Chapter 127

The woods were utterly still until Layla finally broke the silence. Her voice was calm and calculated as she spoke, “Red Moon is stagnant. And not just Red Moon - the werewolf world is..." She let out a breath of disgust. "Weak."

Some heat entered her voice. “Hell, the entire magical universe needs a shakeup.”

"This is reckless, Layla," an unfamiliar voice hissed. "If the Alpha knew-"

"He's Gone With the Wind," Layla drawled. "A dinosaur."

Rumblings ricocheted through the gathering of Weres.

"Stop it," a woman growled angrily. "Patrick, she's nothing but a girl with her head in the clouds."

A whispery argument broke out, and quickly grew louder.

Kadeem's eyes darted around. He could feel the tension thicken in the air around them. It was now or never if he and Ardal wanted to make their escape undetected.

"Sasha," Layla said slyly, “Cedric trained you in combat. How long has it been since you’ve seen a real fight? You’re nothing more now than a lapdog.”

Layla’s tone grew more cunning and she spoke her next words slowly. “All of us are.”

Leaves and twigs crunched underfoot as someone took an aggressive step forward.

“You don’t look much like a fighter,” a man sneered menacingly.

In response, Layla adopted an air of mock innocence. “You think?” Her tone crawled into a taunting snarl. “Come a little closer and I’ll rip out your testicles and tie them around your wrist like bracelets.”

Holy shit, Layla.

A few people laughed at her audacity. Kadeem almost laughed in shock.

“Enough,” Patrick growled. “I agree that Cedric's leadership has failed. I've been preparing to call for his removal, and challenge him myself if he doesn’t step down voluntarily.”

Murmurs rippled through the group. The air was almost humming with electricity.

“What I’m not convinced of is why in the hell I should follow you,” he said slowly, deliberately. “Why any of us should. I support your cause, but I’m far from convinced YOU are the solution.”

Ardal's eyes were as wide as saucers and her face was pale.

What thefuckdid they come in on?

Kadeem’s stomach was twisting into knots and his brain was whirring with shock.

Ardal's father, of all people, was spouting off talk of treason like it was nothing more than idle dinner chatter.

And his sister had even grander schemes.

None of it fit with the people he knew. Kadeem’s head was swimming in cognitive dissonance.

He knew Layla and he knew Patrick. Nothing to be afraid of surely. Maybe, just… disappointed. Like when you found out your mom voted for Romney.

Right?

But his palms were growing sweaty and his chest felt tight.

Kadeem pressed his forehead against Ardal's to reassure her as they tried not to make a single sound that would give them away.

"Not me. WE are the solution,” Layla declared. “Pack X will be different. The first order of business will be to crush Shadow Pack - and then keep moving north. No more skulking around like a bunch of humans," she said, spitting out the word like it was vile.

"Now, that's what I'm talking about," a man shouted with a syrupy Southern accent.

"Shut up, Gabe," came several voices immediately.

"And what's your endgame," Patrick asked sternly. "What does the Were world look like from inside Pack X?"

"The way it used to," Layla said. "When Weres were feared. When we weren’t reduced to 9 to 5 jobs and acting like neutered house pets.”

The night air stirred and Patrick sniffed the air. “Hang on,” he said suspiciously. “Someone else is out here.”

Kadeem's heart dropped to his stomach. "Do not move," he whispered as quietly as he could in Ardal's ear.

He took a breath and stepped out behind the twisted oak.

He put on an easy smile as he walked towards the group, playing as confident as he could and taking in the group of rebels.

Kadeem counted fifteen of them, including Ardal's dad and Layla. Layla might as well have assembled a group of pirates for how flea-bitten and mangy-looking most of them were. With the exception of just a few, the Old Guard had definitely seen better days.

All of them, though, looked ready to kill.

Layla's shocked voice cut through the air like a knife. "Kadeem?" She brushed back her hair nervously. She was in a pantsuit and a headband. She looked more like a Young Republican than a radical trying to splinter the pack.

“Hey Sis. Hey Mr. Bradley.” Kadeem nodded his head casually toward them like they were at a backyard cookout.

Commotion erupted among the Weres.

"Did you - follow me?" Layla’s earlier confidence seemed to deflate as her voice quivered slightly and she flicked her eyes nervously at the group.

"Who else is with you?”

A woman stepped forward. By her voice, Kadeem placed her as Sasha. She was tall and lean, a thirty-something woman with a pixie cut and a delicate face. Not what Kadeem had been expecting.

"No one," Kadeem said smoothly, locking his eyes with her own stormy greens. "At least not anymore," he smirked. "But there was some heavy interacting going on, if you catch my drift."

The tension in the air dissipated slightly as a few of them snickered. He winked at Sasha.

Kadeem knew he now had the proverbial room.

Layla glared at him, sounding more and more like an annoyed big sister than a renegade leader. "Then why were you eavesdropping?"

Kadeem shrugged carelessly. "I heard your voice, picked up on a lot of unfamiliar scents, and went to find out if you were okay."

"Touching," Layla said acidly. "Too bad I don't buy it."

"C'mon," he said, "I'm not bored enough to follow you around."

The Weres laughed and Layla's face went bright red.

"So here's the thing," Kadeem continued, his voice hardening as he sized up Patrick in particular, "I don't give two shits about your recruitment meeting."

Kadeem focused back on his sister. "You're in college now. I get it. Political phase, or whatever... I'm not a snitch. And if you cover me so Mom and Dad don't flip out about me breaking curfew, we’ll call it even stevens.”

Kadeem managed a cheeky grin at the scraggly group of Weres.

Patrick leaned forward, smiling a shark-like grin. His eyes flickered with an eagerness that made Kadeem's stomach turn over coldly.

“Nice try,” he said in a low voice. “But I’ve got too much skin in the game to simply let you walk out of here.”

Shit.

Kadeem held back his sigh and worked at keeping his face neutral, but there was an anger starting to burn at the edges of him.

He shifted his weight, still trying to maintain an outer calm. “I mean, I’m pretty sure I can outrun Billy Bob over there,” Kadeem said. He pointed his finger at Gabe, whose beer belly made him look almost pregnant.

“Hey,” Gabe shouted indignantly while someone next to him snickered.

“Layla’s definitely not a threat,” Kadeem continued lazily, “The rest of you, I’ll just have to take my chances with, I guess.”

The Weres stirred restlessly at his defiant remark. Patrick's hands were already morphing into paws tipped with razor-sharp claws.

Kadeem and Layla locked eyes for a moment. No, she was not going to save him. His skin crawled with shame - knowing his parents would be devastated if they knew what Layla had gotten herself into.

“I guess you will,” Patrick said, a low rumbling growl coming from his chest. His werewolf and human forms were flickering rapidly in front of Kadeem’s eyes.

Kadeem’s anger fanned into rage. A sense of loyalty to their Alpha and the rest of Red Moon was blazing inside of him - and especially for Ardal, who had to find out her father was nothing more than a double-crossing villain.

"Cool,” Kadeem said. Challenge laced each word as he stared Patrick down. “And, just so we’re clear. I was lying about keeping quiet." He nodded tersely. "So what are you waiting for,Beta?"

And maybe Kadeem shouldn’t have hit him where it hurt. With a flash of teeth, Patrick lunged, pinning Kadeem to the ground before he could shift into his wolf, or even think to.

"Stop! Dad, no!"

Ardal exploded from behind the tree, stumbling and racing towards them just before the Beta sunk his teeth into Kadeem - his fangs grazing his skin, his breath hot on Kadeem's neck.

Patrick froze, his eyes wide. He shook in surprise, before morphing back to his human form while Ardal hastened for Kadeem. She was trembling from head to toe, but her expression displayed rage, not fear.

Patrick’s eyes narrowed. His words spilled out in a deadly, low tone. “What are you doing here?"

A flicker of something other than regular parental emotion was visible on Patrick's face. Kadeem had gotten bits and pieces from Ardal about how unpredictable her father could be at home.

Now Kadeem understood why she was so unhappy there.

“Nothing,” Ardal spat. “We were just taking a walk. It’s not Kadeem’s fault we ended up interrupting your stupid meeting!”

The crimson tint on Patrick's cheeks deepened and his eyes fixed on Kadeem.

“You’re very lucky,” he said, his gaze boring into him like lasers. There was an ominous lilt to his tone. “We will let you go… for now. Breathe one word to anyone and I won't hesitate to finish you off."

Kadeem didn't feel frightened by the threat, though he knew he should have. At that moment, he was just grappling with the mindfuck of it all: One of the neighbors he'd grown up next to was threatening to murder him, his sister plotting to take over the pack.

"Oh no you won't," Ardal yelled. She was glaring at Patrick who had started to flush so deeply he was nearly purple with rage. "I will-"

Quickly, Kadeem clamped his hand over Ardal's mouth, muffling her defiant threat.

There was already no telling how much she'd pay later for showing up her father.

"I got it," Kadeem said, looking evenly at Patrick, "Loud and clear. And your daughter can sometimes be reasonable," he said, eyeing Ardal before cautiously removing his hand.

"I'll take her home. And Layla," he continued. Looking towards his sister, his voice turned bitter. "You might be happy to lose the perfect image you created for yourself, but I'm not so quick to break our parents' hearts. You can shatter things yourself. I won't say anything."

"Trust me," Layla countered, "I will keep making them proud. You'll see."

"Whatever," Kadeem snorted. He looked to Patrick. "Can we go?"

And Kadeem felt like he was probably now on borrowed time - the traitorous Weres letting him leave, for now, as Patrick put it.

He and Ardal shifted into their wolf forms and began their journey back into town, then slipping back into their quiet neighborhood. It looked the same as always, but a mask had been lifted and it was rotting underneath.