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
The hall was quiet as I made my way down the guest wing. It was well past midnight. I hadn’t slept. I hadn’t even bothered trying. Not when I didn’t know what Lucas was doing. It ultimately the reason I turned my phone back on. I didn’t think it would be likely Osric would blow up my phone all nigh
It felt like time was moving at a snail’s pace. Korinna tried to help by talking about Mom, but my heart just wasn’t in it. All I could do was pace to keep from going stir crazy. My mind kept going to Soloman and the council, praying they would make it out okay. Then back home to the Ironpaw Pack a
Lucas was evasive about the phone call he took. I knew he spoke to Soloman, but all I could get out of him was that Osric was upset that I had left. That wasn’t anything new. That may have been all it was about, but Lucas was on edge about the call. More than I would have expected.Still, I wasn’t
I didn’t take my eyes off Sutton for the rest of the evening. It irritated me that there were other people around when all I wanted was to have her to myself. But that wouldn’t be the best situation for the long term.Our bond was getting stronger. As amazing as that was, I had to tread lightly. We







