Page 32 of Under A New Moon

Galen didn't like where this was headed. It made his hair stand up, and his stomach clenched. Wherever this was going, it wasn't good.

"I'm aware."

Sol smiled, downing his drink. He walked back over towards his desk, "A long time indeed." He placed his hands onto the desk smiling wickedly, "You still have so much to learn, Galen. You're just like a little pup."

Sol laughed, and the doors behind them opened. Darla yelled as someone grabbed her, and Galen turned only to be yanked back. Four guards entered the room, one pulling Darla back while the other three yanked Galen.

Sol laughed, watching. He leaned forward on his desk, "Just a little pup, Galen." The words shook Galen to the core.

Twenty-Six

Darla

She was yanked back, nearly pulled off her feet. She tried to throw her elbow back, but the guy quickly caught it, stopping her. She scowled, looking towards Galen, who was struggling to get free as well.

"What are you doing!?" Galen yelled, trying to rip himself free. Sol smiled at them, though. His wicked grin only seems to grow as they struggle. He seemed to enjoy seeing them in pain.

"I'm doing what needs to be done. I'm doing what has to be done."

Galen struggled, trying to throw his head back to headbutt one of the guards. Somehow they saw it coming and moved out of the way. They pulled his arm back at an odd angle, making him freeze.

Sol took a seat, and he flipped open a file. He chuckled, "I never suspected you would walk in here willingly, though, Galen. I must give you balls for that."

Galen snarled with rage now, "The fuck is going on?!"

Sol's expression shifted, and he narrowed his eyes on Galen. The man looked like he could murder, and it stiffened Galen for a moment.

Sol clenched his jaw, a corner of his lips turned down in a snarl. "I'm doing what needs to be done, what needs to be done to save us." He pressed a hand down onto the desk, "You have been gone a long time, Galen. Too long to understand what has happened. Maybe you've just been acting blind, but I haven't."

A shiver rushed down Darla's body as Sol looked at her. He scowled, "The human government and its multiple alphabet soup agencies have pushed at metahumans over and over since the Veil fell. They’ve hunted us like animals. They’ve treated us like shit. They think we’re garbage. They laugh at us and our way of life. They make fun of us behind our backs and call us deplorables. I don’t care whether your a wolf or a witch, they hate us. And now PEACE have gone too far and are killing shifters for fun. I'm sure your little thing has blood on her hands. Innocent fucking wolf blood."

Darla swallowed, her stomach twisted in knots. She didn't know if anyone she killed was innocent, but she knew she wasn't completely innocent. She had done things, followedher orders. She just did what she thought was right, but she was wrong.

"Did you honestly think you could disappear for years, decades and just walk back in without a damn thing happening to you? Be real, Galen. Even as a child, you were smarter than this. Has running and hiding like a child made you stupid?"

Galen ground his teeth together, and Darla wanted to speak for him. She wanted to tell him Sol was wrong, but she couldn't move. She couldn't hold him close and reassure him that it wasn't true.

"What are you planning?" Gale asked, a bit of cold anguish behind it.

Sol leaned back in his chair, smiling now. "That’s the alpha behavior I was waiting for. It's a pity, really, that I didn't get to work with you."

"Sol," Galen growled out his name, pulling against the men. "What are you planning?"

"The only plan that matters. You see, Malcolm has a plan. A smart and sophisticated one at that. He wants us to rule the world. Shifters and humans can't live alongside each other. We need to stop thinking that this is how we can move on because it isn't. We’re the next step in the fucking evolutionary foodchain and he wants us as wolves to claim it. And that means sweeping everything that doesn’t agree aside."

Galen's face darkened, "You speak of treason! That goes against everything the elders have worked towards. You are making a huge mistake!"

Darla knew they shouldn't have come here, and she knew this was a bad idea. She felt it in her gut when they first arrived, and she felt it even more now.

Sol sighed, "You speak like an idiot. Do you really believe we can live peacefully with humans? God, you said yourself that she tried to kill you at first." Darla was starting to wish Galen hadn't told him everything about how they got here. She hated that he knew her a little better himself.

"It's not the same." Galen snapped, "Humans can learn. We don't have to slaughter them all to make a point."

Sol scowled, "That is where I beg to differ. Do you know how many of us they have killed? Just for fun? Or what about the ones they let die through poverty and disease? Wolves don’t even need their world and their rules. We can run free in the forests. But we live with their shackles and pay for it. We need to reject how we even see the world." Sol shook his head with anger, "What angers me more is how stupid and incompetent you are to not see this."

Galen growled back, "The only one that is not thinking straight is you wanting to murder innocent people."

Sol slammed his hands onto the desk, "I didn't start killing innocent people first!" He pulled his hand up, pointing toward Darla, "They did."

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