Zodiac Aligned

15

Along with their friends, they'd given me many of the scars on my body now. But I wasn't that frightened, defenseless girl anymore—and I refused to be scared of them ever again.

“I thought I smelled something,” Lori said, pinching her nose as they approached. “Turns out it was a packless mutt.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’d think that after so many years of bullying me, you’d come up with some better insults."

"You must really want a beating," Brad growled. "Turning up here again? You have a serious death wish."

"Try it," I told them, wishing they'd either get on with it already or leave me alone. "Or f**k off, if you're not going to make my night interesting."

"Run away, little mutt," Lori said, flicking her pink nails at me. "Before we teach you another lesson."

Brad prowled closer. “You don’t have your snake boyfriend to protect you this time. Or your brother."

Brad suddenly lunged for me, his hands changing to claws. Before, this would have left me scrambling backward, trying to get away from his superior strength and speed, but now I held my ground. Using the tricks Kaden had taught me, I swerved out of the way at the last second, then used Brad's momentum to make him flip onto his back. He landed with a thud on the sand, while I stood over him.

“I don’t need anyone to protect me,” I said. “I can do that myself now.”

Lori charged me next, but I blasted her back with a wave of moon magic. It wasn't even a strong one, but it knocked her down on her ass in the water, soaking her white pants. I couldn't help but grin at the sight.

Brad's eyes burned with hatred as he stood up again. “You’re so dead, mutt."

The two of them shifted into their wolf forms and came for me. A year ago, this would have meant I was in serious trouble. I'd had no wolf and no Cancer powers to protect me, only my smart mouth, which, to be honest, usually caused me more trouble. Things were a lot different now.

I shifted without even thinking about it, my body changing as fast as any alpha's. My white paws hit the sand and my tail flicked behind me as I faced my two biggest bullies. They attacked me with their teeth and claws, but I was too fast for them, and I'd been taught by the best. My skills had been honed in real battles, while theirs had only been used to bully weaker opponents. And even though I didn't have the Ophiuchus poison bite anymore, my canines were still plenty sharp. Within seconds, I had them both bleeding, but they still didn't stop. It was like they simply couldn't believe that I was better than them.

Time to teach them a lesson, I thought, as I opened my jaw wide. Pure white moon magic spewed out of my mouth, like fire from a dragon. They donned their Cancer armor, but it did little to block the torrent of moonlight that hit them, knocking them back into the waves. They were lucky I didn't put any more power into it. Unlike them, I had no desire to kill anyone on Christmas.

They sputtered and yelped as they got out of the water, and then they dashed across the beach, running away with their tails between their legs. I watched them go with a smile spreading across my face. Something told me I wouldn’t be hearing from them anymore.

Someone started clapping behind me and I spun around, ready to fight again, but it was only Wesley and Jordan. How long had they been there? Had they been watching the entire time?

I shifted back and searched for my clothes to cover myself up a little. My green dress was torn but not completely unwearable. My underwear was a lost cause though, along with my cardigan. "What are you two doing out here?"

Wesley grinned. "We heard a commotion and came to check it out, but by the time we got here, you had it under control. Nice work, by the way."

"Very impressive," Jordan agreed. "Kaden really is a fool. You would have made a killer alpha female."

"You’re a true alpha even without a pack." Wesley stepped forward and squeezed my shoulder. “I’m proud to be your brother."

I opened my mouth to deny it but stopped myself. He was right. I didn’t need a pack or a mate to be a powerful alpha. I was a Zodiac Wolf and a Moon Witch, and no one could ever take that away from me. I had everything I needed inside of me.

I always had.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Pale moon magic lit the conference room and soaked into Roxandra’s skin. She let out a sound like she was in pain but didn’t stop fighting, twisting her hands in their bonds and trying to tip the chair backward.

Larkin finally let out a breath and stepped back, allowing the light to fade away. "The spell is in place."

The camera was already recording, the red light blinking, with a miniature version of Roxandra reflected in the small screen. Ethan gave me a tight nod, signaling I should begin. Behind him, Kaden leaned in the doorway with his arms crossed, while Jordan leaned against the other wall, also with his arms crossed. The looks on their faces were almost identical, and I would have laughed if it hadn’t been such a tense situation. My nerves were strung even tighter today than they had been the last time. I had some very important questions to ask Roxandra, and I wanted to make sure I got to them before the truth spell wore off.

I took my seat in front of her. "Time for another chat, Roxie."

Roxandra glared at me, her lips pressed shut as if she was afraid she’d start spilling every single Sun Witch secret if she started talking.