Chapter 59

MISTY

A week had passed since Axel’s death, and it had taken me just as long to unwind. The clean-up operations were enormous, not just the damage to the building.

Lloyd commissioned a plaque with every wolf’s name on it before last rites were performed.

Most of the squads that hadn’t been accepted into the Shadow Moon Pack had no option but to follow Axel’s alpha command and could not be considered traitors.

That is why Axel instructed the mercenaries to kill any werewolf, regardless of whether they were operating under an alpha command.

Lloyd took it hard. He felt responsible for the lives of the 436 wolves. Beginning the day after the battle, he did not rest until everyone had been accepted into the pack.

Looking back, Axel must have known how time-consuming it would be to accept everyone into the pack and capitalized on it, striking fast and using the mercenaries.

Adam had managed to secure and destroy the server used to download all images of shifters, and there had been a lot. A few things had been leaked, but they were mostly too dark and grainy to make out.

The atmosphere in the palace had shifted dramatically—everyone seemed lighter and happier. Laughter echoed through the hallways more often now, filling me with a deep sense of pride.

There were a few issues with the wireless router and boosters glitching. Apparently, the power cut had caused them to malfunction.

A few odd rumors were flying around. Staff said they had the feeling someone was watching them, but I put that down to paranoia. We’d been recorded, and everyone felt a little vulnerable.

Lloyd and I still occupied the same bedroom, and neither of us had broached the subject of alpha king and luna.

While he familiarized himself with a million things and was inundated with queries, I stood by his side to help. Today, I finally wanted to retrieve my backpack and read what was written in the grimoire.

I walked into Shelley’s office only to find it empty.

~“What’s that smell?”~ Cammy asked.

~“What smell?”~

~“Smells like pepper steak.” ~

~“Pepper steak? Are you hungry?”~

“Are you looking for Shelley?” one of the bookkeepers asked. I couldn’t remember her name and just nodded. “She’s taken some personal time off. She lost quite a few friends, and…,” the woman trailed off.

“No problem. Maybe you can help. I’m looking for my backpack, it was left here ages ago.”

“Oh, yes, it’s in the cabinet. Let me get it for you.”

The woman handed me my backpack, and now I wanted a quiet place to read Kiralah’s eulogy. Probably not the right word to describe it, but that’s how I felt.

I wandered back to the main staircase when I saw some of the guards carrying crates of pistols, machine guns, and night vision goggles.

A pistol appealed to me. And why not? Just because I had claws didn’t mean I was invincible. I’d never fired one, but that was easily remedied.

~“Really?”~ Cammy chided.

~“Yes, I felt vulnerable, with all those mercenaries shooting at everything that moved, and we were sitting ducks.”~

~“We recover from gunshots, as you well know.”~

~“Not in the head, we don’t. I miss the magic flowing through my veins.”~

~“I know.”~

I waited until the guards came back and followed their fresh scent to the dungeon to find a mass of pistols, machine guns, and night vision goggles stacked on the table and floor. What was Lloyd intending to do with them?

After searching through them, I found a pistol with a mother-of-pearl handle. It fitted nicely into my hand, and I hid it in my backpack.

~“Chels?”~ I linked, a plan forming in my mind. ~“Feel like helping me with something?”~

~“Don’t,”~ Cammy warned.

~“What?”~

~“Meet me at the side gate.”~

~“Okay.”~

I didn’t have to wait too long for Chelsea, but she eyed me suspiciously.

“What?” I asked.

“You’ve got that look on your face…”

“What look?”

“That stubborn look you get when you’ve set your mind to something,” she clarified, smirking.

~“I stole a gun from the dungeon and thought we could sneak out for some target practice,”~ I linked her, trying to sound casual.

Her reaction was immediate—eyes wide with disbelief, lips parted in shock. ~“You what?”~ she linked, staring at me as if I’d grown another head. ~“Are you serious? You stole a gun?”~

I shrugged nonchalantly, though my heart raced with excitement. ~“It’s not like anyone’s going to miss it. It’s one of the mercenaries’ guns.”~

Chelsea leaned in, lowering her voice. “Do you have any idea how reckless that is? If Tanner or Lloyd find out—”

“They won’t,” I interrupted, grinning. “Come on, Chels… I no longer have magic, and you don’t have to get close to your enemy when you have a gun,” I begged.

She folded her arms, shaking her head with a hint of a smile tugging at her lips. “We’ve defeated the enemy, in case you forgot. But I’ll admit…I always wanted to fire one.”

“Fine,” Chelsea sighed, glancing around. “But if we get caught, you’re taking the fall.”

“Deal,” I agreed.

We walked casually to the tree line as though we were going for a run. Undressing, we stuffed everything into the backpack before shifting. Chelsea’s wolf, Aurelia, and Cammy greeted each other joyfully.

~“Now, let’s find a spot far enough from the palace so no one hears us,”~ I suggested, and Cammy gripped the backpack between her teeth.

We were barely past the tree line when Cammy stumbled and stopped.

~“What’s wrong with you?”~ I asked.

~“This place feels creepy,”~ she said, and slowly padded along.

The forest was eerily quiet, almost tense. We barely ran for about ten minutes when we reached a small clearing.

We shifted, and Chelsea spun on her heel. “I’ve never been in this forest, but it feels odd. Like something bad is gonna happen,” Chelsea said softly.

“I think we’re all still recovering from what happened,” I said placatingly. “There’s no one nearby.” I sniffed cautiously in every direction, and the forest did feel wrong, but I ignored it. We came here to shoot a gun, nothing more.

Not bothering to get dressed, I dug the gun out when I realized what we’d forgotten—something to shoot at.

“Dammit, what am I going to shoot at?” I asked, hefting the pistol in exhilaration.

“Fuck. A tree?” Chelsea suggested.

There was nothing else to shoot, and I felt a pang of guilt shooting at a tree. Examining the pistol, I released the safety and aimed, Chelsea standing beside me. I’d seen enough movies to know the basics.

“You gotta squeeze the trigger,” Chelsea advised. She’d seen the same movies I had.

My hands trembled slightly as I aimed, but the excitement overrode my hesitation, and I pulled the trigger.

The crack of the gunshot echoed through the trees, louder than I’d expected. The recoil jolted through my arms, and I stumbled back a step. Had I hit it?

Chelsea’s eyes widened, her hands flying to her ears. “Holy crap! That was ~loud~! I bet the whole palace heard that.”

I laughed, feeling the rush of adrenaline surge. “Too late to worry about that now! Your turn.”

Chelsea hesitated for a moment but then took the pistol with a determined look. “All right, let’s see what all the fuss is about.” She aimed at the same tree, her stance mirroring mine. The shot rang out, and she let out a breathless laugh.

“This is actually kind of fun,” she admitted, a spark of excitement in her eyes.

“I know, but we’d better get back. Now that I know what it feels like, I’m keeping it on hand, just in case,” I said, stowing the pistol.

We ran back in wolf form, shifted, and dressed just before the tree line.

Sneaking back into the palace proved a little more difficult. Guards were assembled, gazes snapping toward us the minute we cleared the tree line.

“Luna?” one guard said, a frown on his face.

“We heard gunshots,” Chelsea said, cool as a cucumber, pointing into the forest.

“Yes, it must have been that way,” I echoed, pointing in the same direction.

And then my heart dropped.

“I can smell a fired gun coming from your backpack, Misty,” Lloyd’s deep voice echoed behind me.

~Fuuuck…~