by Cheree Alsop
Werewolf Academy Book 7
Chosen
By Cheree L. Alsop
Chosen
By Cheree Alsop
Copyright 2014 by Cheree Alsop
Smashwords Edition
Cover Design by Robert Emerson and Andy Hair
www.chereealsop.com
To my family- the love within my books
Comes from the love outside of them.
Thank you for real adventures,
Movie nights, and walks to the park.
Chapter One
Alex felt every eye in the Great Hall on him. The sounds of breakfast had vanished. If he was a lone wolf before, he was truly by himself now.
“What are you saying?” Jaze asked. There was a hint of steel in the dean’s voice as if he had already guessed the direction of Alex’s thoughts.
Alex took a steeling breath and let it out. “We don’t need to hide anymore. The best thing we can do is to let the nation know we exist just like they do, students and professors who are trying to make the world a better place in which to live. Tolerance is there, but it has to start with us.”
“It’s not safe,” Dean Jaze said. “We can’t protect our students beyond these walls, and if the Academy is known for what it is, they’ll tear it down around us.”
Alex watched Jaze closely. Something flickered in the dean’s eyes. Alex’s chest tightened when he realized the emotion Jaze tried to suppress was fear. Jaze had seen so much death and destruction when he revealed werewolves to the world the first time, the dean was afraid for his students. That was why he had worked to hide them for so long. He didn’t dare risk the werewolves who looked to him for protection.
“They won’t,” Alex replied. “They can’t. They’ve seen what we can do.” He hesitated, then said, “They’ve seen what I can do. They know we exist. We can pretend to be ghosts, telling ourselves that wolves can live happily behind walls, or we can embrace our heritage and be strong enough to live outside of them.”
Jaze shook his head. “We’re not ready.”
Alex met his gaze. “You might not be ready, but we are.”
The students and professors around the cafeteria were completely silent. Not even so much as a fork scraped against a tray. They had the Academy’s complete attention.
Jaze rose to his feet. “Alex, you’re in over your head. We can’t protect our students if we make them a target.”
“We’ve been targets our whole lives,” Alex replied without stepping back. “The only way to take the gun away is to force the world to accept that we deserve to exist.”
“I’ve tried,” Jaze replied, his tone heartbroken. “It doesn’t work like that.”
“It does,” Alex told him firmly.
“Alex.” Siale said her fiancé’s name quietly and touched his arm.
Alex kept his gaze on the dean. “It’s time, Jaze. We need to reveal the Academy to the world. They might not have accepted werewolves years ago, but we’ve shown them that we’ll put our lives on the line to defend humans. We sacrificed to save Greyton and the hospital. We made ourselves targets for the curs to help end their threat. We gave the humans their lives back. Now is the time to ask the nation to return the favor.”
“I won’t let you risk this Academy,” Jaze said, his voice laced with steel.
“Then I’ll fight you for it.”
Gasps spread across the Great Hall at Alex’s challenge. A shiver ran down his spine at the enormity of his actions.
“What?” the dean asked.
Alex’s heart thundered in his chest. He kept his focus on Jaze. “I challenge you for the right to reveal the Academy to the world.”
“It doesn’t work like that,” Jaze began.
Alex cut him off with a motion toward the student body. “You taught us that rank duels separate those who lead from werewolves too weak to be the leader. I am ready to lead, Dean. I challenge you for that right.”
Jaze’s gaze traveled around the room, then back to Alex.
“Fine. I accept your challenge,” he said shortly.
The dean’s jaw clenched and his right knee bent slightly. With an outlet of breath, Jaze threw the first punch.
Alex ducked and answered with a jab. Jaze dodged the attempted hit to his ribs and threw a fast uppercut that connected with Alex’s jaw. Alex staggered back a few steps. The pain cleared everything else away. Alex was no longer fighting the werewolf who had been a father figure for most of his life. He wasn’t attacking the dean under the gaze of every student and professor at the Academy. He wasn’t the lone wolf student fighting to find his place in a life that kept shaking him from his feet.
With the blow to his jaw, Alex’s instincts took over. His wolven need to defend himself fused with the human side that had practiced for hours upon hours until blocks and punches came from muscle memory and Jaze was just another attacker intent on keeping him from his goal. To Alex, instead of the crazy world of tangled grays he tried to wade through, the fight was tangible, black and white. He would win or die, because that was the way he had always fought.
Alex threw punches and blocked, kicking and spinning out of the way of the dean’s answering blows. Jaze was unlike any fighter he had ever come across. Instead of defending and attacking as though he had been trained to do so, the dean’s movements appeared so natural it was as if he had been born to fight.
When Jaze crouched, Alex saw his brother Jet in the way the dean’s feet moved into the perfect defensive stance. When Jaze lashed out with a fist and brushed away Alex’s answering chop with a two-handed block that sent Alex into one of the nearby tables, he could almost see Jet within the lines of Jaze’s movements. He felt as though he wasn’t fighting Jaze, he was fighting his older brother.
Alex spun to the left and threw a punch that glanced off Jaze’s shoulder. The dean turned with the hit and slammed a fist into Alex’s chest so hard the ribs gave. Alex staggered back a few feet. He should have seen the blow coming.
The Demon surged at the pain, but Alex forced it down. The fight was between him and Jaze. Freeing the Demon was against the way of the wolf. If he couldn’t beat Jaze himself, he didn’t deserve to win.
Yet his memories of Jet merged with those of Jaze. Instead of the dean, his older brother stood in front of him. The dean’s brown eyes changed to dark blue, and his blonde hair to black. When Jaze threw a punch, Jet’s fist connected with Alex’s chest and then stomach. Alex staggered back, his head spinning.
Two punches to the face made Alex see spots. He tasted blood. The dean was faster than any werewolf he had ever fought. Jaze didn’t become the recognized Alpha leader of werewolves for nothing; he had earned it with every blow and scar. Despite the years Alex had trained, he couldn’t match the dean. Jaze had him beat.
Jaze tackled Alex around the waist and drove him to the ground. He spun so that he had an arm locked around Alex’s neck. Jaze turned, blocking the cafeteria from view.
“Don’t stop fighting,” the dean said in his ear.
Jet’s voice echoed in Alex’s head. They were the same words his brother had told him before he was killed by Extremists. Alex had lived with those words as his mantra since the day he and Cassie became orphans. For better or worse, fighting was what he had and what he knew. He wouldn’t give up no matter who he fought.
Alex grabbed the dean’s arm and tucked his chin, slipping out of Jaze’s hold. He rolled back to his feet and bent his knees, his hands open and jaw clenched with determination. Jaze dove at him and slammed him into the closest table with the strength of a bear. Someone in the crowd screamed. Alex’s head rebounded off the wood as it splintered to pieces beneath them. He rolled to the right and stood in time to block a kick and answer with
one of his own. It connected with Jaze’s jaw.
The dean fell back two steps and lifted a hand to his mouth. Blood trickled from the corner of his lip when he took the hand away.
“Good kick,” Jaze said, his stance at ready.
Jaze attacked with a left and then a right. The left hit home and Alex breathed out to ease the force from the blow, but fire burned angrily through his already bruised ribs.
When the right connected, Alex grabbed Jaze’s fist and spun inwards, using Jaze’s momentum to draw him off balance. Alex kicked low and threw his weight to the right, driving them both to the ground. Alex turned on one knee and wrapped his elbow around Jaze’s neck. In the next moment, his had his other knee in the dean’s back and his spine extended to the point that if Alex jerked back at all, it would cause fractures.
Alex’s heart thundered and his breath was ragged and loud. The taste of blood coated his mouth. He could hear the dean’s heartbeat and felt him take a tight breath.
At that moment, the Demon surged. Instinct bade Alex to finish the dean, to end his reign and take over, to lead the werewolves to a new life of freedom. The Demon fought against the thought of anyone having control. When Alex struggled to keep it at bay, it lashed out, sending physical pain surging through Alex’s body. He gritted his teeth and forced his mind to stay clear despite the Demon’s wishes.
It promised that ending Jaze’s life would give him the freedom he yearned for. The thought was tantalizing within the heat of the fight.
Alex held onto the thought that werewolves were meant to live in packs, to protect each other, to learn together. The Demon flooded his mind with images of the Academy walls, of cage bars, of being tortured. Alex felt his arm tighten around Jaze’s neck. He shook his head, trying to regain control.
The Demon battered him with the images he had seen while on missions with Jaze’s team, werewolves tortured, mutilated, left to die, finding Siale in the body pit, setting free so many others who would never live a normal life after all they had been through. The Demon argued with needle-like teeth and razor-sharp claws that cut him from the inside. Alex’s knee pressed harder into the dean’s spine. The Demon refused to sit back. It wanted to gain peace by force.
The Demon’s thoughts mirrored Drogan’s; the thought washed over Alex like a rush of cold water. He let out a breath through his clenched teeth. He wouldn’t take things by force. He wouldn’t hurt others to gain his own advantage. That wasn’t the werewolf way.
The dean grabbed Alex’s arm and rolled, using strength Alex didn’t know the Alpha possessed. Alex was thrown into the closest wall. The cement cracked. Before Alex could rise, Jaze picked him up and threw him again. Alex slammed through two pillars that reached to the ceiling of the Great Hall and landed against the back wall in a daze. Jaze was behind him with an arm around his neck and a knee against his spine.
Alex struggled, but he couldn’t break the dean’s hold. The silence in the Great Hall was palpable as if every student and professor was holding his or her breath.
Alex felt Jaze shift slightly as if he looked around the room. Alex wished he could see the expressions on the faces of the students and professors, but he could only see the wall in front of him.
Jaze released him and stepped free. Alex gasped and drew in a breath. Jaze held out a hand and he rose shakily to his feet.
“Jaze?” Alex asked softly, worried he had damaged his relationship with the dean by instigating the fight.
“We’ll bring the Academy into the open,” Jaze said.
“Are you sure?” Alex asked in surprise. “I lost.”
The dean nodded. “We’ll do it together.”
Alex smiled and a cheer surged through the Great Hall. Trays struck the tables and students clapped. A glance at the professors showed apprehensive but hopeful expressions.
“It could work,” Alex heard Professor Mouse say quietly to Lyra.
“It really could,” she replied.
Jaze barely appeared winded after the fight. Alex was still trying to catch his breath. He was amazed at how strong the dean had shown himself to be. Alex thought he had been winning; to be beaten by Jaze so easily unsettled him. He realized he still had a great deal to learn.
Expectant silence filled the room. Alex didn’t know what to say. Luckily, Jaze did. With a hand on Alex’s shoulder, he turned to face the Great Hall.
“I knew this term would be different.” He squeezed Alex’s shoulder. “And I should have guessed Alex would be the one to spur that on.” A few chuckles sounded. The dean took a calming breath and smiled. “Change is inevitable for progress. Werewolves can’t hide forever. I know I’ve been guilty of hoping we could live behind our walls and the world would leave us in peace.” He looked over at Nikki. His wife rested her hand on her burgeoning stomach and smiled back at him. “But werewolves weren’t meant to be caged. Our students, children, and faculty deserve to live in peace, and though the first steps may be shaky, we’ll learn to walk together with the humans.”
Another cheer sounded, louder this time. Students looked excited at the prospect of living a normal life. The professors gave answering smiles, though Alex could read the worry behind their gazes. He hoped he wasn’t making a mistake, but he had gone too far to turn back.
“Let’s eat before Jerald’s amazing cooking gets cold,” Jaze concluded.
“It’s already cold,” Brock pointed out from the table behind them. He glanced at the doorway to the kitchen and Cook Jerald gave him a disgruntled look. Brock picked up a forkful of eggs and waved them. “But you know me. I’ll eat anything!” The human swallowed it down with a huge grin that showed bits of waffle in his teeth.
Alex took a seat back at Pack Jericho’s table. Siale slipped her hand into his. He didn’t realize until he picked up his fork with his free hand that he was shaking.
“Seriously, Alex?” Trent said from across the table. “I questioned if you had a death wish before. Now I know it! Going against Jaze? You must be insane!”
“He could have beaten me easily any time during that fight,” Alex said quietly.
His friends stared at him.
“What?” Jericho asked. The Alpha watched him closely, his usually calm gaze troubled.
Alex glanced over his shoulder at the dean. Jaze was talking with Mouse and Nyra while little William attempted to share a bite of syrupy waffle that ended up in the dean’s lap. Jaze didn’t appear to notice. Nikki’s expression showed her worry as she cleaned up the mess.
Siale squeezed Alex’s hand. “Are you sure?” she asked.
The dean’s voice sounded again in his head. “Don’t stop fighting.” Jaze and Jet’s voices melded into one, echoing back and forth in his thoughts.
As much as Alex may have wanted to tell himself that he beat Jaze fair and square, the truth was obvious. “He wanted to show me that I’m not the strongest werewolf here. He’s still the top dog, but he still agreed to reveal the Academy to the world.” Alex shook his head, confused.
Trent nodded with a dawning smile of awe. “Of course he did. The first time he revealed werewolves to the world, it was a bloodbath. He can’t lead it again. You’ve become the face of the younger werewolf generations. The world knows you as the Demon of Greyton. You’ve proven that you believe in the cause enough to fight for it. You’re something he can stand behind.”
“He’s right,” Cassie said, leaning across the table from where she sat next to Tennison. “You’ve given the world something to believe in.”
Her fiancé nodded. “Maybe it’ll be enough.”
“It has to be,” Jericho said. The Alpha smiled at Alex. “If werewolves stand a chance, now is the time. That was a bold move.”
“Let’s just hope I don’t regret it,” Alex replied.
“It’s not like you make irrational, spur-of-the-moment decisions,” Trent said.
After a pause of silence, Pack Jericho broke into laughter.
Alex grinned. He had definitely had more than his s
hare of controversial actions; becoming the Academy’s first lone wolf and challenging the dean to change the course of the school were only the most recent.
He looked around the room and his grin faded. Students talked excitedly and the snippets of conversation that came to him said everyone spoke about werewolves being accepted into society. Alex’s decision would change the lives of every student and professor at the Academy. He could only hope the change would be for the better.
Chapter Two
Familiar footsteps paused outside the door a moment before it creaked open.
“Alex, are you busy?”
Alex shook his head. “Come on in.”
Trent glanced around at the dusty quarters Alex had picked for himself.
“Nice,” he said, his tone doubtful. “Are you sure you don’t need a tetanus shot to sleep here? And wouldn’t you rather take a room instead of the couch?” He looked meaningfully at Alex’s duffle bag that lay open and sifted through next to the clean, if somewhat dust-layered, couch.
Alex shrugged. “It works. Did you need me?”
Trent’s eyes widened as if he just remembered why he was there. “Yes, Jaze needs you. He said to bring you to the Wolf Den right away.”
The thought of the new classes they should be going to fled Alex’s mind. He hurried to the fireplace and slid the hidden panel aside. Trent followed down the dark stairs toward the basement lair. Alex knew better than to ask what Jaze needed. The dean liked to have the entire team together before he told them the details of a mission. The thought of heading back out sent a thrill of excitement through Alex.
He pushed open the door and stepped into the Wolf Den. His heart slowed at the images on many of the screens above Brock’s elevated platform in the middle of the vast cavern.
It was the fight, filmed from across the Great Hall. Alex and Jaze circled each other. As Alex walked to the platform and climbed slowly up the steps, he heard his argument for bringing the Werewolf Academy public.
