by Cheree Alsop
Alex didn’t know what to say. After a few moments of silence passed, he went with, “It happened yesterday. How did you hear so quickly?”
Anders smiled. “There’s a lot more of us out here than you might think. Word travels quickly, especially when it’s good news. Tell Jaze he has our gratitude for all he’s done.”
“I will,” Alex promised.
His arms stung, but he could tell that the wolf tattoo was already healing as he walked with his human friends back to Cherish’s house.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come inside?” Cherish asked. “My mom said it’s pizza night.”
“Pizza night!” Josh repeated. He high-fived Tanner. “You need to stay for pizza night,” Josh told him. “Mrs. Summers makes them from scratch. They’re amazing.”
As much as he wanted to stay away from the Academy, Alex replied, “I’d better get going. I don’t want anyone to start worrying.”
Cherish hugged him carefully. “You’re going to be okay,” she said, stepping back.
The others looked from Alex to Cherish. “Is something wrong?”
Cherish gave him a questioning look. Alex replied with a small shrug.
Cherish turned to her friends. “Someone Alex cares about very much was killed yesterday by Extremists.”
Sarah’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry!”
“That’s horrible,” Jen said. She gave him a tight hug that pinned both of his arms. “Are you okay?”
“Jen, seriously,” Josh said, pulling her back. “He just got tattooed.”
“It’s okay,” Alex said. “I appreciate it.”
“Hang in there,” Josh told him seriously. “You can get through this. When I lost my dad, I thought my whole world had fallen apart. It takes a while to find your place in things again.”
“Yeah, don’t give up,” Tanner told him. “We’re here for you.”
“Thank you,” Alex said, touched.
They waited outside Cherish’s apartment as he climbed onto his motorcycle. It felt good to know that he had friends at his back as his drove through the evening toward the Academy.
Trent’s voice came over the headset. “Testing, testing.”
“It’s working,” Alex replied.
“I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t malfunctioning,” Trent replied wryly. “The tracking chip says you’re heading home.”
Alex stifled a smile. “Yeah, well, you can’t trust everything you see.”
Trent chuckled. “I’ll remember that.”
Alex drove through the open gates to the main entrance of Trent’s workshop. He pulled off his helmet just as Jaze walked into the room.
“I was hoping to find you here,” the dean said.
There was something in Jaze’s gaze that caught Alex’s attention. “What’s wrong?”
Jaze let out a sigh and leaned against the door frame. “The GPA is requesting to debrief you. I’ve asked them to put it off, but they’re refusing. They need to know how the General died, and they said too many humans were killed that need to be accounted for.”
“But they were Extremists!” Trent protested.
Jaze nodded. “They know the situation, but they have to follow procedures.” He met Alex’s gaze. “We have no choice on this one.”
Alex nodded. “When do they want to talk?”
“Tomorrow morning. We’ll take the helicopter to C Block.”
“They get credit for coming up with creative names for their buildings,” Trent muttered after the dean left.
Alex nodded, but couldn’t find anything to say. The thought of meeting with the Global Protection Agency filled him with trepidation. He didn’t want to remember what had happened. He wanted to push the memories far away where he would never have to think about them again.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Alex studied the generals of the Global Protection Agency. Seven of them sat on one side of the curved table. Two dozen other agents occupied the seats behind Alex. Jaze, the only other werewolf, sat next to Agent Sullivan near the door. The Agent had given Alex a firm handshake and expressed his condolences when they arrived. Now he sat silently watching the proceedings.
“You said you went into a rage when you heard the gunshots?” a General with short gray hair and a southern accent asked.
Alex nodded. “It must have forced the silver through my system. I could move again, so I did.”
“Meaning that you killed ninety-six armed human guards with your bare hands,” a woman with an Irish accent replied.
Alex nodded.
Whispers erupted through the room. He could hear the agents behind him talking, but kept his attention on the generals.
“How did you know General Carso was on his way to free his son?” the first general asked.
“He said so before he gave the orders for Kalia’s death,” Alex replied. He held himself rigid, trying to remain apart from the memories that attempted to storm his mind. He felt exhausted even though the questioning had only started.
“When you landed, you told Jaze to wait while you went below,” a man with a thick German accent said, reading from the paper in front of him.
“I asked him,” Alex replied.
The man looked up at him. “What was that?”
“I asked him to wait. I didn’t tell him.” Alex gave an attempt at humor. “You don’t tell an Alpha what to do.”
The man’s eyes narrowed slightly. He turned his attention back to the paper as though Alex hadn’t spoken.
“You killed several guards,” the man continued.
“Thirteen,” the Irish woman noted.
“Then you checked the monitors and found the floor Drogan was on.” The man speared him with a look. “The elevator just happened to open when you were walking past.”
“Lucky timing, I guess,” Alex said dryly.
The man pointed his fountain pen at Alex. “I don’t appreciate your tone, young man.”
“General Schmidt, Alex is a hero,” a woman with long gray hair cut in. “He did this world a huge favor when he killed General Carso.”
“All the same,” General Schmidt replied, “He can have some respect.” The General turned to look at Jaze. “What are teaching these kids at your Academy?”
Jaze rose slowly. The steel in his gaze quieted everyone in the room. When he spoke, his tone reverberated through the air.
“Alex single-handedly accomplished what nobody else in this room has been able to do for the last ten years.” Jaze looked like he was struggling to stay calm. It was something Alex had never seen from the dean. “I agreed to this debriefing because of my respect for your organization and our relationship; however, I feel that you have failed to take into account the fact that Alex lost his good friend because of the General. He is seventeen. He needs the time to mourn instead of repeating everything in the report I gave you.” Jaze took a calming breath. “If you have questions you need answers for that aren’t included in the report, please ask. Otherwise, I’m taking Alex home.”
The generals were silent for a few minutes.
General Schmidt finally cleared his throat. “My apologizes, Dean Carso. I might have overstepped without considering the delicacy of this situation. Give us a minute to collaborate. We’ll reconvene and let you know if we have any further questions before you depart.”
“Thank you,” Jaze replied. He tipped his head at Alex. “Let’s wait outside.”
Alex leaned against the hallway wall as soon as they were out of the room.
“How are you holding up?” the dean asked.
Alex shook his head. “Not as good as I thought I would.” He fell quiet, then said, “They’re afraid of me.”
Jaze nodded. “Hearing that a single werewolf can kill a hundred humans is a little intimidating.”
“Is there a reason you didn’t mention the whole rage mode thing?”
“Rage mode?” Jaze asked with a hint of a smile.
Alex gave a small smil
e back. “Yeah. That’s what Trent calls it. Dray referred to it as morphing.”
Jaze nodded. “I don’t want them afraid of something else. We owe the GPA a great deal. If we can come out of this without damaging our relationship with them, I’ll consider it a win. Letting them know about a new ability in one of our students might concern them that werewolves are getting too strong for their trust. We’ll keep it to ourselves for now.”
Alex slid down the wall so he could sit on the floor. He squeezed his closed eyes with one hand. “Why are they acting so strange about the General’s death. I thought they’d be happy.”
“They are,” Jaze replied. “They’re just afraid of what’s next.” At Alex’s questioning look, the dean continued, “Whenever someone in such a powerful position is killed, there’s a struggle for who will take his place. I feel like Drogan will step into the position, but we can’t know for sure.”
“Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t,” Alex said.
Jaze chuckled. “Has Professor Thorson been quoting Irish proverbs again?”
Alex nodded. “I think he was referring to Torin.”
“Probably,” Jaze agreed. He sat down next to Alex. After a moment, the dean lifted up Alex’s sleeve to reveal the tattooed seven. “I knew I smelled silver and fresh ink last night. Where did you get it done?”
“Greyton,” Alex replied, uncertain what the dean’s reaction would be.
“And the silver?”
Alex lowered his gaze. “From the bullet Kalia and Siale took out of my arm.”
He saw Jaze nod out of the corner of his eye. “The artist has a steady hand. It looks just like Jet’s.”
Relieved that he wasn’t getting scolded, Alex turned and lifted his other sleeve. “This one is for Kalia.”
Jaze studied it for a moment in silence. When he sat back, the sorrow in his gaze was clear. “You matched her eyes perfectly.”
Alex nodded, pulling his sleeve back down. “I made them mix it until it was just right. Luckily, Anders was pretty patient.” He glanced at Jaze. “He’s a werewolf.”
Jaze smiled. “I thought the name was familiar. You might find that you have a few friends out there after defeating the General.”
Alex thought of Anders’ words when he tried to pay for the tattoo. “He needed to be stopped.”
Jaze tipped his head against the wall with his eyes closed. Alex kept silent, giving the dean his space. When Jaze finally spoke, his words were raw. “I never wanted any of you to get hurt.”
“You can’t protect everyone.”
Jaze ran a hand across his forehead, pushing his blond hair out of his eyes. “My mom told me that once.” He tipped his head to look at Alex. “She was right, and it broke me inside to realize it. The same goes for you, Alex. Kalia’s death wasn’t your fault.”
“I should have broken free before they took her,” Alex replied. His eyes stung, but he refused to let the tears fall.
Jaze shook his head. “You may learn to control morphing later, but for now, it sounds like the gunshot was what triggered you to do so. We might be mourning for you as well if that hadn’t happened.”
“Better me than her.”
Jaze set a hand on Alex’s shoulder. The dean’s grip was firm and steadying. “There are many times I have asked myself why I lived when others around me were killed.” His gaze was steady as he looked at Alex. “There are times like when your brother died that I felt as though the wrong person lay beneath the earth.” Steel showed in his brown gaze. “But I’m here, and because of that, I live for those who didn’t survive. Do that for her, Alex. Don’t let this destroy you, because in living you can pay tribute to the things she died for.”
Alex thought of her body lying in the snow. His throat tightened so that he could barely say, “What did she die for?”
Jaze’s voice was firm when he replied, “Her death led you to the General and you killed him. You saved so many lives with that one act. Think of the werewolves we’ve found who were tortured and killed under the General’s hand. Think of Siale, think of the hundreds you’ve helped me free. The General was behind them. Kalia’s death enabled you to stop him.”
Alex couldn’t accept the note of respect in the dean’s voice. He felt like he didn’t deserve it. “If I could take back his death so that she would live, I would,” he admitted, feeling like he was betraying his very race by saying it.
Instead of loathing, Jaze’s expression was filled with understanding. “If saving my mother or Jet meant that Commander Rogart, my uncle Mason, or any of the others were alive, too, I would do it in a heartbeat. You can’t deny your instincts. We hold those we love close to us because they complete what we are. A wolf without a pack is like the sky without the sun, dark and meaningless. Even the moon doesn’t shine without the sun’s light. Our loved ones give us meaning and purpose. We fight because we love them. Don’t beat yourself up because you would do anything in your power to have them back.”
“What do we do?” Alex asked quietly.
Jaze’s answer was firm. “Our job now is to make sure someone worse doesn’t take the General’s place.”
“We won’t let that happen,” Alex vowed.
Jaze squeezed his shoulder before he rose. Alex caught the sound of footsteps and stood as well.
“We are ready for you,” the blonde Irish woman said with a warm smile.
Alex followed Jaze back into the room. Instead of sitting in his chair by Agent Sullivan, the dean crossed the room at Alex’s side and stood next to him in front of the board of generals.
“I apologize for my questioning,” General Schmidt said.
Alex was amazed to hear that the general’s words were sincere.
“At times like these, it’s hard not to get a bit overly concerned when the nation is at risk.”
“We understand,” Jaze said, inclining his head with respect. “Thank you for your apology.”
The general nodded in return. “That being said,” he continued. “We have one last question for Alex.”
Alex waited on pins and needles. He hoped they didn’t ask how he had managed to kill so many men. He wasn’t sure how to hide the secret of his morphing from the expectant crowd.
The question came from the last general at the table. He was a slender man with thin white hair and blue-rimmed glasses. “Alex, I am General Baird from Great Britain.”
“Pleased to meet you, General,” Alex replied politely.
The general continued, “Alex, you have done so much for your nation, much more than one boy your age should have to do. Yet our countries are built on the shoulders of courageous men and women very similar to you. We have survived wars the likes of which no one should hope to see again. But if that day comes...” He leaned forward, his spectacled gaze locked on Alex’s. “If that day comes, will you answer our call?”
The significance of General Baird’s question ran through Alex. He thought of the things he had seen, of the bodies of slain werewolves he had helped to recover, of those who had been tortured and mutilated. “I will do anything in my power to keep our nations safe,” he replied.
General Baird stood and held out a hand. Alex crossed the room and shook it. The Irish woman next to him reached out a hand as well. Alex shook each of them in turn until he made it to General Schmidt.
“We’re lucky to have you,” the general said.
The GPA had been at the werewolves’ side through all of the recovery efforts Alex had been a part of. He knew the teamwork it took to manage a pack; he couldn’t imagine everything the generals dealt with on a daily basis. “We’re lucky to have you, General,” he replied quietly. He met the gazes of the other people behind the table. “All of you. Thank you.”
The GPA guards that lined the hallways and doors of the building saluted the two werewolves. To Alex, it was a bit overwhelming, but Jaze nodded at each of them in turn, thanking them with his simple gesture. The Black Team fell in around Alex and Jaze as soon as they reac
hed the outside doors. The team protected them as they made their way to the jet waiting on the private tarmac behind C Block.
Alex leaned his forehead against the window as Mouse prepared the jet for takeoff. A shiver ran down his spine at the cold that washed over his skin.
“You okay?” Jaze asked.
Alex nodded. “Just a chill.”
He looked up in time to see the concern on the dean’s face. “Werewolves don’t normally get chills.”
“I can’t seem to shake the since Kalia...” His voice died away at the thought of holding her in the snow. He turned back to the window.
A moment later, a blanket settled around his shoulders. “You’ve been strong,” Jaze said. “Try to get some sleep. I know this has taken a lot out of you.”
Alex closed his eyes.
Chapter Twenty-nine
When the jet touched down, the Academy’s SUV was waiting. As soon as Alex appeared, the vehicle door flew open.
The sight of Siale nearly undid him completely. Alex climbed down the steps on legs that felt like they were made of jelly. He took two steps, then she was in his arms, holding him with tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Oh, Alex, I’m so sorry,” she said. She hugged him tight. “I’m so, so sorry about Kalia. It’s too much.”
Alex held her, the smell of her sage and lavender scent surrounding him, clearing his thoughts and chasing away some of the tightness in his chest.
When Jaze walked past them, Alex met the dean’s gaze. “Thank you,” he mouthed.
Jaze nodded with a smile.
Before, Alex hadn’t known how he was going to face the Academy without Kalia. With Siale’s fingers linked in his, he was able to cross to the SUV without feeling like every step closer to the school meant accepting the fact that Kalia was gone. At least with Siale at his side, he felt like he didn’t have to hold up completely by himself. If he fell apart, she would be there to pick up the pieces, and she would never judge him, because she knew his darkest flaws and loved him anyway.
They climbed inside the SUV and took the back seat. Alex was surprised to find Trent driving.
