Moon Dance by V. J. Chambers Read Free Book Online

until now, “he did kill werewolves. Cole Randall,
the wolf serial killer who kills his own.”
    “ Yeah, but it wasn’t about
that,” said Avery.
    Max looked around Ursula, eyebrows
raised.
    “ He was trying to make a
pack,” said Avery. “He killed the ones he couldn’t make submit. The
killing was a side effect, not an intention. Technically, I suppose
he’s not even really a serial killer. He’s some kind of nut who
thinks werewolves are closer to nature and that we should all give
in to our animal instincts or something.”
    Cole clasped his fingers
together. “You see? I’m not even dangerous.”
    “ I didn’t say that,” said
Avery.
    Cole sat forward again,
grinning at them viciously. “Here’s what I’m thinking. I’m thinking
that maybe I was selling myself short before.”
    Avery’s nostrils flared. “If
you aren’t going to tell us—”
    “ I want a pardon,” said
Cole.
    “ Oh, no,” said Avery. “We
played this game before. If you think—”
    “ I know more about it now,”
said Cole. “I want you to issue me the same document that’s issued
for every wolf who violently kills before going through your
training. You issue something that says they can never be held
accountable for their actions because they acted with impaired
mental capacity. And that’s what I want.”
    Avery couldn’t believe this.
Of course, he had one of those documents on file. They were
referred to as DMC docs, which stood for “diminished mental
capacity.” Avery had killed his family and several neighbors the
night of his first shift, and those actions had been pardoned
officially. “Randall, you didn’t act with impaired mental capacity.
You knew what you were doing.”
    “ Not really.” Cole scratched
his beard again. “You see, growing up in the manner that I did, I
was given a very shaky grasp of morality and the value of life. My
father punished me by using psychotropic poisons, which didn’t
really help with my development. Anyway, it was only six people.
Brooks here has killed more people than I have.”
    “ And what about the Brockway
Massacre?” said Avery. “The number of people killed in that
gymnasium is staggering. And you’re responsible for
that.”
    “ Am I?” Cole curled his lip.
“How do you propose to prove that? I was injured in the Brockway
Massacre, Brooks. Terrorized, really.”
    “ You’re not getting a
pardon,” said Avery.
    “ That’s my new price,” said
Cole. “I want a pardon. I want to go free. And I don’t want to talk
to anyone besides Dana Gray. Give me those things, and I’ll tell
you everything you want to know about the attack out
west.”
    * * *
    “ We just didn’t feel it was
anybody’s business,” Avery said. He was in Ursula’s office. After
giving his pronouncement, Cole had refused to say another word, so
eventually he was taken back to his cell. Ursula had asked Avery to
come with her for a chat. She immediately began asking him
questions about whether or not he was mated to Dana and why the two
of them had kept it a secret.
    “ I guess I should have
realized,” said Ursula. “The two of you were always friendly
before, but you didn’t have a romantic connection. The fact that
you were suddenly so deeply in love should have set off red flags
for me, especially considering that she’d been mated to Randall
just days before. But I didn’t want to think about anything else
being wrong.”
    He shook his head. “There’s
nothing wrong with
it, King.”
    “ Well, obviously, you
wouldn’t think so,” she said. “You’re mated. You’ve got weird mojo
sending out sparks in your brain, manipulating your emotions or
something. Honestly, we don’t really understand how it
works.”
    “ It’s not weird mojo,” said
Avery. “It’s no different than a human bond. It’s maybe a little
more intense. There’s nothing for you to worry about.”
    “ Possibly there is,” she
said. “Possibly, this bond is interfering with our working