Chapter 22: Pack Politics

POV: Marcus Ravencrest

The look on my son's face when he sees I betrayed him almost makes me feel guilty. Almost.

"You sold us out," Kael says, and I can hear his wolf snarling beneath the words.

"I made the smart choice," I correct him. "Something you've forgotten how to do."

Luna Torres stands beside me, her eyes glowing with victory. Behind us, her rogue army fills the broken gateway. But I'm not here for Luna's win. I'm here because my son has become weak, and weak alphas get their packs killed.

"Marcus," Vincent Castellano snarls from behind the fallen table. "I trusted you."

"Your first mistake," I tell him. "I've been planning this longer than you know."

That's not fully true. Two hours ago, I was ready to help Vincent save his daughter from Luna. But then I got a phone call that changed everything.

"Dad," Kael says frantically, "Luna killed Emma. She killed your daughter. How can you work with her?"

"Because sometimes you have to work with your enemies to destroy your bigger enemies," I say simply.

The phone call came from someone I never expected to hear from again. Someone who's been dead for fifteen years, according to all the papers.

My brother Roberto.

"Hello, Marcus," he said when I answered. "I hear you're having some family trouble."

I nearly dropped the phone. "Roberto? But you're dead. You died in that car crash."

"I faked my death," Roberto explained quietly. "Luna Torres was hunting me and my family. The only way to protect them was to hide."

"Then who did we bury?"

"A shapeshifter who owed me a favor. He took my place so Maria and Aria could live normal lives."

My head spun. "But Maria is dead too. Luna killed her."

"No," Roberto said quietly. "Luna killed a different shapeshifter. Maria has been in hiding for five years, waiting for the right time to strike back."

That's when everything I thought I knew fell apart.

"Where is she now?" I asked.

"Close enough to help," Roberto said. "But first, we need Luna to share her true plan. She's not just after Aria's power, Marcus. She's after something much bigger."

"What?"

"The Luna-Moon treaty isn't just about territory," Roberto stated. "It's about a tool. A supernatural tool that can control every werewolf pack in North America."

I felt my blood turn cold. "What kind of weapon?"

"The kind that makes free wolves into slaves. Luna aims to use Aria's blood to activate it. But she needs Aria to come to her freely, or the spell won't work."

"So you want me to pretend to betray everyone?"

"I want you to make Luna think she's winning," Roberto said. "Right up until the moment we destroy her."

Now, standing in Kael's wrecked living room, I have to hope my brother's plan works. Because if it doesn't, everyone I love is going to die. "Luna," I say aloud, "the girl is yours. But I want Vincent Castellano for myself."

Luna nods approvingly. "Of course. Family pride must be satisfied."

But Aria steps forward before anyone can move. The power coming from her makes the air shimmer like heat waves.

"Actually," she says in a voice that carries supernatural power, "I think it's time everyone learned the truth."

"What truth?" Luna asks, but I can hear uncertainty in her voice now.

"The truth about why you really want me dead," Aria continues. "It's not just about territory or power, is it?"

Luna's eyes narrow dangerously. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't you?" Aria smiles, and it's not a nice smile. "You're not really Luna Torres at all. You're Luna Blackwood."

The name hits me like a punch to the chest. Blackwood is the family that was killed by the Luna-Moon witches fifty years ago. They were the pack that broke the supernatural peace pact by trying to enslave other werewolves.

"That's impossible," I say. "The Blackwood line died out."

"That's what everyone thought," Aria says. "But Luna's grandma survived. She changed her name and spent fifty years planning payback against both the Luna-Moon witches and the Ravencrest pack."

Luna's face twists with rage. "Clever girl. But learning the truth won't save you."

"Won't it?" Aria asks. "Because here's what else I know. The weapon you're looking for? The one that can control werewolf packs? It doesn't exist."

Luna goes very still. "You're lying."

"Am I? The Luna-Moon pact was never about creating a weapon. It was about stopping one from being made. My great-grandmother made sure of that when she destroyed the Blackwood pack's slavery spell."

I watch Luna's face change from confidence to doubt to pure fury.

"It doesn't matter," Luna snarls. "With your power and your bloodline, I can make a new spell. One that's even stronger."

"Not if I don't cooperate," Aria points out.

"Oh, but you will cooperate," Luna says with a nasty smile. "Because if you don't, I'll start killing everyone you care about. Starting with your precious werewolf boyfriend."

She nods to her rogues, and they raise their guns toward Kael.

But that's when everything goes wrong with Luna's plan.

The windows burst inward as shapes pour through them. Not rogues this time, but my own pack members. The real Ravencrest dogs, led by someone I never expected to see again.

My daughter Emma leaps through the broken glass in her wolf form, very much alive and very angry.

Luna looks at Emma in shock. "But I killed you five years ago!"

"You killed a shapeshifter," Emma says as she changes to human form. "Just like you've been doing to lots of people. But we've been watching you, Luna. Waiting for you to make your move."

"Emma," I say, hardly believing my eyes. "You're alive."

"Uncle Roberto saved me the same night he saved himself," Emma says. "We've been working together ever since, planning for this moment."

Luna's army of rogues suddenly looks a lot less confident as more wolves pour through the windows. Not just Ravencrest pack members, but wolves from other packs too. Wolves who've been hiding, waiting for the right time to strike.

"You see, Luna," Aria says quietly, "you made one big mistake."

"What mistake?"

"You thought everyone would stay loyal to their old enemies instead of working together against a new threat. But when you started killing innocent people, you united everyone against you."

That's when Vincent Castellano stands up with a tool I've never seen before. It looks like a gun, but it's shining with blue light.

"This is a Luna-Moon witch weapon," Vincent says. "Designed specifically to kill rogue werewolves who break supernatural law."

Luna laughs, but it sounds forced. "You think one magic gun can stop my army?"

"Not one gun," Vincent says. "Fifty of them."

The room fills with blue light as humans and werewolves alike pull out similar glowing weapons. Luna's rogue army finds themselves surrounded and outgunned by a union they never saw coming.

"Impossible," Luna whispers.

"Actually," says a new voice from the hallway, "it's been five years in the making."

Everyone turns to see a lady step through the smoke and broken glass. She's tall and beautiful, with Aria's eyes and Maria's smile.

"Hello, Luna," the woman says calmly. "Remember me?"

Luna's face goes white with fear. "Maria Martinez. But you're dead!"

"No," Maria says with a cold smile. "But you're about to be."

I stare at my sister-in-law in wonder. "Maria? But how?"

"The same way Roberto and Emma survived," Maria says. "We've been planning this for years. Letting Luna think she was winning while we built an army to stop her."

Luna looks around at the circle of guns pointed at her and her rogues. For the first time since I've known her, she looks scared.

"You can't do this," Luna says desperately. "I have rights under supernatural law!"

"You gave up those rights when you started murdering innocent people," Aria says firmly. "But I'm going to give you one chance to surrender."

"Never," Luna snarls.

That's when she does something that surprises everyone. Instead of fighting or trying to flee, Luna pulls out a strange crystal that pulses with dark energy.

"If I can't have the power," she says with a crazy smile, "then no one can!"

"What is that?" Kael wants.

"A destruction spell," Maria says, her voice full of fear. "She's going to destroy every supernatural creature in New Orleans!"

Luna raises the crystal above her head and starts singing in a language that makes my teeth ache.

"Stop her!" Vincent shouts.

But before anyone can move, Aria steps forward and puts her hand on the crystal.

"No," she says simply.

The crystal stops glowing. Luna stops singing. Everything goes quiet.

"How?" Luna gasps.

Aria looks at her with eyes that suddenly seem much older and wiser than her twenty-two years.

"Because I'm not just a Luna-Moon witch or a Ravencrest werewolf," Aria says evenly. "I'm also something else. Something you never expected."

"What?"

Aria's form starts to shimmer and change, and I realize we've all been looking at the wrong person this entire time.

"I'm the First Witch," Aria says as her real form is revealed. "The original Luna-Moon. And Luna Torres, you've been hunting yourself."

The crystal in Luna's hand bursts into dust, and Luna herself begins to age rapidly as the stolen power she's been using for fifty years leaves her body.

"Impossible," Luna whispers as she crumbles to the floor.

But as Luna dies, her closing words chill everyone in the room to the bone.

"You think you've won," she rasps. "But you have no idea what's really coming. The Blackwood curse isn't finished with any of you."

And with that, Luna Torres takes her last breath.

But the crystal's destruction has done something none of us expected.

Every supernatural creature in New Orleans suddenly knows exactly what and where every other supernatural creature is.

The hidden world just became obvious to everyone.

And somewhere in the city, something old and terrible that's been sleeping for a hundred years has just woken up.