Tony
I stared Peter in the face, waiting for him to push or say something more out of line. This was the usual course of events, but usually Peter was a little more subtle about it. I tried to reign in the irritation that was rippling through me. The glow of his eyes was a challenge. He had most of the room eating out of the palm of his hand as one of the oldest people in the room, but Matt and I had never bowed our heads.
“Is that because your new mate is from the human world?”
A ripple of murmuring filled the air and I realized what this was really about.
“Our mate has no family in the human world,” he said. “She was lost and now we’ve brought her back to where she belongs. Our lack of interest in war has more to do with being sensible humans rather than deranged wolves.”
Peter’s eyes glinted. I smiled, feeling a little smug.
“We’ve already seen exactly what the kind of trouble you cause has brought us: witch hunts. Or do we all need a history lesson?”
More people cleared their throats and shifted uncomfortably at the mention of all the wars over the course of history that had sent werewolves and the rest of the supernatural into the shadows of the human world.
“As Blue Moon is the pack who led the battle and lost the most in that battle, it would make sense that my brother and I avoid taking the same path.”
“Then, we were just werewolves,” Peter said. “Running around in the forest and howling. Now, we have capital and a tighter grip on the supernatural community.”
“I’d like to know who started the skirmish on the border,” I said. “And exactly who is paying reparations.”
Peter’s eyes turned cold. Another murmur drifted around the room. I felt Matt growing more tense beside me, but I couldn’t glance at him.
“We may have the Moon Goddess’ grace, at least some part of it, but we are far from the supreme race of the supernatural community. A dragon could torch each of us easily. One dragon. Let’s not make war when we are still recovering from the wars that we instigated among ourselves.”
You’re on a roll, Matt said. Are you usually like this?
Often.
“Maybe we should instead be thinking about how to undo the damage we’ve already caused ourselves,” Tony said. “A formal alliance rather than the peace we’ve all be playing at. Just once I’d like to come to one of these meetings and walk away thinking we did more than talk at making changes.”
Peter set his jaw. I could hear others huffing under their breaths at the thought.
“And what are you proposing? An alliance? Led by who?”
“That is the entire point of an alliance, Peter: it’s not led by anyone.” I sat back and lifted my glass. I gestured across the room, trying to keep my grip on the glass light even as I could almost hear the glass straining against my strength. “Each alpha of rank within the pack, within the community, would be heard equally. We discuss. We vote. We think, and maybe we get somewhere with actually safeguarding our territory from human invasion, take over, and other issues.”
Someone scoffed. “You’re talking like a human.”
I turned my head and looked at the man, letting the glow of my eyes surface fully. The man went pale as my gaze fell on him.
“Once, we were all one people. Once we had the Moon Goddess to unify us. If the White Moon Pack is truly gone, then we have to find a new way to co-exist… Unless you’re proposing an all-out war between the packs to unify under one alpha, this is the best solution.”
Peter looked just on the edge of furious, but he smiled thinly.
“What an interesting point of view.” Peter turned back to the rest of the group. “For now, let’s reconvene over dinner for the auction.”
Several people glanced at me. I caught David looking at me too as I stood with Matt. I didn’t make us hurry. We walked leisurely through the hall, stopped for a snack, and headed to the elevator. The walk to our room was silent. I could feel eyes watching us as we walked down the hallway. The feeling of being watched only lessened when I closed the door behind us.
I glanced across the room to the mirror, the bedside table, and a few other spots where I could hear the faintest buzz of electricity. There were cameras and microphones hidden around the room. They were probably on every inch of the hotel.
Well, that went well, Matt said. David was staring at you.
I glanced at him. Do you think it was about Lucy?
He tilted his head. Not sure. Is the room safe?
Probably not.
Lucy
I sat up in bed with another sigh. It had been a day since Tony and Matt left for the conference. We traded messages and emojis, but I didn’t leave our section of the house, and I didn’t tell them that anything was wrong.
When the staff had removed the chairs from out little eating area the afternoon before, I retreated to my room and let them bring food to my room.
The door swept open as a woman opened the door. She didn’t greet me. She didn’t even look at me. She just pushed in a cart of food and closed the door behind her. I sighed and got out of bed. I walked to the cart and pulled it across the room before pulling off the top. It was just a bowl of noodles. The broth was lukewarm. It looked like the noodles were still sort of cooking, or maybe they were over cooked. It made me think of when I lived with my adoptive parents. My stomach churned at the thought, but I pushed it away.
Then, my stomach grumbled with hunger and set the bowl at the table of the little seating area in the room. With a sigh, I started to eat. It was a little bland, like they’d put in too much water, but it wasn’t that bad. I finished eating and set the bowl aside. I stood to go back to bed when a sharp pain went through my stomach. I stumbled, gripping my stomach. The pain radiated out and up to my chest. It felt like my insides were burning. I stumbled toward the door.
“Help,” I gasped through the pain. “The food…”
I slumped against the doorframe and tried to twist the door knob, but the door wouldn’t budge. I pulled and twisted again, but all I heard was the click of metal against metal. The door was locked. I heard no one outside as I felt the pain growing. The burning turned to fire and started to grow towards my throat.
Everything in me felt like it was in pain. My eyes filled with tears as I crumpled forward, sliding to the ground. Across the room my phone was on the floor. My first through was to call someone, but it was too far away.
My arms started to shake. I felt cold and hot like I was being dunked in ice then held over a fire, back and forth. I tried to crawl, but my strength was fading. I reached for the phone, pushing against the floor. I dragged my body across the floor as my vision started to go black. I could barely breathe. I could barely think, but if I could just get to the phone. If I could just get there, I could call someone.
“Come on,” I whispered, pushing myself towards it. “Come… on…”
My fingers slipped across the floor as I dragged myself closer. I grabbed it, but when I pulled it close enough to see the screen, the screen wouldn’t turn on.
My phone was dead.
The tears slipped down my cheeks as I felt my strength fading and everything went cold and black.
I was dying.
I guess they’d have a new luna sooner than they’d hoped.