Moon Kissed (Corvin Academy #1)

Chapter Four 2

“Oh, Daciana, there you are,” Ava purred, pressing her cleavage further up Badr’s chin. “What took you so long? I had a feeling you’d crash, so I decorated the party just for you. Do you like it?”

Drunken laughter assaulted my sensitive ears. I smiled wide. “I love it, Ava,” I gushed. “Aww, you’re so sweet throwing a party just for me. Now I feel bad for that Hineyness thing.”

Her grin melted away. “Get lost, bitch. And take the jellyfish with you.”

I didn’t have to ask who the jellyfish was. That was another name assholes had for omega wolves, because jellyfish were brainless, pointless animals that float around doing a whole bunch of nothing.

“Me and my plus-one aren’t going anywhere.” I threw out my hand, wiggling in my tight, little black stolen dress. “The guest of honor has arrived, everyone!”

“Mason, stop.”

Turning my head, I landed on the catcalling alpha boy who unwisely set my fates off in the middle of class. He had some girl cornered in the middle of the room with his hand up her dress.

“Stop.” She was giggling, but the discomfort shown clear as she tried to wiggle away. “Not in front of everyone.”

“Ugh, fuck this.” Mason walked off, leaving her confused and hurt in his wake. He was plastered on another girl in seconds.

“What a dick.”

“Yes,” Ava replied. I couldn’t place the expression on her face as she watched him go. “He is.”

I studied Nia until she was the one looking uncomfortable. “Guys like him get what’s coming to them. One way or another. He’ll learn what it means to be afraid.”

She blinked at me. Her lips parted but nothing came out.

Grin returning, my hand shot in the air. “I got winner for Shots Regatta.”

I took one step toward the shots game and a yelp sounded behind me.

Badr was up and in my way so fast, he dumped Ava on her ass doing it. “Get out.”

“That’s a very good idea.” Nia tugged on my arm. “Daciana, please, let’s go.”

I cocked a brow at his hard, bare chest. This close, the flying eagle stretched across his pecs glared right in my eyes. “Uh, no. Why would I leave my own party?”

“You didn’t get enough on the field, Volana?” He snapped the air above my nose, growling. It was such a feral and alpha wolf thing, my ravenous slut of a wolf sat up on her haunches and purred for more. “Ready to lose round two already?”

My jaw hardened, the humor leaking out of me. “What are you saying, Badr? You’re going to beat up an unarmed, unresisting woman because she’s not doing what you want? Gotta keep the little woman in line after all.”

“What?” He reeled back, eyes bugging. “No! No one said anything about beating anyone up!”

“Good,” I said, freeing my arm from Nia’s tugging grip. “Then let’s drop the threats and make this simple. You want me to leave. I want to stay. So, let’s settle this the easy way.” I pointed to the shots game. “If you win, I leave the party. I win, I stay.”

Badr hummed, bobbing his head. “Reasonable terms. There’s only one problem.”

“What’s that?”

“I don’t make deals with my brother’s killer.” He flicked over my shoulder. “Edric.”

I didn’t have a chance to reply. A gust of wind lifted me off my feet, and threw me out the open door. It slammed shut and locked before I crashed into the wall and collapsed like Jenga.

I scrambled to my feet cursing and debating whether or not I would kick that damn door off the hinges and beat Edric with it. Crashing the party tonight had the double purpose of showing the school, Ava, and my fates that they were not getting to me. They were also the setup for another false alibi.

Letting it go, I took off before Nia came after me. “Enjoy it, number two, you get one more night of fun.”

It was just as well that my douchewad jerk of a fate threw me out and reminded me that I have other things on my agenda. I didn’t have the weapon I needed for my ultimate endgame, so it was time to create one. The poison. The unbeatable poison.

Wolfsbane.

The most effective weapon against us. When the wolfsbane flower is distilled, it creates an odorless, colorless, tasteless poison that we can’t see or smell coming.

For that reason, wolfsbane wasn’t grown in any werewolf community anywhere, ever, in the whole world. They damn sure didn’t have a patch growing out in the Corvin Academy gardens.

There was a zero percent chance that I would find wolfsbane anywhere on the grounds. The obvious answer was for me to have picked the wolfsbane while I was hiding out in the mundane world and smuggle it in, but I knew I’d be under intense scrutiny. Dagem would have me, my stuff, and my room searched whenever the mood struck her, and how would I explain keeping a highly lethal plant on the nightstand?

My only option was to get my hands on wolfsbane while being trapped within the gates of the academy.

Lucia and I brainstormed the best way to do that, and if I couldn’t scratch a name off my first list that night, then I’d scratch a step off my second.

I phased as far and fast from Nia as I could, slipping through walls with ease. Fresh, glorious night air washed over me, and I shifted in a blink, giving my wolf control with complete abandon.

This would end one way. My victory was inevitable.

In a few short months, the alpha council would be dead, leaving Wolf Nation without her leaders and an empty throne begging to be mine.

Wolf Nation would have her first queen.

LATER THAT NIGHT, I slipped back into my dorm room—bone weary.

Step one of the poison plan turned out not to be quick or simple, but it was finally done. Hopefully my long night trampling through the woods wasn’t for nothing.

I crossed the threshold and halted. “Sitting alone in my room in the dark? That takes creepy to a whole other level.”

The lamp flicked on, illuminating the strong, muscled figure reclining in my armchair.

“Edric.” I crossed to the other side of the room to the fireplace, keeping him in my sights the entire time. “Something I can do for you?”

“Where were you?” Edric cocked his head. “You showed up at that party to make sure you were seen, and then you disappeared.”

“I believe you meant to say and then you were thrown out. ”

He smiled enigmatically. “Answer the question.”

“No.”

We stared at each other—the silence pressing down like an anvil on my forehead.

“Why are you here, Volana?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” I crossed to my wardrobe, picking out my nightclothes for bed. “You’re the one breaking into women’s bedrooms in the middle of the night. How many of my panties did you sniff your way through before I came in?”

“Ten,” he rebounded without skipping a beat. “Orion was right. You’re like a cherry sundae drizzled with honey. Too bad I wasn’t in the detention hall when you were setting up your fake alibi. I would’ve devoured you whole.”

“Oh, yeah— W-well, you— Uh—” I snapped my stuttering mouth shut, face flaming. I wasn’t expecting that reply at all.

Edric chuckled. “Hmm. That’s an interesting reaction. You’re a lot more prudish than I was expecting for a girl who drops her pants in the middle of a classroom.”

I spun around, slamming the wardrobe shut. “Thank you for that observation. Let me gift you something in return. That’s the door,” I snapped, pointing to it. “Enjoy the smack on the ass when it hits you on the way out.”

Another laugh. “By the way, tell me about that letter taped to your vanity.”

I tensed at the mere mention of it.

“It’s all gibberish, so of course it’s written in code. What does it say?”

“What do you want, Edric?” I veered the conversation sharply away. “Why are you here?”

He leaned forward in my seat. “I’m here because Badr won’t make a deal with you, but I will. Turn yourself in, Volana. Accept your punishment for what you did to Castor, and I’ll—”

“You’ll what?” I broke in. “You’ll nothing. Why? Because you have nothing I want, sweetie, and if you did”—I raked him up and down—“I’d be the one devouring you whole.”

His smirk went nowhere. “Do it, and I won’t tell anyone where Lucia is.”

I went very still. “You don’t know where Lucia is.”

“Don’t I?”

“No!” Edric’s widening grin sent my mind whirling. “You don’t. Lucia told me your little sim card trick didn’t work. She stopped your intrusion.”

“She stopped the big, noisy, bust-through-the-front-door intrusion. She didn’t stop the smaller, quieter, slip-through-the-window one.”

I slowly backed away from him, clutching my nightie like an idiot. There was nothing more dangerous than a wolf who has his prey cornered. “You’re lying.”

“No.”

“Why would you know where she is but Badr doesn’t?” I flung back. “You’re trying to trick me into giving something up. It won’t work.”

Not saying a word, Edric took out his phone, pulled something up, and tossed it to me. On the screen was a message from Unknown . Nothing but a bunch of numbers and letters, but I knew latitude and longitude when I was looking at it.

“Believe me now?”

I bristled at the taunt. “Why would you hold on to this? Why not just tell everyone you know where she is? Dagem first of all.”

“Because then we couldn’t have this little chat.” Smiling, Edric gestured for me to sit. “I have a proposition for you.”

My eyes narrowed to slits. “I turn myself in. I thought that was the proposition.”

“You were wrong. Not the first time you were today.” He gestured again. “Please, sit.”

“I never sit in the presence of a wolf.” I stared him down. “What do you want?”

“Very well, if that’s how we’re going to do it. I won’t bring the worst of Wolf Nation down on your traitor friend, if you turn yourself in after demanding that Sunella and the alpha council gives you two million dollars.”

A roaring sounded in my ears. That was the only explanation for the garbled nonsense I thought just fell from his lips. “Excuse me?”

Edric’s bland smile and blanker expression didn’t shift. “You heard me.”

“You want me to have two million dollars so that I can... what? Upgrade my security?”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. The money is for me, except we’re going to keep that little tidbit between us. Just like I’ll keep Lucia’s location between us.”

I blinked at him, even more confused than when the conversation started. “But why? What do you need that much money for?”

“I’m sure I’ll think of something.”

Translation: None of your fucking business.

“Okay, but why would you keep Lucia secret if I turn myself in?”

“So that you will turn yourself in,” he said. “As long as you’ve got your blackmail, the alpha council can’t get too... carried away with punishing you. This way you can be sure your treatment will be fair and just. I’m sure you know, and fear, that just because they can’t kill you, doesn’t mean they can’t make you suffer.”

My chest tightened. “Oh good, we’re speaking bluntly. Let me give you some of that in return: fuck you. The answer is no.”

Edric’s voice was calm—measured. “No to turning yourself in or no to the money?”

“No to both because this is a trick. A trap. And I’m not falling for it.”

“It’s not a trick.”

“Not falling for it,” I blared, cupping my hands around my mouth. “Go perv in another girl’s room and sniff her panties. Maybe she’ll give you two million dollars to get rid of you.”

Edric didn’t move. “I’m offering you a fair deal. Better than you deserve. Those coordinates are real, Volana. Check them yourself. Believe me, you don’t want to turn me down.”

“I do want to turn you down because there’s no way you care about me receiving fair and just treatment from the council. You hate me. I’m the reason you weren’t with your mother at the end—”

“No, you’re not.”

“—and you—” I cut off. “Wait, what?”

“You’re not the reason I couldn’t be with my mom when she died.” Something flickered in his eyes too quickly for me to identify. “Badr said that. Not me.”

I hesitated. “Then why would he say that if it wasn’t true?”

“Because he blames you for everything that’s gone wrong in our lives, but a couple months into our forced vacation, it was obvious to all of us that you weren’t coming after us. You weren’t hunting us. You didn’t give a shit about us at all.

“Sunella could’ve let me go home to my mom. I begged her to,” he gritted, jaw clenching. “But she refused. Not even under guard were we allowed to leave, and there was no fucking point to it, because you weren’t coming.” Edric shook his head. “You’re to blame for a lot of things, Volana. But it wasn’t you who stopped me being at my mother’s side.”

I was quiet taking that in. “Why wouldn’t the alpha council let you leave?”

“Because of you.”

“What?” I pulled a face. “But you just said—”

“It wasn’t to protect us from you. It was to save us for you. They didn’t want us getting hurt, falling for other people, degrading the bond, and, most of all, they couldn’t let another one of us die.” His gaze pierced my soul. “They locked us away—”

“—because they had to make sure when they caught me, they could force us all to complete the bonding, and create the first batch of super wolves.”

Edric just nodded.

I almost said something bitchy like now you know what I’ve gone through my entire life . But I held back. I was allowed to be with my mother every day of her too-short life. So... Edric didn’t know what it was like.

“Why did they let you attend the academy, then?” I eventually spoke up. “What changed Sunella’s mind?”

“It wasn’t Sunella. It was the Sun councilor,” Edric said. “He found out Nyx and I were hooking up.”

My brows shot up my forehead. “Uhhh, come again?”

“The guy was worried bisexuality was catching, and he couldn’t have that around Badr. Just like that, we were off to the academy.”

“Mhh hmh,” I hummed, head bobbing. “You and Nyx, you say? You two strong, muscly alphas were going at it like sex-starved animals.” Just saying the words made my lower belly contract so hard I nearly doubled over.

His voice was dry. “Stop picturing it.”

“Edric, I say this with all the sensitivity and respect in the whole of my chest: I can’t.”

Edric arched a brow—amusement faintly coloring his twitching lips. “We’re getting off topic.”

“Nope, what happened is we finally landed on the most important topic. And snowballing off this vitally important topic, I must ask if there are videos or pictures of the sexual events in question.” I slowly looked down. “And would those videos happen to be on the unlocked phone that is currently in my hands?”

“Give it back.”

“I must once again say with nothing but sensitivity and respect: I cannot.”

Edric barked a laugh—short, sharp, and gone too quickly for me to enjoy. “You’re funny,” he said matter-of-factly. “Quick, clever, and charming. I truly do see why Luame chose you as my fate. If only you didn’t come with an airport’s worth of baggage with homicidal crazy packed in every case.”

“That’s just more proof we belong together.” I pointed at the both of us. “Crazy psycho killer and panty-sniffing, nudes-hoarding blackmailer. Match made in heaven.”

Edric chuckled again. “You’ve always got a comeback, don’t you.”

“And you’ve either got big, brass balls, or a broken thermometer where your danger sense should be.” The humor bleached out of my tone. “Who in their right mind tries to extort a homicidal crazy person?”

“One who has leverage. I’ve got a doomsday button too. If you try anything, those coordinates go wide,” he shot back. “Say goodbye to your blackmail and for what? Money you don’t even care about. Take the deal, Volana.” Edric held out his hand. “It’s the only fair one you’re going to get.”

“Hmm. Before I do, why don’t you do me a favor?” I tossed him the phone, surprising him. “You obviously didn’t look up where those coordinates lead, so do it now. See for yourself where Lucia is.”

Edric frowned. “Why? What does that matter?”

I shrugged, grinning shit-eatingly. “Humor me.”

Scowling harder, Edric stood up and moved around the armchair—keeping the furniture between him and me while he typed in the coordinates.

I stood there, eyes glued on his face waiting for—

Edric’s eyes bugged.

“Ah-ha!” I clapped. “Boom! I didn’t know the big reveal would come this soon, but it’s even better than I imagined.”

“What is this!”

“Shit! I should’ve had my phone out and snapped a pic of your face.”

Rage shattered Edric’s unsettling calm. Right then, he looked like he was about to leap over the armchair and tackle me. “This is a trick! My hack didn’t work. She found out and fed me false coordinates.”

I laughed. “I mean, even if that’s true, you’ve still got nothing. If you send the worst of Wolf Nation to that spot, the fallout will be...” I whistled, hands falling, and mimed the explosion. “Whether she’s actually there or not doesn’t matter. No one is going to risk it.

“Awww,” I mocked, pushing out my lips. Edric’s clenched jaw audibly cracked. “Did you really think I was that stupid? I knew there was a chance someone would go after my tech support, so I chose someone who lived in a place no wolf would go.”

“You’re a fucking monster.”

I winked. “Now you’re getting it.”

“What happened to you! You’re the high priestess of Wolf Nation—chosen by the moon goddess herself! Everyone who knew you said you were the sweetest, kindest person.” Edric roared up on me so fast, there wasn’t a chance of escape before he slammed his hands on either side of my head, trapping me against the wardrobe. “You were supposed to save us all. Make Wolf Nation the greatest dominion on the planet, and instead, you’re nothing but a traitorous psycho who’s only out for herself!”

“Me?!” Indignation burst through my calm. “I’m the one who’s only out for myself?! That’s fucking rich coming from the guy who just tried to sell out his friends and make a deal with a murderer, all so he could get rich!”

“That’s not why!”

“Oh, please.” I blew a raspberry right in his darkening face. “You think you can feed me some sob story about the money going to a good cause?”

“It is!”

I shoved up on him, smashing my nose against his. “Tainted blood money that you got from rolling around in the mud with me,” I hissed against his snarling lips. “No one who has to get money that way is doing it for a good reason.” I laughed, and his heart thrummed louder in my ears. “You’re right, baby. We are a match made in hell. For all your morals, in the end, Castor’s death is just something for you to trade on. A means to an end.”

“You’re wrong!” Wood splinters showered my neck as his claws shredded the wardrobe doors. “It was Castor who wanted this! He was going to get the money but—but now there’s only me and—and— I don’t have a choice!” Edric’s eyes sharpened. “But if I fucking did, it’d be you in the ground and not him.

“Castor was the best of people. He wasn’t a nice guy, he was a good man. He was going to do good. He wanted to help people ,” Edric tore from his throat. “He did nothing wrong and you killed him!”

I was expressionless in the face of his rage.

“So don’t you dare compare me to you ,” he spat, infusing so much hate into the word—my neck hairs stood on end. “Everything I do is in Castor’s honor. You can’t understand that because you’re a worthless piece of shit that I was going to betray the second I got my money. Of course I don’t give a fuck if they treat you fairly. I want you burning in the deepest, darkest hellpit they can throw you in— Scratch that, I’ll throw you in myself.”

“Wow,” I said lightly. Ducking his arm, I broke free from his orbit. “Strong words. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

“Fuck you.”

I tsked. “So hostile, but I’m not without pity. Going after Lucia is out, but I’m still willing to make a deal with you.”

Edric turned, his eyes tracking me under furrowed brows. “What are you talking about?”

“The two million dollars?” I drew it out like he was an idiot. “Did you forget?”

“What about it?”

“I will blackmail the council for you. Two million dollars, and I won’t tell anyone who it’s really for.” Moving to my bed, I draped myself over the sheets. “If it’s really for a good cause, far be it for me to stand in the way. It’s not like I give a shit if the council is out a couple mil. And if you saw the houses they live in, they don’t give a shit either.”

Edric moved slowly and deliberately toward the door. The one sensing a trap... was him. “What do you want?”

I raised a brow. “Can’t I be doing this out of the goodness of my heart? Apparently I’m a worthless piece of shit. I could use some good deeds to get me off the naughty list this year.”

“There is no goodness in your heart,” he replied, blunt as a truck. “I repeat, what do you want?”

“Fine,” I sighed. “I do want something in return, and since you said—yelled—yourself that I can’t trust you, I want payment now and in full.”

His forehead crumpled. “What payment?”

“I want those sex tapes of you and Nyx. All that hot man-on-man action. Right here, baby.” I wiggled my phone. “Now.”

“What the—! No!” he blared. “For fuck’s sake, is this all a joke to you?”

“You’re asking me that? Seems to me you don’t take this grand cause very seriously if hoarding a bunch of sexy videos is more important to you.”

“There are no videos!”

“Too late.” I snapped my fingers. “You should’ve denied it a long time ago. Now I know you’re lying.”

Edric sucked in a sharp, rough breath—visibly reining in his temper. “All right, let me make myself clear. I wouldn’t give you those videos for ten million dollars.”

“Damn you drive a hard bargain. Those tapes must be hot—”

“They are hot,” he sliced in, stuffing my reply back in my mouth. “They’re filthy fucking hot. We did things to each other that would blow your eyebrows off. Nothing but hard, sweating naked alphas going at each other like a starving man tears apart a ham.” He smirked. “Or a sausage.”

My breath hitched, choking me a little. Weakened arms slipped out from under me and I bounced off my face. I was picturing it. I was picturing it hard.

“But as much as I need that money, I’d never trade those videos for it because the thought of you getting off on anything to do with me makes me violently ill.”

My fantasy shattered into a million pieces.

“You’re never going to tempt me,” he hissed. “You’ll never see me naked. You’ll never touch me. I’ll never get you off, and we will never bond. You, Volana, won’t even get to fantasize about me in your dreams.”

Each word was a dagger to my wolf’s heart. I kept her pain off my face. “Is that so?”

“Yeah, that’s so,” Edric said softly, backing toward the door. “Because for every day your ass walks free and I walk without my money, I’ll make your life a living hell.

“That’s the deal and the only one you’re going to get,” he said, throwing open the door. “Take it or take it .”

Edric blew out, leaving me blinking after him.

“Someone’s a drama queen.” Peeling myself off the bed, I ducked into that shower I’d been waiting for. When I was done, I did some homework at my desk, then finally crawled into bed around three in the morning. I wouldn’t get nearly enough sleep, but my weary bones were just happy to sink into a pillow-top mattress.

Shutting off the light, my eyes fluttered closed.

Bang!

I bolted upright. Chilling, howling winds ripped through the window, and tore apart my room—knocking over the vanity, upending the furniture, tearing the sheets off my body and burrowing the cold so deep into my bones, no warm bath would ever get it out.

“What is going on!”

I clamped my hands over my ears, slack-jawed and helpless as raging, hurricane winds tore my room apart.

Edric’s voice slipped through my fingers, clear as if he was sitting right next to me, whispering in my ear.

“ Game on. ”