Bad Idea

Zara

My eyes fluttered open, one after the other.

I groaned. My head was pounding, like my brain was trying to escape my skull.

My mouth was dry and gritty. My stomach was doing somersaults.

Maybe I should’ve stuck to red wine last night. Instead, I’d switched to shots like a damn fool.

~Maybe I should find the bathroom, just in case…~

But where was the bathroom?

Where the hell was I?

This wasn’t my bed. This wasn’t my home.

I saw velvet curtains hanging over the window. I felt a satin pillowcase under my cheek.

I moaned again, rolling over to my other side. And found myself staring at…

Alex. The Alpha.

I almost screamed in surprise but quickly covered my mouth.

He was still asleep!

~Quiet, Zara,~ I told myself.

Luckily, he didn’t stir. He kept sleeping, even starting to snore. Drool dripped from his open mouth.

~Okay. This is normal. Stay calm.~

I was fully dressed. He was fully dressed. We were at opposite ends of the huge king-sized bed.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

That was good. That was all good.

As another wave of my hangover hit, the night started to come back to me.

Alex and I had just kissed. It was only a kiss.

We were just talking, probably about nothing important. We were both drunk and bored, so we’d kissed a little. Then he’d suggested I stay here instead of going all the way home.

No big deal.

But I had a nagging feeling that I was forgetting something.

Wasn’t there somewhere else I was supposed to be? Not home, but…

“Oh my God, the nursery! I’m late for work!” I blurted out.

Usually, I had to push myself to speak up. But apparently in this state, I had no problem broadcasting my thoughts to the world.

At least I was spewing words and not all the alcohol in my stomach.

This time, I wasn’t so lucky with Alex. He woke up with a low moan, rubbing his forehead and his eyes, squeezing the bridge of his nose.

By then, I had already rolled off the bed—though not without some dizziness—and was searching the carpet for my sneakers. I ducked under the bed to fetch one.

“Uh, hey. Good morning.”

I looked up at Alex.

“Hi…” I said awkwardly, quickly resuming my search.

“Please tell me you’re in such a hurry to go get coffee and breakfast sandwiches.”

I snorted, joking, “Yeah, just a quick hungover Dunkin’ Donuts run. More like Drunken Donuts.”

Alex laughed.

It was nice that he appreciated my jokes, even when they were terrible.

Then he fell back on the pillows and sighed. “We’re gonna have a lot of cleaning up to do today, huh?”

I put on my sneakers, tied them tight, and stood on shaky legs. “You can say that again.”

He sighed. “Are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah. Are you?”

“I mean… Kind of. I’ll survive.” Sitting up again, he asked, “Where are you going?”

“To work,” I said flatly.

I slung my purse across my chest.

“Um, thanks for the accommodations. Five stars.”

Then I rushed out, closing the bedroom door behind me.

***

Alex

From the moment I woke up, I knew:

Throwing that party was a terrible fucking idea.

And after that strange encounter with Zara, I was even more thrown off. But I didn’t want to deal with that right now.

I mean, I couldn’t. I had priorities.

Trying to ignore my own nausea, I pulled on a pair of joggers, a sweatshirt, and slipped on my loafers.

I washed my face, ran a comb through my hair, took some aspirin, and headed down to the main kitchen and dining hall.

Every single pack member, mine and our guests, looked incredibly unhappy. They sat around the tables, slumped over, wearing sweats and scowls.

Like me, they were clearly hungover as hell. They were also hungry, but we hadn’t planned ahead to cook breakfast, so that was a free for all.

They scavenged for leftovers. Cold cereal, dry toast, juice. Foods their bodies could handle in their delicate states.

I needed a coffee.

I shuffled into the kitchen where the volunteer cooks were sorting through sparse ingredients. Even Raphael, who was usually always cheerful and helpful, looked pretty rough.

I started the machine and began searching the kitchen cupboards for my tub of good espresso.

Raphael saw me and said solemnly, “I can make you a small cup of instant, but we’re out of the good stuff. Sorry, man.”

“What the fuck? How?!”

Raphael shrugged. “I guess a couple folks were trying to make Irish coffee last night.”

“And they used all of it?”

“They used most of it, then spilled the rest.”

“Jesus Christ.”

Empty-handed, I went back into the dining room. I spotted Sky and Harper sitting across from each other. Sky was babbling about some boy from Oak Marsh as Harper nodded dully, seemingly not listening.

At least nothing had changed there.

“Sky,” Harper grumbled as I approached, “do you even know his name?”

“Well, no. Not yet. But he was so sweet and romantic, and isn’t it exciting how little I know about him? We have so much to learn about each other. I think he could be my mate!”

As much as I wanted to hear Harper’s sure-to-be sharp response, I started picking up bits from other conversations instead.

“This is all Alex’s fault,” one pack member snapped. “How foolish of a leader do you have to be to let something like this happen?!”

~Wait, what?~

“He’s only in it for the popularity,” said another.

“Did you see him making out with that girl from the nursery? Real classy.”

“Hey, uh… But…” I stammered, not really sure who I was talking to.

What happened to the party spirit? These people were all in when we were planning the party, and then when they were clinking glasses, downing shots, and dancing.

~Are they all talking about me?~

“He’s not an Alpha. He’s a Beta,” I heard from another table. “If he’s even deserving of that title and power.”

~Ouch.~

That one stung.

Suddenly, Anthony walked into the room, fresh from a shower and clean-shaven. Dressed in khakis and a button-up, he looked more like he was off to Sunday service than this hungover mess. How did he pull that off?!

~Hold on…~

~Was he even at the party last night?~

I noticed Anthony was carrying two large wooden crates, overflowing with fresh food.

As he entered, the room fell silent, the breakfast gossip coming to a halt.

~Why didn’t my entrance do that?~

Anthony set down the boxes on the table. Oranges tumbled out from the top.

“This is just the beginning,” he said. “I have a whole stash—fruits, vegetables, eggs. Meat, too. I slipped out last night to gather it all—just in case of a screw-up like this. I didn’t think we’d need it so soon.” He laughed. “But at least we have it.”

He caught a rolling orange and tossed it to a woman sitting nearby.

Everyone started expressing their admiration.

“He faced the rogues, just for us?!” I heard one woman whisper to her friends.

“What a hero!”

~Oh, screw this!~

I spun around and stormed out of the room. No one said a word to stop me.

But I didn’t give a damn.

My days of playing nice were done.

Quinn

I felt drained.

I didn’t know what to think.

From the way my mom had described Aunt Jodie, I half-expected her to look like a monster.

Evil eyes under a heavy brow. A villainous hairstyle, with spikes sticking up as if she’d used an electric chair instead of a curling iron.

Or, if she was a captive, wouldn’t she have dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep? Wouldn’t she be dressed in ragged clothes, her hair a tangled mess, with pale skin hanging from her thin bones?

I had braced myself for that sight and had been ready to fight—to ~kill~—for her. I had prepared myself for a rescue mission.

But instead, my aunt exuded nothing but warmth and friendliness. Her hair was shiny, and her skin glowed. The light from the candles and torches flickered gently, not menacingly, all around her.

She looked healthy and upbeat and content. She was living in a circle of light.

Not a prisoner held against her will.

And not a criminal driven by sadism.

So, who was my Aunt Jodie, really?

And who were the Vulpes, really?

Despite all the problems they’d caused for Shadow Moon, could it be that they weren’t all bad?

Aunt Jodie smiled at me. “Welcome, Moon Goddess.”

~Right. Moon Goddess.~

Wasn’t I supposed to be a walking target for these guys?

But no one else around Jodie seemed eager to kill me on the spot. They seemed just as welcoming as her, even moved by my presence.

Looking at Jax, I saw my own confusion mirrored on his face. He stood his ground, but he clearly didn’t know how to react either.

Katherine was also watching him, assessing his reaction.

~Ugh. Leave my mate alone,~ I wanted to say.

Finally, after what felt like forever, my Aunt Jodie stepped away from the table, opening her arms wide as she walked toward me.

“Come here, my niece,” she said. “I have a lot to tell you.”