Page 61 of Dead Wolf Rising (Bad Moon Academy 3)

“Bea?”

“Bea,” she confirms. “When she was bitten by a wolf, Bea was eighteen, but her brain functioned like a thirteen-year-old. Developmentally, she was slower than she should have been because of Jinx. As you can imagine, living with a demon inside of you is traumatizing.”

“So killing her was the obvious solution? Get rid of the slow one?” I scoff. “Unbelievable.”

Morg blinks hard and drops her gaze. “It was survival. I didn’t want to die, neither did the demon. It wasn’t like she could fight either of us anyway.”

“None of that makes what you did okay.” I drop the glass and move to the desk. Morg lifts her gaze and watches my approach.

“I know that. I’m trying to explain things to you.”

“Then get to the point,” I snap. “Because all I hear is a bunch of bullshit. You could have fought Jinx. Youshouldhave fought her. What kind of person decides something like that?”

“I don’t expect you to understand,” she says quietly. “You’re perfect.”

I snort. “Hardly. So what happened? Obviously it didn’t go as planned, or like Carter told me in the story, because Bea was very much real when I met her.”

“We forced her out of our head, but somehow she latched on to our power. Instead of dying like she should have, Bea became her own entity.”

“A ghost.”

“No.” Morg sounds so sure. “She wasn’t dead. She was something other. She had her own wolf, and she wasn’t a spirit, so I’m assuming whatever she took from the demon did something.”

I glare at her. “That’s helpful.”

“I don’t know, okay? I’m telling you what happened, you don’t have to be a jerk.”

Pressing my lips together to keep from voicing my objection, I simply arch an eyebrow. Okay, maybe I am being a bit of an asshole, but give me a break. She lied to me the entire time I knew her, and she helped Jinx. She sort of deserves a bit of grief.

“Like I said,” she continues when I don’t say anything else, “she became her own entity. Jinx couldn’t touch her, and I couldn’t get to her either. She’s untouchable. Or she was…”

“Until?”

“Until you. When you killed Jinx, you hurt her too.”

My chest tightens. “How is that possible?”

She spreads her hands out in front of her. “How is anything you do possible?”

Fuck.

That stupid power. How many times did Mom warn me not to touch it? How many times did I know I shouldn’t be using the dark magic but still did it anyway? Too many.

“Where is she?” I hold my breath, hating the unknown.

She taps her chest. “When you killed the demon, you took away a lot of her power as well. The power she took from me is the only reason she survived.”

I don’t understand.

“So, what? She melded back with you?”

“Sort of.” Morg walks around the desk, standing a few feet away from me. “Her soul is intact. She needs a little recharge, but she’s safe.”

My eyes drop to where her palm rests on her chest. I chew on my cheek, trying to work through all of the information. Bea isn’t gone, but she’s not whole enough to appear to me. Morg is somehow safeguarding her soul.

“Recharge?” I ask, meeting her gaze.

A soft smile pulls at her lips. “I can help make things right.”

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