Moon Kissed (Corvin Academy #1)

Chapter Nine 3

“Oh my gods. Oh my gods.” Edric paced, clutching his head as my memories tumbled into them. “OH MY GODS!”

“You said that already,” I snapped. “Ignore what you’re seeing. They’re my memories, not yours. You have no right.”

“I have no right?” he cried, whirling on me. “My gods, Volana. What you’re planning— What you’re going to do— You’re the one who has no right! You can’t murder all those people!”

My eyes narrowed to slits. “Watch me.”

“You’re insane! You do know that, right? You’ve completely lost your mind!”

“Well, I’ve lost everything else, so why not my mind?”

“You’re crazy!” If I looked up the word hysterical, the man’s face would be right next to it. “Out-of-your-mind nuts! You can’t think I’m going to let this happen. You can’t—”

Edric sliced off so abruptly, I started.

Scowling at me, Edric suddenly started inching toward the door. “ Is she going to kill me too? ”

“Fuck’s sake, you’re an asshole to the end! Of course I’m not going to fucking kill you!”

His scowl only deepened. “Then what is your plan now, because you can’t possibly believe I’m going to let you do all the things I just saw in your head.”

“If you saw what was in my head, you know exactly why I’m going to do those things, and you know why you can’t stand in my way.” I kicked off the bed, storming to the closet. “This is the worst post-sex pillow talk in the world, by the way. Great job fucking that up too!”

“Are you kidding me?” Heavy footfalls chased after me. “You’re mad at me right now?”

“All you had to do was take the money and go, but nooooo,” I cried, waving my hands. “You couldn’t resist tempting my wolf on the way out, and now we’re bonded. Thanks a lot!”

He gaped at me in disbelief as I shoved my arms into my robe. “You’re not changing the subject with your nutcase nonsense right now. Putting aside the fact that you were the one who couldn’t keep your hands off me, it doesn’t matter because we’re bonded. I saw everything, and your plan—your ultimate plan—ends now.”

I turned on him, gazing at him coldly. “And then what?”

“Excuse me?”

“Oh no, don’t pull the clueless act now,” I said, crossing my hands. “You want to get all moral and self-righteous on me, so you tell me what we do? How do we stop Destiny?”

Edric stood stock-still... and silent.

“You agree that it has to be stopped, right? No matter what. Destiny can’t go ahead, right? Right?!”

“Yes,” he burst out. “It has to be stopped, but not that way!”

“So tell me how, because I can tell you right now, asking nicely didn’t work.”

He glared at me. “Be reasonable, Volana. This isn’t you. Even you realize how far you’ve fallen. Your regrets are all right there in your head!”

“You don’t know a damn thing about my regrets.” I stormed past him, leading him right back out into the bedroom. “But you do know why I have to stop Destiny. You know what’s at stake now, and I promise you, Edric, you will not get in my way.” I whirled on him, stopping just short of my dresser. “Don’t make me have to ruin you.”

Edric’s brows bounced up his forehead. “Ruin me? Are you kidding me? Enough with the threats. You just said you won’t kill me, so they’ve lost their teeth.”

A slow smirk stretched my lips. “Oh, Eddy-baby, my threats always have teeth. Let me tell you what happens now. Since you ripped up the check I so generously gave you, I’m going to grant you your wish. I’ll contact the alpha council and tell them I’m being threatened. Someone very dangerous and very serious will kill me unless I give them two million dollars.”

A vein started jumping in his forehead.

“Now, Sunella and the council will already be suspicious of you when you suddenly show up with exactly that amount to free your sister, but then when you start spouting crazy conspiracy theories against their sweet and rehabilitated high priestess, I’ll be forced to tell them you were the one threatening my life for money and more. When I stopped giving you more ...” I shrugged. “You resorted to making up lies about me. You even released the video of my shifting to force me into a corner and under your thumb.”

Edric goggled at me, jaw hanging. “You can’t be serious. Sweet and rehabilitated? You just took over the academy! If they didn’t know you were none of those fucking things before, they do now that all the alphas you threw over the gates ran and told them you pulled a coup. You did! I was chained up, and not fucking keeping you under my thumb.”

My smile went nowhere. “Exactly. All the alphas that I freely let leave without laying a finger on their heads. And then after they did, I ousted a corrupt headmistress, gave all the staff raises, and once again didn’t hurt any of the students, because even if I had to give in to you, I refused to hurt anyone.”

“But you did hurt a student. You killed Nia! Plus, you forced Dagem out,” he sputtered. “You bribed her. You’ve been bragging about being the new queen of Wolf Nation to everyone who’ll listen!”

“A joke,” I breezed. “I’m not the queen, but what I am is the high priestess, and in my capacity as high priestess and mother wolf, I saved Corvin Academy from a corrupt headmistress, and several staff and students who were a danger to the others. I’m a hero, Eddy, and anyone who says differently while they’re reeking of the stink of extorting the alpha council, isn’t going to sound too convincing from their jail cell.”

Edric shook his head, dropping hard on his ass. “You’re a monster.”

I lifted my shoulders. “I call it the Villain era for a reason. So, are we good now? Do we understand each other?”

“Why are you doing this?” His whisper wasn’t enough of one to slip past my ears. “All of this for revenge?”

I sobered, smile vanishing. “No, Edric. Not for revenge.” I sent a word through the bond. Just one word.

He gazed at me, expression softening. “Okay, I’ll give you that. As reasons go... that’s a good one.” Edric got to his feet. “But promise me something?”

“No.”

“Stubborn, nightmare of a woman,” he muttered. “Give me a chance to think of another way.”

“There is no other way.”

“You think that because you’re crazy,” Edric dropped without a trace of joking. “But there’s always another way. There has to be.”

“Edric.” I pointed at my face. “This isn’t crazy. It’s serious. People who know about Destiny have a nasty habit of dying.”

“Because you keep killing them.”

“Because it’s a secret that wasn’t supposed to get out until it was too late for anyone to stop! But I know, and now it’s war. A war that has no good sides, because on both sides there will be blood, pain, and collateral damage,” I said. “You have to listen to me, I’m trying to save your life.”

He paused, considering me. “Okay. Then, I’ll agree not to tell anyone about Destiny, if you agree not to make another move on your psycho, madwoman plan until I’ve thought of another way to stop it.”

“You know what? Just for that psycho dig, you’ve got to sweeten the pot. If you want me to hold back while you waste time coming up with a useless alternative plan, you’ll have to do it while hanging off my arm.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means holding hands in public, feeding me off your plate, passionate kisses in detention hall, and telling the world we’re bonded.” I beamed in his eyes. “Tomorrow, I introduce my loyal queen consort to the whole school.”

“Why?” he barked. “Why would you want that?”

“Uhh, duh, keep up. It’s so when I tell everyone you forced me to do things for you, and then turned on me when I stopped, they’ll believe it.” I patted his sallow cheeks. “Also, it’ll piss Badr, Nyx, Orion, and Paxton off like nothing else. Your little brotherhood will be done for good.”

“Monster,” he whispered.

“Villain, baby.” I brushed past, climbing the steps for a bed worthy of the queen I am. “Get it right.”

THE NEXT MORNING, I headed out of the administration wing, I took a left and followed the hallway all the way down until it stopped at large, oak double doors. I pushed on the wood and found myself in the infirmary.

A lone figure pushed the sheets up in the last bed on the right.

“See? I knew they were being overly dramatic whiner babies.”

She raised her head with difficulty, landing on me as I walked over.

“I knew you weren’t dead, Nia. I specifically told my friend to teach you a painful lesson, but not to kill you.”

Nia blinked at me. She didn’t look like she belonged in an infirmary bed with how wrapped up in blankets she was. They covered her to her chin, and a nest of pillows surrounded her—keeping her comfortable. You couldn’t see the mess of wounds healing on her back. Beside her was a small bedside table with a jug, glass of water, a book, and all the butterfly clips they removed when they rushed her in.

“Wha...? Kill me?” she croaked. “What are you—?”

I held up a hand. “Don’t speak. Just listen.” Rounding the bed, her eyes widened taking me in when I towered over her. “You were the hardest one on my list, Nia. That’s why I wanted to get to know you. Observe you. Understand you and your super-powered omega ability. It’s because I did that I learned more about what omegas go through.

“There is a version of events where you were an innocent who was dragged into the destruction of my life, and my family,” I said. “You lost your parents young, and suddenly you were responsible for three little brothers in a world where omegas get nothing but the shittiest, lowest-paying jobs.

“When people like Dagem offered you a chance to make money by using your wolf tranquilizer, you didn’t have a choice.” I bent over her, my hand strangling the headboard like I thought of doing to her so many times before. “How many people did they use you to murder? People who tried to defend themselves, but then discovered horribly that their wolf was trapped inside them.”

Nia trembled, eyes filling. “Just... one,” she whispered, not even bothering to deny it. “I didn’t want to. I didn’t even know why I was there, but...” Nia shuddered. “It was horrible. Worst day of my life—”

“No,” I hissed. “It was mine.”

Nia didn’t speak. She didn’t dare.

“But,” I continued, rising up. “I believe you. I believe you wanted no part in what happened. I even believe you didn’t know what they were going to do before it happened. But the trouble is, after the murder, you kept quiet. You kept their stupid, fucking, evil secrets about Destiny.”

“I had to.” The dullness in Nia’s voice was at odds with the rushing tears gushing down her face. “They threatened to kill my brothers if I told a soul.”

“I believe that too.” My nails pierced my palm. “I have no trouble believing that. Which is why I flip-flopped so hard between if you were a victim, or a fucking monster just like the rest of them.”

“I am a monster,” she cried, shoulders shaking. Her body spasmed with the pain, but still she cried.

Sighing, I dropped down on the opposite bed. “No, Nia, you’re not. Because an actual monster never thinks they are. And, for what it’s worth, I don’t think you are either. That’s why I decided to let you get away with this little lesson.” I waved over her. “And call us even.”

“Even?”

“Yes, Nia. We’re even. I forgive you,” I said, and deep down, I meant it. “I have to if we’re going to be partners.”

Nia blinked, tears slowing. “Partners?”

“Yes, partners in stopping Destiny.”

“Destiny?”

“Are you just going to keep repeating everything I say, because this is going to take a long time if so.”

“No— I, uh... Sorry.”

Noise sounded behind me, drawing my attention to a glass-paned door and the figure moving on the other side.

“Can he hear us?” I asked.

Nia shook her head. “The door is reinforced like every door in the castle. Can’t have us wolves overhearing private medical information. But what were you saying?” she asked, trying to rise and then quickly changing her mind. “Why would we be partners?”

“What do you know about Destiny?”

“Not much,” she admitted. “Just that people are willing to kill to keep whatever it is quiet.”

“Oh, they most definitely are,” I rasped, “and I’ll tell you why.”

I told her. Everything about Destiny. Everything about what Castor did to me. All that started me off the path of my relatively happy life onto one of blood, pain, and revenge. On the very last word, Nia twisted over the side of the bed, and vomited.

“They—they can’t do that!”

“They are doing it,” I said flatly.

“It’s insane!”

“Yes.”

“It’s evil!”

I nodded slow. “Yes.”

Nia goggled at me, a spot of vomit clinging to her lip. “How can anyone stop this? How can you?”

“What do you think I’ve been working on over the last year?”

Shaking her head, her eyes darted around. “And you want me to help you? To be your partner?”

“I do, Nia. That’s why I’m going to give you something no one else has—a choice.” I met her gaze steadily. “Help me. Join me. Be one of my allies in the war to stop Destiny, and believe me, it is a war.”

“But—but, Daze,” she rasped, slipping into my nickname. “You’re talking about treason, murder, and the ultimate betrayal of Wolf Nation. If we do this, no one will thank us. We’ll be hated by every wolf, everywhere for all time. Instead of et tu, Brutus , they’ll say et tu, Daciana? Et tu, Nia? for the rest of forever! We will be the bad guys! We’ll be the—”

“Villains,” I finished, smirk stretching my lips. “Trust me, you get comfortable with the title given enough time. Haven’t you ever noticed that in the movies... only the villains are having any fun.”

“I’m being serious,” she cried, then winced—groaning.

“I know you’re serious, Nia, and so am I. I made my choice a long time a-ago.” My breath hitched. “I’m doing this no matter what it takes. Even if it fucking kills me, I will finish this. The only question is if you’ll join me.”

She hesitated. “What if I don’t join you?”

“Then, I’ll walk out that door right now and leave you be. You’ll make a full recovery, and then you’ll go about your life with your head blissfully up your ass while I risk everything to save Wolf Nation, and you, from herself.”

Her lips tightened at the dig. “You’d really let me walk away just like that.”

The door opened behind me. “Oh,” Nurse Vega exclaimed. “I didn’t know you had a visitor, Nia.” I heard him shuffling around and slam drawers shut. “I’m afraid you’ll have to cut it short. We do our best healing in our sleep, so I’ve got to give you your sleeping pills now.”

Nia didn’t even glance at him. “Well?”

“I really would, Nia. Dagem’s gone, so that means you won’t have to follow me around anymore. As long as you don’t tell anyone what I’ve told you, you can go your way, and I’ll go mine,” I said. “And unlike the pieces of shit who are working right now behind the scenes to make Destiny happen, I’m not going to threaten your family, or blackmail you into keeping quiet, or into helping me. We truly can be done—right here, right now.”

Nia swallowed hard, staring at me for a long time. So long, Vega’s heavy footfalls sounded behind me as he came over with Nia’s sleeping pills.

“Okay,” Nia said softly, but firmly. “I’m in. I’ll be your partner.”

“Wow, really?” My brows blew high. “That is not the answer I thought you were gearing up for.” I reached over and grabbed her water glass. “But that’s such a relief, and welcome aboard. Now that we’re on the same side—”

I splashed the water at Vega’s feet. Yelping, his feet shot out from under him and he fell hard—cracking his head on the hardwood. I was on him in a blink, snapping his neck before he conjured the thought to breathe.

“—I can do that without you making a big deal about it,” I finished.

Nia took one look at Vega and screamed.

“Or not,” I muttered, shaking my head. “Ugh, don’t make a big deal about it. He was on the list. Had to be done.” Bending down, I rescued the sleeping pills. “Here, take these. When you wake up, call for help, and say he must’ve slipped and broken his neck while you were out. You didn’t see anything and there’s nothing you could’ve done.”

“But—but—but you killed him,” she screeched. “Just like that. You didn’t even hesitate!”

“And I won’t lose sleep over it either.” I beamed at her, placing her pills firmly on her palm. “Villain era, babe. Get on board, or get left behind.” I swept out, fluttering my fingers at her over my shoulder. “Toodles.”

A WEEK PASSED, AND everything was going according to my plan.

The plan to drive Edric out-of-his-mind insane like he did to me—that is.

“I did everything you asked for, baby.” I ran my fingers through his hair, listening to his low, furious growl like a rumbling bass. “I extorted the council for the money just like you told me to.”

“Will you keep your voice down?” he hissed, eyes darting around the classroom.

I winced. “Oh, sorry, baby. Please don’t be mad at me.”

“Stop that! Stop that or I’ll—”

“No, please,” I whimpered, drawing the eye of everyone in the immediate vicinity. “Don’t spank me again.”

Edric shoved up and walked away. Laughing, I tackled him back into his seat and sat on his lap. The growling began anew even as his cock rose to meet me.

“Is there a problem back there?” Raza called.

“Nope.” I wiggled on Edric’s lap, ripping a raspy grunt out of him. “No problem at all.”

“ Why am I so turned on by this? ” Edric shouted down the bond, making me snort. He’d been wrestling with his equal parts loathing and lusting after me the entire week, and it was nothing short of entertaining.

The show over, everyone else returned to the lesson except for Paxton sitting down in front. He kept right on staring.

In the week since I named myself Headmistress Volana, a lot of changes had transformed Corvin Academy.

The first thing I did after accidentally bonding with Edric was released Badr, Paxton, and Orion. I didn’t want to use the trials for my own personal vendettas, so I let them go, making myself look like even more of a saint in the process. But that wasn’t all.

Blatantly ripping off mundane colleges, I had all the courses and tracks changed so that students could take classes based on their interests—not their wolves.

The first thing Nia did after making a full recovery was first lie and tell everyone she had no idea how the nurse died, and then she dumped all the omega classes she was forced to take, and signed up for the classes that used to be for the betas. She was now taking creative writing, screenwriting, and art classes in hopes of both writing her first play, and then bringing it to life.

The omega dorms had also all been vacated since I put the empty rooms in the beta, epsilon, and alpha dorms up for grabs. Along with that, I put an end to the different meals for different shifter wolves, and now everyone was eating gourmet.

But even though all the changes were positive and the betas and alphas lost nothing, they bitched and moaned about it like nothing else. Blah blah blah all day long about me trampling on tradition, betraying the ancestors, giving the fishes false hope, and wasting my time on changes that were never going to stick after the alpha council blew in and put everything back the way it belonged.

Speaking of the alpha council, I didn’t confiscate everyone’s cellphones or computers, so the first thing they did was go whining and complaining to their mommies and daddies. Sunella called Dagem’s office the first thing the morning after Edric and I hooked up.

I answered on the second ring.

“Good morning, Sunella.”

“Makena? Is that you?”

“Afraid not,” I chirped. “It’s Daciana. Remember me? We bonded when you pardoned me for murder.”

Silence reigned on the other end.

“Sunella?” I sang, spinning in Dagem’s desk chair. “I’m sure you called for a reason. Let’s hear it.”

“Where’s Makena?” she dropped, voice hard. “What did you do to her?”

“I gave her eight million dollars to fuck off to France and she took the money so fast, she broke my finger snatching the debit card from me.”

More silence.

“What? You don’t believe me? I’m sure your informants were recording the whole thing. They can send you the video.”

Sunella cut through the bullshit. “You released the video. Why? Do you have any idea what you’ve done? It’s already been watched six million times!”

“I was forced to release the video. You must’ve seen that too. Lucia knew I would never under any circumstances give up my protection, so when they forced me to call her and demand the video be deleted, that was pretty much all the info she needed to know I was in trouble,” I said. “I told him that. I warned him! He knew trying to mess with or trick Lucia would result in the video going wide, but he did it anyway. I never wanted it to come to this.”

“Him?” she pounced. “Who is him ?”

“I—I can’t say.” I got choked up. “He’d be so angry if I—I can only say he’s one of my fates and— His power over me is just too strong. I can’t go against him!”

“ I fucking hate your ass. ”

I bit down hard on a laugh.

“I see. And what about these changes that the academy has undergone?” she asked. “Is this his doing too?”

“The truth?”

“What do you think!” she barked.

I laughed. “Fair enough. Here’s the truth: A few months ago, Luame sent me a vision.”

“What? A vision? That’s not possible.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You know it is.”

“But no high priestess is known to have had visions for hundreds of years,” she cried. “Why you? Why now?”

“No other high priestess is known to have more than one fate for hundreds of years either. Haven’t we established that I’m special?”

I could practically feel the woman despising me from the other end. “All right, let’s say I believe you—”

“Excuse me?” I sliced in, chill entering my voice. “Do you truly think I would dare to claim a false vision in Luame’s name? Do you think Luame so weak that she’d let me? How dare you.”

“No! No, of course not.” Sunella lost her haughtiness fast. “Of course you would never claim false witness in Luame’s name, High Priestess. Forgive me.”

“Try it again.”

I heard her inhaled a deep, gusty breath. “What was the vision our moon goddess sent you, High Priestess?”

“She sent me a vision of an equal society. Shifter wolves living free and thriving on the happiness of choosing their own path in life,” I said. “It’s why I came back even though I had no reason to. It’s why I enrolled in the academy. In my heart, I know this is where Luame wants her great work to begin.”

“I see.” There was shuffling on the phone, and then she hissed at someone, “Get the other councilmembers on the phone. Now!

“And what does this great work entail?” she asked, returning to our conversation.

“Nothing drastic or that would concern the council. I’ve simply done away with the tracks and mixed the students—”

“Excuse me!”

“—and that whole ‘approved job list’ thing is done with. Students can now take whatever courses they want, and apply for whichever jobs they want.”

“But, High Priestess!” Sunella was trying not to scream, and was failing. “You cannot make these changes.”

“I must make these changes. Luame demands it.”

“But what you’re speaking about is drastic and most certainly concerns the council. Please don’t tell me you’re allowing omegas to take alpha classes?”

“The alpha classrooms are now eighty percent omega. Very popular courses for classrooms that were only half-filled a week ago.”

“Get them now. I don’t care what they’re doing,” she shouted at someone. I wondered if it was Edric’s sister. “High Priestess, this simply will not do.”

“Are you suggesting that I ignore Luame’s command?” My tone told her what I thought of that.

“No. What I’m suggesting is that maybe... possibly... you have misinterpreted Luame’s meaning. I’m certain it is not her wish for her children to spend years toiling away, studying and training for careers and positions they will never get.”

“Why wouldn’t they get it?” I kicked my feet up on my new desk. “If anyone other than me read the school handbook, newly issued this year, it says that the old recommendation system has been done away with. Every student begins at zero.

“Over the years as they complete their tracks, they’ll be ranked and scored against the other students, and those with the highest ranks will be first in line with a top recommendation for their chosen career.”

“Precisely. That’s exactly why—”

“But what it doesn’t say anywhere,” I sliced in, “and I’ve read it three times to be certain, is that the new ranking system is separated by wolf. It only says the students in the track, not the alphas or omegas in the track. And since now that the tracks are mixed, they are all starting at zero, and most points wins.”

“You— That— You are speaking of a typo,” she snapped. “An accidental ambiguity! Students in the tracks don’t have to be clarified by wolf type, but there’s only ever been one wolf type in each individual track.”

I clicked my tongue. “Sunella, I’m very confused by your tone right now. I am merely carrying out Luame’s wishes, and doing it peacefully. Every student who doesn’t wish to abide by the new systems has been allowed to leave. The instructors included. If they’re on board, and Luame is pleased, why would the alpha council object?”

“What we object to is you blowing into Corvin and making sweeping changes without informing a single member of the council. You have much power as the high priestess, but you don’t have that much power. If Luame demands more of Wolf Nation, it is for the council to discuss and deliberate on the best way to bring about her wishes. Your only role is to deliver the message.”

I whistled. “Oooh. That put me in my place. From the goddess’s chosen and mother of a new generation... to delivery girl. What a demotion.”

She sniffed. “And you’ve got a nerve speaking to me about peacefully carrying out her wishes. My informants, as you call them, have also told me that you blackmailed and threatened them all! That’s right after you confessed to the murders of Warren Hall and Holly Fitch, and the attack on Nia Dole.”

“Eeehhh,” I blared. “Never happened. First of all, blackmail is an ugly word. I prefer encouraged them to make the right choice. Second, those knives were obviously headed for me. Nia only got hit because she jumped in the way and hugged me at the last second. Why am I being blamed for someone else’s botched assassination attempt on the mother wolf? If you ask me, we should all just be glad neither Nia nor I died.