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To twins helped me to my feet and we all began putting our things away and stocking them in the trucks. Kai tried telling me that I didn't need to help, but I said that it would help to distract me from Joaquin. Honestly, it did help having my hands occupied so that my wolf would focus on that rather than our missing mate. Little by little, the tension started easing up.
We were halfway done when Del returned. "Okay guys, listen up!"
We all stopped what we were doing and focused on Del. When she had our attention, she said, "I just spoke to my friend, and she's agreed to meet up with us. She'll tell us what she knows, and we'll go from there."
"Are you finally going to tell us who this friend is?" Javier asked.
"Her name is Roxanne, she's a witch."
I gaped at her. "A witch? As in hocus pocus kind of witch?"
Del frowned. "Is there any other kind?" Addressing everyone else, she added, "She'll be meeting us at a diner that's about five miles from here so we can talk in person."
"How can this Roxanne person help us?" Raph asked.
"Because she's the one who holds the Pink Moon's gift."
My whole body shivered after hearing that. It was like the gift I got from the Wolf Moon was reacting to the sound of meeting someone who bears a similar gift.
Caleb spoke as he threw a gym bag into the back of their truck. "Roxanne is the one Del has gone to for enchanted items. I personally don't know much about her, but I hear she's powerful."
"She's very powerful," Del confirmed. "But she'll tell you more about it when we talk to her."
I wondered if this Roxanne was so powerful because of the Pink Moon. I was nervous but excited to meet this woman. I never met a real witch before, much less someone I had a spiritual connection to, if being chosen by different full moons counted as a connection. Remembering what Caleb said, it dawned on me that Roxanne must've been the one who gave Del her magic weapon, Artemis. Did they work together specifically to supply Del with weapons to hunt wolf shifters? I guess it didn't matter anymore. What mattered was that Roxanne would hopefully bring us closer to figuring out how to use the Wolf Moon's gift, and maybe know something about the New Moon's Curse.
I had a feeling that monster from Atropos' vision was affected by this curse, the same way it affected the wolves who attacked Selene and her mates. Was history going to repeat itself? Were we going to have to fight against members of our pack who would be cursed?
One thing at a time, Rosie.
I shook the many questions swimming in my head. We'd talk to Roxanne first, and then go from there. Hopefully this wouldn't be a dead end, for everybody's sake.
KAI
I barely listened to anything that was being said between packing and getting back on the road. My body was running on autopilot while my mind was stuck on what Del said earlier about the Blood Moon. Just hearing the name of the full moon that cursed me had me feeling ill. My wolf was no better, his body tensing and his ears acutely aware of what was being said. In that brief moment, I was worried my wolf would lose control again but thankfully he was calm. For now.
When Del mentioned that someone was already chosen to carry the Blood Moon's gift, I panicked thinking it was me. It wouldn't have made sense if it was. The Blood Moon may have infected my wolf, but I wasn't born under it, so I couldn't have been chosen for its gift. I couldn't even call what it did to me a gift. It was a curse, plain and simple. A curse that sent my wolf into a mindless frenzy, seeking to kill any living creature nearby, whether friend or foe.
Just like he killed Wayne, my adopted father.
I sat in the back of mine and Kao's new truck while Javier and Rosie took the front. Kao already knew where I was mentally, which was why he asked Rosie to take the passenger seat while he and I sat in the truck’s bed. At first, Rosie protested, wanting to know what was going on with me but with some convincing from my brother, she acquiesced. I was thankful for that. I didn't want her to know what happened to me, what I did to turn me into this horrible, feral monster that killed people. I didn't want her to hate me, not after that amazing night we had in the lake. If she turned away from me, I was better off dead.
With the Mendoza siblings in the front, that left the Kao and I huddled together, my chin resting on my raised knee and my hands gripping my hair. Kao instinctively wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into a protective embrace.
"Kai," Kao spoke in a soothing voice. "You need to listen to me, okay? You're safe, Kai. Rosie's safe, I'm safe, we're all safe."
I shook my head. "Not everybody."
"You're still not still blaming yourself for Joaquin, are you?"
"Not as much as before, but I still feel responsible for his capture," I said truthfully. Rosie helped ease some of the guilt I felt but it still lingered. Because of my weakness, Rosie was suffering from Joaquin's absence, and there was no telling what Pierce was doing to him. He wouldn't take Joaquin down to the basement cellars, would he? I mentally groaned, because why wouldn't Pierce do that? That made me feel worse about his situation. I knew what went on in those cellars. Pierce would have Joaquin inhale wolfsbane gas so he would beat and torture Joaquin, and he wouldn't be able to heal from the injuries.
It should've been me. I should've been the one to endure Pierce's torture.
It wouldn't have been my first time, thanks to Wayne, but at least now I was an adult and could endure a lot more than I did back then. Maybe the effects of the Blood Moon would've triggered, and I would've been able to break out and kill Pierce. But then nobody back in the lodge would've been safe. With the exception of Whitney, I couldn't find it in me to consider any of our pack mates as enemies. They were only following Pierce's orders and protecting the pack. If I lost control and hurt any of them—
"You need to stop blaming yourself." My skin jumped when Kao's voice broke me from my thoughts. "P'Joaquin pushed you out of the way knowing full well that could happen to him. As much as I hate him being held captive, I'm still grateful he protected you."
Kao's gaze dropped to the ground, silent for a few seconds before muttering, "If you were captured, I would've been the one blaming myself. For failing to protect you... again."
