Eleven months before the Solarid Meteor Shower…

I lay in bed, staring up at the mattress above, unable to sleep. Barely able to blink.

Ryder Draconis had murdered someone right in front of my eyes just hours ago. A traitor. Like me.

I had a video of Ryder screwing Professor King sitting on my Atlas, waiting for me to share it with Dante. He’d sent me a bunch of messages, asking where I was, what I’d gotten on his nemesis. But now…how could I give it to him after what I’d witnessed?

If I gave it to Dante and Ryder found out, I was going to be in a hole in the ground before anyone even realised I was missing. I couldn’t help Ella from a grave. And more than that, I didn’t want to fucking die.

I rolled onto my side, listening to Leon’s soft snores. Amy still had the lamp on over his bed, straddling his back as she kneaded the kinks out of his muscles. The guy had been asleep for over an hour, it was ridiculous.

I let my eyes fall closed, willing sleep to come. Tomorrow held a world of problems, but right now, I needed to try and forget about watching Ryder murder someone in the woods. And I especially needed to stop picturing Micky’s body as mine.

***

I woke to my Atlas buzzing with a message and groaned as I checked it, my eyes cracking open. I felt like I’d slept for half a second under a ten ton log.

Starhawk:

Meet me for breakfast, cavallo. No excuses.

I sighed, forcing myself out of bed and making my way out of the room to have a shower.

It wasn’t long before I was dragging my heels down to the Cafaeteria, figuring I didn’t have any choice but to show Dante this video. I’d already told him I had something on Ryder, so what else could I do? But I wasn’t going to be stupid about it. I was going to make Dante swear on the stars that my involvement in this wouldn’t get back to Ryder. That was pretty much all I could hope for. I had another payment due soon and I needed the money Dante was going to give me for this job. And he never paid me before completion.

The wind was whipping around me furiously as I passed through the Acrux Courtyard and I got it under my control with my air magic, pushing it away from me so it no longer battered my body.

I entered the Cafaeteria, the scent of sausages, eggs and bacon wafting under my nose. My stomach shrivelled in response. I couldn’t eat. Not after what I’d seen last night. It was going to take me a long time to get over that.

I headed across the vast hall to join Dante where he was sitting with a table full of his Werewolves. He spread his arms as he spotted me, welcoming me like family. Maybe that was what he thought I was now.

“There you are, at last. Show me what you have.” He snapped his fingers at Tabitha beside him and she jumped up to give me her seat. She eyed me with a scowl as she headed away, but didn’t question her Alpha for a second.

I dropped down beside Dante and he slung his arm over my shoulders, his gold medallion swinging around his neck. “What have you got for me, cavallo?”

I frowned, shifting in my seat as anxiety gnawed at my insides. “Look, I wanna show you, but…”

Dante’s arm tightened threateningly around me. “But what?”

I glanced at his Wolves and he raised his free hand, casting a silencing bubble around us so they could no longer hear what we were saying. Not that they seemed remotely interested. They were too busy messing around, tussling each other’s hair and hand feeding each other their breakfasts.

I cleared my throat as Dante looked to me for an explanation. “I’m worried about Ryder finding out I was the one who got this on him. So…” I held my hand out to him, knowing it was a bold move, but I didn’t have any weaker ones on offer. “I’ll tell you if you promise you won’t breathe a word to anyone that I was the one who made this recording.”

Dante’s brows arched and the look in his gaze said he was either mildly impressed with me or I was about to get a beat down. A tense moment passed between us where I expected to land on the ground beneath the wrath of his fists at any moment. Then he snatched my hand into his grip, shaking it firmly. “I swear.” Magic sparked between us and my jaw fell slack.

I hadn’t actually expected the King of the Oscura Clan to strike a deal with me. He was really covering for my ass. Which made me wonder again if we were becoming true friends. If it wasn’t for the awkward as shit situation I was in with trying to get money for Old Sal, I might have started to enjoy Dante’s company more. Apart from the odd psychotic moment, he seemed like a solid guy. And in Solaria, psychotic moments weren’t exactly rare anyway.

“So what is it?” Dante asked excitedly, his dark eyes glittering.

I took out my Atlas, forwarding him the video before playing it for him to see.

He snatched it from my hand, a bark of laughter falling from his lips as he took in Ryder screwing the life out of Professor King.

“Fuck yes,” he whooped. “This could get his ass kicked outta school. I knew that bitch was fucking with my results. He must have been getting her to screw with me.” He tossed my Atlas back to me and I fumbled the catch as he took out his own. “Delete it, don’t get involved with what happens next and act as surprised as the next person when it comes out today.”

I swallowed hard as he removed the silencing bubble, taking out his own Atlas and tapping on it excitedly.

I felt that was my cue to leave and slipped from my seat, heading over to my usual table where Cindy Lou was waiting for me.

“Baby boo!” She jumped up, wrapping her arms around my neck and planting a wet kiss on my mouth. “You look so tired, were you out late last night? You didn’t answer my messages.”

Yeah I was off delivering a guy to Ryder Draconis to be murdered. No biggie.

“Just went home to see my family,” I lied, giving her a fake smile.

She bought it, leaning up to kiss me again, but this time it was a dirtier display. I tried to get into it, but I was having trouble functioning this morning and I found myself pulling away and dropping down onto a seat.

Cindy glanced over at Dante’s table, pushing her fingers into her hair with a pout. Then she dropped down beside me, resting a hand on my knee and leaning in close to my ear. “I missed you last night, baby.”

“Yeah, I missed you too,” I said hollowly.

I remained quiet while everyone fell into mindless chatter over breakfast. My eyes drifted to Lorenzo who was sitting alone across the room, looking jittery as he watched the Oscuras like he wanted to go over there. I caught his eye, remembering my deal with Dante to help him out and beckoned him over.

Lorenzo’s face brightened as he got up, carrying his untouched breakfast over with him and dropping down beside me.

Cindy wrinkled her nose as she looked at him. “What are you doing sitting with us, Blazer?”

I elbowed her, throwing her a sharp scowl. “Lorenzo’s my friend.”

“I am?” he asked hopefully, his eyes glittering.

“Yeah, man.” I shrugged and he started eating his food, his smile never going away.

I didn’t miss the fact that he started moving closer and closer to me, rubbing his arm against mine in the way the Werewolves usually did with each other. He was obviously desperate for the intimate needs of his kind and my own Pegasus Herd was pretty similar in that sense, so I didn’t mind. I just kinda pitied him.

When the bell rang, I headed out of the room with the others, trying to remember what lesson I had first.

Everyone’s Atlases started pinging and tension gripped my chest as I watched Cindy take hers out of her bag. She clicked on FaeBook and my heart stuttered as I spotted Dante’s post. It had only been up for one second and it already had a hundred shock reactions and fifty comments. He’d cut the video down to just five seconds, playing over and over again of Ryder screwing King on her desk while she screamed his name.

Everything inside me knotted up with fear. Because I might have struck that deal with Dante, but no deal in Solaria could save me from the wrath of the Lunar King if he ever found out I was responsible for this.