LOGINI sat in the dark room Soloman had found for us to hide out in. I’d picked a spot on the floor. My knees pulled up to my chest as I closed my eyes. I was trying to make sense of this new connection I was feeling. A connection that kept getting stronger by the minute. I was trying to organize through the heightened emotions coming through the tethers when I felt someone come to sit next to me. It wasn’t Lucas.“Soloman,” I said with a sigh. “I can’t do this.”“I’m not sure which daunting task you’re talking about, but I have no doubt that you’re wrong,” he said, his tone lighter than it had any right to be in that moment.He was trying to make me feel better. I wasn’t sure that was something that was possible at the moment.“You were the king’s Beta,” I commented. “I was still getting used to the pack being tethered to me. How do you deal with being connected to an entire nation?”“The same way you carry a pack,” he said. “You learn to compartmentalize. Our minds were built for this, m
I had been worried that there would be armed guards all over the campus as we headed for the library. However, I was surprised to find that the we only caught glimpses of them as they seemed to stick to the edge of the campus. I also saw more students than I expected to see. It wasn’t a lot, but for such a late hour, with the city destabilized, it was enough to wonder. Lyla led us straight to the library. She said it was probably the best place to start recruiting anyway. So, while I started to look into this whole blood moon business, they would start getting our distraction in place.“Are you sure there will be people there?” Jaden asked, reading yet another flyer posted in the hall. “These are lockdown instructions.”“I’m sure,” Lyla insisted. “We have midterms coming up soon. Some of the students may be scared to stay in their dorms or even to go back home, but there will definitely be a decent group that will be sticking to their study schedules well into the morning hours. I hav
I closed the distance between us. Lifting her face to look at me.“I don’t want to leave you, Sutton,” I told her. “You’re everything to me. I could never just leave you.”“But…?” She stared up at me expectantly.My hands fell to her shoulders, sliding down her arms as I tried to think of what to say.“I was never meant to be king, baby,” I told her gently. “They won’t accept it.”The sting registered first. My head snapping to the side before I could figure out what had happened. The burn from her palm making contact radiated through my jaw from where she had slapped me.“Don’t you fucking dare do that to me, Lucas Danvers,” Sutton hissed venomously, pushing hard at my chest. “Don’t you give me that bullshit excuse. I know you don’t want this but don’t try to kid yourself into thinking you can’t do the job better than anyone else in this country.”“Sutton, I have no idea how to run a damn country,” I snapped back.“And I do?” Sutton exclaimed, her voice echoing loudly through the sto
“Why the King’s Moon?” Sutton asked.“Raphe was accurate when he said the blood moon appears when there is a major shift in power,” Soloman explained, encouraging us to start moving again. “What are the biggest changes in power in any civilization?”“The end of a dynasty,” I commented.“And the start of a new one,” Soloman confirmed. “A blood moon is a kingmaker. An indicator that the moon goddess herself blesses the new ruler and their lineage. A blood moon has appeared for nearly every regime change within the last five thousand years.”“Nearly?” Sutton questioned.“Three times a new bloodline took the throne without a blood moon,” Soloman continued. “One didn’t last more than a generation. The other was one of the most turbulent times of our history. It was four generations of infighting, corruption, natural disasters, famine. You name it. The third… well, that was when your family came to power.”“I see,” Sutton said. “You said made it sound like my family basically won the crown
I was quiet as I followed Hank and Raphe through the campus. Keeping Sutton close and my focus on our surroundings. Rhonen was surprisingly calm himself, even though I could still feel his anxiety over not being able to sense Nova either. Neither of us had a good feeling about where the night was going. Whether we succeeded or not, I wondered if we would ever see the event as a victory.I also didn’t like the change I’d seen in Raphe over the past few minutes. Ever since he realized we could be experiencing a blood moon, his demeanor had changed. He was raised to take the throne. He had spent the last week preparing himself to take it from his own father. But would he betray Sutton to keep it?I forced myself to keep my mind on that possibility. I couldn’t think about what it would mean if she did end up taking the crown. I couldn’t think about how she would flourish. I couldn’t think about how she was meant for that kind of greatness. I couldn’t think about how quickly I would be lef
“We don’t know that for sure,” Soloman argued again. “The last person to see the rising blood moon was the queen mother. It was her son who took the throne. From what we know, those who see it are almost always she-wolves. This could just mean your victory as much as hers.”A lot of voices started to speak at once. The weight in my gut sank even further as I understood that Lucas suspected the same thing. That’s why he seemed so defeated. He didn’t want to rule. He never did. My chest felt tight. A new fear crept in.Would he leave me?“Enough,” I burst out, quieting everyone. “I don’t care what some dusty old books say. I don’t want the crown. And no moon or goddess can make me take it. That has never been what this was about. That was never the plan. If we win, Raphe takes the throne. What I want to know is why you think this means we’re running out of time?”Raphe was silent. From the way he was fisting his hands, I suspected he couldn’t answer me. At least not in a way that would
Sutton had a restless night. She struggled to get comfortable enough to get any decent sleep. After a few hours of watching her suffer, I insisted on bringing her home. Ultimately, she managed to talk some sense into me and stayed for the remainder of the night.It was almost noon when I finally go
It was late when we arrived at the manor house. Jack was fast asleep. We didn’t want to wake him, so Lucas carried him up to the spare bedroom. Heading to our room, I started to get changed into my sleep clothes. Lucas cam up behind me as I removed my shirt. His hand touched the small of my back ne
I was back to work the next morning. With a contingency of guards, of course. Lucas was insistent on making sure I was never left alone. I didn’t mind. I was being introduced to more pack members and felt like I was working alongside them. Well… that they were working a
It felt like the earth had been pulled out from under me. If I hadn’t already been sitting, I was sure I would have collapsed. My mind reeled as I questioned what I’d just heard. Nova inched into my consciousness.“That’s not possible,” I insisted. “I saw him… He had to be… You told me he had to be







