Chapter Eight
“...s tart the preparations ...”
“...unwise...”
“...have no choice...”
“...turn the public against us.”
Voices hit my sensitive ears first and dragged me from unconsciousness. I blinked awake and found myself staring up at a familiar ceiling.
The mess hall? How did I get here?
Something wet was on my forehead. I reached to wipe it away and found I couldn’t. My arm wouldn’t move. I turned my head to see why... and my heart stopped.
My throne sat tall, regal, and proud on the dais as did the six more fanned out on either side of it.
Sunella, Liliya, Denis, Elijah, Jabari, Hakim and the one sitting taller and smirking wider, leader of the alpha council—Cygnus Tahan.
That evil grinning bastard would’ve been what stole my attention, but it was the men kneeling at his feet that stopped my breath in its tracks.
Nyx, Edric, and Paxton knelt on the floor—backs bowed and heads straining to stay up under the heavy chains wrapped around their arms, legs, and necks. Standing on either side of them, whole and free, were Orion and Badr.
“What is this!” I shrieked. “What have you done? Let them go!”
Cygnus scowled, baring his teeth at me.
“I said let them go!” Wrenching my head up, I discovered someone had changed me out of my forest dress and put me in a sheer black gown—revealing every part of my body for all to see. It wasn’t horrible just for my nakedness, but because I’d worn this same dress once before.
The night of the ceremony.
“What the—” Terrible realization crashed into my head. “No!” I shot up, easily phasing through the chains. “I won’t do this, you disgusting bastards! How dare—?”
“Hold that thought, High Priestess,” said Liliya, the water councilwoman, “and look behind you.”
I turned around, and bile rose in my throat. Edric, Paxton, and Nyx weren’t the only ones bound in chains.
All the tables and chairs had been cleared out of the mess hall, leaving more than enough room for the secret police to dominate the space, and keep hard, steady glares on their captives.
Ava, Melisent, and all of my epsilon sisters held still against the swords pressed against their necks. Battered, bruised, bandaged, and chained, every one of them maintained their defiance—staring down all who looked down on them—including death.
Most wolves preferred to bite a head off to deliver a last and brutal point to their enemy. But cutting it off worked just as well, and it was clear, the secret police intended to do just that to the epsilons, Nia, Tracy, two women I didn’t recognize, and a young man who looked faintly familiar, but I was sure I’d never met.
One thing I did recognize all too clearly were the cameras beaming down on me from every corner in the room. I had no doubt they were on... and recording live.
“What are you doing?” I rasped, shock lowering my voice. “Who are they? Are you just dragging innocent, random people off the street now!” Suddenly I was screaming. “What the fuck is wrong with you! You don’t have to do this. You never have to do these horrible things, but every time you get a choice between right and wrong, you choose wrong!”
Liliya sniffed. “That is quite enough, High Priestess. We will not be lectured to by the likes of you when it’s your actions that brought us to these extremes. I’ll have you know that these individuals are neither innocent nor random. They are all charged with either inciting rebellion and treason against Wolf Nation, or aiding and abetting the traitors who did.”
She pointed at the young woman who was barely older than me. “Idalia Blaze.”
I stilled. Edric’s sister.
“Miriam Clarke.”
Paxton’s mother.
“Sol Drach.”
Nyx’s younger brother.
I knew why they were here—all of them—and it damn sure wasn’t for aiding and abetting treason. It was to force them to aid and abet the crimes to come.
“So,” Liliya continued. “While I can appreciate that those chains are a mere formality to you, High Priestess, you will remain in them for the duration of the ceremony or... examples will need to be made.” She gestured to a silent Nyx, Edric, and Paxton. “They’ve accepted that. It’s best you do too.”
“But you won’t do it,” I rasped even as I lay back down and put my wrists back in the chains. “You won’t hurt them. You definitely won’t hurt a clan leader’s son and heir.”
“Won’t we?” Jabari asked. “You’re not suggesting we grant him special treatment, are you? I thought your little crusade was all about equality.”
My stomach heaved as the councilmembers laughed—all except for the silent Cygnus.
“Jokes aside, you’re right,” Jabari continued. “It would be unfortunate to cut down so many promising members of our community because they were led astray by sentiment. As such, the council is willing to grant them pardons as long as the six of you cease your nonsense and carry out your sacred duty here for all to witness.”
I turned away from him, looking straight into a camera. “For those of you that need a translation from pompous ass, he just said they won’t kill the people we love and care about if I shut up and let my fates rape me for all to see.”
Bang!
Half the room jerked, including three of the secret police. Their eyes all flew where mine did to a fuming Cygnus Tahan.
Launching off my throne, Cygnus grabbed a sword and came straight for me.
“Hey,” I cried. “Hey! Stop! Stay the hell away from me!”
The sword flashed and pain ripped through my arm.
Clang!
Disbelief colored me when he tossed the sword away as quickly as he picked it up. Reaching for something over my head, Cygnus pulled back holding a cup that he pressed to my slowly healing cut. Confusion and then revulsion smothered me as the sick, perverted man tipped my blood directly into his mouth—drinking every last drop.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” The loathing in my voice chilled even me. “You’re insane.”
Cygnus smiled directly into my eyes, his teeth stained from my blood. “I assure you, girl,” he replied, voice clear as a bell. “I am quite sane.”
I rocked back. “Wha—?” I snapped to the cut. “How— How did—?”
“How did I lift the wretched affliction you cursed me with?” He stood towering over me. “How else but with the gift of the goddess running through your veins?”
“But I didn’t—”
“—know you had such a gift?” he finished, so fucking smug, I wanted to burn his vocal cords all over again. “There’s a lot you don’t know, and I’ll tell you why, it’s because you’re a silly, stupid, ignorant, spoiled child! Who we allowed to manifest delusions of grandeur that warped your mind and made you believe you had more of a purpose in life than sitting down, shutting up, and doing what you’re told!”
I growled, turning up my nose at the spittle showering my stomach. “Been waiting a long time to say that to me, haven’t you?” I laughed. “How did it feel, Tahan? If I’m so silly and stupid and useless for not being an alpha... what did that make you the last few weeks?”
His fists balled.
“I bet your mate threw a party for every fucking day she got relief from the morning, noon, and night love poems you recite to the bastard in the mirror.” I scoffed. “I bet you jerk off to your reflection too. The only thing that gets a narcissistic perv like you off is yourself.”
Pure hatred burned in his eyes. “Lamond.”
A sword cleaved the air.
Without pause, thought, or mercy, the officer severed Ava’s head from her shoulders.
“No!”
Screams lit the air. Melisent thrashed in her chains, shrieking her pain as Idalia and the others burst into tears. My jaw cracked, choking on a sob lodged in my throat.
He killed her. Just like that, he fucking killed her for the whole world to see!
“That is your last and only warning,” Cygnus hissed as his son stood silent and stoic behind him. “You will keep a civil tongue in your head, or they’ll lose theirs.”
The doors opened at that moment, welcoming in Vice Headmistress Rianna Ash.
“Vice Ash! You have to do something! These are innocent people. Innocent students! You’re a metal wolf. Free them. Get them far away from here!”
Cygnus’s laughter berated my ears throughout my whole plea. “Why on earth are you appealing to her, girl? You truly are stupid.”
I snapped to him, growling. “Not so stupid I didn’t install spy equipment on your little council plant?”
“Pardon me?” Ash cried.
“I read her emails and texts to Sunella, and she’s not cowed by you. Either of you! She stands up and pushes back against you just as much as she agrees with you, and she has to do that now.” I swung to Ash. “Cygnus is holding these people hostage to force my mates to rape me!”
Ash’s brows blew, jaw dropping.
“He just had Ava k-killed for nothing!” Voice cracking, my eyes filled with tears. “You know this isn’t right. You have to do something. Even your clan leader wants you to!” I had to shout louder to be heard over Cygnus’s howling.
“Enough of your bleating, Volana. She is not going to help you.” Cygnus moved to Ash’s side and threw an arm around her shoulder. I didn’t imagine the flash of distaste that went across her face. “I’ll tell you. Because you happen to be speaking to the newly appointed high priestess of Wolf Nation.”
A roaring sounded in my ears. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me quite well.” It was obscene how much he was enjoying this. “After you had a violent public breakdown, attacked and killed my son and your mate, and then took off to gods’ know where for over a year, we realized how little wisdom there is in shoving so much power on the shoulders of some random little wisp of an epsilon girl just because she’s missing a belly button.”
Faint sobs and the sound of the police cleaning and clearing away Ava’s remains were the backdrop to his droning.
“As such, we changed the law. From this point forward, it will be at the discretion of the council to appoint the high priestess and grant her the powers thereof, and your role as of now is to complete your duty to the pack, and then fuck off to whatever hole you disappeared into for the last year.”
I breathed hard, chest heaving and rolling. “This is a joke. You can’t possibly think Luame will stand for this. She burned a charlatan for pretending Luame was sending her visions of the future. What do you think she’s going to do to you for deluding yourself into thinking you get to decide who her chosen is!? Ash isn’t even an epsilon!”
He sniffed. “Luame will find no fault in me or my devotion. She also finds no fault in High Priestess Ash’s—epsilon or not. When she came into this school, did she not set about immediately implementing changes and heeding your false prophecy? She’s proven herself committed to Luame even in the wake of your lies.”
“The vision isn’t a lie!” Frustration strangled my throat. “Luame told me exactly what happens to the world if Project Destiny isn’t stopped. It’ll be the end of everything as we know it. You will rule on a throne of corpses!”
“Nonsense,” he breezed, dismissing me as easily as a malignant narcissist could. “The Golden Age of Wolves is foretold, and that is no lie. Luame is tired of us wolves living in the shadows and feeding off the scraps of beings that are weaker and stupider than us. She desires our rule. She demands it!
“You may not have the stomach for what needs to be done, little girl, but we will not fail in our duty to restore the wolves to their rightful place.”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely.”
“Luame’s will be done.”
One after the other, the alpha council chimed in their agreement.
“Are you hearing yourself?” I rasped, completely dumbfounded. “You’re so stubbornly attached to your idea of what Luame wants, you’re ignoring the truth of the one who actually speaks for her.”
“No, girl.” Cygnus’s hard, seething gaze pinned me through—holding me down harder than useless chains ever could. “You stopped speaking for her the day you killed my son. She did not want that.”
“Of course she didn’t fucking want that,” I roared, dam breaking. “She didn’t want you to kill your son! To sanction his death and allow him to be poisoned like his life was yours to sacrifice!”
His grin wiped away, washed under a flood of shock. That stupid evil fucker didn’t know... that I knew.
“You want the truth?” I shrieked, head whipping back and forth among my audience.
“Stop it,” Cygnus hissed.
“Castor found out just what kind of a lowlife slug his piece-of-shit father was, and when he tried to stop him—”
“SHUT UP!”
“CYGNUS HAD HIM POISONED WITH WOLFSBANE! HE—”
“Lamond!”
“No!” Ash’s hand shot up to do what... we’d never know.
Cygnus jerked her to the side at the last second, knocking her off-balance and making her trip over her heels.
Melisent was screaming before the sword fell. That scream cut off with a wet, thudding sound so horrible, I pitched to the side, freeing my arm from one of the chains, and vomited.
“Not another word out of you, you filthy lying bitch.” Cygnus’s red, golden eyes bulged out of his head. “How dare you accuse me of harming my boy. How dare you spin fairy tales of poison when all of Wolf Nation watched you kill him!
“Do you see? Do you see, all?” he beseeched the cameras. “The girl’s mind has snapped. We cannot have the spiritual leadership of our nation directed by a madwoman. That is why we had no choice”—he gestured to Ash—“but to appoint High Priestess Ash. Under the guidance of the council, she will represent the true wishes of Lu—”
“No.”
Cygnus ground to a halt. A terrible expression warped his face as he slowly turned to Ash. “Excuse me?”
“No,” she repeated, high and clear. “I will do nothing under the guidance of the council , but I will do all in service of Luame.” Firm and unafraid, she pushed up off the floor. “Forgive me, Councilman, but I simply do not agree with you or your claim that High Priestess Volana is lying.
“Because she’s right. Charlatans have been punished for claiming power from her that she did not give. Every day wolves are punished for swearing in her name. High priestesses themselves have been severely punished for revealing what they’ve been told in confessions,” she said, brows arched. “But all of a sudden you would have us believe that Luame would allow her to go around claiming false visions without so much as giving her a slap on the wrist? I do not think so.”
Sense was finally being spoken within this nightmare. I should’ve been relieved. I should’ve been cheering Ash on, but all I could do was lie there and cry as they carried Melisent, my friend, away.
“I believe Luame sent her a vision of a better, safer, equal society for all wolves, and for your sakes,” Ash said, sweeping over the council. “You should too.
“But even if you don’t, I will do everything in my power to lead Wolf Nation into that future, because while I don’t believe High Priestess Volana deserves any of the power and authority she’s stolen, I do believe in the mark on her stomach. She is Luame’s chosen, and she will be afforded the respect that honor bears.
“And so, Councilman.” She stepped back, sweeping her hand over the hostages. “You will stop murdering your citizens like the madperson you claim she is. You will send them to a court of law to be tried for their crimes like the civilized society we are.” Her expression hardened in the blink of her glowing eyes. “And you will release the high priestess, because if you think for a single second that I will allow the child of Luame to be chained to a dirty floor and raped for all of Wolf Nation to see, you are sorely mistaken.”
Paxton, Edric, and Nyx raised their heads as far as the chains allowed. Sharing a look, they dared to let hope shine in their eyes.
Cygnus hummed, head bobbing slowly. “I see. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me, High Priestess Ash, but before I counter, would you look there for a moment?”
Cygnus pointed to the serving window just as the blinds rolled up. Enclosed in the dark and privacy of the kitchens were four figures. Two secret police officers, and the two boys no older than twelve with swords held to their throats.
“Mommy!”
Rianna slumped like a puppet whose strings were cut, shock draining the strength, blood, and very soul out of her. “Boys?”
“Mom!”
“Boys!” Ash sprinted to them, claws tearing free, and got as far as the fist around her throat.
“Do not move or you’ll find out just how uncivilized I can be,” Cygnus hissed—too low for the cameras, but loud enough for me.
“Why are you doing this?” Ash rasped, her gaze only for her crying sons. “You’re insane! You’re the reason Luame is displeased with the alphas! You’re the cruelty, obsession, and insanity she’s turned her back on!”
“I assure you, I am far from insane.” Cygnus threw her.
Ash tumbled across the floor and crashed at Paxton’s knees.
“I am the only one thinking clearly,” Cygnus barked. “You say Luame’s delay in punishment is proof the girl’s lies are truth? If you had any sense in your head, you’d know the only reason she hasn’t punished the girl is because she’s yet to complete the bonds. Until she does, Luame’s true vision of the Golden Age of Wolves cannot be achieved.
“No,” he said, turning back to the cameras. “The fact is that Daciana Volana has betrayed Luame in the worst possible way... and she knows this. Volana knows the hellfire awaiting her and for that reason and that reason alone, she delays the ceremony and uniting with her mates.
“All of this stupid nonsense about upsetting the natural balance of our nation is nothing more than a smokescreen. It’s a lunatic having one last fun ride through the streets before the doctors come to lock her away.
“It truly disgusts me,” he spat, glaring at me. “How she lied, deceived, and upset all of you. Forcing clan leaders to attend her sham forums, conniving to rip children away from their alpha parents, and pointlessly riling up omegas who were perfectly content and happy with their lives until she convinced them anarchy would be a fun pastime.
“It’s because of her that we now must take drastic measures and expel every omega from Corvin Academy.”
“What?” Nia shouted. “Why!”
“Because she’s poisoned their minds like she’s poisoned yours,” he replied, calm and self-assured. “Everything that happened yesterday morning is laid at her feet. She confused the omegas into committing treason and pledging to serve her and her supposed pack. It’s because of this the alphas and loyal betas were forced to act—forced to fight back against her growing dangerous threat.”
Of course. Of course, this vile, twisted man takes an unprovoked attack and the murder of innocent students and turns it into a hero’s ballad for the alphas.
I was so sick I nearly threw up again.
“In the future, the only omegas who will be allowed in this school will be those recommended by their clan leaders who can attest to their loyalty.”
Subservience, he means.
“Anything even resembling a public forum is forbidden within these halls and without,” he said, “Loop Garou will soon become a private social service for alphas only, and every single change instituted in these halls in the last few weeks is revoked. Corvin Academy will return to how it was—a grand, esteemed institution that’s survived for centuries. It will not change because it need not change. Its reputation stands for itself.
“Isn’t that right, High Priestess Ash?” Cygnus pointed to her, but looked at her sons. I knew it was no coincidence that they were being held in the kitchen out of range of the cameras. “Do you support my decrees in your capacity as Luame’s voice?”
Ash shook, her chin trembling as she gazed at her children. Cygnus didn’t just plan what he’d say to me when he got his voice back. The man plotted everything down to the last detail, threat, hostage, and pressure point. He was leaving this room with nothing less than total victory over all of us. He wanted that vision of an immortal king ruling on earth for forever and a day, and he’d have it by any means necessary.
“Do you agree?” Cygnus bellowed, patience running thin. “Speak loud and speak for your people to hear you.”
“Y-yes!” Her voice caught on a sob. “I agree! In Luame’s name your decrees are just and right, Councilman.” She was crying too hard for anyone to buy this... except all those determined to. “As headmistress, I will return Corvin Academy to its rightful state”—she forced out the words—“under the council’s guidance.”
He clapped and the rest of the council joined in. “Well said, High Priestess, and thank you for lending your wisdom here today.” The absolute smugness in his tone grated on my ears. “Now, let us waste no more time. Luame has waited too long for her will to be done. We will not delay for another second.” Cygnus snapped his fingers. “Bring the water wolf first.”
“No,” Miriam screamed. “You will not do this, Cygnus. You will not turn my son into a rapist!”
Another sniff. “Whether or not it’s rape is entirely the girl’s choice. All she has to do is stop fighting her duty, lie still, and comply.”
Miriam gaped at him. “Spoken like an evil, fucking rapist pig yourself! How many women have you said that to!”
Cygnus reddened dangerously. “What did you just say to—?”