Gypsy Moon (All The Pretty Monsters #4)(97)

“Emit and I will ready Violet when she’s conscious, and we’ll meet you,” I tell him as Emit starts walking toward us, cradling Violet to him until her head is tucked under his chin.

“Leave Violet in Marta’s care. She’s safer with her than with us right now. We shouldn’t be taking her to hunt for Idun. It’s fucking stupid,” Vance bites out, even though we just took her here for us to start our chase for Idun.

He’s gone before I can argue, and Arion purses his lips as he stares in the direction I can only presume Vance went.

“We voted she’d stay with us because it was safer than leaving her on her own,” Arion points out, frowning. “He gets to veto votes on his own now?”

“Marta wasn’t an option before,” I grind out, feeling painfully like it really is a better idea.

“Marta shows up, digs up some small scraps of info on Idun, runs into us by chance, and somehow the impossible is achieved when no one was even expecting it,” Arion states so quietly I almost don’t hear it. “It’s just as possible she’s using Violet to get to Nadine.”

The sides change.

Alliances shift with each new agenda.

The rules get made up as we go.

The secrets double.

The paranoia spreads.

The suspicion mounts.

Everyone is on edge.

I say nothing as Arion backs away, but I don’t have to say it.

The smell of war is in the air. We all know it too well.

All the players just have to pick a side before it can begin.

My eyes drift from Violet to Emit, guessing he’s thinking the same thing, given the intent way he’s looking at her.

We all went and developed a weakness, and were too numb to realize just how bad this could be.

“We never should have touched her,” Emit says like he’s just come to the same conclusion.

“We’re monsters, Emit. We always do the terrible things we’re not supposed to. It’s how we became monsters,” I tell him as I turn and walk away.

I’ll not fucking give her up.

As Emit trails me, I hear him mutter, “And so it begins.”



End of book 4.





Violet’s put-a-pin-in-it notes.



AM I REALLY OMEGA?

It’s logical to assume I’m an omega, given the fact most purebloods are naturally born omega. That’s based on the information I’ve gathered from the minor pack of omega wolves living with me. For now, I’ll agree that I am, based on the fact it’s the least offensive thing to another monster, and hopefully I don’t make someone want to challenge me. Apparently that’s a beta thing. I don’t fight pretty.

I’d be one hundred percent in agreement that I’m undoubtedly an omega…if not for the fact I have a fierce monster locked inside me. I liked using my monster in the past. My mother showed fear, and I immediately stopped. How can I be an omega unless there’s a loophole for that?



AM I SECRETLY A BETA?

Betas fight for position. I’m not all that competitive.

Betas posture and preen. I picked an apple slice off my forehead after falling asleep at my work desk last night…so…no.

Betas stick to an alpha’s side and have fairly elaborate agendas, it seems, whether they’re loyal or not. I don’t actually have much of an agenda, aside from figuring out my place in the world and doing my best to help the forgotten monsters.

Betas aren’t at all straightforward. I’m terrible at keeping secrets, because I don’t even know what should be a secret most of the time.

I’m still stumbling my way through all of this, and no one ever just answers my questions.

But betas do go on the offensive, as I once wanted to. My mother trained me to go on the defensive. Did she expect me to be omega?



AM I SECRETLY AN ALPHA?

Ha! Sorry. I just wrote this for a good laugh. It’s been a shit few months.



Out of the three options, the clearest choice is omega. I check off the most boxes in that category, and the more I learn, the more I realize no one checks off every box. It’s the most plausible.

I think I’ve solved at least this much of the problem.



WHAT AM I?

For the first time, I have an answer to that question. I’m a Simpleton. And I’m going to own that fucking name and make everyone feel bad for how ruthless and barbaric they’ve been. That’s if monsters have a buried conscience and all.

Honestly, though, I don’t know what I’m going to do. For the first time, I feel like I have so many answers that I’ve spent forever searching for. In the car with a Van Helsing, my entire world was turned upside down.



What if you spent your entire life searching for something, only to finally find it and feel as though you’ve been robbed of something at the same time? That’s the feeling I’m stuck with right now.



Even though my resilience is one of the few points of pride I have, there’s only so much one person can take.





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House of Van Helsing –

The unrelenting hunters; the order among chaos when the unnatural bleeds into the natural world. They always find what they hunt…no matter how long it takes. The silversmiths who forge their own weapons and get off on the violence, yet find a piece of them desperately soft when one fragile is broken before them. The monsters with a cool but steady heart.