Moonlight Run

Twenty-Three

Isa’s POV

It would be two days more before I saw anyone other than Maximus. Although I was still furious at my mother, her company on this Tuesday morning was welcome. I’d hoped I would get some answers about what had happened to Pipa, or how Julius planned to seek revenge for the loss of his mate.

“Isa!” She seemed happy to see me when she appeared in the attic doorway. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I wanted to come see you…”

She threw her arms around me, but I quickly brushed her away. “Come to slap me around some more, mother?”

My mother dropped her arms to the side with a heavy sigh. “Isa, things have become so complicated… I never meant to hurt you. Julius doesn’t want this for you, either. Things took a turn in ways that I don’t believe Julius could have ever planned for.”

“So what exactly was the plan then, mother? When he told you that he’d planned to kidnap me, that he planned to attack our people— It didn’t occur to you that absolutely none of that was going to go any other way than complicated? Really?”

My mother sighed. “You know, he sent me here to check on you, and find out if you were still in a difficult mood. He promised me that if you had calmed down and seemed willing to listen to him that you could leave this room.” She reached out for my hand. “Come, Isa. Please? Just sit, listen, and don’t provoke him. I’m begging you.”

“Sit and listen?” I shook my head. “He really likes to hear himself talk, doesn’t he?” A thought occurred to me as the words came out of my mouth. And I wondered if I could get Julius to keep talking, perhaps he would share with me what had happened with Pipa. I hadn’t stopped worrying about her since Maximus’ visit on Sunday morning.

I clicked my tongue to my teeth, “Fine. I’ll sit. I’ll eat. But I’m not doing a god damn thing for any of you.”

My mother nodded slowly, taking my hand. “Max, please take these chains off of her.”

Maximus did as she instructed and she looped her arm in mine once my ankle was free. “Come, dear. We’re having pancakes and bacon this morning.”

When we entered the dining room, Julius was once again at the head of the long table he’d sat at before. “There she is!” He stood from the table, lifting a glass in my direction. “We have coffee and orange juice— my preferred versions, coffee with baileys and orange juice with champagne.” He motioned to the spread of food on the table. “Sit, have whatever you like.”

He pulled out the chair to his left for me. I noticed that the chair to his right was not occupied by Leon today, who was noticeably absent from the room. Instead, a large black man with a bald head and a muscular build sat to his right. The man I had been introduced to as Vlad followed after.

When I hesitated to come around the table, he spoke again. “Ah, right. You haven’t been introduced. Isadora, this is Alvis. Alvis, this is Isadora.” He smiled up at me. “Alvis is my right hand, my Beta if you will.”

“You’re Alvis?” I said, stopping across the table from him.

He nodded. “I am.”

“You’re the one who tousled with Pipa then.” I could feel my hands balling into fists at my side. “What did you do to her?”

Alvis looked wounded, and he looked to his lap. Julius cleared his throat. “You misunderstand, Isa. Alvis didn’t hurt Pipa. He could never.” He shoved a piece of french toast into his mouth and, as he swallowed, smiled reassuringly at Alvis. “She’s his mate.”

I was dumbfounded by his words, and I felt my chest rise and fall as I looked from him to Alvis for confirmation, as Alvis forced a small smile.

“Mates? Wait, did you…?”

Julius snorted. “Right there in the middle of a battle? That sounds like an awkward time.”

I glared over at my brother. He grinned at me, pleased with himself. “That was funny and you know it.”

Alvis looked to Julius, as if awaiting his permission to speak. Julius waved his hand and Alvis said, “We just barely caught each other’s scents, unfortunately. We haven’t really had a proper hello yet.”

I nodded with understanding, and I pulled the chair out that I stood behind. Julius flashed me a look of annoyance as he pushed the chair beside him back in. “Still being difficult, I see.”

As I settled into my chair, I said back to him, “I said I’d sit, I said I’d eat… I’m even willing to listen. But I am not your new best friend.”

He pursed his lips. “Understood.” He took another drink from his coffee, chuckling at me as I reached over for the Bailey’s. “And here I thought you were a vodka girl?”

I looked around the room. “Are you offering vodka this morning?”

He grinned back at me and put his elbow on the table, leaning his chin on it. “You know, I like you, Isadora. You say things, and I laugh to myself, thinking ‘There it is. These are the sisterly comments that I had the misfortune of missing out on.’ And I’m reminded that I couldn’t let any harm come to you, or I wouldn’t forgive myself.”

Julius tapped his fork with his plate and sat back up. “Keep that s**t up. Your sense of humor may one day be the only reason you’re still alive.”

“Hm,” I poured syrup over my pancakes. “You’d really like Pipa then.”

My mother snorted, and I smiled at her knowingly.

“Well, if she matters to you and she matters to Alvis, I suppose she matters to me, too.” He clasped his hands in front of himself. “So tell me, how do we safely get Pipa out of that packhouse and here with us?”

My mother spoke up, “But what about Carina?”

Julius held up a single finger to silence her and her shoulders slouched as she looked at her lap.

“You don’t.” I chuckled. “After that attack? They’ll be expecting you. If they haven’t come for us by now, it’s because they don’t know where to find you. So they’re going to wait for you to make the next move.”

He eyed me thoughtfully, sitting back in his seat. He opened his mouth to speak, but I had already continued, adding, “Though I don’t know why you’d want to. Haven’t you lost enough?”

Julius stood from his seat, sending an armful of the dishes in front of him flying into the wall, pointing a finger at me. My mother let out a yelp as he shrieked, “Don’t you f*****g speak of her.” He swallowed hard, steadying himself. “The only thing she would want me to do is carry on. No one’s ever believed in me like she has.”

Maximus appeared behind me and I stayed quiet, looking at my plate now. I knew that with as much as another word Julius was likely to have me taken back to the attic. I damned my mouth, closing my eyes and willing myself to shut up.

Two girls emerged from a doorway to the right of the dining room and began cleaning up the mess of plates and food on the floor. The smallest one, a little redhead I’d seen days ago when I’d arrived, met my eyes and gave a small smile at me. I gave a little wave. Julius adjusted the collar of his shirt and dabbed a spot on his chest where something had spilled on him when he’d had his outburst.

He looked over at me, drawing in a long breath. “But you’re not wrong,” he said. “They won’t find us here, and I’d prefer that it stay that way. But I’d be a fool to take the fight to them again.”

Julius sat back down in his seat and looked at the little girl who continued to clean up the broken glass with a broom and dust pan. He eyed her carefully for a few minutes before a smug expression appeared on his face.

“We need to send word to the Blackburns that we’d like to negotiate over common ground.” Julius looked at Vlad now, who had stayed quiet during our exchange, listening intently.

“And Vladimir?”

The young man looked at Julius excitedly, a devious smile forming in the corners of his mouth. His eyes lit up red in response and I gasped; I’d never seen a wolf with red eyes like that before.

“I do believe that I’ll be needing your services.”

***

Nikolai’s POV

“Nikolai!” I saw Isadora in the small round window above me again. She was looking down on me in the street. She was pounding her fist against the window repeatedly.

“Nikolai!” Thud. “Nikolai, wake up!” Thud.

I suddenly sat up in my bed, aware that my dream was meshing with my reality. Someone was pounding on my door. I rolled out of the creaky bed, missing the comfortable new mattress at the duplex. But I hadn’t slept there since Thursday now, and today was Wednesday.

There was still no sign of Isadora, her mother and stepfather, or any of the rogue wolves. I’d cursed myself a million times over for killing that boy in the cells before we could get a location out of him. Every day since then, our patrols ran in shifts. Every day I had wolves mucking it in our sewers, searching for any indication of where the rogue wolves had come from.

And every night, the same damn nightmares with the same round window from my memories came back to pay me a visit. I was exhausted.

I looked at my phone. It was barely 6am. We had halted our Monday-Wednesday-Friday training given the current ordeal, but even on those days I barely got out of bed in time to make it to the 7:30 sessions. I was most assuredly not a morning person. On this particular morning, I was feeling even less so, given that I’d just come off a 12am to 3am patrol.

I pulled a pair of Calvin’s from my dresser drawers, and called out, “You’d better have a damn map and turn by turn directions to their location if you’re bothering me this early,” as I opened the door.

There stood Dimitri on the other side, short of breath. “Even better,” he said. “You’re gonna want to get dressed and come with me.”

***

I stared at the small redheaded child in the armchair of my father’s office. Maeve had brought her a fruit bowl from the kitchen, and she picked at a handful of strawberries while my father and I, along with Valric and Dimitri, watched her curiously. Cyrano was currently on patrol at the borders.

“And you said she was just wandering around in the sewers?”

Valric nodded. “She said her Alpha brought her down, set her on a course, and said ‘Don’t stop until someone finds you; and when they do, you ask for Phineas Blackburn.’ She had this in her hands.”

Val handed my father a once-white envelope, now stained from the time in the pipes. He read it, his expression unchanging. When he was done, he handed it off to me.

“And who did she say her Alpha was?” I asked.

“Who do you think?” He replied.

I unfolded the letter, and Dimitri leaned over my shoulder to read with me.

“Alpha Phineas Blackburn,

I expect this letter will find its way to you, one way or another. My only hope is that dear Caroline arrives with it. Before you pass judgment, I hope you understand that this was the only way we thought we could get a message sent to you with low risk of attack.

We’d like to propose a trade. We’re willing to give you back your three pack members, but in return, we ask that you would see to it that Caroline returns to us accompanied by one of yours, specifically, one Pipa Fournier.

It seems Miss Fournier and one of our wolves have had the luck of finding themselves mated together. We would ask her to correct that by participating in a formal mutual rejection, as I think both parties can both agree that this is a relationship that would not be in either’s best interest to try to see to fruition.

You’ll find a phone in Caroline’s jacket. There is just one number in the contact, and you need only reply ‘Yes’ to agree to these terms. We will allow you to choose the meeting place. I will come with only three men, in addition to bringing your pack members, and I would respectfully ask you to do the same.

Libertas quae sera tamen,

Julius Petrova,”

“What’s that bit mean?” Dimitri motioned to the closure.

My father grunted before replying, “The loose translation? Liberty, even when it comes late.”

I hung my head as I folded up the letter, “So now what do we do?”

Dimitri replied, “We can’t possibly make that trade. We all know this is a setup, right?”

“Okay, let’s think about what we know.” I looked at my father. “As long as you’re alive, Julius doesn’t Ascend. As long as Julius is alive, or unless he abdicates the title, I can’t Ascend either or I’ll be left with exactly fourteen pack members. Did I count that right?”

My father thought for a moment. “Seventeen, if you count the three children that have been born here since then. But two of them have one parent each from the original two packs. So I don’t know where they would land.”

“By that logic, you’d have to take away another four,” Dimitri said. “Four of the women who came here from the Allegheny pack mated with men from the Cuyahoga Valley pack. And since, traditionally, females align with whatever packs their mates belong to…”

I finished his thought, “then theoretically, they could belong to Cuyahoga Valley now. Leaving me with what? Eleven people? If that. It’s not much of a pack.”

Looking around the room, everyone nodded back at me. “So I can’t ascend anytime soon, and you’d better not f*****g die,” I said to my father.

He chuckled. “I didn’t plan on it, son.”

“Well, whatever Julius has planned, I’m pretty sure it starts or ends with you six feet underground.” I covered my mouth to contain a yawn. “We need to keep you under lock and key, old man. At least until we figure out how we’re going to take Julius down.”

Valric spoke now, “Nikolai, how much weight are we going to give the possibility that Isadora may never forgive you, if you happen to murder her recently-not-murdered brother?”

I swallowed hard. “That’s tomorrow’s problem, Val.”

***

Isa’s POV

I heard the familiar sound of the attic door opening and closing, as I stirred from my slumber. I expected to see Maximus waiting with breakfast for me, as per usual.

I was startled to see Julius standing beside my bed instead. He held a white gift box in his arms.

“Up and up, Izzy girl. Big day today.”

I felt the ankle cuff tug at me as I stood to my feet. “What’s going on?” I asked.

A smug expression spread across his face. “Looks like you’ll get to see your boyfriend in a few hours. I brought you something for the occasion.”

He set the gift box on the small table beside me, and I hesitantly opened it. I removed the piece to discover it was a black cotton dress with white polka dots.

“Pretty.” I said with little emotion. “And what exactly is the occasion?”

“I suppose in some circles they would call it negotiation.”

“And in your circles?”

“Leverage,” He said simply. “Obstacles are best overcome when you know how to use the tools you have been given.”

“Or taken,” I said.

“Hm.” He nodded, leaning against the doorway. “I told you before, bringing you here was not part of the plan. It was meant to be Nikolai.”

“And yet here I am, anyway,” I remarked. “Some plan.”

Julius sighed. “It was meant to be a simple deal. If Phineas turned himself over to us, Nikolai would go free. I guess I figured if our father would sacrifice his life for his children? Then surely, even Phineas Blackburn would. I was counting on as much. But… things went wayside, as they do.” He paused, sliding his hands into his pockets. “And here you are instead. Fortunately, plans can be changed.”

“If you have any doubt that Phineas would turn himself over for his son, let me assure you, trust those doubts.” I scoffed, setting the dress on the bed beside me. “He certainly won’t turn himself over for me, either.”

“I didn’t see the value in taking you either. But then I reflected a bit more… thinking back to how possessive the usurper’s son became over you during our encounter on that street corner. And the idea occurred to me… Perhaps rather than counting on the Alpha to turn himself over to me, I could convince the son to turn on the father… particularly if it meant saving the woman he loved.”

“Loved?” I laughed. “Wow, you are way off. Whatever is happening between Nikolai and I? It’s not love.”

“But you admit there is something happening?” He tilted his head aside.

“I still have a year before I come of age. It’s an infatuation, at best. I’ve had others and I’m sure Nikolai Blackburn has, too.”

Julius' eyes lit up with amusement as he listened to me. “You’re so sure of yourself, it’s adorable, really… But I know something you don’t know.”

Julius grabbed me by my arms unexpectedly and took the hem of my t-shirt in his hands, lifting it up. As he pulled it back down with a shove, I landed seated back on the bed. “Those ribs sure healed up fast, didn’t they, Isa?” He seethed. I felt my heart rate quicken at his words. “Not so much as a bruise? How odd. I would have sworn I heard them crack.”

He turned to leave the room, and I jerked on my chain again, nearly managing to grab him by the cuff of his wrist as his arm swung out of reach.

“It won’t work, Julius!” I called after him. “I will never let him make that trade. I’ll stay here forever, if that’s what it takes, because I know I’m safe, and my people are safe, as long as I’m right here with you.”

Julis spun around in the doorway, leaning against the frame. “You’d better hope he does make the trade, Isadora. Because if he doesn’t… then we will have to go to Plan B. And I really don’t want to do that to you.”

“Plan B? What, you’re going to kill your own sister’s mate just so you can be Alpha, Julius?”

My brother looked away from me now, unable to meet my eyes. “Isa, if I have to go to Plan B, you’ll wish it was that easy. I can promise you that.”