The spotlight may not hit as good as sunlight, but Cyrus will still take it over the dark and dreary cave that Jax calls his bedroom any day. As he steadies himself against the artificial brightness of the stage, he paces back and forth, a playful whistle in between his teeth.

The last of Grave Shadow's members are flooding the entrances from the sides and occupying the remaining seats further back, all as he plays around with a chipper tune. Already, there's mass confusion and panic on the rise, just from his appearance alone. He can feel their collective gazes burning into him, brimming with alarm and fueling tensions in the air.

It's strange being confronted by so many enemies at once, though most are ordinary betas anyhow. Betas—the type of wolves that don't get involved because only alphas can. At best, they're average everyday citizens that help contribute to lycanthrope society, similar to omegas but with a much wider and flexible range of skill sets to experiment with.

Only alphas are strong enough to withstand the adversities that come from any incoming conflicts. And Cyrus can confidently say that God is a pretty huge obstacle indeed.

Regardless, being here in enemy territory and absorbing their more reserved culture feels surreal. If he were back in Blood Moon, the audience would be feral with chaos right about now, instead of this hushed chatter oozing with prickly judgment. Snippets of gossip buzz and speculations slither.

Meanwhile, as Zeke assembles the finishing touches for their microphone up at the podium, Jax steps over and tugs Cyrus by the ear, stopping his silly song short.

"It's time," he whispers. Or at least, he tries to in his usual sharp and angry voice. Every word that he rasps out is loud with authority. "Get over here."

"Yeah, like I can literally go anywhere else. Fun fact, there are better ways to get my attention besides, y'know, yanking on my ear."

To prove a point, Cyrus reaches out for Jax's own ear, showing him what that feels like. Because he has piercings too, gray metallic ones at that, he pretends to rip one out. Out of habit, Jax tries to jam the pointed end of an elbow into his throat, only for the hex to trigger.

It defends Cyrus rather aggressively this time, shoving the other alpha back so hard that it sends him crashing into the right wing of the stage.

Everyone startles, their gasps and shouts escalating into a frenzied cacophony, as their leader is launched behind some red curtains. A noisy uproar ensues as they take in the revelation of the pale blue magical barrier that had transpired.

Oh yeah, now this is what Cyrus is talking about.

Chaos. Disorder. Madness.

From an obscured distance, Jax had crash landed straight into a festive set behind the scenes, tumbling through several boxes of sparkly holiday decor. Shiny tendrils of golden tinsel are tangled around his arms and coiled around his ankles. Blue glitter covers the right side of his face.

Grace, who had been chilling right there, leaps back with a high-pitched yelp.

"Sir!" Zeke rushes to Jax, who is currently being helped back up by a panicked Grace. "Sir, are you okay?"

With a grimace crawling up his face, he runs his tongue across the back of his hand. Looks like he'd swallowed some glitter too.

"I'm fine," he says.

A cackle erupts from Cyrus. He's so not fine.

Seeing this as his cue to steal the spotlight from Jax, he then steps over to where the podium is, as everyone is still in shock, before tapping at the mic.

"Heyyy!" he drawls, waving to the plethora of baffled Grave Shadow eyes trained on him. "Testing, testing! Can y'all hear me?"

Scowling, Jax brushes past Grace and Zeke and storms over to where he is.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Their shoulders knock together as Jax shoves him aside. "Is this your pack? Step down and know your place."

"As you all just saw earlier, Luna has cursed us," Cyrus continues, blatantly ignoring him. "She hasn't exactly taken a liking to us anymore since some shit went down at her ball. So for now, Grave Shadow and Blood Moon are gonna be at a stalemate."

"A temporary truce." Jax places gruff emphasis on 'temporary'. "We stand as separate packs and we are no longer in contact with Lumare and Frosthide. As of today, all trade will cease between them."

Murmurs surge from a handful of concerned beta merchants as they register this news. Panicked whimpers break out from frantic omegas.

"I understand that this will be difficult," Jax says, grasping his hands around the sides of the podium. Even with glitter caked across half of his face and tinsel stuck to his clothes, he still stares down at his audience with a certain intensity, unwavering in his stance. "But I will always ensure the power of our people as these new conflicts arise. We can't submit just because the moon goddess dictates so. With her gone for the year, fate is in our hands now, not hers. If Lumare or Frosthide want a fight, then we will give them one and we will prevail, just as we always have. We are the strongest pack to ever exist."

Of course, Cyrus strongly disagrees because Blood Moon is the one that's the strongest, but for once, he knows that now isn't the time to voice such things. For once, he understands. After all, they're both in the same position, literally and figuratively speaking. And as far as pep talks go, this isn't the worst one he's heard.

As he ponders in silence, he wonders how Ram must be handling his own announcement with Blood Moon about their unsavory circumstances.

He misses the pancakes.

"If we want to work towards restoring everything back to normal for us, then there's only one thing we can do." Jax turns to him now, grabbing onto his shoulder. "You know what I'm about to suggest."

Curious by his sudden bout of confidence, Cyrus raises a brow at that. "I do?"

"I know you do."

"And if you're wrong?"

"I'm never wrong about you."

"Ha!" Cyrus barks out a laugh. The sound bounces off their shared mic, echoing across the stage with a static clap. "Wanna say it together then, since you think I'm that predictable?"

"You are predictable."

They stare each other down after that, waiting. Blue meets red as their eyes lock, readily studying each other's faces. A moment in time stills and all is quiet as a hush settles over them. Then, after another drawn out pause, they both open their mouths and guess what the other must be thinking.

"Let's kill Luna."

In determined unison, their words match in verbatim, ringing throughout the stunned crowd before them.