A cult lying to its members to control them, Koen mumbled, driving with his elbow hanging out of the window. Unheard of.

Honestly, fuck Irene and Constantine and the Favored. Fuck them all. “The Northwest is kind,” I say, “but what they are doing is the bare minimum. You deserve respect, and more. You should have had it your whole life.”

I can see the cogs in her head turning as she tries to grasp the concept of basic decency. “I know . . . I know we’re Humans. But would it be possible . . . Could we maybe stay here for a while? I think that if we did, the others would see it, too, that maybe there can be a life for us, even outside of the Favored.”

“You can stay for as long as you like,” Koen replies before I can turn to him.

“Thank you.” Her smile wobbles. “Maybe you and I could be friends, E— Serena. I enjoyed the afternoon we spent together.”

“I did, too,” I say, instead of We could be friends if I stayed, but I won’t. I can’t. You’ll be fine, though. And so will Koen. And so will I.

Good liar, and all that.

“Maybe I could help you,” she adds, tentative. “I could show you where some of our hideouts are. We could go together— ”

“No,” Koen and I say in unison, forcefully. We share a glance, and he continues. “How old are you?”

“Sixteen.”

“Son of a bitch.” He briefly hangs his head. Massages the bridge of his nose. “You’re way too young to be caught in this. We don’t know if they are guarding their hideouts, or whether they will treat you as a threat. You’ve been through enough. Your involvement in this bullshit ends now.”

Nele blushes, looking scandalized.

Koen cocks his head. “Did you really just offer to escort me into a life- or- death situation, only to balk at the word ‘bullshit’?”

The flush deepens. “The thing is, after what happened last week, there are . . . a little less than fifty Favored left. About half of them are Weres. And . . . my older sister, she’s currently with them.”

My stomach sinks.

Koen sighs. “Could you write me a list of the members?”

“I already have. It’s in my room.” She averts her eyes. “What will you do to them?”

“Provided that the Weres don’t resist, we’ll capture them alive and put them through a tribunal. Humans are not our concern.”

“Will you . . .”

His face softens. “We’ll do our best not to harm anyone. Humans are easy to subdue. However, if my pack is in danger, we will defend ourselves.”

Nele exhales slowly. The silence stretches until she says, “I just want it to be over, you know? A normal life, for me and my family.” She lets go of my hand and wraps her arms around herself. “I don’t know where Irene is right now. But the prophet’s birthday is in two days, and it’s our most important day of worship. Irene might call it off this year, but she never has. In fact, I think that she might . . .” At once, she smells intensely guilty.

“None of this is your fault,” Koen reminds her.

She nods. “Ever since Serena’s interview, there has been a lot of anger toward the Northwest. More than usual. Many Favored saw that as proof that they’d been right all along, and people have been thinking about the Harrowing.” She swallows. “In the past few months, they’ve been accumulating weapons. Firearms. Some bigger ones, too. And . . .”

“And?”

“And . . . they’ve been teaching us how to use them.”

CHAPTER 36

She would make for the perfect Alpha’s mate.

ICAN’T BE THE ONLY ONE EXPERIENCING A STRONG SENSE OF déjà vu,” Saul says, but no one laughs.

I wouldn’t describe the Northwest seconds as the jolliest of bunches, but they usually tease each other, dish out jabs, and exchange inside jokes that go way over my head. Tonight, however, the atmosphere in Koen’s cabin is very gothic manor, mid-nineteenth century. The huddle leaders are on their way. Most of the pack leadership is in attendance, and all agree with Koen’s decision to go after the cult before Irene can strike.

“It’s the same strategy Constantine used,” he says.

“Target the Alpha and the closest seconds,” Amanda recites. “When the pack is trying to regroup, they work their way down.”

“They don’t have the insiders they had back then,” Mai points out. “Or the manpower.”

“The attack might not be as widespread,” Amanda agrees, “but if something happens to Koen?”

“That wouldn’t be ideal. There’s always a slew of cumballs with no leadership experience who decide to try the challenge at the worst possible time.” Koen leans against the counter and stares into the middle distance. “It’s not enough, getting Irene. We need to make sure that no Were related to the cult remains free. Otherwise, two years from now some fuckwaffle who happens to be Constantine’s third cousin will be back with some shitty claim and rile up all the other fuckwaffles.”

“What are the chances that the Human girl is lying about the weapons?” Jorma asks.

“None,” Koen says. “She adores Serena and wants to see her safe.”

“Easiest solution,” Elle says, “would be to lure as many of them as possible somewhere where we can easily neutralize them. Maybe we could feed them false information that we’re gathering for a leadership meeting.”

“We don’t know the extent of their weapons,” Koen points out. “Last time we underestimated them, and you know what happened.” We meaning his parents. What happened meaning mine.

“And would Irene be that easy to fool?” Colin asks.

Slowly, Koen shakes his head. “She’s deluded but not stupid. She believed that Serena would side with her over the Northwest, and that was shortsighted of her. She won’t make the same mistake twice.”

“Could we use Jess to plant false information?”

Pavel shakes his head. “She’s not being cooperative.”

“We could still use her as bait.”

“Irene doesn’t give a single fuck about her,” Amanda says.

“She cares about me, though.” It’s the first time I speak in the meeting. Everyone turns to me, and it’s like a floodlight right in my face. “I’m her niece. Constantine’s daughter.” It’s not news to anyone, but some seconds lower their eyes, like the reminder is hard to swallow. I don’t blame them one bit. “I’d be bait worth her while. I could set up a meeting with her, tell her that I changed my mind about the Favored.”

“She won’t buy it,” Amanda says. “You clearly made your choice.”

“She might even know that we’re using you to lure her there, and turn it against us,” Mai adds.

And they’re right. However. “What if they were to use me as bait?” The question gets me lots of confused stares. A couple of skeptical I think the halfling is slow glances are exchanged. “Irene wants Koen gone,” I explain. “She knows that Koen will come for me if I’m taken, because he already has. She knows that he’ll bring several of his seconds with him, too. It’s the ideal scenario for her.”

Silence. Amanda squints. “I’m not sure I follow?”

“If Irene had me at her disposal right now, she would use me to lure the Northwest leadership to a place where she could easily dispose of you. So let her do that. Let her think that she’s ambushing us, while we are ambushing her. Like you said, her manpower is limited. She’s going to have to use all her resources on the ambush— ”

“And have none left to pay attention to us.” Saul nods slowly. “This isn’t a bad idea.”

“It isn’t,” Elle concedes. “Except for the small detail that Serena is not with Irene.”

“That might be easy to fix,” Amanda says, sounding on board. “Nele told us where the hideouts are. We could parade Serena near one, someone would snatch her to please Mother Irene, and then— ”

“Enough.”

The entire room falls quiet. Every second’s gaze slips down to their toes, like they’re children being collectively reprimanded for not flushing the toilet.