Chapter 113

Aria

“Beta Charles, you are accused of treason against Moonglow pack. What do you say to these accusations?”

Darren’s voice rang across the council chamber, clear and steady. All eyes were on us, seated at the front of the room. I shifted uncomfortably in the ceremonial garb that the Luna was expected to wear for things like this.

Luna.

It still felt so surreal, but it was as true as the sun rose each day. I was their Luna, their leader. And maybe someday, I’d even be the Alpha Queen alongside Darren, if he won the upcoming Alpha King election. But that was a worry for another day.

Today, Charles was being put on trial. And it was up to us and the elders to decide his sentence.

Charles, seated in a harsh wooden chair at the center of the room with his hands cuffed to the table in front of him, curled his upper lip back in a sneer.

“I won’t deny the things I did. But to call them treason? No, I only ever did the things I did for the good of the pack. I wouldn’t consider my actions to be treasonous.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, instead doing my best to maintain a calm, graceful facade—the sort of face expected of a poised Luna, which was something I was still learning. Beside me, Darren shifted in his seat. He looked handsome as ever in his black and green ceremonial jacket, the perfect picture of an Alpha. I hoped I would someday match his grace and poise.

“You don’t believe that poisoning the Elder Alpha and attempting to kill the Alpha is treason?” he asked, calm as could be.

Charles simply shrugged one shoulder. “The Elder Alpha nearly allowed humans to join our pack. And now you are doing the same. I would do everything I did all over again, if it would mean stopping you.”

A gasp rippled across the room, followed by a few outraged cries against Charles that were quickly silenced by Darren’s raised hand.

“Tell us,” Darren said, “exactly what you did. And we’ll decide whether it was justified or not.”

Charles hesitated for a moment, but then nodded. “Very well. Where to begin… For starters, I orchestrated the mugging of William, the human husband of your sister, Emilia.”

Darren stiffened. I reached under the table and gave his hand a tight squeeze, which he returned in kind, but his fingers felt cold and stiff.

“After that, I slowly poisoned your father over the course of many years with wolfsbane tea, which is known to cause dementia-like symptoms in werewolves. I did this with the intention of taking over as Alpha in his stead so that I could protect the pack.”

“And as for me?” Darren asked, his voice echoing through the stunned silence.

“Well, you took over as Alpha before I could figure out how to get rid of you,” Charles said as simply as if he were discussing nothing more than the weather. “I eventually found the artifact and intended to use it to get rid of you. But unfortunately, thanks to your mate, I failed. And now here we are.”

The crowd shifted, murmuring in their seats.

One of the elders leaned forward. “Beta Charles, what were your intentions if your plans had worked? After taking over Moonglow, I mean.”

Charles glanced at the elder with obvious disgust. “All I want to see is a world in which werewolves and humans are truly, wholly separate. We have gone too far in this modern world, too caught up in human endeavors. We have lost our old ways.”

“So you intended to return the werewolves to a life of isolation and hiding,” Darren said, sounding as if he couldn’t fully believe it.

“Of course,” Charles replied as coolly as ever. “Our ties to humans have gone too far, too deep. Someday, I would even like to see them eradicated from the face of the earth; a world in which werewolves can truly live in peace, without the fear of humans around every corner.”

I stiffened at that, my fingers curling around the fabric of my skirt. Eradicated?

One of the elders scoffed. “And now, thanks to your actions, humans know of our existence.”

Charles’s face hardened. “My actions?” He snapped his head toward Darren, his eyes sliding over to me. “It’s their actions that got us to this point. If your so-called Alpha hadn’t been so—”

“Enough.”

The sound of my voice rang out clearer than I expected, causing all eyes to turn to me—even Darren’s and the elders’. I suddenly felt the weight of all their gazes, and it caused my heart to pound. I wasn’t used to this—being listened to. Looked up to, even, although many wolves in the pack still saw me as an outsider.

I swallowed, pulling my shoulders back, just as I had that day on the front steps of the Lunar Labs building.

“Don’t try to shift blame, Charles,” I said, clasping my hands in my lap in what I hoped looked like utter calmness. “It’s thanks to your actions that we’re here now; if only you had been as graceful and understanding as your Alpha, rather than a warmongering, genocidal bastard.”

The crowd gasped. Even Darren’s eyes widened beside me. But I wasn’t finished.

“Maybe many generations ago, humans hunted werewolves—out of fear, misunderstanding, ignorance. But humans aren’t evil.”

I took a deep breath.

“Many humans long for magic in the world,” I said, more softly now. “Many human children look up at the night sky and desperately wish that there was more to our world than meets the eye. That shapeshifters, faeries, witches, and all of the wonderful things we’re told about in stories were real.”

The room was silent now, all eyes fixed on me. Even Charles had gone still, his mouth hanging open every so slightly.

I continued, “But what they didn’t know until very recently is that there is magic in this world. So, so much of it. And you’re assuming that all humans will want nothing more than to destroy that magic. That they won’t do the most human thing possible: adore it. Wonder at it. Reach their hands out and try to grasp it.”

“What you don’t understand, Charles, and many of you,” I went on, turning to address the crowd now, “is that we are all human at our core. We all want to discover a world that is more strange and wonderful than it seems. But we can’t do that if we revert to the old ways—to hatred and violence, isolation and fear. We can only do it if we move forward. Together.”

When I finished my speech, the room was as silent as death. All I could hear was my own pulse throbbing in my ears, and the subtle shift of Darren’s clothes beside me as he reached beneath the table and laced his fingers with mine.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Darren broke the silence.

“Our Luna has spoken,” he said, a small smile touching his lips as he turned to face the elders. “And now I have my verdict. What about you?”

The elders glanced between one another, murmuring softly. Even with my keen werewolf hearing, I couldn’t exactly make out what they were saying.

Finally, one of the elders turned to face Charles again and nodded grimly. “Our Luna is right; it’s time our people are driven into a new era, one of understanding and peace. And unfortunately, Beta Charles, such an era cannot be forged with someone like you holding us back.”

And just like that, it was over. The room turned into a blur as Charles was escorted out, shouting and writhing against the guards’ grips. Some wolves cheered, others booed the decision. Some even leapt to their feet, shouting, although it was all so chaotic that I could hardly make out what was being said.

But it all went quiet again as Darren held up his hand.

“Addressing the matter of our future with the humans,” he said, gesturing to the large oak doors, “let me announce our first human emissary. Bella, please come in.”

The doors creaked open, and Bella stepped into the council chambers.

All heads turned to her.