Beasts

by Angelina Kanan

  Our current plan sucked. We were finding and interviewing people, trying to find anyone with a motive. Some of them had mates on the mainland, or never found their mates, or were living happily on the island. None of us were having any luck, and I wanted nothing more than to destroy something. My anger was growing the longer it took. It had been at least a week of trying to narrow our search, and my patience was thinning. What was happening to my mate?

  I felt her reaching out for my mind on occasions, but it was never more than a reach. Was she upset with me? When I tried searching for her back, it seemed so faint. I wanted to believe it was the distance, but I couldn’t be sure.

  Several days went by where all we did was line people up and question them. We were all going a little stir crazy. I decided to stretch my legs, going down to where Nomi was being kept. I felt bad that I’d been unable to visit her. I knew she was feeling betrayed and hurt.

  She was sitting on the bed, glaring at me as I entered. I watched her, waiting for her to break. I was curious to see what she’d say to me. I deserved her anger and would accept her lashing out if that’s what she chose to do. Her chest heaved as she let out a loud, drawn-out, dramatic sigh. I raised an eyebrow. She smirked. “You know I didn’t do this, that’s why you’re here. Who did?”

  I shrugged. I had truly believed Cain or Lucian would come forward to keep Nomi from my wrath. I had miscalculated and now had to continue with my stupid plan. Were any of my plans great? I’d never get Selene back if I kept thinking like an idiot. “I don’t know.”

  “Cain or Lucian, right? Someone targeted Old Moon, and only your inner circle knew about her. Which do you think it was?”

  “You know which one.”

  “You have a better plan than waiting for a confession from him, right?”

  “We’re currently searching through the scientists from the crypt.”

  “Have you tried looking for her mother? She’d have a pretty big vendetta against that pack, I’d have thought that’s where you’d begin. Oh, wait… Didn’t she say her mother was dead? Shoot.”

  “No, she’s alive. It never even occurred to me to look.”

  “You’ve got to stop worrying about her or you’ll never be able to focus. You have fought too hard for too long to lose her. Besides, if I stay down here any longer, I’m going to start looking like a vampire; I miss the sun.”

  I laughed, “It hasn’t even been two weeks.”

  “Still too long.” She pouted.

  I went back upstairs, trying to recall the name Selene had told me. It had been something Stele…

  “We found something,” Tasmin announced when I entered the council room.

  My eyebrows rose in surprise. “Oh?”

  “Since we’ve narrowed the list through the interviews, we went through the names again to see if we could cross match any of them. We found a woman who had been from Old Moon with her mate and returned here after exile.”

  “What’s her name?”

  “Eliza Stele. Do you think this could be the answer?”

  I nodded grimly. “That’s Selene’s mother.”

  ✽✽✽

  I arranged a meeting with her, inviting her into the castle for tea. When she arrived, she was nervous. I had never met her before, but I had a feeling she had dreadful memories of being here. Many of us did.

  I watched as her eyes continued to flick around, never staying on anything for longer than a few seconds. “Ms. Stele,” I led her to my council room, not wasting any time. “As you know, I’m Sebastian. I am Selene’s mate.”

  Her eyes widened. Of all the reasons she thought she was here; this wasn’t one of them. “My lord, it is an honor.”

  I shook my head, “No need for all of that. I thought we might be able to talk about the wendigo problem.”

  “Oh,” She nodded. “I’m sorry, I know little about it.”

  “Lucian told me.”

  Lucian had told me nothing. My instincts told me this problem began with him and this was the only way to test it. If they were working together, I would find out now. She reacted how I thought she would, nerves increasing. I’m sure she believed she was controlling her emotions well, but I knew better. Eliza opened and closed her mouth several times, words not coming out.

  Her shoulders slumped, and she closed her eyes. “We thought we were doing what was best for everyone. With another threat, we’d be united. I just wanted to see my daughters, to be with my mate.”

  I didn’t miss the fact that she said daughters. Did she believe Gabby was alive still? “Have you made contact with your mate recently?”

  She averted her eyes, “I told him about the new plan.”

  I narrowed my eyes, still pretending to play along. “And he said?”

  Eliza struggled to hold back her smile. “He told me it was an excellent plan, and he agreed.” She shook her head quickly. “I’m sorry I know you want answers, but please… You’re Selene’s mate?”

  I didn’t know what this new plan was or even what the old plan had been, but I had her where I wanted. Lucian better hope I don’t get my hands on him. I knew Selene felt a lot of pain knowing her mom was alive and had no part in her life. I decided to give Eliza what I could.

  “I am her mate. Your daughter is brilliant, Eliza.”

  Tears were in her eyes, “I didn’t know it was her. I was in the woods for the Hunt. I saw her at the festival; I watched you dance together. I didn’t recognize my own daughter.” I watched the emotion catch up to her, unsure what to say. I really wanted to figure this out so I could get back to my mate.

  “Eliza, I promise I will reunite you with your daughter if you work with me. Help me stop this.”

  “Stop what? It’s already done… Didn’t Lucian tell you?” Her voice slowed to a stop, growing quiet. “He didn’t tell you anything; you were testing me.”

  “I see where Selene gets her intelligence from. I had a feeling, and I followed it, and I was right. You must tell me everything.”

  “We called it off before you ever went back to the mainland. The wendigos have been on their way here since. Lucian said our new queen was going to accomplish everything we had been trying to and changed his mind about the plan.”

  Were they just trying to create peace? It was messed up and wrong, but their motives had been true. It made me happy to know Lucian believed in Selene, but it did nothing to soothe the sting of betrayal. “Why are they coming back here? What was the plan when they got to the island?” None of this made sense to me.

  “We created a failsafe. They’ve all got an implant that allows us to make them self-destruct. It’s kind of like a bomb, laced with silver. The bomb is voice activated by either Lucian or me.”

  “If they’ve been on their way since then, where are they?”

  “There’s more of them than you think, My Lord.”

  “Call me Sebastian, please.”

  “Sebastian, there are many of them. We had to find a way to get them here. It takes them longer than the few days you take to go back and forth.”

  It still wasn’t adding up. “That’s still a long time for them not to reach here.” I started pacing back and forth, worry shooting through my body. If they were on the way here, I had to stay until they arrived. I needed to know the situation was handled completely before attempting to leave.

  OLD MOON: Selene’s POV

  “Selene, I need you to listen to me very closely.” Gabby was holding my face, forcing me to look at her. “You cannot trust Dad, okay? Whatever you do, don’t forget that.”

  It was the only coherent thing she’d said to me since I was locked up. I didn’t remember many of our encounters as it was hard to tell when I was and wasn’t asleep.

  It was at the two-week point when Brett was found. Jackson led him into the room to talk with us. Apparently, he’d taken cover when everything went down. He was little enough that no one would suspect him of things, but smart enough to be where it would help him.

  Brett sp
ent a lot of time surveying my father. He believed Dad was plotting something. He spent a lot of time in the woods alone, sometimes going farther toward the water. Whatever he was up to couldn’t be good. I didn’t know what he’d be doing in the woods or near the water. Maybe he was setting up a trap for when the lycans came back. It wouldn’t be surprising.

  It wasn’t long after that point that they locked both Brett and Jackson in the cell with us. Tate and my father had found the two alone in Jackson’s office. They accused them of planning to help us escape and labeled them as traitors. Tate gave my father his alpha privileges and sent Jackson into the cells as punishment.

  My strength thinned the longer I stayed in here, my mind struggling to form intelligent thoughts. Awake, the pain paralyzed me. With my daily injections, I was slowly losing myself. I knew that when the 4-week date had been reached, I would welcome death.

  I seemed to be more coherent in my dreams; different emotions drowning me each night. I had failed at everything, and my mind wanted to remind me of this every chance it could. Jackson had now lost his pack because of all of this. Sebastian would be forced to live without his mate forever. I’d never get to meet my mother.

  I hadn’t thought about what it would mean with my father in charge. There would be no mercy or forgiveness. No leniency would be awarded.

  At some point during the ordeal, things started to change. There was no reason behind how or why, but I was starting to feel better. Minor pieces of strength were returning to me, giving back pieces of my mind with it. I held on to hope that we could get out of here. Maybe this meant Sebastian was close. This thought sobered me more than I had anticipated, perfect clarity filling my mind for the first time in weeks. He would come for me and this would all be over.

  CHAPTER 39

  LUNAR ISLAND: Sebastian’s POV

  I let Nomi out of her cell before the wendigos arrived. I needed people I could trust by my side to handle the situation. Lucian had been eluding me, and I wondered if he knew I was onto him. I still didn’t know what the original plan had been, but that was the least of my concern. They’d changed their mind, and now I was left to clean it up. Why start something this big, just to self-destruct?

  I called a council meeting, intending to confront Lucian before moving forward. My issue with him would be set aside at the moment, but he needed to know he wasn’t off the hook. He froze in the doorway at the sight of Nomi, confusion and nervousness radiating off him. “Hi, Nomi.” He joined us in the room slowly.

  She smirked at him, “Surprised to see me, Luc?”

  “I am, actually.” He looked at me. “Seb…” My glare was hard and angry, confirming that I knew it was him. He swallowed, then nodded. “I can explain, if you’ll let me.”

  “You will, but not right now. The wendigos are taking longer to arrive than they should, I believe you’re being tricked. Eliza told her mate; did you tell anyone?”

  “She was the only one I communicated with; I swear.”

  “Maybe they’re just late, Seb.” Nomi spoke up.

  Tasmin nodded, “Her own mate wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.”

  I ran my hand through my hair, desperate to remember all I could about Selene’s father. My blood ran cold. “He killed his daughter; he might hurt his mate.”

  The energy in the room came to a stop, all of them struggling with that information. It brought up memories of Drakov hurting me. That connection made my heart hurt. Selene had suffered at the hands of an evil parent. I’d had the people on my council to lean on during the aftermath, Selene had been alone. While she had chosen to run away, that didn’t make it better. She’d found her pack, but where were they now? Leith had told me about the two abandoning her to join Old Moon and I couldn’t imagine how she felt. The people she’d found after fleeing her life had abandoned her.

  We attempted to come up with a plan for when the wendigos arrived. With us believing something was planned, we placed them in the tunnels beneath the island. They were designed so no one could get in or out if you didn’t want them to. No one would even know anything was there.

  I struggled with whether to allow them to self-destruct. We saw with Eli that they can talk and are intelligent beings. However, they were only able to exist that way by being sired and controlled by a lycan. If all it took was a bite to control them, anyone could do it. That was a dangerous thing to exist. I didn’t want to keep them in the tunnels or the crypts as a situation like the one we were in currently might arise again. I was afraid I had no choice. This would be no different than ending Drakov’s tyranny; an impossible choice to save the lives of others. I felt sick thinking about it.

  I had Eliza and Lucian separate one wendigo from the others, to see what happened when one of them self-destructed. Eliza explained it should be quick and easy, like a light switch. She was right. After telling him to self-destruct, it collapsed. But then, so did she. I didn’t waste any time running in after her. Selene had never met this woman; I couldn’t let her die. Nearing her body grew difficult, the air thick. My body felt weak and dizzy, shaking painfully. Wolfsbane. I coughed violently, but refused to leave her there. Eliza would die if I didn’t get her out of here. I lifted her body from the ground and struggled my way to safer air.

  I collapsed once we were far enough away, coughing and choking in air as quickly as I could. Wolfsbane was outlawed on the island. It was toxic to us. It entered our bodies and weakened everything. Eliza had been wrong to trust her mate. He somehow put the wolfsbane in the wendigos so when they were killed it would be released, killing us, as well. If he had this much hatred for us that he wanted us dead, what did that mean for Selene?

  OLD MOON: Selene’s POV

  I lost him. I wasn’t sure how or why, but he was gone. I couldn’t feel Sebastian anymore. There hadn’t been pain when it happened. One minute I felt whole, then the next I was empty. I had been gaining my strength back slowly, still not understanding how. Despite that, I still struggled. Weeks of being in a cell, tortured with silver, had my mind slipping away from me. This stopped that. It reminded me what this was about. No matter what had happened, peace was the end goal. If he was dead, the lycans were my responsibility. I had to come out of this alive to give them the future they deserved.

  “Leith?” I called over to him. He rarely spoke while we were in here. Brett tried constantly to get the both of us to interact with him, but no one really did. Eli and Jackson seemed to be getting along with him. Whether it was just to stay positive or because they enjoyed his company, I couldn’t tell. My voice was scratchy and hoarse, so I cleared my throat to try again. “Leith!”

  He looked up at me, eyes tired and red. He had dark bags under them, and his skin was paler than usual, begging to see sunlight. “Selene?” It barely came out, and he made a noise that could only be an attempt at a chuckle. “I sound… horrible.” Everyone laughed in agreement.

  “Leith,” I started again. “He’s gone?”

  He stared at my face, defeat evident on his. “Yeah,” he sighed. “I can’t feel him anymore.”

  “I have to get out of here. If he’s dead, this trial is over with and we might as well finish it now.”

  The sadness was overwhelming, none of them wanting me to deal with this. They were all aware I had no part in this, but would take the punishment, nonetheless. My father was merciless; he’d proven before that being family wouldn’t save you from anything. There was a possibility I wouldn’t come out of this alive.

  “Jackson, I need you to talk to Dad through your pack link. Tell him it’s over and I need to speak with him.”

  “Can’t we just wait, Selene? Wait until the month is up.”

  All I wanted was to curl into a ball and cry. I had waited forever to feel the way I did with Sebastian. Peace and joy seemed effortless and inevitable around him, and now that was lost. Sitting around seemed pointless; I’d rather find out the punishment and get it over with. I had a pack that I needed to think about.

  ✽✽�
�

  It didn’t take him long to bring me out of the cell and into a room with Tate. The light outside the cells made me want to retreat back to my cage the minute I left it. I wasn’t sure how long I’d even been in there, but I knew it wasn’t the eternity it had felt like. My eyes were stinging with unshed tears, but I ignored it and focused on my task.

  “Jackson said you have something to say?” Was the first thing he said to me. There was no sympathy or concern for my wellbeing. It stung more than I would’ve liked it to.

  “Sebastian is dead.” I sounded hollow, like everything that made me was gone, leaving behind a shell. I met his eyes, daring him to upset me. My wolf was unhinged, yearning for blood to be spilt.

  “They all are.”

  I jerked back, that being the last thing I had expected to hear. My mind was reeling, disbelief on my face. My father was smug. “What do you mean?”

  “The lycans are gone, Selene. You couldn’t tell?”

  I didn’t know what that would feel like, so I wouldn’t know the difference between losing my mate and losing my pack. The world fell out from beneath me at the thought. How could this happen? Everything I’d ever needed was being ripped away from me. Of course, my father had something to do with it. Was this what Gabby had meant?

  “What did you do?”

  “Do you really want to know?” I nodded at him, unable to confirm with my voice. This was too much. “Your mother was alive and well on Lunar Island all these years.”

  “I know.” I whispered, staring at the table. I didn’t want to see his face as he spoke; his enjoyment was making me want to attack him.

  “I guessed you might have figured that out when you visited. No matter. She visited me many years ago about a plan to bring forth peace. Eliza was working with the lycan prince to evolve the wendigo species.”

  I was shaking at the thought. She had been working with the prince. That must be why I had a nasty feeling when I had been around Lucian. Somehow my wolf must’ve sensed it.