Our Fatal Failings (Twisted book two)

Chapter Twenty-Three

“You’re lying.” Iris springs up. Her eyes are blazing with anger. “That’s not possible, it’s not true.”

I step back. Never have I seen Iris so angry at me. “It’s true. That girl will swear to her story.” 

“That girl is sixteen. She doesn’t know what she’s doing--she shouldn’t even be here!”

“When Jonah found me, I was sixteen. It didn't make me less credible did it?”

Iris looks ready to argue when Nia comes from behind her and puts a hand on her shoulder. “We’re all tired and hungry. We should really take care of ourselves before we start arguing on the merits of this.”

“It’s too late to go back now,” Iris says. “It’s a lie.

“It’s not.”

“There has never been a wolf-witch pairing. Ever!”

“And the moon goddess is a fickle bitch. Maybe she doesn’t approve of this and she’s changed her mind.” Or maybe the laws in place made it impossible for these wolves and witches to meet. It doesn’t matter. Whatever it is, Jonah will soon know it. And he’ll surely use it. Let loose a thousand of wolves who thought they’d spend their lives without ‘true love’ and you have a hormonal, phermonal driven whole-sale slaughter. Then what? What happens to the girls--they lose everything. 

Nia laughs a little but Iris just gives her a glare. “If the goddess doesn’t approve, then why are we doing this?”

“Because it’s right,” I say, wringing my hands. “Jonah is my mate, yes. But the way he detests humans and witches is wrong. Look at what this country has become--a wolf-led ethno state. Now that you can be mates, what now? There’s disdain for witches already.” I breathe in deep. “It could be sexual slavery. So the moon goddess doesn’t support us, that doesn’t make this cause any less noble.” My back straightens and I put my hands down by my sides. “In fact, it only serves to clear things up--should we stop now, witches will either be mates or medics and nothing in between. You know pack laws--they keep us from full participation in this world should we be unattached to our mates.” I spit the word out. “We shouldn’t be prevented from experiencing all the good has to offer for the sake of being baby incubators!”

By the end of it, I’m heaving, my shoulders rising and falling in complete indignation, but I see Iris’s deflate out of her. “You’re right.” She shivers. “But that means there’s a wolf out there for all of us, isn’t there? Is that man alive? Did she kill him?”

I shake my head and Iris lets out a long string of curses. Nia steps forward. “It’s fine. We’ll win this, in the end.” I bet he already knows. I bet he’s already coming for us. “We have the magic on our side which someone seems separate from the moon goddess and her domain. I wonder even, if she was the only goddess at the inception of the world.”

“None of that is important right now. What’s important is that you carry out this fight. We’re winning. He hasn’t hit us hard yet, but he will. He’ll want to crush us and knowing him, he wants to prove to me that I can never run. So the only way we’re going to win is fighting as dirty as he does.”

Iris nods before stepping outside the tent and yelling to her war secretary. They’re about to make plans and by god, I’m going to be there. The baby in my stomach kicks hard and I put my hand over my belly. My son will never sit on a throne, not in this twisted world of wolves standing over all of us. I know there’s goodness in witches, I know there’s goodness in humans, I’ve seen it in them. I’ve lived among them and seen it in school trips and museums of beautiful art and warm bacon breakfasts--little glimpses of humanity. And contrary to what Jonah believes, I’ve seen plenty of bad in wolves. I turn, breathing quick to soothe the kicking and I step outside, following as fast as I can on Iris’s heels.