Jessica heard me and turned, jumping to her feet. She held the mini shovel in front of her like a weapon and screamed. “Diana?” she asked, touching a gloved hand to her chest, leaving a dirty fingerprint.
“Yeah, sorry,” I said, holding up my hands, but continuing across her lawn, passing her house, and heading into the front yard. When I passed that and reached the sidewalk, I let out a huge breath. Relief caused my shoulders to sag, and I bent over, resting my hands on my thighs.
“Your mom has been worried sick. We all have,” Jessica said. She’d followed me. “Are you okay?”
Physically, yes. Mentally? That was to be determined. “Fine, thanks.” There were four police cars parked outside my house. Neighbors we hadn’t talked to in years lined the road, gawking from a distance.
My mom must be terrified. I ran down the middle of the road, waving my hands and shouting. “I’m here. I’m okay. Everything is fine.”
One of the officers saw me and drew his gun. I must have looked deranged.
“Hold it right there,” he shouted.
I lifted my hands and halted, a rock piercing the bottom of my foot. “It’s me,” I said, trying to ignore the pain. “I’m Diana. I’m okay.” How I was okay was still an unknown, but I wasn’t going to complain.
“Diana Valene?” he asked but didn’t lower his weapon.
“Yes. Is my mom okay?” I dropped my hands to my sides.
He kept the weapon pointed and spoke into his walkie. “I have a young woman claiming to be the missing Diana Valene here. Can you send out the mother?”
“Roger that.”
The screen door burst open, and my mom rushed out. “Diana!” Her PJ’s were covered by her ratty pink bathrobe, and her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days. “Diana!”
“Mom,” I said, but didn’t move. There was still a gun aimed at my chest.
“Lower your weapon,” an older man ordered. His uniform matched the guy with the gun.
The police officer holstered the weapon reluctantly.
Relieved, I ran past him and into my mother’s arms. “I’m okay,” I said, hugging her tightly. “I’m so sorry to worry you.”
She was sobbing. “I thought I’d lost you, Di,” she said, stroking my hair. I was only an inch taller than her five feet three inches, so she didn’t have any trouble reaching my head.
We held each other for some time, and then she pushed away, giving me a once over. “What happened?”
The older man stood behind my mom, his hands on his slightly oversized hips. “I’ll need you to come down to the station and give a statement.”
“No,” my mom shouted, turning a glare on the man. “She’s here, and I’m not letting her out of my sight, Dave.”
There was an animalistic fire in her I hadn’t seen before. Ever. “It’s okay, Mom. I can go.”
“Stella, I’ll need her to tell me where she’s been the last two days,” he said, his eyes meeting hers, but only for a moment before he looked down.
Two days? Holy crap! I couldn’t believe I’d been unconscious in the forest that long. How was I still alive?
“Really, Mom. It’s alright,” I cooed, hoping to calm her down.
She nodded once. “Fine, but first let her have a shower and some food. Can you do that, Dave?” She wrapped a protective arm around my waist.
I’d been taking care of her for years, so seeing her behaving like a mama bear and staring down a seasoned cop was surreal.
His shoulders eased. “That’ll be alright.” He moved away from us and yelled, “Wrap it up, boys. We’re done here.”
Mom walked me through the flurry of activity, doing her best to shield me from prying eyes. Inside, she helped me to the bathroom and turned on the water to take a shower. “Take your time. I’ll make you some warm milk.”
I studied her like I was seeing her for the first time. “I am really sorry,” I said.
“Never you mind, sweetheart. Get cleaned up, and we’ll talk when you’re ready.” She closed the door.
I stood there a moment, still wondering if what had happened in the woods was real. Had it been a dream? The police might test me for drugs. That would tell me something.
Quickly, I removed my clothes, throwing them into the garbage can. I didn’t want to see them ever again. Then I climbed into the warm water. It felt like heaven.
When I finished, I wrapped myself in a towel and went to the mirror, wiping off the steam and studying my reflection. The first thing I noticed was my eyes. They were still ice blue, but there was a slight ring around them. I leaned in closer. Sure enough, the ring had a yellow tint to it. There were other changes too, but they were less physically noticeable. I just felt amazing. Like I was the healthiest I’d ever been.
After drying my hair and putting it in a wet bun, I went to my room and threw on a loose pair of faded jeans, a red tee, and black flipflops. When I came downstairs, I felt sure my mom would be back on the couch and zoned out on a TV show.
She wasn’t.
She was in the kitchen, whipping up a batch of… Could that be brownies? When she saw me, she paused and pulled a plate covered in foil from the oven. “Eat. You must be starved.” She removed the foil.
She’d made cheese enchiladas, seasoned rice, and beans. “Wow, this smells so good.” I sat on a barstool and carefully pulled the warm plate over.
She handed me a fork. “Thank you,” she said, then went back to beating the brownie batter.
Cheese enchiladas had always been my favorite food. Not that I didn’t like meat. If I had to eat it, that was fine, but I preferred more vegetarian cuisine. As I forked a bite and stuck it in my mouth, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. What I wanted was a big, juicy steak, raw in the middle.
“How is it?” Mom asked.
I chewed and swallowed. “Fine.” I needed to do better than that. This was the first meal she’d prepared for me in probably three years. “Great, actually.” I took another bite and smiled as I chewed to show her how much I appreciated her efforts.
Mom studied me, her head tilted to one side, in a way that reminded me I was her daughter. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” I said, taking a drink of water. “Why do you ask?”
She shook her head. “Nothing.” She scraped the batter into a greased pan with a spatula, then stuck it in the oven. “No reason.” She wiped her hands on a towel and began cleaning up. “Tell me what happened,” she said as she worked.
It occurred to me she went to all this effort because of stress. Some people stress ate. Others stress cleaned. My mom stress cooked. I got that from her too.
“It was after work. I locked up the store and took the trash to the garbage can. When I got to my car, these men—”
Mom gasped. “Did they? Are you? Oh, no, no, no. Should I have taken you to the hospital and had them do a rape kit?” Her face went whiter than our countertops.
“It’s okay, Mom. They didn’t… do that.” By the look on her face and the dread in her eyes, I knew she harbored memories she’d rather forget. My heart hurt for her. “I promise. They didn’t touch me that way.” I set down my fork and chugged the rest of the water.
Relief washed over her. “Tell me the rest.”
For the next several minutes, I told her about them taking me into the Shade and how the leader tried to drown me in the river. After that, I told her about the wolf and showed her where the bite had been. “But it’s so weird because I felt my ribs break.” I shook my head. “Maybe I just imagined it.”
While I spoke, my mom’s face went from pale to deep red.
“Are you mad?” I asked softly.
“Beyond,” she said, turning away. “But not at you. At your father. At the men who took you and the wolf that bit you.” She crossed her arms. “At everything,” she said and buried her face in her hands as she fell to her knees. “Your life is going to change, and there’s nothing I can do about it.” She tucked a piece
of my hair behind my ear, giving me a watery smile.
“Mom.” I wrapped my arms around her, holding and rocking her gently. “It’s okay.” I kept repeating it because I didn’t know how to help her.
Following my mom’s instructions, I went to the police station and gave my statement, but it was a watered-down version. I told them about the man trying to drown me in the river. I didn’t tell them about the rock or the wolf bite or my strange new ability to heal. Mom made me promise not to, though she wouldn’t tell me why.
“Later,” she said when I asked.
In my statement, I said that something must’ve spooked my kidnappers, and they ran off. I dragged myself from the river before passing out.
That had been two days ago.
Mom hadn’t been back on the couch since my return. She stayed busy. Baking. Cooking. Cleaning. At the moment, she was outside fixing our screen door.
I was a different story. Though I was physically fine, I kept having bad dreams that wolves were chasing me. Each time, the large wolf would be towering over me, his yellow eyes ferocious. Before he killed me, an enormous monster would pick up the wolf and toss him away like he was nothing but a stuffed toy. Then its eyes would focus on mine, and it would lick its lips, and I would wake, screaming.
Mom was there. She would bring me a cold washcloth and tell me I was safe, but I also sensed there was more.
The knowledge hung deep in my blood like a full moon on a clear night. She knew what was going on inside my body. Whenever I asked her what was happening, she said, “Not now, Di,” and that was that.
On the morning of the fourth day, I came downstairs determined to get answers. The news was on, and Mom was watching. I had a moment of dread that she was back to her couch-potatoing, except she was fully dressed. Her hair was done, and she even wore makeup. She was seated on the edge of the sofa, her hands clasped together in one fist.
I went into the kitchen for some water. “What’s wrong?”
She didn’t answer, focused on the news. An anchorwoman talked while showing a video of a young man speaking before congress, asking them to pass a bill that would make changes to how our country was burning through its natural resources.
The screen switched over to a different video where the same man stood at a podium and spoke. “If we don’t fight for our Earth,” he began, his voice confident and determined, “then she will start fighting back.” He paused a moment, and the newscaster returned, saying a few more words before segueing into a story about sports.
I pondered what the man said. Would Mother Earth fight back? Could she? They seemed silly questions, but somehow I knew they weren’t. That young man had been speaking the truth. She would come, and when she did, our world would be devastated.
I paused. Where had that come from?
“We’re bringing you breaking news,” the reporter said, her beautiful face strained with uneasiness.
Mom shut off the TV and stood. “You got a letter,” she said, her features tense.
“Okay.” Something was wrong. My mom was acting even weirder than she had the last few days. Dressed and cleaned up, she didn’t look a day over twenty-five, which was also odd. The woman had good genes. I hoped she passed them on to me.
She went over to the desk near the front door and picked up an envelope before handing it to me. “Just know you don’t have to do this,” she said.
I was confused but took the envelope. It was thick, heavy. Expensive. Across the front was only my name: Moonlight Diana Valene. No address or any indication where the letter had come from. I hated my first name. It sounded so hippy-dippy. What my parents had been thinking was something I never bothered to ask. I flipped the envelope over. Silver wax stamped with the letters WBA held the envelope shut.
“Fancy.” I used a letter opener to release the seal and took out the letter. It was an invitation. Before I read it, I looked up. “Do you know who sent this?”
She bobbed her head once. “Read it,” she said solemnly.
Premonition trickled down my spine while my eyes scanned the words written in fancy calligraphy. I read it aloud. “‘Your presence is required at the Wolf Blood Academy,’” I began and swallowed. “‘Attendance is mandatory. You will arrive on Monday, or there will be serious repercussions. Pack one bag with necessities. Uniforms will be provided. A driver will arrive to collect you at seven in the morning. No exceptions.’” I paused, my throat drying up as my heart did several flipflops, and a grim sense of foreboding weighed heavily in my stomach. “Is this a joke?” I whispered. I suspected it wasn’t. Not with all the other strange happenings lately. I looked over at my mom. “It’s a private school?”
Her eyes were wide as saucers, and fear turned her creamy skin pasty. “Yes.” She clutched her hands together as though doing so could hold off the inevitable. “I spoke to your father. He said he…” She shook her head, and her features shifted to determination. “It’s not happening,” she continued, taking the invitation and tearing it up before tossing the pieces into the trash. “Never you mind,” she whispered harshly. “I’ll take care of it.”
“What is the Wolf Blood Academy?” Forcing down my fears, I took her hand. Since Dad left, it was up to me to keep her calm.
“It’s a school for those…” She didn’t finish, glancing down at our hands clasped together.
Hers shook, and I held on tighter. “You can tell me, Mom.”
“Give me a minute,” she said and walked out of the living room and up to her bedroom. I guessed she intended to call my dad and wanted privacy.
I didn’t know much about the man who was supposed to be my father. He left when I was little. As I got older and understood what his absence did to my mom, I was angry. He didn’t want to know me, and the feeling was mutual.
When my mom still hadn’t come down after an hour, I went up to check on her. “Mom,” I knocked softly.
She sniffled. “Come in.”
The room was dark, the curtains closed. She lay on her bed.
My heart sank. “What is it?”
On her stomach was another envelope. Even in the low light, I saw that it had my name on it the same as the first one.
“Where did that come from?” I asked, my voice shaky. I moved over to pick it up.
Mom wiped her eyes and sat up, encouraging me to sit by her. Then she took my hand. “There are things I’ve kept from you,” she began.
I leaned back, as something within me snarled. Finally, the truth.
“I’m listening,” I said.
Chapter Five
Wyatt
When my father found out Moonlight, whose full name was Moonlight Diana Valene, wasn’t dead, all hell broke loose. I was kicked out of the Keepers before I was officially inducted.
What was the big deal? She was young and beautiful, but the Keepers shouldn’t care about that. What consequence could she be to the wolves or our community? Yes, she was the daughter of the dean, but so what. When I brought that up, my dear old dad refused to explain. My guess was he didn’t know. Even though he was a general, he still had superiors.
The worst part was he decided to make an example out of me. Since I failed, that meant he failed. After a couple of days without speaking to me, my father gave me new orders, even though I wasn't one of his Keepers.
I was to return to the Academy as an initiate. Basically, start over. I would go through the initiation process once again like I did my first year. The reason? Again it had to do with Diana. This time, I was to succeed in fulfilling my obligations, or I would be banished. Dad didn’t say what would happen to my pack, but I had a feeling my banishment was a kind sentence and that the others wouldn't fare as well.
Death, my wolf growled. He would have them killed. I knew it, and I couldn't let that happen. At least for now, the others got to retain their status in the Keepers.
I was alone again, but whatever. My objective? I was to keep an eye on Diana. When the time was right, Dad would reveal the next step. Eas
y enough.
Those in my pack were in a rage that I saved her and ruined everything. We were supposed to climb the ladder together, but I could tell they were relieved, especially Logan, that they still held their position. They didn’t want to go back to school.
I still didn’t completely understand what happened. Physically and emotionally, I hadn’t had a choice. Then, when I bit into her shoulder and dragged her from the river, something happened between us. Something unexplainable. I would never tell anyone this, but it was like the sun lost its brightness compared to her. Each morning when I woke, I thought of her. Each night before I went to sleep, my dreams were filled with her.
That was one plus in no longer being part of a pack. My brothers couldn’t hear my thoughts any longer. No one could.
I knew what happened between Diana and me. A blood bond. Such occurrences were rare between wolves, especially when we were still so young. It was weird to care so deeply for someone I didn’t know. But it was a fact. If I were ordered to kill her or my old pack would suffer, I was screwed.
“What if she ignores the Academy’s invitation?” I asked my dad. Secretly, I was torn. On the one hand, I really wanted to see her, but I was also worried about her. At first, she was supposed to die. Now maybe not? Mine, my wolf howled. Just because I wanted her didn’t mean she would want me back. Not when she found out I had tried to kill her once already. It didn’t matter that I’d saved her. Even if she never found out what I did, I knew, and the guilt ate at me.
No matter what, I wouldn’t be able to kill her. Nor would I let anyone else do it. Whether Diana wanted me or not, I was tangled in her life and would protect her or die trying.
“Oh, she’ll be here.” He leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. “We got her father’s approval to send a second request. One less cordial and more threatening. Either she attends, or we kill her mother. Simple as that.” He leaned forward and picked up a sheet of paper. “She knows nothing of this world thanks to her Familiar mother.” He rolled his eyes. “That’s good for you. It’ll allow you to teach her the right way to deal with her abilities and her wolf.” He winked. “You’ll teach her to submit, and then no matter what happens, she’ll accept her fate.”
Initiation (Wolf Blood Academy Book 1) Page 4
