Moonlight Run

Twenty-Two

Nikolai’s POV

I carried the sobbing Pipa into the packhouse, aware of the concerned on-lookers watching as I did. The female wolves looked away and I realized that I was still nude. Valric appeared beside me at the bottom of the stairs with a pair of red sweatpants.

“Here, I’ll take her for a second.” He gathered Pipa momentarily in his arms, standing in front of me to block as much of my figure from view of everyone else while I pulled the sweats up over my waistline.

“Thank you,” I said to him, taking Pipa back against my chest.

“We’ve been taking the dead to the dining hall. Dimitri’s put Bianca there. Should I start contacting their families?”

“How many?” I asked.

He looked again at PIpa as she let out a groan of agony. “Is she hurt?”

“How many dead, Val?” I repeated with emphasis.

He hesitated, hardly taking his eyes from Pipa. “It looks like just three of ours, if you're counting Bianca.”

“I suppose someone has to,” I spat, making a mental note to speak with Phoebe about how we could have missed Bianca having become mated to a rogue wolf. If anyone would have know, she would have.

“And how many of theirs have fallen?” I continued down the hall towards Pipa’s room as he followed along beside me.

“We’re still counting. At least four. There’s an injured one, too. He seems to have been left behind.”

“Take him to the cells.” I said, pushing Pipa’s door open.

“Nikolai, he’s lost a leg. He won’t be any good to us if he bleeds out.”

I set Pipa on her bed, and pulled her blanket over her, shushing her as I rubbed her side. “I’m going to get you some clothes, okay?”

She shook her head in between her sobs, and as I opened her drawer I turned back to Valric. “Well then tie a f*****g tournaquet around the leg to help with the bleeding. Then tell him we’ll take the other one if he doesn’t tell us how the rogues have been using our sewers, and where we can find the rest of them.” I shut the drawer, walking back over to Pipa. I set the clothes down beside her on the nightstand, and brushed the wet matted hair from her face.

I kneeled beside her and could see her blue eyes reflecting mine through her blond hair as she tried to prevent her tears. “I’m going to find Isa; I promise you. But first I need you to tell me about the wolf you met…” I trailed off. “I need to know who he is, Pipa. Can you tell me what you remember?”

She shuddered between sobs. “Why?”

I swallowed hard, wiping away the tears that were coming down her face.

“Pipa… you know why.”

***

A short while later, Valric and I were in the cells, staring through the bars at the young boy who was screaming in agony as Cyrano tightened the strap around his knee, where his bloody stump was exposed.

“f**k YOU! I’ll kill you!” He screeched.

Cyrano chuckled. “Yeah? You tried that already, pal. How’d that work out for you?”

I raised my brows at Cyrano, motioning to the boy. “Was this your work then?”

Cyrano snorted, nodding with confirmation. “He’s just lucky I ripped off his leg instead of ripping out his throat.”

I stepped inside the cell, my hands in the pockets of my sweatpants. I crouched down beside the boy. “Do you know who I am?” I asked him. He turned his eyes from me, refusing to meet my gaze, and I quickly grabbed a fistful of his light brown hair, cranking his neck back to mine.

"I asked you a question."

“You’re the usurper’s son.” He said, gulping hard.

“Mm. Usurper? Is that what you’ve been told? I’ll have you know my father freed these people from a tyrant when you were still on your mother’s breast, boy.”

The boy chuckled. “That's a lie! You’re the real tyrants, ruling over people who aren't yours. But you'll see soon, everyone will. These wolves don’t know what it means to be free.”

“Oh, and you’re going to show them?” I asked with an incredulous laugh. I looked over my shoulder to Cyrano and Valric. “Did you hear that, boys? Peg-leg-pete here thinks he’s going to save us all from tyranny.”

“Not you…” And then the boy spat a wad of saliva directly into my face.

"You're going to regret that," I warned him. I felt the rage of my wolf come flying out of me, and I palm grasped the side of his head, shoving him into the cinder block behind him. His skull gave a crack and he fell to the floor with a thud, blood began pooling around his head, and dripping from his mouth.

He spit out his last words as he coughed up the dark red fluid. “Julius Petrova will liberate his people.”

***

I burst into my father’s office early on Sunday morning with Valric following behind me, finding Dimitri was already there.

“Nikolai,” My father motioned to Dimitri. “Dimitri was just giving me the final tally on our injured. It seems those sick from the Hemlock poisoning are nearly recovered… But the injuries we took in the battle are concerning.”

“We may have bigger concerns now.”

My father and Dimitri exchanged confused glances, looking back at me.

“I have reason to believe that Ivan Petrova’s son is alive. I think he might be behind all of this.”

My father scoffed. “Impossible. The magnitude of that blast even left me with temporary burns… ones so severe they took almost a month to heal from, and I was two cars over. That boy surely could not have survived.”

“Well, the wolves who attacked us seem to think that’s who they’re following.”

“Then he’s an imposter who’s managed to fool each of them —”

“He’s an Alpha, father.” I said. “You can even ask Dimitri,” I looked over to where Dimitri stood, his hands behind his back. “We all saw him use Alpha compulsion, didn't we?”

Dimitri hesitated, meeting my father's eyes. "I couldn't explain it any other way if I tried, sir."

My father shook his head now, walking around the desk, sitting against the corner of it. “Rogue wolves do not answer to Alphas, Nikolai.”

“No, but what happens when an Alpha goes rogue?” My father went quiet, as if thinking it over. “You don’t know. None of us do, because it hasn’t happened. Ivan Petrova… that was the first time in history the council had voted to sentence an Alpha to live as an Rogue.”

“Hm.” My father considered this. “This is true.”

“I paid attention to my studies more than you think I did.”

“But even if an Alpha were to find himself among rogues, he would have no pack to lead.”

“Wolves change pack alliances every day, father. Lily will pledge to Alpha Gideon when she leaves to be with Beta Mathis soon. It’s no more complicated than reciting a few words. Who’s to say rogue wolves couldn’t pledge their allegiance to an Alpha in the wild the same way?”

My father looked nervous, and he cleared his throat. “Even so. The Petrova boy is dead, that much is certain.”

Dimitri spoke again. “Sir, with all due respect… I saw Nikolai fighting this wolf… the one he suspects may be the son… His coat is nearly identical to Isadora’s. And thinking back now to our encounter with him Friday night…” Dimitri paused. “Sir, there are strong family resemblances in their human forms, too.”

Dimitri’s words gave me an idea. “Cyrano has the camera footage of the boy getting into Marisol’s car.” I recalled. “I have a screenshot on my phone, but it’s mostly of Marisol driving away.”

I looked to my father. “If I could show you the footage, dad... Do you think you could tell if the boy could be Petrova’s son?”

My father dismissed my idea with the roll of his eyes, but as Dimitri and Valric stood watching him he knew he was in the minority. “I will look. But I do not expect to give you the answer you’re holding out for.”

I turned to Valric, “Can you go find Cyrano and tell him to bring his iPad?”

“Wait,” Dimitri said to Valric. “Not that I don’t understand the particular time sensitivity of this situation, but… we should probably wait to bother Cyrano with anything right now. Is there another way we can get the footage?”

My father frowned, “I agree.”

“Why? What’s happened with Cyrano?” Valric asked.

Dimitri swallowed, looking down to his feet. “It’s his little brother… he was one of the wolves among our dead. I only just came back from telling his family the news.”

“He was so young,” was all I could manage, running my hand over my forehead. “Alright, well, um… I’m going to go check in with him, make sure he's doing okay. I guess I’ll return with him as soon as he feels up to it.”

Valric and Dimitri nodded, and Valric asked. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

I sighed. “Yeah, if you happen to see Bianca’s parents while I’m out, could you have them brought here? I have a few questions for them when I return.”

He nodded and I looked back at Dimitri.

"I'll need a word with Phoebe, too." I said.

"I figured." Dimitri replied. "She's still sleeping, but I know she'll try to be helpful however she can. She thought Bianca was her friend... this isn't easy for her."

I bit hard on the inside of my cheek. "This isn't easy for any of us."

***

Isa’s POV

The room Maximus had taken me to had not turned out to be a cell after all, but the attic bedroom that I had spied from the street below upon our arrival. The round window I’d looked up at was reflected in the space by another on the other side of the room, towards the back of the house. This one had bars over it, and a twin bed had been pushed to the wall underneath it. Maximus had chained my ankle cuff to a chain attached to the bars.

He came to visit me again after what felt like hours had passed. I looked to the window over the bed and saw a faint blue sky; morning light was coming through.

Maximus looked at the empty plate of food that had been left sitting on the rocking chair to the right of the bed and he sighed. “I wish you would eat, kid. The next week or so would sure go a lot better for you if you’d keep your strength and your spirits up.”

I rolled over away from him, staring instead at the dated wallpaper inches from my face, refusing to speak.

“They’re back now.” I heard him set the plate onto the floor, and could see in my peripherals that he was sitting in the chair now. “I thought you should know… your boyfriend did a number on them. Julius isn’t happy.”

“Good.” I forced out.

Maximus let out a breath of frustration. “Kid, do you understand that being his sister only gets you so far, right? He’s going to take every loss out on you, maybe even your mother.”

I flinched slightly, but still didn’t turn around to face him. “Why would I care? She’s as much a part of this as he is.”

“Now, Isadora, you know your mom is a good woman. She didn’t even know Julius was alive until a little more than a week ago. She’s just a mother reunited with her son… she hasn’t done anything anyone else in her position wouldn’t have.”

I only grunted in response, and after a long silence he spoke again. “Thought you should know, one of our boys had a run in with your sister.”

I sat up right away, turning around on the bed to look at him. “What do you mean by that?”

“The older one,” Maximus said. “Piper?”

“Pipa,” I corrected him.

“That’s the one.”

I jerked from the bed, feeling the cuff dig into my ankle. “What happened to her? Is she okay? Where is —”

Maximus only lifted his palm to silence me. “She’s fine, Isa… But you need to know. Alvis is a few years older than your brother, he was practically a mentor to Julius. If your people come after him, meaning to do him any kind of harm? Things are gonna get a lot worse around here.” He closed his eyes, furrowing his brow before he spoke again. “And after what went down last night, ain’t none of us around here looking forward to whatever retaliation Julius has in store.”

“Why? What happened last night?”

Maximus glanced towards the stairwell door he came through. His large hands each gripped the edge of the wooden arms of the chair. “I shouldn’t tell you this… Matter of fact, I was explicitly told not to.” He let out a deep breath. “Your pack took out Julius’ mate tonight. I expect he's going to be out for blood.”

I gasped. No one had yet even told me Julius had a mate. I felt the blood rush from my face as I gripped the bedding tightly between my knuckles. I tried to keep from trembling as I spoke, “So what do you think he’ll do now?”

“Well, knowing Julius, he’s usually the eye-for-an-eye type. Guess you had better thank your stars that you’re his sister.”

“And why would I be thankful for that?” I said scornfully.

Maximus stood from the chair now, looking back over to the door. “Because if you weren’t, I imagine it could be your head on the chopping block instead.”

He turned to walk towards the door and I jerked forward again. “So who’s is? Maximus!” I cried after him. “Who’s on the chopping block?!”

But he said no more, closing the door behind him as he left the room.

***

Nikolai’s POV

Cyrano paused the video, sighing expectantly as he looked up at my father. “Well?”

A concerning look had spread across his face, his brows deep in concentrated thought. He held a finger to his chin. “I don’t understand how this could be.”

“So it is him, then? That’s Julius Petrova?” I asked.

My father closed his eyes, rubbing the chin of his beard. He stepped away from us, his other hand on his waist. “You know, I should be relieved… For sixteen years I’ve had nightmares about that day, believing somehow another innocent child had died because of me.”

I clenched my jaw at his mention of another, knowing what he referred to.

“But that,” He pointed to the screen, shaking his finger. “That is a problem, Nikolai. One we must work quickly to deal with or you will never ascend as leader of this pack.”

I was struck by his words, stepping back to absorb what he’d said. Cyrano looked up from the chair in which he sat, as confused as I was by my father’s words.

“You’re the Alpha of this pack, and I’m your son. Ivan transferred his power to you. Why would the existence of his son keep me from Ascending?”

“I thought you said you’d paid attention to your studies,” My father crossed his arms. He paused, taping his fingers along his upper arms. “Ivan surrendered his title to me. But he could not transfer his gifts… not to me.”

“And why not?”

“The process of transference is intended to allow for an individual that is not an Alpha to ascend in his place, and absorb those abilities. After that, the line continues through the new Alpha, and any sons he may have. When I took over this pack, sure, Ivan’s people pledged their allegiance to me. In the ways that matter most, yes, I am their Alpha.”

He exhaled slowly. “But I was already an Alpha. So Ivan’s gifts and his lineage wouldn’t convey to me when our two packs merged. And as long as his son was alive, I knew that one day my son and his son might find themselves at odds. With Ivan’s death, his powers would pass onto his son when he came of age. The only way you would ever be Alpha was if the boy died, or if he abdicated from his role and willingly gave it to you.”

“I don’t understand,” I shook my head. “I am an Alpha, father. You’ve seen it. I’ve used compulsion, I’ve been able to—”

“Yes, you are an Alpha, Nikolai, because you are the son of the Alpha of the Allegheny River pack. But as long as Julius lives, or until he abdicates, that is all you would ever be if you were to try to ascend.”

“I don’t understand," I admitted. "So what, we're each the future Alphas of this pack? How is that possible?"

“I understand.” Cyrano’s spoke now. “He means that if you Ascend, while Julius still lives, you’ll only be an Alpha over everyone that came here from the Allegheny River pack at the time of the merger.”

I looked back and forth between my father and my friend, processing what they had just explained to me.

“Julius is the next true Alpha in line for the Cuyahoga Valley pack, Nikolai, not you.”