Page 92 of Luna Rising

“That’s really nice. You’re a very generous alpha,” I teased.

“Alphas aren’t generous by design, Zara.” Essie patted my shoulder as she shuffled past. “Only a true king provides for all his people.”

The mortals needed sleep, so everyone went their separate ways when returned from the diner. Winter opened a portal for Drake and Penn to the Snake Mountains so they could rest and then discuss everything with the Ophiuchus pack council before we all left for Traitor’s Hell. Because Ewan and I didn’t need sleep as often or regularly, we went with Birch to deliver the burgers to the strays.

Unlike our nice, cozy home with a fireplace and picture windows overlooking a picturesque town, all two dozen of the strays lived in one cold, decrepit house in the woods. They were excited, especially the children, when we arrived and seemed to know Birch and Ewan pretty well.

“Why don’t you invite them to join our pack?” I asked as we climbed on ATVs to head back home.

“I have. More than once. They aren’t interested,” Ewan said.

Birch rolled his eyes. “If you stopped feeding them, they might be more interested.”

Ewan shrugged. “Maybe. But they’d also starve, and they don’t bother anyone, so I’m not pressed.”

I tended to agree with him, though I understood Birch’s confusion over the situation. The strays were camped out on our borders, and most alphas wouldn’t have allowed it. Of course, Ewan wasn’t most alphas. Like Essie said, he wasn’t even really an alpha. He was a king. The king.

While sleep wasn’t necessary for me to function, I was desperately craving quiet time after almost twenty-four hours straight of listening to people talk at me. Ewan being super important and all didn’t have the luxury and headed off to meet with his pack council as soon as we returned to our mountains, while Birch escorted me home to unwind.

I was relaxing in the bath, trying to figure out the best way to tell Winter that our single dose of the cure wasn’t going to Lena, when I received my first incoming call on my new phone. Only two people had my number, and I had both their names and numbers programmed. Still, I hit accept on the unknown caller because I was curious.

“Hi, Zosia,” Mat’s familiar voice sang through the speaker. “Am I interrupting something? I hope so. You’ve always been very good at that. Interrupting. Since the day that you were born. As Zosia. Not Zara. Though you’ve caused disruptions in this cycle, too.”

I held the phone to my ear and turned off the speakerphone so Birch couldn’t overhear Mat’s side of the conversation. “Are you drunk?” I asked the eternal.

“Quite. Did you know mermaid blood has the second highest potency for vampires? When you come to Traitor’s Hell, I’ll buy you one.”

“What’s the first?” I asked, unable to stop myself.

“In this realm, siren’s blood. Of the eight I’ve visited, mortal born banshee is the strongest. Not the tastiest. That would be fourth generation or older human blood from the Isle of Man. You should really ask Walter Stolly to get you a bottle.”

“Are you sure that’s a real place? It sounds made up,” I said.

Mat scoffed. “You lived in England in two separate lives.”

“I fail to see the relevancy of that.”

“Zosia was very well-educated. You should spend more time in her early memories.”

I made a face that he obviously couldn’t see. “Did you call just to offend me?”

“No. I had a reason, which seems to escape me. Oh! Wait. I remember now. The cure. That is why called.”

“Cure?” My super high and squeaky voice cracked on the single word.

“Just because you are uneducated does not mean you’re dumb, Zosia,” he said in a bored yet impatient voice.

“I’m not uneduc—”

“I saw Cassius. Don’t deny you have it. Enough for one vampire, yes? You must have originally thought you could use it on Kodak. Oh, sorry, Stavros, or does he still go by Ewan? His mind was very confused last I saw him.”

Mat was trying to make me mad, and it worked, but I held my tongue and refused him the satisfaction of knowing that his fangs were under my skin.

“Anyhow, seeing as you have both risen, I assume that is no longer your plan. Conveniently, I know someone very interested in taking it off your hands. Name your price. I want that cure.”

“It’s not for sale. We’re giving it to Lena. The friend of Winter’s you turned,” I lied.

His bark of laughter chilled my bathtub water through the phone. “The human so obsessed with the supernatural world that she agreed to spy on Winter for me in exchange for immortality—that Lena?”

---