“Save your judgment for your own people, Dayton,” Cola said. “Two wolves betrayed their own packs in the most unforgivable way and prioritized humans: Finnigan when he sold his rebel pack to human slaughter, and Arthur when he betrayed his WIP cell and lived a human life.”

“They will be cast from both worlds, cursed to walk between them alone,” Park said, clearly quoting the legend again. “The slipping.”

“Slipped in death like that, it’s unnatural. Frightened people talk.”

“But...do you believe that’s what’s happening?” Cooper asked. “That the legend is true and the moon is walking around punishing turncoat wolves?” And me, he thought but didn’t add.

Cola smiled wryly. “You’re imagining a big yellow ball walking around on legs. But the Moon means many different things to our kind. It’s representative of greater power, the cycle of change we have to go through every day and the duality of our very natures. Now someone out there has discovered the means to take away control over the most fundamental aspect of our identity and is using it to murder wolves. Whether you believe that person is some legendary entity of power or just another earthly murderer hiding behind ghost stories, whether you call them the Moon or the unsub, what difference does it make? The result is the same.”

Cooper couldn’t argue with that. “So, you think a WIP member killed Crane in vengeance, stole the phone, and is using the accoutrements of the legend to make sure the news spreads and incites fear. Why kill James Finnigan, though? A loose end? To sell the story?”

“The real question you should be asking yourselves is how did a member of the WIP even know Arthur Crane came into possession of the phone in the first place when, up until this very afternoon, he was as clueless and desperate to find it as we were.”

Cooper stilled, just slightly, but Cola caught it and nodded. “Good, you see what I’m saying. Who knew you found that phone today? Because he’s the only person who could have told the WIP that Arthur Crane now had it in his possession.”

“Eli isn’t working for the WIP,” Park said firmly. “You couldn’t be more off base. He needs a pack more than anyone.”

“And yet he’s no longer a part of one,” Cola said.

“What are you talking about?” Park asked. His voice was dangerously low and soft.

“I reached out to Helena after James Finnigan was murdered,” Cola said. “I thought she would be able to call Eli in to submit to questioning. Helena told me he was no longer part of the pack. A couple of weeks ago he asked to be released, which she granted. She was hoping he’d change his mind, but she hasn’t heard from him since.”