by Cheree Alsop
“Alex, what happened?” Trent asked, climbing off his bed. He ran a hand across his buzzed hair as he surveyed Alex’s condition. “You look like you tangled with a bear.”
“I did,” Alex replied. He shoved his hands in his pockets. The pressure to his broken arm made him wince. Though he had stayed by the statue for an hour or so hoping to give his body a chance to heal, it appeared he had put it through too much to expect miracles at the moment.
“Is your arm broken?” Trent asked.
“Would I be asking to ride a motorcycle with a broken arm?” Alex replied, hoping a rhetorical question would throw the werewolf off.
Trent’s eyes narrowed. “Yes.”
Alex let out a breath. “It’s healing.”
Trent met his gaze squarely. “Alex, if you don’t tell me what’s going on, I’m not taking you anywhere, and you’re in no shape to drive a motorcycle on your own.”
Alex knew Trent’s stubborn streak. He had no choice. He leaned against the bed and crossed his arms, resting his healing right one on top of his left. The bruises that ran from the middle of his arm in both directions were dark and angry and it was swollen so badly he couldn’t turn his wrist. Riding a motorcycle would be impossible until it healed more.
He gave in. “Torin called me out. He said I killed Kalia.” He studied the floor near the window. A white, fuzzy speck on the carpet held his attention. “We got into a fight.”
“That Alpha should be demoted to toilet duty for the rest of the term,” Trent muttered. “You were injected with silver a few hours ago, and wiped out pretty much the General’s entire army as well as the General. He fights on a coward’s terms, attacking when you’re weak after something like that.”
“I beat him.”
Trent stared at Alex. His mouth opened, then closed again. After a moment, he said, “You beat an Alpha?”
Alex nodded. “I was angry. I...I was lost about Kalia. I needed an outlet.”
“Did you go rage mode on him?”
Alex thought for a moment, then shook his head, a bit surprised himself. “No. I didn’t have to.”
Trent leaned against the bed next to Alex and folded his arms as well. “You know what that means, don’t you?” he said, glancing at his friend.
“I’m not sure,” Alex replied. “I haven’t really thought about it.”
Trent hesitated, then shook his head as well. “Me, neither. If you were an Alpha, you’d have Torin’s pack. I’m not sure how that applies to a Gray. We might have to talk to Jaze.”
“Leave it.”
“But if you won...”
Alex met Trent’s green eyes. “I’m not exactly fit to run a pack.”
“Your arm will heal...”
Alex raised his eyebrows meaningfully. “It’s not the physical part I’m worried about.” He gave his friend a small smile. “It’s alright, Trent. I have things I need to do, and this is important. Can you give me to a ride to my motorcycle before anyone’s up? I don’t think I can handle more questions right now.” He rubbed his aching arm. “Torin’s interrogation was a bit more than I was ready for.”
Trent rose without a word and grabbed a shirt. He followed Alex into Pack Kalia’s main room. Alex realized that the pack no longer had an Alpha. He ducked into the hidden passage Trent opened and fought back the urge to hit something.
“This whole place is falling apart,” he said quietly.
Trent glanced back at him. “We’ll put it back together. We always have.”
Alex put his good hand on Trent’s shoulder. The scrawny werewolf paused.
“How can you stay so positive?” Alex asked. The thought of Kalia gone was like a hole through his heart. Each beat reminded him that hers no longer did. It was eating him up inside, and it was only the first day after her death. He didn’t know how he was going to manage any more without going crazy.
Trent’s eyebrows pulled together. He was quiet for a moment, then he said, “Because you need me to.”
For some reason, the werewolf’s answer made Alex feel a bit better. “So you’re feeling lost, too?”
Trent nodded. “Kalia’s gone. My best friend is being torn apart with guilt, and Drogan’s still out there somewhere ready to take revenge for his father. If I don’t pretend to be positive, I might just tear down this place myself.”
“Brick by brick?” Alex guessed.
“Brick by brick,” Trent replied with a half-smile.
Alex followed Trent through the Wolf Den to the secondary vehicle storage room.
“I have a spare bike,” Trent admitted. “It’s nothing compared to yours, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have a backup.”
He crossed to the corner and pulled the tarp off of a vehicle nestled between a partially built helicopter and what looked like the parts to a riding lawn mower. The motorcycle he revealed was green and black. It was obvious by the quality of the work that Trent had spent a lot of time on it.
“It’s beautiful,” Alex said.
Trent gave a proud smile as he shifted it to neutral and pushed it to the middle of the room. “Sometimes the hero needs a sidekick.”
Alex laughed, then was flooded with guilt at the emotion. “Kalia’s dead,” he said bitterly. “And I’m laughing.”
Trent put a hand on Alex’s shoulder. It was hard for Alex to meet the werewolf’s eyes. “Laughter is another outlet. Don’t beat yourself up. Would Kalia want you to mope away the rest of your days?” He paused, then said, “Short as they may be?”
Alex thought about Kalia, the way she had started to smile when he befriended her. By the end, before Siale, just a look from him would make her laugh, her blue eyes light and pure joy on her face. She had been happy.
Alex admitted the truth. “She used to get on my case whenever I was down.”
Trent nodded. “I figured as much. Remember that.”
He handed Alex a helmet and climbed onto the motorcycle.
Alex shoved the helmet on his head with his good hand, then swung his leg over the back of the bike. “If anyone sees us, we’ll never live it down.”
Trent chuckled. “Don’t worry. We’ll take the back way out.”
When they reached the main road, Alex closed his eyes and listened to the hum of the tires. It was one of his favorite sounds. He leaned against the back rest and let the resonance chase away his thoughts, fears, and aches. For the length of the ride, he just existed.
The sun bathed their shoulders when Trent reached the city of Greyton. Alex opened his eyes to see the skyscrapers towering overhead. Trent drove them through traffic and took the side roads to the small park. Alex felt a rush of relief at the sight of the motorcycle still parked where he had left it.
“Thank you,” he said, climbing off.
“How’s the arm?” Trent asked.
Alex turned his wrist experimentally. The swelling had gone down and the bruises had lessened quite a bit. “Definitely better than it was. I’ll be fine to drive.”
Trent nodded. “Good. You can lead the way.”
Alex took off his borrowed helmet and strapped it to the back seat of Trent’s motorcycle. “I’m not heading straight home.”
Trent sighed. “I was afraid you’d say that.”
Alex smiled. “You know me pretty well.”
“Unfortunately,” Trent replied. He pulled something out of his pocket. “At least put these back.”
The small tracking microchip and the headset Alex had left in the tree sat on the werewolf’s palm. Alex held out his hand.
“Really?” Trent said as though surprised Alex had given in.
Alex nodded. “I owe you for all you’ve done, and I trust you. Just give me the time I need.”
“I will,” Trent promised. He hesitated, then pulled something else out of his pocket. It was a stack of bills folded together.
“What’s this for?” Alex asked.
Trent gave a small smile. “For a rainy day. I figured you could use it.”
Alex
watched the werewolf pull away. When Trent was out of sight, Alex crossed to the motorcycle and slipped the headset back into the helmet. He studied the microchip in his hand. As much as he hated being tracked, Trent had been there for him. He used the key to open the gas cap and stuck the microchip back beneath it.
A glance at the clock on the motorcycle’s dashboard showed that school would be out soon. Alex started the motorcycle and drove down the road.
Chapter Twenty-seven
“What brings you here?” Cherish asked with a warm smile at the sight of Alex leaning against his motorcycle across the street from her apartment complex.
Alex shoved his hands in his pockets self-consciously. The pressure made his arm twinge and he removed his hands again. “I was, uh, wondering if you know where Josh is.”
“Sure,” Cherish replied. “He works at the gas station a few blocks away. We can walk there.”
“I could take you on my bike,” Alex offered.
Cherish kicked at a pile of dirty snow. “I like to walk.”
Alex fell in beside her as she cut down an alley. He tried to enjoy the crunch of the snow beneath his feet and scent of wet asphalt mixed with the alive smell of hundreds of people, but he couldn’t feel anything other than hollow.
A few minutes later, Cherish broke the silence. “Are you going to tell me why you look like someone just killed your puppy?”
Alex glanced at her. The girl’s all-to-perceptive gaze searched his grim expression. He turned his face away from her. “I lost someone I care about.”
Cherish’s smile fell away. She was quiet for a few minutes longer, then glanced at him. “I’m sorry.”
Alex nodded. “Me, too.”
“Tell me about her,” Cherish prompted.
The sound of people talking on the next street filled Alex’s ears as he thought. There were too many memories to go through, too much to process. It made his chest ache.
“Alex, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t ask—”
Alex shook his head and she fell silent. He cleared his throat. “Kalia, well, she wasn’t easy to get along with at first.”
Cherish smiled, asking for more.
“She hated everything about the Academy,” Alex told her. “She couldn’t phase, so she didn’t fit in. If anyone even looked at her, well, it’s a good thing looks can’t kill because I think every student and professor at the Academy would be dead.” He blinked back tears and forced himself to keep talking.
“But she trusted me. I don’t know why or how I won her trust, but she started to smile more, and it seemed like she didn’t mind the Academy so much. After a while, I started to fall for her.”
Cherish glanced at him, but kept silent, her green eyes searching his face as he spoke.
“I thought she might be the one,” Alex admitted.
“That’s a big deal,” Cherish said softly.
Alex nodded. “Especially for werewolves. I just couldn’t quite get past the feeling that I was missing something. I cared about her a great deal, but it wasn’t how they described it to be.”
“That’s when you met the girl,” Cherish guessed.
Alex wanted to smile. He wanted to let her know much Siale meant to him, but even the action felt unfamiliar. He nodded without a word. The sound of the snow beneath his shoes filled his ears. He finally sighed. “She didn’t understand.” He stopped walking. Something about the words broke the dam inside of him. The tears started again. “She didn’t understand why I didn’t love her the way she loved me.”
“Oh, Alex,” Cherish said. She put her arms around him and held him.
“She kept asking why I didn’t feel it the way she did,” Alex said, his tears falling in Cherish’s black hair.
It took him a minute to collect himself. He finally wiped his eyes and stepped back. “I was just so confused. I love Siale.” The words filled him with warmth and calmed his emotions. They continued their walk down the alley. “And I just wanted Kalia to find someone who was right for her. I was just afraid...”
“That she was too hung up on you to give anyone else a chance?” Cherish finished gently.
Alex nodded. He realized they had reached the gas station. “But I think I went about it the wrong way.”
Cherish stopped him before he could reach for the door. “Alex, I trust you, and do you know why?”
Alex shook his head, confused by her line of thought.
Cherish gave him a small smile. “Because even before I knew you were a werewolf, I felt like I saw you, who you are, what you stand for, all of you. You don’t hide yourself like so many people do. You don’t protect your weaknesses behind a wall of false bravado. You are just you.”
“Maybe I need to try harder,” Alex said quietly.
Cherish shook her head. “Don’t change.” She put a hand on his arm. “The reason I tell you that is because Kalia knew how you felt. She knew you were her friend. I can’t blame her for wanting something more, but I’m guessing deep down she was just happy you were there for her.”
She pulled open the door and went inside. Alex stood on the curb for a few minutes letting her words sink in. He hoped Cherish was right. He hoped with all of his heart.
When he went through the glass door, Josh and Cherish were coming back to meet him. Josh was wearing a black shirt with the gas station’s logo in red across the front. His curly brown hair looked somewhat combed. He smiled and held out a hand.
“Hey, man. Cherish said you’re looking for me.”
“Yeah.” Alex shook his hand, feeling suddenly self-conscious. “I have a question for you.”
“Shoot,” Josh offered.
“How’s your tattoo healing up?”
Surprised by the random question, Josh pulled up his sleeve to reveal the firefighter shield. The red was gone and the line work had healed well.
“Faster than I thought it would,” Josh replied. “Why?”
“Can you get me in touch with whoever did it?”
Josh glanced at Cherish. She lifted her shoulders in a small shrug.
“Uh, sure,” Josh said. “I have the short shift today. I get off in ten minutes. Can you hang around?”
Alex nodded. He followed Cherish to the front of the store. He appreciated the fact that she didn’t ask any more questions. Instead, she distracted him with telling him about school and how someone pulled the fire alarm. Apparently it was an occurrence that happened at least twice a week. The principal was trying to crack down on who the culprit was.
A half hour later found Alex at the tattoo parlor where Josh had gotten his tattoo done.
The tattoo artist came around the corner, and Alex couldn’t help but stare.
“Hi, I’m Anders,” the artist said, holding out his hand while giving Alex a hard look.
“Uh, hi,” Alex replied, shaking the hand as the scent of werewolf surrounded him. “I’m Alex.”
“You’re here to get a tattoo?” Anders asked.
Alex shook himself, chasing his surprise away. “Yes, and I have a special request.”
A few minutes later, he was sitting in the chair with his sleeve rolled up.
“Are you sure about this?” Anders asked skeptically.
Alex nodded. He watched the artist withdraw the silver bullet from the pouch he had taken from Kalia’s dresser. The werewolf wore medical gloves to keep from touching the silver.
“Silver for a werewolf?” Alex heard Josh whisper to Cherish. “That doesn’t seem like a good idea.”
“He knows what he’s doing,” Cherish whispered back.
“I hope so,” Jen said. A glance showed the girl holding onto Josh’s arm, her bright red hair held back by a cream-colored sash.
Josh had told Alex that Jen usually met him after work so they could be together. She hadn’t minded joining them at the tattoo parlor. Tanner and Sarah were also on their way over.
Alex watched Anders open the bullet with a pair of pliers. The scent of the liquid silver inside stung his nose. Anders gla
nced at him. Alex kept his face calm. Anders carefully poured the silver into a small container that held the silver ink. Alex was glad enough silver had stayed in the bullet to do the job. He settled back in the chair. A few minutes later, the prick of a needle laced his skin.
The silver burned. He knew it would hurt, but the feeling was different, dull, steady, as though he stood too close to a fire and his skin was blistering. He closed his eyes, letting thoughts of Kalia and Jet blur together until the pain of losing each of them became one substantial burn like the tattoo being laced into his skin.
When tattoo artist finished the silver seven, Anders moved his chair around and laid a thin sheet of paper across Alex’s other shoulder. He pulled it away, and Alex looked down at the ink on his arm.
It was a wolf crafted in a tribal style with swirling dark lines and its head up, staring at whoever looked at it.
“Black lines and light blue eyes, right?” Anders checked.
Alex nodded.
“Whoa, that’s awesome,” Tanner said as he and Sarah walked into the parlor.
Alex returned the boy’s smile. “Good to see you again.”
“You, too,” Tanner replied. “How’d you get your parents to approve?”
“I, uh,” Alex looked at Cherish.
“His mother signed the permission slip. No big deal,” she said with a quick glance at Anders. The artist appeared to not be listening as he prepared his tools.
“Geesh,” Josh said. “I had to argue with my mom for a year to let me get this one. She said she’d kill me if I got another.”
“My mom’s pretty awesome,” Alex replied. He fought back a wry smile at the thought of Cherish signing in the place of Meredith. He hadn’t really imagined what his mom would say when he got home.
The thought of returning to the Academy made his stomach twist. Going back to the walls that would remind him of Kalia filled him with nausea, but he had promised Trent. After all the werewolf had done, he couldn’t go back on his word.
Alex pulled the folded bills Trent had given him out of his pockets.
“I won’t accept your money,” Anders said.
