Chapter 123

Grace

His voice echoed through the city, ringing in my ear. The entire city would be listening in, hiding in whatever bomb shelter they could. As I stood at the podium, I couldn't shake the overwhelming feeling of dread that weighed on me. The importance of this moment was crushing, and I knew that every word I uttered was a double-edged sword. I had to buy us time with whatever tricks I could manage, and admittedly, I had none.

I took a deep breath, thinking back to the speech that Eason had half-drafted and all of his notes.

Figure out what he really wants. Had been one of the notes. I had scratched that section out because we already knew.

Then, it dawned on me. I knew what he wanted. What I didn't know was if he had it or not. Could I figure that out from arguing with him?

Here we go.

"As I was saying before, I was so rudely interrupted," I continued, addressing the crowd who looked stunned. "The Wolf Moon Festival will likely be postponed for a few days as we investigate damage to the city--"Are you really going--"

"Be quiet," I said sternly, glancing up at the screen where I could see his broadcast. "Didn't your mother teach you not to speak when others are speaking?"

I narrowed my eyes. "My four-year-old daughter knows at least to raise her hand."

Someone snickered in the crowd.

"I'll get to you in a second if I have the time," I said. "Honestly, what is it with men thinking they have the right to be rude to women in this day and age?"

I looked over at Amira. "I hope Daniel is polite."

She gave me a trembling smile, though her eyes were wide as if she wasn't sure what to do. Still, they didn't waver. She trusted me. It made me feel like... maybe I could do this.

"He's the perfect gentleman."

I looked back up at the screen. "You know, I've noticed a pattern. The rudest men I've ever met in my life have been werewolves."

People gasped.

"Even Devin, as much of a liar as he was, knew how to be polite more often than not." I narrowed my eyes. "You call lycans barbarians, but isn't it barbaric to be impolite?"

I swallowed, feeling my stomach start to settle. "Now, I'm happy to report that while we've had a lot of injuries from the bombs and several altercations with Blood Moon's forces trying to infiltrate Mooncrest, there have only been casualties on their side: a bomber and an accomplice who had been a member of the Mooncrest Police. The other members of the Mooncrest Police who have been missing since they were sent out as escorts are considered traitors and will be dealt with as soon as they come out of whatever hole they're hiding in."

I glared into the camera. "If they're listening, I hope you end up dead before I find you for your sake."

Alpha Shadow laughed. "You have a lot of nerve to be standing there knowing I have the city rigged to explode at any time."

"Then, do it."

People gasped.

I looked up at the screen. "All this fear-mongering and terror. You didn't do this to the city you attacked a month or so ago. You just started blowing things up, so what makes Mooncrest so different? If we're really a problem?"

"Found another pillar! Dismantling."

"West unit requesting backup."

"Unit Crown still in pursuit. Keep at it. Grace, keep him talking!"

I gripped the edges of the podium.

"The Wolfe family has given the States many things over the years," he said coolly. "I let your father off the hook for the betterment of the States."

"Wolfe Medical is still the only producer of the Silver Flu Vaccine," I said. "You blow us up, and there goes the vaccine, so cut the crap. You don't give a damn about werewolves."

"We're at ten pillars."

"Any support attached to a pillar that has been deactivated should be white in color. You can dismantle them."

"I don't give a damn?" Alpha Shadow asked, laughing. "You're as weak as you are dumb. You should have stayed a lycan's pet and let a real werewolf run the city. Maybe you wouldn't be in this position if you had chosen to just stay away. At least under Eason's leadership, Mooncrest wasn't drowning in debt." He tutted. "Honestly, I wonder what your father was thinking when he decided to make you the heir."

I set my jaw, trying to let the jab glide off me. I had to focus and keep my feelings out of it. Then, my mind latched on to his words, and I smirked.

"He probably knew that Eason didn't give a damn about Mooncrest." I lifted my head. "And thank you for reminding me to address that bit."

I looked into the camera. "Citizens of Mooncrest, I want to be clear. In the year after my father's death, I wasn't here. I made no decisions. I had no sway or say in anything. My brother, Eason, barely twenty-one at the time, ran every aspect of Mooncrest and Wolfe Medical. I was alpha in name only for about four hours before I turned it over to Devin."

I set my jaw. "I admit this freely not only because you should know but because Eason deserves to be recognized for everything he's done for you when he's never had any reason to. He's never even been accepted here in Mooncrest or anywhere in the States because of werewolf bigotry and their barbaric ideas."

People sputtered. Alpha Shadow laughed. "Are you trying to prove how unworthy you really are by admitting it? Perhaps this is your abdication speech?"

"No," I said. "This is me saying fuck off."

I swallowed. "To Blood Moon and everyone else who thinks someone else should be standing here. Fuck off! You think being alpha is easy? You think you all enabling me for years to do as I pleased was teaching me anything? You think your ridiculous view of alphas as being above the law of their own packs helps anything? This crazy obsession with isolationism? Look at where it's gotten us!" I grit my teeth. "Look at what it's gotten all of us. We're being terrorized by a well-known terrorist group, and no one from the Inter-Pack Police has shown up to help us. Neighboring packs are watching us right now, and no one has offered aid. The only alpha who has is another former victim of Blood Moon and halfway across the continent!"

I took a deep breath. "Frank... you should have booked me. Every fight I caused, every bit of damage I caused, should have gone on my record. Eason should have been made de facto heir ages ago, but no one pushed for it because you all were too busy being comfortable with the status quo. Too comfortable with the way things were because you didn't have to think... And I was, too."

I shook my head. I was comfortable at home, away from everything, not caring, not knowing. I was comfortable in college. I was comfortable not having anything to do with it, doing the bare minimum to make it better. Had I ever planned to really be alpha long-term, or was I just planning to step back? Maybe I had planned to just become Charles' queen and leave Eason or whoever in charge, whatever that meant or didn't mean, but none of that was right. None of it was brave or smart or even fair. Not to me, not to the young woman I could have been if I hadn't buried my head and held on to my hopes.

Not to my parents and all the hopes they had for us.

It wouldn't be fair to my children either. This world where Eason couldn't even love freely, and teenagers got accosted on the street for their love. This world where the president was keeping a grip on the country through fear and didn't give a damn about anyone's safety.

It had to change.

"We have to change. Everyone from the oldest to the youngest of us, or this is going to be our future: terror and uncertainty, taking advantage of people's kind hearts as if it's our due... Entitlement and selfishness until a bomb threat is knocking on our door." I scoffed. "And why are we even humoring this jackass? If he really wanted to kill us, he could have done it. For all of Mooncrest's increased security since the last time, Blood Moon's been in the business of terror for decades. No one thinks it's strange all of the staging? No one thinks it's strange that he just so happens to want to talk to my father and me when so many others haven't been given the same courtesy? What does he get out of destroying the only place where the Silver Flu vaccine is made? Where the States' greatest supplier of medicine is?"

"Would you like to know?" Alpha Shadow asked, his voice cool. "The satisfaction of knowing a half-breed bitch like you is put in her place."

"And damn the rest of the States, hm?" I asked. "You're not sounding much like a crusader for justice. You're sounding a lot like a man with a grudge. What? Did I dump you or something?"