Moonlight Run

Nineteen

Nikolai’s POV

I pulled my keys out from the inside of my tuxedo jacket.

“Dimitri! Take Isadora and Phoebe to my room and lock them in. Get them out of here, now!”

He nodded, not saying a word as he led Phoebe by the arm over to where Isadora stood trembling, as she watched the chaos unfold. I spent the next hour helping get the sick to the infirmary, and getting others to safety. As the evening went on, I began to notice an alarming pattern.

“Valric, Cyrano,” I called from the infirmary. They jogged over to me. “How many sick women do we have? Have you seen any?”

The two men were thoughtful for a moment before Cyrano replied. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Not a one, now that you mention it.” Valric eyed me suspiciously. “It’s only affecting the men.”

“We need to find out why. For now, keep getting the women and children to the gymnasium safely. I’m going to check in with my father.”

I found my father outside the dining hall, who was speaking with a frantic Marisol. She was holding Carina’s hand.

“I can’t find him, Phineas. I’ve looked everywhere. I haven’t seen him since he left the luncheon earlier today, and now Isa’s missing, too.”

“I had Dimitri get Isadora out of here, Marisol. She’s safe.”

Marisol clutched her chest and sighed. “And Leon?”

My father frowned, looking at me. “Beta Leon has been unaccounted for since the luncheon.”

“Okay,” I nodded to Marisol. “We’ll find him, okay?”

“That’s not all!” Marisol said, pleading with my father. “Tell him, Phineas. You know I can’t.”

My father shot Marisol a foreboding look, and turned back to me.

“Dad, tell me what?”

“We’ve seen this before, this affliction.” He motioned to the ill guests that were still being carried out of the room. “They’ve been poisoned.”

I looked back and forth between my father and Isadora’s mother. “Why? And poisoned by what?”

“Hemlock. I’m sure of it.”

“How do you know? When have you seen this before?”

My father grunted. “It’s a deadly plant, with a root that looks a bit like a carrot. It would be easy enough to add, say, to a salad with carrots on it,” He motioned to the salad plates that had just been served. “It attacks the central nervous system and respiratory system in most creatures, but when given to werewolves… it presents with violent nausea first.”

I shook my head, bewildered. I asked him again. “How can you be sure?”

He hesitated, and Marisol looked away in shame. “Because many years ago, when Leon Fournier asked me to help him remove Ivan Petrova from his position as Alpha, we poisoned Petrova’s men with hemlock… Just like this.”

I stepped back in shock. “You did this?”

My father spat. “I didn’t do this, Nikolai. Someone else has obviously done this to get back at us. A defector among our people, no doubt.”

“But you have done this to other wolves before? How have I never heard of this? I thought Ivan Petrova surrendered peacefully.”

“Because I compelled everyone who could remember to never speak of it. It’s why such things are called unspeakable horrors, Nikolai. Sometimes we must do them to survive.”

“Yeah,” I scoffed. “And look around at how that turned out.” I stepped back from him.

“Where are you going?” He asked.

“Sixteen years ago you helped Leon Fournier poison people so that you could take this pack, and now Leon’s missing? Someone obviously has him father; the same person who’s done this to us. And I’m going to find them.”

***

Isa’s POV

I texted Nikolai again. “I need to talk to you.”

No reply came. Another half hour passed and I still hadn’t heard back. The grounds were quiet now, and I couldn’t put the nagging thought from my mind.

Julius had been the only wolf I’d ever known to have called me Izzy. And Jay looked so familiar… Now I could understand why. I walked into Nikolai’s attached bathroom, staring at myself in the mirror. The raven hair, check, the olive skin, check, the brown eyes… I sunk down against the bathroom wall. Was it even possible?

I tried calling Nikolai this time, but he didn’t pick up. I emerged from the bathroom and went to the bedroom door, knocking on it. “Hello! Can anybody hear me? Hello! Let us out! Somebody!”

Phoebe was sitting up in the bed now, an annoyed expression across her face. “What are you doing? Dimitri told us to stay here, and you just said like half an hour ago that Nikolai said it’s still not safe. Are you crazy?”

“I might be,” I admitted.

She huffed. “Well now she admits it. And of course, no one’s around to hear it.” She rolled her eyes and sat back down on the bed. “Look, just sit here and let them handle it… That’s what they’re supposed to do as Alpha and Beta. They handle s**t. We show up and look pretty.”

I turned towards her. “We’re wolves as much as they are. I don’t know about you, but I am not content to just ‘show up and look pretty’.”

Phoebe shrugged, flipping her red hair over her shoulder. “Of course not, sweetie. You just have an annoying habit of showing up. We don’t expect you to look pretty, too.”

I felt an unfamiliar rage burst at my seams as I lunged at her, but she narrowly escaped my hands when she scooched farther back on the bed, and I felt my toe stub against something hard underneath the bed. “f**k!”

I looked down as she laughed at me from across the room. Nikolai’s familiar duffle bag was at my feet. It was partially unzipped. I crouched down, ignoring my quickly swelling toe, and opened it farther to see what I had just slammed into. I saw a pair of 15 pound barbells inside the bag.

Typical male, I thought. And then I had an idea.

“What are you doing with that—” Phoebe asked as I held the barbell in my hands, stepping farther away from me. But I turned around to face the door again, and I began beating on the door with the barbell in my hands. Eventually the wood snapped, and with a hole in the door now, I could reach my hand through and unlock it.

“Oh my god. You are. b***h, you are certifiably crazy.”

With the door open I looked over my shoulder at her. “Are you coming or are you staying here?”

Phoebe crossed her arms and sat down on the bed. “I’m not going anywhere with you. I’m going to sit here and do as I was told.”

“Aw,” I said. “Good girl. Sit. Stay. Who’s the b***h exactly?”

And then I headed out the door, ignoring her frustrated screech behind me.

I realized very quickly that I wasn’t going to get very far with this tight mermaid gown trapping my legs together. I reached down and found the seam at the side, and then I pulled. The fabric ripped up the thigh, putting a slit in the dress. That was better.

I came into the entryway and covered my mouth. There was a line of bodies down the wall, men in tuxedos… I was pretty sure they were dead. Others, who looked to be still alive, were being carried down the hall towards the annex, where one could access the elevator and stairs to the lower level, which housed the infirmary and the cells. There were no stretchers, and it seemed men were pairing up two at a time to help get others down to the hospital area.

I watched them, scanning the room as I looked for anyone I might know, and then I saw Valric helping another man I didn’t recognize as they carried a third past me.

“Valric!” I said.

He paused, looking around for who might have said it. I waved him down and he nodded towards me. “Isadora… I thought you were—”

“I don’t have time to explain that right now. I need to know where Nikolai is.”

He adjusted his grip on the man he was carrying. “Um, I think he’s with your mom. The Beta’s missing.”

“The Beta? You mean Leon?”

Valric nodded. “Yeah. s**t, he’s your stepdad, isn’t he? I’m sorry.”

“Do you know where they might have gone looking for him?”

“I don’t, and I can’t really help—” He nodded towards the man he was carrying. “Right now, I mean. I’m sorry.”

“No, no. Of course.” He tried to force a reassuring smile and he and the other man continued down the hall.

I looked around for a sign of anyone else that might help me. And when I didn’t see anyone, I walked out to the parking area. I saw Pipa’s Nissan Rogue parked in the corner of the lot. Knowing my sister, I was very aware that she had an unwise habit of leaving her keys in the console of her car. She argued often that we lived on a gated compound and it wasn’t a big deal.

I hopped in the driver’s seat and sighed, wondering what I was doing. I couldn’t begin to determine where Leon would go, or where my mother would go looking for him. But I had to at least try to make myself helpful. I lifted up the center console, and groaned when her keys were not there. Feeling foolish, I let my head rest against the steering wheel.

A few minutes later my phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out. Pipa had messaged me.

“Phoebe just texted Dimitri and said you left?? What are you thinking? Where are you?”

I began to text back. “Still at packhouse. Where are you?”

She replied quickly. “Gym. Passing out blankets, looking after the kids. Everyone’s freaking out Isa. At least three other pack Alpha’s are dead, the infirmary is full of people fighting for their lives. It’s crazy. People are saying we’ve been poisoned.”

“Poisoned? How?”

“Some people are saying it was in the salads, but only for the men, I guess?? It makes sense, there’s only one woman who’s sick right now, and I overheard a girl saying she ate her husband’s salad.”

“OMG.” I replied back. “What about mom? Have you seen her?” I wondered if Pipa knew her father was missing.

Her reply told me otherwise. “Last I checked she was in the infirmary helping the sick ones.”

“Coming to you.” I said.

I stepped out of Pipa’s car. I looked up at the night sky, the clouds were still moving, shrouding the otherwise full moon from view. The parking area was empty and dark. The manor was still lit up, and the front doors were open. The light that poured out into the lot was all that lit the area around me, and I looked through the door into the manor, where I could see people in the entry hall still running around, helping each other as they could.

I looked in the direction of the gymnasium. Hopefully I could at least be helpful there. I could follow the road, but I knew that if I just went through the wooded area to my right I would come out on the side of the gym. I walked through the open space, heading towards the tree line. I pulled my phone from my pocket, and switched the flashlight on so I could see where I was going. Just as I was finding my way through the trees, the security lights on the side of the gym building coming into view, I heard a low growl.

I turned around, sniffing the air. “Who’s there?” I called.

I heard the familiar cracking noise to my left. “Hello?”

“Isa…” The voice said faintly. I turned my phone’s flashlight in the direction of the sound, and then I gasped. My mother held her hands up to block the light, looking away from me.

“Mom! What are you doing out here?” I quickly pulled my hoodie off over my head, and handed it over to my mother. “Here! Put this on!”

Once covered, she pulled her hair out of the hood and sighed. “Isa, you should have stayed in Nikolai’s room.” She said. “You were safe there.”

“But I needed to see you. And then I ran into Valric, and he told me Leon’s missing and that you and Nikolai were out here looking for him, and…” I stopped. “Mom, where’s Nikolai? I thought he was with you.”

“He was, sweetheart. But… then he caught my scent. And then he figured out what kind of car I drive. And, you know, I’m just horrible at lying. So I ran. And we really should be getting out of here, because I’m sure he’s still out there, looking for me. And probably looking for you now, too.”

I backed away. “Mom, what are you talking about? Why would have to run from Nikolai? What would you need to lie about?”

She sighed. “Oh honey, we just don’t have time for all of that.” She reached into my hoodie pocket, pulling out my phone that I realized I’d forgotten to take out before handing it to her. “We have a family reunion we have to be getting to.”

My eyes went wide and I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could get a word out I felt a hand go over my mouth and a strong chemical smell filled my nose before everything went black.

***

Nikolai’s POV

Earlier that night.

“You said the last time you saw him was at the luncheon?” I asked Marisol as we walked out the doors of the packhouse.

“Yes. And then he checked his phone and said something had come up, that he would be back in a bit. I didn’t think to ask where he was heading, but you know how that Alpha/Beta life is… They’re always off to do something important that they won’t tell us about even if we do ask.”

I nodded, opening my phone to a notification I’d just gotten from Cyrano. He was going to check the tree cams by the highway and see if we could identify the car that had picked up the rogue on the side of the highway after our encounter the night before. I’d hoped that would lead us to Leon.

“Here,” Marisol held up her phone. “It says that his phone’s last location was here,”

Sliding my own phone back into my pocket, I examined the pin drop on the map. It was at the edge of a residential area of town, but I didn’t recognize the address. “That’s not far from Dimitri’s new place.” I said. “Let’s go take a look.”

I stepped up to my black Mercedes and realized I had handed my keys off to Dimitri earlier when I’d asked him to take Phoebe and Isadora to my room. “Dammit,” I said. “I don’t have my keys on me.”

“Oh.” She said. “Well, we can take mine.” Marisol wore a fitted black gown that seemed short on pockets.

“Okay, do we need to go back inside for them?”

“Pipa has a copy on her key ring,” Marisol said. “She always keeps her keys in the console of her car.” She made her way over to Pipa’s Nissan and took the keys from the center of the car, jingling them at me as she closed the door.

I looked around to the other cars in the lot. “Which one’s yours?” I asked.

She motioned to a Blue Impala. I went around to the passenger side as she hopped in the driver’s seat. As I opened the car door I was overcome by a peculiar scent that hit my nostrils.

“Are you alright?” Marisol asked.

“I just got a bit woozy, I guess.” I lied. I knew I recognized the smell, but I couldn’t yet place it.

She looked at me with concern as she started up the car. “You didn’t have any of that salad, did you?”

I said no, and we rode quietly together for a few minutes before I spoke again.

“Marisol, you said my father did this once before?... to your people?”

“My late husband, Ivan, wasn't a good man. I won’t pretend he was. I stood with him at first, playing the role of a loyal wife even when I knew he had done wrong. I wasn’t alone; he still had his share of supporters; even your father backed him, at first.”

“My father? I thought my father helped Leon unseat Ivan?”

“Mmhmm. When he realized it was in his best interest, sure. You didn’t know? When Leon and the people began to rise up, Phineas sent men here to help Ivan secure the compound and seek out dissenters.”

My eyes went wide. “Why would he do that?”

“Because they aren’t all that different from each other.” Marisol said. “Your father only pulled his men out and decided to back Leon instead after Leon appealed to the council for help. He didn’t want to be on their shitlist, I guess. He really worked it to his benefit though… got Leon agree to make him Alpha instead.”

I swallowed hard, feeling my heartbeat quicken. I realized Marisol was watching me. She spoke again, “I thought you’d be mad and be calling me a liar right now. But you believe me, don’t you?”

“I know who my father is,” I admitted. “Nothing surprises me anymore.”

“Hm.” Marisol frowned, looking back at the road.

“Can I ask… what did Ivan do that people hated him for so much?”

“Well for starters, he was a pack purist.” She said.

I’d heard the term ‘pack purity’ before. It was often used to refer to dated pack laws that forbid their members from mating outside of the pack. The Appalachian Council of Alpha’s had been created to unite packs from the midwest to the east coast, even into parts of the south, that were willing to work together. They would trade goods and services, and help one another when needed. As pack relations grew, the concept of pack purity fell out of style. People began to celebrate their new alliances when their sons and daughters came to be mated to members of other packs.

“So he banned mating outside of the pack, and people didn’t like it?”

“Oh, he took it farther than that.” She sighed, shaking her head in frustration. “You have to keep in mind, this was all during a time when Moonlight Runs had been illegal. And now here we are, sixteen years later… and the council has basically legalized everything he was doing.”

“Ivan was hosting Moonlight Runs?”

“Ivan did it differently. They called what he did monstrous. They think because they’ve added a few rules that they’ve reinvented it, as if it’s any better than what he had done.”

“How did he do it?”

Marisol took a deep breath. “Well, it was no run in the woods when he did it. There’s a place on our land that people just don’t go to anymore… not since your father took over… A cave that’s been bouldered over. That’s where they did it. Every month, any newly come-of-age girls were brought to that cave, where every unmated man in that pack was waiting for them. Locked in that cave with all those men? Those girls didn’t stand a chance. Every one of them came out sired, every damn time. That’s for sure.”

“My father made it out like the women have a say? Like they get to choose who… who sires them. Is that true?”

She chuckled, shaking her head. “You know, Ivan once tried to justify it all to me, saying that worse things happened at frat parties. He tried to tell me it’s different because a she-wolf has to submit first before she can be marked… But that’s the problem, right there. He equated submission with consent. It sounds like your father and the other council members feel the same way. But it’s just not consent, Nikolai, not when your whole body is betraying you. That’s just losing the fight, and someone else being there to take advantage of it.”

I nodded, understanding. I heard my phone buzz in my pocket. I pulled it from my pocket, seeing that it was a message from Cyrano.

“You know,” Marisol said, putting the car into park. “The power is in your hands to stop it from happening anymore, at least in our pack. You could make a difference, Nikolai, if you wanted to.”

As I closed the car door behind me and we stepped out to the empty lot, I chose my words carefully. “I don’t like it. And if I had already been on council when they voted on it, I have no doubt I would have voted against it. You know, it only passed with 52% approval? … But what can I do now, Marisol? It’s been reinstated. Don’t you think the council would have me unseated, just like they did Ivan?”

I looked around the lot, but there seemed to be nothing here. I pulled out my phone to check the map again, still seeing the notification from Cyrano. “You sure this is the place?” I asked.

“Oh, I’m sure.” She laughed softly. “I’m also pretty sure at least 52% of the council isn’t going to be a problem anymore.”

While she spoke, I had swiped open the message from Cyrano, who sent a screenshot of the tree cam’s footage. I processed what she had said while I stared at my screen, seeing the rogue wolf from the night before getting into the blue Impala, I realized what I’d smelled when I got into her car. I looked up at Marisol, who was watching me intently, waiting.

“Marisol... what did you do?”