I presume that when you used d'Moivre's formula you found that
z- a= 2, or [itex]-1+ i\sqrt{3}[/itex], or [itex]-1-i\sqrt{3}[/itex].
Then z= 2+ a, or [itex]a-1+i\sqrt{3}[/itex], or [itex]a-1- i\sqrt{3}[/itex].
Multiplying those together and setting them equal to -9, you get a very simple equation for a!