek inside his head after we exorcize the demon and find out," Sara said. "And it can happen in lots of ways. Might be a consensual contract or a forced invasion."

"Let's get the demon out and see what Halder has to say," Cole suggested. "If he didn't consent, that's one thing, but if he did—"

He left us to finish his thoughts, which Quartz was more than happy to do in vivid detail.

"If he survives the exorcism, you can interrogate him all you want." Maria shrugged.

"It could kill him?" I asked.

"He might not have enough mental landscape left to reclaim."

"I'll take that risk," the king decreed. "He knows he's a dead wolf, anyway. The only way he lives is if the demon, not him, committed the crimes."

"Very well. We'll need one of you to assist." Sara looked around the table as her eyes assessed each of us.

"You used me before." Angelo shrugged. "Why not now?"

"First, I doubtwewill be able to banish it," Beatrix said. "A lesser demon with a year to nibble on a soul, plus the souls it consumed in the basement? Without an earth witch, we'll be lucky to draw it out. Banishing is going to be up to you."

"Second, you're too close to the air, even if you don't shift," Ariel told him. "We need someone more grounded. Like Bea said, if we had an earth witch to complete the coven, it wouldn't be a problem. For now, though, wolves are a good second best."

"I'll—" The king started.

"NO!"my brothers and I cut him off.

"You're too valuable," Angelo voiced what we were all thinking. "If something goes wrong, the whole kingdom might be affected."

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