Star Cursed (Zodiac Wolves #2)(72)

"The Sun Witches have been lying to you for years," Kaden snapped. "They lock up your wolves until adulthood, spew you lies about a bullshit Moon Curse, and create fake mate bonds when it suits them."

"Why would they do all that?" Ethan asked.

"To control you," Kaden said. "It's just one part in their plan to take over all of the Zodiac Wolves."

"For what purpose though?" Ethan tilted his head, his face thoughtful. "I'm willing to believe that the Leos want to rule us and that the Sun Witches are helping them, but how do we know anything else you say is true? Like about the mate bonds?"

Wesley spoke up at that. "I found evidence that my father paid the Sun Witches to create a mate bond between Ayla and Jordan. If they created that bond, they could have faked other ones too over the years."

The other alphas and betas looked surprised at that, but I was even more surprised to see Eileen stand up and speak. "Though I am the Sagittarius beta now, I grew up as an Ophiuchus. I can confirm that we gain our wolves as children, and we do not suffer from any full moon curse, nor do we need a spell to find our mates."

The other alphas and betas argued back and forth about the Sun Witches for some time, and I tuned them out and looked up at the eclipse through my glasses. The totality had ended, and the sun was growing larger behind the shadow of the moon. Our time was running out.

Eventually, Kaden held up a hand to silence everyone. “The Ophiuchus pack is prepared to fight, and we have allied with the Cancer pack. We will both do whatever it takes to retain our freedom from the Leos and the Sun Witches. Will anyone join us?”

The silence was crushing. My nerves became a jumbled mess as the alphas and betas considered their next move. Then Amos, the Pisces alpha, stood up, and my heartbeat picked up faster. He could make or break this. "The Pisces pack will join you."

Thank the moon goddess, I thought.

"I was full of doubts, like many of you are," Amos said to the others. "I regretted not doing more to help the Cancer pack at the Convergence, but I thought I could keep my pack neutral and safe. Then Jordan sent a group of Leos to my village and demanded we submit to them. They took my nephew hostage, and kidnapped his mate, holding their lives over my head." His eyes landed on Aiden and Mira when he said those words, his face solemn. "Thanks to the Ophiuchus pack, Mira was returned to us, Aiden was freed, and the Leos harassing my pack were taken down. That was when I realized there is no hiding from this conflict. Our only option is to stand together and fight, or we might as well give up and submit to the Leos' rule."

"Are we sure we can't negotiate with the Leos?" Ethan asked, rubbing his chin. "I’ve heard that the new alpha is much more level-headed than Dixon was.”

"No, there is no negotiating with them," I said. "There was a time when I thought Jordan might have an ounce of goodness in his heart, but I was wrong."

Pierce narrowed his eyes at me. "And what do the Ophiuchus get out of this alliance you're proposing?"

"We only ask for our exile to be over, and to be allowed back into the Zodiac Wolves," Kaden replied.

I gave him a supportive smile. He'd come so far from when I'd first met him, when his only goal had been to wipe out the other Zodiac Wolves or make them bow to his rule—not very different from what Jordan wanted. The difference was that Kaden had changed and come to see there was another way. A better way. Because of me, I realized.

Pierce snorted. “I can speak for all the Capricorns when I say we don’t want the Leos to take over our pack, but we'd rather that happen than to ally ourselves with snakes. We’ve been the twelve Zodiac Packs for years, and we have no interest in changing that. You were cast out for a reason.”

Eileen's dark eyes glimmered with fury. “You stubborn goats never want anything to change."

The Capricorn beta gave her a cold smirk. “And you never stick around long enough to know what real change looks like. Your pack runs away whenever things get hard.”

Devin jumped up at that with a growl, but Wesley stepped between the two betas, effectively cutting off their line of sight to each other.

“Now isn’t the time to be fighting amongst ourselves,” Wesley said. “We're here to make a decision about our future, not drag up old petty disputes. Will any of you ally yourselves with the Cancer, Pisces, and Ophiuchus packs against the Leos and help us plan an attack?"

The Libra alpha looked thoughtful but didn't say anything. The Capricorn beta still looked pissed. That left the Sagittarius.

Kaden turned toward Devin and Eileen. "What do you say?" he asked them. "Your pack has long been allied with ours."

Devin shared a look with Eileen before turning back to Kaden. “Though our pack values freedom and independence above all else, we're hesitant to commit to something this big."

Damn. If we couldn't even get the Sagittarius on our side, we were totally fucked. The others would back down too, and all of this would have been for nothing. I wanted to tear my hair out.

"I know it's a tough decision," Wesley said, though he shared a look with Kaden that said he knew we were in trouble.

Eileen rested a hand on Devin’s shoulder, then leaned over and whispered something in his ear. He looked down at her, considering, and then nodded to Kaden, looking grim. “Sagittarius will stand with you,” he said.