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Roxanne's nose scrunched up as she mulled it over in her mind for ten seconds. "It's possible he's a warlock who's tapped into the dark arts of magic."
"The what?" Rosie tilted her head off to the side.
"The dark arts of magic. Dark magic, curses, hexes, manipulating the darkness. These are all aspects of the dark arts, and they were supposed to have been forbidden from use."
"I'm sure with those examples, we can guess why they were forbidden," Del said, piping in for the first time since the conversation started.
Roxanne mutteredignisto her cigarette, lighting it, and taking a hit. When she blew out a puff of smoke, her free hand glowed with pink magic. The smoke traveled to her open palm whirling together into a circle, containing it in one place so it wouldn't get everywhere. It was a neat trick. I wish I could do magic. "That's not the only reason why it was deemed forbidden."
"What's the other reason then?" Joaquin asked, finishing off his loaded baked potato.
"Magic always comes with a price when used. Most of the time, it's our very energy that we manipulate to form spells. With my mind magic from the Pink Moon, it leaves me temporarily open since I have to concentrate on the minds I'm controlling. It leaves me no room to defend myself if my concentration is elsewhere. With dark magic, sometimes the price is too high."
"Like what?" I asked, the remainder of the food on my plate long forgotten as I listen intently.
Roxanne took a moment to take another puff from her cigarette. The smoke once again leaving her lips and over to her open palm. "Sometimes it involves sacrificing others to strengthen their magic."
I felt numb at that piece of information; wondering if that was what Mordred was planning to do to Kai. Was Kai going to be a sacrifice to increase Mordred's strength?
"I don't think Mordred's using Kai for a sacrifice, Kao," Roxanne stated, even though I didn't ask my question out loud. She smirked at my shocked expression and pointed to her temple. "Mind reader, remember?"
Oh shit, I didn't think of that.
She smirked. "But no, I don't think Mordred will be using Kai as a sacrifice for his dark magic. Otherwise, he could've easily done it right there and then."
"Then what do you think he'll do to Kai?" Rosie asked, her concern for Kai matching my own. He was probably the favorite between the three of us. She and Kai had a bond from the second they laid eyes on each other.
"I thought that answer would've been obvious," Del said, not even bothering to look up at us when she said. Instead, her eyes were on her salad as she continued eating it without a care in the world.
"Which is?"
Del's fork paused and she finally looked up. "Think about it for a second, Rosie. Think about what you were shown in a vision."
A second later, Rosie's face blanched in horror and realization. It took the rest of us just as quickly to conclude what Del was referring to. Atropos' vision. The one that showed our deaths at the hands of a Lycan with glowing red eyes.
I swallowed the lump forming in my throat, before saying, "He's planning to force Kai to kill us all."
"The same way he used the New Moon's Curse to control Thomas and the other betas to join him, Mordred will control Kai's mind to do his bidding," Joaquin added.
"But... But I thought that the Wolf Moon's gift would prevent Kai from being influenced by another," Rosie stammered, already not liking where this was going. I didn't either.
Roxanne finished her cigarette, then closed her palm over the circle of smoke. A flash of pink light broke through the gaps between her fingers for a second, then when she opened her hand, the ball of smoke was gone. "Except that Kai hasn't reached his Lycan form yet. Therefore, for the time being, he can be brainwashed. You were able to force Kao and Joaquin to reach their Lycan form before the Wolf Moon, but you didn't do it for Kai."
Even though I knew there were chatters and movement coming from the rest our pack outside this table, but right now, all I could hear was silence. I looked down at my palms, unable to register them as mine as I recalled what they could now shift into. I remembered the rush of energy flowing through me, the intense fiery heat that threatened to boil me alive. The way my body convulsed as my wolf shifted further. How I stood in my Lycan form for the first time, feeling powerful and capable of doing anything. I didn't give myself the chance to process it in the last eleven days since my focus was on Kai. But now I had something else to think about.
Joaquin and I were safe. We were now in the same boat as Rosie, unable to feel any influence that may try to manipulate our thoughts. But Kai was under Mordred's mercy, and his curse of the New Moon that was inside him. Kai may very well become an enemy of ours.
21
ROSIE
"It's happening just as Pierce said it would," I said with a huff to my two remaining mates after I hung up my cell phone. Going to my computer, I put a cross over another pack land that I just confirmed to have a pack member rushing to leave and attacking those who tried stopping them. Mordred's power of the New Moon's curse was spreading throughout the states. Twelve packs in total had been affected within the last two months. Thankfully the Blue Moon Pack in New York wasn't hit, at least not yet. Javier, Del and Raph were worried about who Mordred planned on taking if he came after them. I tried telling them to go back home and protect their pack a dozen times since coming back from our altercation with Mordred.
"I don't want to leave you to face this alone," Javier said every time. I didn't need him to be an overprotective big brother right now. For once, I needed him to act like an alpha.
I leaned my head against my palm as I stared at the screen, at the list of packs that Mordred invaded and the list of pack members he stole. "Thirty-two shifters from twelve packs, including the five betas he stole from us on Halloween."
That part still hit me hard, especially when I had to break it to their families about what happened to their loved ones and why they weren't with us when we came back. Thankfully Joaquin took over and vowed to bring them back home. I hope we could keep that promise.
