Page 80 of Dead Wolf Falling (Bad Moon Academy 2)

“You will always be our luna.” Everett’s words soothe some of my worries. They’ve never seen what I can do, at least not like this. Bringing Brayden back was different, because Death kept his mind and body intact, making it easy to bring him to the land of the living. Howard’s body is destroyed. He’s only been dead a little while, so his soul lingered on this plane. Finding it and shoving it back into his body was easy enough, but I’m not a healer. I can’t fix what’s broken.

If his supe power works like it did when he was alive, then shifting might help him. It’s worth a shot at least.

“Howard, shift.” My luna power threads into the words.

His shoulders tense and fur ripples over his skin. The forced change takes seconds, and when it’s complete, a tall tawny brown wolf with white eyes stands before me. Blood darkens his coat near his throat. Tossing his head back, he unleashes a scratchy howl, which breaks and turns into a human-like moan.

What did you do to him?Joan asks in horror.

Jinx bursts into giggles behind me, clapping her hands. I scowl at her over my shoulder, watching as she lowers Bea to the floor. Layla grabs her little arms and pulls her to the group of shifters hiding in the back of the gym, as far away from Jinx as she can get.

“You did it!” She pats her thigh. “Come here, Howard. Come here, boy.”

“He’s not a dog,” Draco says, gritting his teeth.

“Please.” Jinx slaps her thigh harder. “You’re all mutts. Come. Here. Howard.”

She’s not a luna; she can’t command him. Howard growls, but it crackles and turns from canine to human like again. The resulting sound is strange and not at all threatening. It’s like he’s playing monsters instead of being one.

“He’s still broken,” she says, wrinkling her nose and squinting at me. “You did it wrong.”

“I didn’t do it wrong. This is what happens when you bring the dead back.” I gesture to the wolf. “They were never meant to come back. He’ll never be the same.”

Lifting her hand, she curls her fingers, the same way she did when she killed Jackson. “Well, I guess you’ll have to try again.”

Then Howard moans again. The strange sound makes my heart squeeze, and I try to block him from her attack, but she shakes her head.

“It doesn’t work like that.”

The wolf collapses behind me; human-like screams pour from his mouth as Jinx rips his soul from his body. I turn, staring as he convulses, paws twitching like a dog having a bad dream. When the cries stop and the wolf stills, Jinx sighs.

“Try again or I kill Bea.”

Rubbing my arm over my face, wiping away snot and tears, I bite the inside of my cheek and hold my hands up over Howard again, muttering the same words from before. Mom’s face flashes in my mind, but I pinch my eyes shut, trying to block her out, but the more I try, the more the picture of her hands stuck in Dad’s grave grows.

I guess we’re not so different after all.

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