Zodiac Aligned

16

“First question. Is the Moon Curse a lie?” I planned to start with a few questions that I already knew the answer to but wanted to get recorded on camera for the other alphas. It was a good way to make sure that the spell had taken hold.

"Yes," she said, her voice almost bored. "The Moon Curse hasn't been active for many years."

“Why did you let the Leo Pack attack us at the Convergence?” I asked next, watching her closely.

“To set off a pack war that would weaken both packs, allowing us to more easily take control,” Roxandra spat out. “Why are you asking me questions you already know the answers to?”

I gave her my sweetest, most saccharine smile. “It makes me happy to watch you squirm."

Next, I went through a list of questions that Ethan had prepared for me from the other alphas, mostly confirming things we already knew, and Roxandra answered each with the same spiteful look in her eyes. I had a feeling that if her hands were free, she’d wrap them around my throat and laugh as she squeezed the life out of me.

Once I finished the list of questions, Larkin cast the truth spell again, to make sure it didn't run out before we finished the interrogation. Roxandra glared at me in silence once it was done, mulishly setting her chin, but then her eyes fell on Jordan. The sight of her looking at him made me angry all over again. From where he leaned against the wall, he appeared completely at ease, but I could see how tense his shoulders were, and how tightly he had his jaw clenched. On the other side of the room, Kaden looked equally agitated.

I’ll figure this out for you both, I thought. You and everyone else who was hurt by the Sun Witches.

I squared my shoulders and looked back at Roxandra. “Where is Jordan’s mother?”

Roxandra’s eyebrows creased into a frown, and I wasn’t sure if it was from resisting the truth spell or from confusion. “I don’t know."

Frustration welled up inside me, but I pushed it down and asked my next question. “Where are the Leos now?”

“I don’t know,” she said again.

“Is—” I bit back the words. I’d been about to ask, is there anything you do know? But I didn’t really want to leave that question up to Roxandra’s interpretation. “Where are the Sun Witches now?”

Roxandra let out a pained noise, trying to keep her mouth shut. She shook her head once, then twice, but eventually, the truth spell won out. “They're likely in Solundra."

“What is Solundra?” I asked.

“The realm of Helios,” Roxandra spat out, like I was an i***t.

Of course. I should have realized there would be a realm for Helios, just like Selene had Lunatera. “Can you take us there?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Can? Yes. Will? No.”

I stared back at her without flinching, but we both knew no one could force her to do anything except answer our questions. Unless we resorted to torture, but I had a feeling that wouldn't work very well on her. She had nerves of steel, and wouldn't betray her people, or her mother, easily.

I’d finished with the questions we had planned, and now it was time to ask the ones I'd been mulling over for the last few nights. The ones I was truly scared to ask, but needed to know more than anything else. My eyes darted to Kaden once, as I steeled myself for what we might learn.

"I have a few more questions, Roxie."

"Lucky me," she snapped.

"Can the Sun Witches control people's minds without the blessing spell?" I asked.

A slow smile spread across her lips, as if she knew where I was headed with this and delighted in the prospect of my suffering. “Yes. The blessing spell allows us to take the wolves over completely, but we can use our mind magic on anyone.”

My hands clenched in my lap as a sinking feeling spread through my gut. “Have the Sun Witches used any of that mind magic on anyone in this room, other than Jordan?”

"Yes," Roxandra said, c*****g her head, her smile growing wider. “I wondered how long it would take you to figure out. I had so much fun putting dark thoughts in his head.”

"Who?" I asked. I needed her to say it.

"The Ophiuchus alpha."

"What?" Kaden asked, though it sounded more like a shout. He strode toward us like a warrior charging on the battlefield. "What are you talking about?"

Roxandra let out a laugh, her head falling back onto the chair. “I’m so pleased that you didn’t know we were messing with your head. My mother said I would have to be especially subtle for you. It was hard, but it was so worth it."

“How?” Kaden demanded. “How did you put the thoughts into my head?”

“When we killed you, our magic wormed its way inside a little. Just enough to let us in easier.” Her shoulders rolled in a casual shrug. "An unexpected side effect, but one that made you very useful to us. It was hard at first though, especially with all the wards you set up around the hotel. We could have breached them, of course, but that would have alerted you to our presence. Instead, I got into your head every time you left the hotel and whispered things in your mind. We encouraged the dark thoughts you already had, pushing harder and harder, until you snapped.”

The tension inside of Kaden finally broke at her last word, and he rushed Roxandra. Ethan was on him in an instant, dragging him down to the floor and trying to pin him, but Kaden wrenched him off and tossed him aside as if he weighed nothing. Ethan’s back hit the wall, and he let out a grunt of pain but shook it off. He crouched, ready to strike again, but Jordan had taken his place. He stood in front of Kaden, his hands out.

“Don’t,” he said, his voice low, deadly, and infused with a bit of command.