Page 66 of Luna Rising

“I’m not as worried about that as the fact I have urges at all. What if they hate me now? What if they think—”

“You killed a rival alpha in retaliation. Brooke isn’t the only one impressed with what you did. You’re Merrick Snyder’s only daughter. I don’t think you realize how much power there is in that. The Geminis aren’t going to war for your brother. They agreed to fight with us for you, Zara.”

I fought back tears and rolled my eyes, trying to be blase about the situation because I didn’t want to break down. “You’re just being nice.”

He shrugged. “You’ll see.” His phone buzzed in his jeans pocket. Charlie’s name was on the display. “I have to take this. There’s been weird shit happening at the borders.” He waved off my questioning look. “I’ll explain later.”

When Ewan accepted the call, Brooke dropped Zach’s hand and inched closer. Ewan, the traitor, saw her and slowed his pace while he spoke to Charlie, giving Brooke the opening she so clearly wanted.

I didn’t know what to say. Sorry seemed inadequate. Congratulating her on her wedding felt trite. Welcoming her to the Taurus Mountains felt weird when this had only just become my home.

“I’m sorry about your father. He was always kind to me.”

I kept my vampire eyes on my feet. “Thank you. It means a lot. And I’m sorry about, you know, everything.”

She grabbed the billowy sleeve of my black dress and planted her feet, giving me no choice but to stop unless I wanted her claws shredding the fabric. “Gaia, Zara. Will look at me, please? I never meant to hurt you by marrying Zach. I love him.”

“What? No. I’m not upset about that. I watched your bonding ceremony. It was beautiful.” I finally met my best friend’s gaze and was relieved when she didn’t react. “It’s… I’ve been a shitty friend. A shitty person. And now I have fangs and a billion bounties on my head. You don’t need that in your life.”

I needed to tell her who she really was, the reason King Evander had chosen her over my brother when he demanded retribution for my sins. And I would, eventually. She wasn’t my only living descendant, but she was the one I wanted to protect most.

“Don’t be dramatic. You have twenty-three bounties on your head at last count, which is nowhere close to a billion. I want you in my life, whatever that entails. So what, you have fangs. Big deal. For better or worse, you’re still you. And your mate and mine have apparently formed an alliance between our packs, and I live here now. So, you’re stuck me whether you like it or not.”

Tears stung my eyes. “I missed you so much.”

Her gaze was just as watery as mine. “Can I hug you? Zach said you turned recently. I don’t want to provoke any bitey urges or anything.”

I threw my arms around her neck. Brooke never even hesitated to return the embrace. I loved her so much for that.

“I’m really happy for you and Zach,” I whispered.

“And I’m really happy for you and Ewan. He seems like a good guy.” Her voice was a little too strained, and I realized my vampirism was showing and I needed to let up before I crushed her.

I pulled back from the hug. “He is. You’ll like him I think.”

Brooke linked her arm through mine as if it was the most natural thing. My mom and Zach were pretty far ahead of us, and Ewan had joined them, but we didn’t try to catch up. We strolled at a leisurely pace as if we had nowhere to be.

“Can I ask how it works? Do the pack members volunteer as blood donors or do you, like, order humans on the internet?”

If anyone else had dared to ask me that question, I would have shown them exactly how a vampire gets blood—by taking it. But there was no malice in Brooke’s inquiry, simply curiosity.

“Mostly I drink Ewan’s blood. He sort of prefers it that way. But also, what corners of the internet do you hang out in?”

She laughed. “Nowhere weird. Blood donor services are advertised all over supernatural social media.”

Why did that feel like something with Walter Stolly’s name all over it?

“Have you decided to be a supernatural influencer? You could give a behind the scenes look at what it’s like to be an alpha’s mate,” I teased, and it felt good. Normal. Like before everything had changed.

“Very funny. Zach would die if I put our life online. You know how private he is. No, I just like to read the gossip. Did you know that fae guy—Walter, right?—is like the head of a crime syndicate?” Brooke looked scandalized.

“Yes, sadly, I’m aware,” I said with a wry chuckle. “He’s also Winter’s father, which is why he’s here. The Zodiac Councils might pretend that fae and shifters outside the system don’t matter, but Walter’s a major player. Especially when it comes to protecting his daughter. I’m not sure he would even recognize the line between good and evil, let alone notice when he’s crossed it.”She snorted. “Did you know he cut off someone’s fingers and fed them to the guy? Who does that?”

I squirmed, wondering if Walter learned that from me or the other way around. “He’s a special brand of fae. But he isn’t the worst.”

“I should be nice. Winter channeled him to create the passage. Zach offered, but Walter insisted and your mom thought it was best.”

Winter shouldn’t have needed extra magic unless hers was low because she was giving it to Archer. That worried me. Even mortal, she was the strongest of the eternals. Soon, turning Archer wouldn’t be a discussion but rather a necessity.

---