Blood on the Moon

Asher

“Thank you all for making it on such short notice,” I greet the group. “We’ve grown quite a bit in numbers, so I’m happy everyone was flexible so we could all be here.”

Margaery is at my side while we sit at the head of a long table. We’re using a warehouse owned by Cade Gaius, another wealthy businessman in our pack who agreed to make space for us there since my cabin is no longer in commission. Not that it could fit all of us anymore, which is a good thing.

We have twenty-six people involved in our coup, not including Marg and I, plus their constituents. We have half the most important generals and practically all the most wealthy individuals in the pack. Our trouble has been getting politicians on our side. They’re skeevy people by nature. Like cockroaches, they scramble at any sign of danger yet seem to survive it all.

They’re ones to go with the status quo so long as it can benefit them. Gen has been clever in prioritizing their loyalty by lining their pockets. She would threaten everyone else, knowing their moral character couldn’t be bribed—at least most of them.

Politicians though? Easily bought.

Easily sold, too, though. We just have to figure out their price. Or what cost they’re unwilling to suffer.

We aren’t here to discuss this tonight, though. Today is the day we pick a challenger to face Genevive, a conversation we’ve avoided for the last two weeks.

It’s been so long since I’ve seen Rose, unable to steal away the time now that I have to cross onto her territory to see her. There’s no longer a neutral point, making things much harder.

“To recap what we discussed last time, our three options were Darius Blackwood, Martin Willow, and Phaedra Kincaid?”

“That is correct,” General Evergreen answers. He’s been the person Marg and I have trusted most with this endeavor since he was here from the beginning. We put him in charge of finding soldiers, the strongest ones mentally and physically, who would be willing to fight Genevieve. “I have Martin with me today. He was the only one willing to take up the cause.”

“And you agree to abdicate the position to Asher if you beat her?” Margaery asks.

“Yes, I would,” Martin says, biting his lip. “But there have been some developments since General Evergreen and I last spoke. I-I’m not sure I want to challenge her anymore.”

Jeffrey glares at him, about to scold him, but I raise my hand to stop him.

“What are your reservations?” I ask. “Do they have to do with the disappearances?”

“Yes!” Martin exclaims. “You know about those?”

“I know there’s been a lot of hearsay going around,” I reply. “But who knows what she’s actually doing.”

“That’s the thing, though,” Martin insists. “If it were just that, I’d be okay with challenging her. She’s a madwoman, and everyone in the military hates her. I’d love nothing more than to see her thrown off the throne. Plus, I knew about the experiments when General Evergreen approached me.”

“Then what changed?” Margaery asks.

“Something happened yesterday,” he replies. “Genevieve showed up to our normal training session, which we do three times a week. She came to my squad and acted like her usual self, yelling at and challenging us. She normally does this, and we’d eventually let her win because beating her would cost you your head.”

“Then what was strange about this time?” I ask, leaning forward, remembering my strange experiences with her recently. The crazed look in her eye. The paranoid. The insanity.

“The first guy she challenged was the biggest in our squad. The dude weighs at least two-fifty, all muscle. Also, all pride. He isn’t the kind of guy who wouldn’t at least put up a little bit of resistance. But she put him down as if he weighed nothing.”

“What?” Margaery gasps. “Could she do that before?”

“Of course not!” He exclaims. “I’ve never seen anything like it! From anyone or her. It was like she had super strength! And she did it again and again. She tossed a guy halfway across the field like he was a fuckin’ frisbee!”

“Watch your language in the presence of your Alpha, Private Willow,” General Evergreen scolds.

“I think his profanity is quite alright, given the situation,” I reply, trying to coax more out of him. “Did she target you at all?”

“No, I’m glad she didn’t,” he replies. “But it was like she was showing off. Taking whatever powers she got out for a spin. There was also the thing with her eyes.”

“What thing with her eyes?”

“The normal color of her wolf’s eyes is bright orange, right?” He says, confirming with me.

“Yes, I know them very well.”

“Well, the color of her eyes when she’d challenge us was always that same orange color, except for yesterday. They were muddy. It's still bright but more brown. Almost like they were mixed with green.”

“Green…” Margaery whispers, pulling out her phone.

“I don’t know,” the young man continues. “She was crazed, though. She had a blast with it; we were her playground. And what we saw wasn’t natural. I don’t know what happened, but I do know that if I went up against her, she’d rip my head off. Which wouldn’t get us anywhere except for exposing our plot.”

“Thank you for telling us this,” I reply, glancing at Margaery, who is scrolling through something frantically. “We can all agree that we won’t make you challenge her given this new information. We’ll have to think of something else.”

“But what? What is the solution now?” Eden Jansen cries. “How will anyone challenge her if she’s this powerful?”

I stroke my chin as the group erupts into nervous chatter. I look at Margaery again, whose phone is away. He nods her head, signaling that she wants to talk to me alone.

I stand, letting my voice boom over the noise, but not too loud that it’s intimidating. “Everyone, stay calm. We have time. Margaery and I will stew on this for a bit, and we can reconvene in a week. But we’re going to do some research to figure out what Gen might have done to gain this power so we can understand it more. Then, we’ll go from there. Alright?”

They look warily between each other, like my argument doesn’t convince them, but it satisfies them enough to nod in agreement.

They’re teetering on the edge of their loyalty. I can only hope that if people decide they don’t want to be involved anymore, they won’t tell Genevieve about what we’re doing. I’m putting a lot of trust in many people, which is generally never a good idea.

But I have no other choice. I need allies, and I must trust them for them to trust me.

The meeting adjourned, I follow Margaery outside, and we wait for everyone to leave, entering their cars in staggered timing. We wouldn’t want someone to see several cars leaving the same place simultaneously, or that would arouse suspicion. We all take different routes, too. Side roads and shortcuts. The long way home or dirt paths. A few choose to walk, too.

So it’s twenty minutes we have to wait before we’re the last ones around.

“What’s up, Marg? What’d you find on your phone?” I ask.

“I didn’t find anything, at least nothing concrete. However, I did have an epiphany.”

“What epiphany?”

“I think I know who can challenge Genevieve.”