Werewolf Academy Book 2

by Cheree Alsop

  “Drogan didn’t ask for you,” Alex replied.

  Silence answered the statement. Alex took the next left and led the way up the long ramp. They arrived at the panel where Alex had first found the underground cavern. He put his hands to it and it slid open.

  Meredith was already waiting next to a bed and a table of instruments. Relief filled her eyes when she saw Alex.

  “Mouse called up,” she explained at his surprised expression.

  “I can’t believe he woke you up for this,” Chet grumbled. He shook his head and took a seat where Meredith indicated.

  “Oh, I wasn’t asleep,” Meredith replied. “I couldn’t sleep while you guys were out risking your lives. I wanted to make sure someone was here if medical attention was needed.” She gave them both a warm smile.

  “Well, thank you,” Chet said with slightly less frustration. “It’s really not that bad.”

  Meredith pulled back the collar of his shirt to reveal a deep gash across the werewolf’s shoulder. “It’s not healing yet. Looks like you have some silver in it. Jaze was right to send you up. Take off your shirt.”

  Chet did as he was told. He dropped the shirt on the floor and stretched his arm as though it pained him.

  “Want to help?” Meredith asked.

  Alex glanced at Chet. “Uh, okay,” he said, uncertain he wanted to deal with the Alpha’s anger.

  “It’s alright,” Meredith reassured him. “He won’t bite.”

  “I might,” Chet replied sullenly.

  She handed Alex a small tray with swabs on it. She then took one of the swabs and a pair of tweezers. Alex watched as she searched carefully through the wound. The fact that it was still gaping and hadn’t started healing said she was right about the silver shards. A few seconds later, she pulled out a tiny sliver.

  “Meredith, have you seen...” Cassie’s voice died away when she saw Alex and Chet. “What is going on?” she asked.

  The two werewolves exchanged a glance. “Uh, well, it’s not what it looks like,” Alex said.

  Cassie put her hands on her hips. “It looks like you went off with Jaze and Chet on some sort of mission and got shot at.”

  Alex tried not to smile because he knew it would make her even more furious. “Okay; it’s exactly what it looks like.”

  “How could you, Alex?” she demanded. “I’ve been so worried about you with Drogan’s attacks, and now you have to go off trying to get yourself killed?”

  “It wasn’t like that,” Alex protested.

  Meredith took the tray from his hand. “I’ve got this,” she said quietly. “Go talk to your sister.”

  “I really don’t want to,” Alex replied under his breath.

  Meredith motioned with the swab. He sighed and followed Cassie out the door.

  Cassie turned around after they reached the end of the hall. Alex was surprised to see tears in her eyes. “Seriously, Alex, why do you have such a death wish?”

  “I don’t,” Alex told her, but the fire had left him at the sight of her hurt expression. He sat down on the stairs and motioned for her to take a seat next to him.

  She did, but scooted to the far side of the stairway. “I can’t take it, Alex. I worry about you so much. You have no idea.”

  “I have some idea,” Alex replied quietly. He glanced sideways at her. “My biggest fear is that if we don’t stop Drogan, he’s going to get you. I’m not going to fail you, Cass.”

  She rested her chin in her hand. “But you’re not careful. If the same thing happens to you, think of where I’ll be. We’re all we’ve got.”

  Alex shook his head. “That’s not true. We have Aunt Meredith, Jaze, Nikki, and baby William. We have the Academy. We have a lot to live for.”

  “Then why risk it?” Cassie asked in a voice just above a whisper.

  Alex leaned his head against the railing. “Because if I don’t do something, I’m going to go crazy. I can’t sit around being a target waiting for Drogan to get lucky.”

  “So you went after him?”

  The pain in Cassie’s voice made Alex’s throat tighten. He shook his head. “I went with Jaze to free werewolves. He said when he felt the same way I did, the only way he could get over it was to help himself by helping others. It felt good, Cass.” He met her gaze, hoping she would understand. “Freeing them made it easier because I’m doing something, really something, that is helping other werewolves and defeating Drogan at the same time. I’m fighting back.”

  “But what if you leave me alone?” Cassie asked in a voice so soft he barely heard it.

  Alex let out a breath. “You’re not alone, Cass. You have Tennison.”

  Her head lifted and she met his gaze. Her eyes said that everyone had been right. She loved Tennison. “Alex.”

  He gave her a small smile. “It’s alright. As long as he takes care of you. He knows your twin brother will throw him off that cliff if he ever does anything to hurt you, right?”

  She nodded with a smile of her own. “Right. But he’s so sweet to me.”

  “He better be,” Alex replied.

  “He is,” Cassie reassured him.

  “Get some sleep so you can heal,” they heard Meredith say from down the hall.

  “I will,” Chet replied. He walked out of the medical wing looking somewhat less grumpy than when they had entered. He spotted the twins and lifted his good arm. “Thanks, Alex. Have a good night.” He glanced out the window at the rising sun. “What’s left of it.”

  “You, too,” Alex replied.

  “Goodnight,” Cassie said.

  Chet smiled at her and disappeared down the professors’ hallway.

  Meredith poked her head out of the doorway to the medical wing. “You guys okay?”

  Alex nodded, but Cassie shook her head. “Alex is an idiot,” she said.

  Alex tried not to let her words bother him, but coming from his sister, they cut straight to the core.

  Meredith read it on his face. “You guys better come back here.”

  The twins walked sullenly to the medical wing. Meredith led them to a room they hadn’t visited before. It had couches and a refrigerator.

  “This is where we take breaks if things get stressful,” Meredith explained.

  “Fitting,” Alex said quietly.

  Meredith surprised him by giving them both a hug. When she stepped back, her eyes glittered with tears as she smiled down at them. “I know how Cassie feels, Alex. I felt the same way the entire time you were gone.”

  “You did?” Alex asked softly.

  She nodded. “Of course I did. You’re my family. I couldn’t bear to lose you after all we’ve gone through.” She took a shuddering breath. “When I found out you were both still alive after everything, it was like I was given my heart back. Seeing you with Rafe in the forest felt like a dream. I couldn’t believe...I didn’t dare believe that it was true, that you were really safe.”

  “That’s how we felt when Jaze told us who you were,” Cassie told her. There were tears in his sister’s eyes, but Alex was glad to see the smile on her face. She had been through so much. He didn’t want her to cry anymore.

  He nodded. “We lost everyone, or we thought we had. Finding out you were our aunt took away the fact that we were orphans. We had somebody.”

  Tears rolled down Meredith’s face. “I have somebody too, now. You two are my everything.”

  Cassie gave her a tight hug.

  Alex followed. “I was careful,” he said. He ducked away and sat on one of the couches. He needed them to understand. “I can’t stop helping Jaze.” Cassie looked like she wanted to argue, but when she met Alex’s eyes, she fell silent. “I can’t help it. I need to go with him. I need to free werewolves and do what I can to stop Drogan and the General. If I don’t, I’m going to go crazy.”

  “You’re already crazy,” Cassie said, but her words were tempered with a small smile as if she was trying to understand.

  Alex nodded. “I know. Sometimes I feel so pent up t
hat I’m going to explode if I don’t do something. Going with Jaze to free Drogan’s prisoners helped with that, even if it was dangerous.”

  “Maybe because it was dangerous,” Meredith said, taking a seat next to Cassie. At the twins’ stares, she lifted her shoulders in a small shrug. “When Mindi and Will moved away, I had no one. I didn’t dare follow because I didn’t want them to be found. It felt like someone was watching me all the time. I got paranoid and careless because I got tired of living like that. I left the city and moved around, but I couldn’t shake the feeling.” Her voice tightened. “Then I got caught.”

  Alex sat up straighter. “Who caught you?”

  She shook her head. Dark shadows passed through her light blue eyes, memories that made a shiver run down her spine. She pursed her lips tight, unwilling to let them free. “It doesn’t matter now,” she said quietly, pushing the emotions away. “What matters is that we’re here, together. We may have been through a lot, but we’re not alone, any of us.” She held out her hand. “We’re a team, now.”

  “A pack,” Cassie said, setting her hand on top of Meredith’s.

  Alex smiled. “A pack,” he agreed, putting his hand on his sister’s.

  Meredith nodded. “And a family. Alex, we’re going to worry about you.” Her gaze was frank and honest. “You can’t ask us not to. We care about you, and so we’ll always worry when you’re gone.”

  He opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off with a shake of her head.

  “But we won’t ask you not to go.” She looked at Cassie. “We’ll try our best to understand and not hold you back.”

  Cassie nodded a bit reluctantly. She took let out a small breath and looked at her brother. “Just be careful. I know the risks you take here.”

  “It’s different out there,” Alex told her. “Everyone’s careful. Jaze sees to it. You should see them work. It’s like a machine. Everyone knows where to go and what to do. Each person has a place.”

  “You do, too?” Cassie asked, her eyebrows pulled together with worry.

  Alex thought of taking down the two men in the hallway. He had saved Jaze from getting shot. He nodded. “Me, too. Jaze needs me.” The last sentence made him smile just a bit. Knowing he had a place calmed the agitation in his chest. He was making a difference.

  “Just be careful,” Cassie made him promise. “And stay away from guns. I don’t need my brother getting shot again.”

  “I’ll be careful,” he said. He made sure not to agree to the gun part because he had already broken it. If Meredith and Cassie knew, they would probably petition Jaze to keep him from leaving the Academy ever again.

  Meredith went to the refrigerator and brought back three bottles of orange juice. “It’s almost breakfast time,” she said with a warm smile. “Want to go eat together?”

  Alex nodded even though the only thing he wanted to do was collapse onto his bed and sleep. He followed them wearily into the hall.

  Tennison stood from where he had been leaning against the wall near the stairs. The lanky werewolf’s pale eyes lit up at the sight of Cassie. She ran over to him and slipped her arm through his.

  “I wasn’t trying to pry,” Tennison explained. “I just thought you might be getting hungry.”

  “You’re right,” Meredith said.

  Tennison gave Alex a searching look. “Are you okay, Alex? You look exhausted.”

  “I’m fine,” Alex replied, though he could barely keep his eyes open.

  “Have you been up all night?” Tennison asked.

  Alex pushed down his surprise at the werewolf’s questioning. Apparently being a relationship with the Second’s sister gave him stronger footing. “I have,” he admitted.

  “You should probably get some sleep,” Tennison replied. “You look like you’re about to fall over. We can bring you up some breakfast if you’d like.”

  “I, uh.” Alex was caught off-guard by the werewolf’s concern. “Um, okay?” he said as more of a question than an answer.

  Tennison nodded as if everything was decided. He sniffed the air. “Smells like waffles or pancakes today. Have a preference?”

  “Um, waffles,” Alex replied, trying to regain his bearings.

  “And scrambled eggs,” Cassie told Tennison. “He likes cheese on them.”

  “Waffles and cheesy scrambled eggs.” Tennison nodded. “Got it. Get some sleep, Alex.”

  The trio left Alex standing by the stairs wondering what had just happened. Part of him was grateful for the chance to sleep while the other was still trying to catch up with everything he had experienced in the past few hours.

  Meredith looked back at him when they reached the door to the Great Hall. She lifted a hand with a warm smile on her face as if she guessed his confusion.

  Alex waved back and started wearily up the stairs, still trying to figure out what had just transpired.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The chill that cut through the air made Alex glad he was in wolf form. The cold breeze couldn’t get beneath his dense undercoat. He glanced back at Kalia. She pushed her way through the trees after the pack looking miserable. She pulled her white coat closer around her body. Her face was barely visible through the fur-lined hood and the light blue scarf that set off her eyes like shards of ice amid the white world around them.

  Cassie padded next to Kalia. Her big paws allowed her to walk over the snow while Kalia had to struggle with each step. Sympathy filled Alex’s chest. He allowed the rest of Pack Jericho and Pack Torin to pass him while he waited for Cassie and Kalia to catch up. Caitlyn pranced at Cassie’s side, her white fur nearly blending in with the snowy landscape. Tennison walked behind the trio, his gray coat a dark shadow as he followed in their wake.

  With the coming of winter and the restlessness of the students, Jaze couldn’t keep them inside the walls any longer. The greenhouses had been completed, and there wasn’t enough plant identification in the winter for Dray to keep them occupied. Jaze had reluctantly agreed to continue sense training with Colleen as long as they brought additional protection with them.

  Professor Gem loped along the perimeter of the packs, her light gray coat easy to identify with its black stripes. Dray ran next to her, racing his wife as they enjoyed the chance to stretch their legs outside the Academy. Kaynan and Grace ran on the other side. Grace’s small gray shoulder brushed Kaynan’s huge dark red one as they traveled. Somehow, it allowed the blind werewolf to see as they loped across the ground at speeds she otherwise wouldn’t have been able to meet without her husband.

  The werewolves gathered around the cave Colleen and Rafe used as a go-between from their home further in the forest. Rafe’s wolves already lounged around the cave. Alex sat down near them. Kalia hung back, eyeing the wild wolves nervously.

  Colleen came out of the cave in her human form dressed in warm clothes. “Okay, class. Today we’re going to learn scents associated with tracking in the snow. As you know, many of the animals we’ve become accustomed to in the summer vanish in the winter, and a variety of creatures with affinity to the snow take their place. Migratory paths...”

  Alex’s attention drifted. He watched Kalia lean against a tree and cross her arms. A second later, a clump of snow fell from the branches and landed on her head. She stomped angrily and shook her head in an attempt to dislodge the snow from her white-blonde hair. The werewolves ignored her as they concentrated on Colleen’s lesson.

  Kalia looked completely out of her element. She wasn’t able to phase to wolf form, so the lesson didn’t apply to her, but Jaze had asked her to accompany her class in case she ever did phase. His suggestion had riled her to the point that she glared at anyone who dared to look her way. Even Colleen pointedly gave Kalia space as she taught.

  Kalia brushed the last of the snow from her hair, then shoved her hands into her fur-lined pockets and stomped away. Everyone let her go. They were deep in the forest and activity from Drogan and the General had quieted enough that it was no longer a huge concern
, at least for someone who wasn’t Alex or Cassie.

  Cassie was occupied entertaining Caitlyn who had a hard time concentrating on Colleen’s lesson with the fun of snow filling the clearing. The little wolf stuck her head into a drift, then pulled it back out. Snow covered her nose and eyelashes. Cassie gave a snort of laughter. Caitlyn wiped her head against Cassie’s side.

  A few minutes later, a tingle ran down Alex’s spine. He rose soundlessly, his thoughts still on the path Kalia had taken. She couldn’t have gone far. Even Kaynan and Mouse didn’t appear too concerned. Kaynan nodded at Alex as he passed; he and Grace turned their attention back to Colleen. Alex padded softly down the trail Kalia had left.

  She was apparently making her way back to the Academy. Deep boot prints showed where she had stumbled off their path into snow drifts. He imagined her muttering about the ridiculousness of a class in the middle of the forest at the beginning of November. Her honey and clover scent clung to the snow and the trees she had touched.

  Alex’s ear caught a faint sound. He paused with one paw in the air. He scented the breeze, but it was blowing in the opposite direction than he needed. His senses strained and his ears perked forward as he attempted to hear it again.

  There it was. A tremor ran down his limbs at the shuffle and grunt. Two heartbeats later, Kalia screamed.

  “Alex!”

  He was already running. His paws barely touched the ground before they lifted again. He flew over a log and rounded the bend where the trees were so close they obscured any sight beyond. He burst into the small clearing near the partially frozen stream.

  Kalia’s face was white and eyes wide as she stared at the massive grizzly bear. A half-eaten fish lay at its feet. She must have startled the bear in the middle of its lunch when she reached the clearing. The grizzly rose onto its back legs and let out a roar. The anger in its beady eyes was unmistakable. It was a hungry animal, trying to finish what might be a final meal before hibernating, and the small human had interfered. The bear dropped back down with a massive thump and charged.