by Cheree Alsop
“You mean work with him,” Jericho corrected.
Alex grinned. “Of course. What did I say?”
The Alpha rolled his eyes with an answering smile.
“Guess what,” Trent said as if he couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Brock says werewolves are coming out of hiding left and right.”
“What?” Cassie replied, her eyes wide. “You mean because of the video?”
Trent nodded. “Apparently revealing the school gave others the courage to come out of hiding. They say in the Demon doesn’t cower behind walls, they won’t, either.”
“How is the nation taking it?” Alex asked worriedly. He had heard enough of the repercussions from when Jaze revealed werewolves to the world to know they could be met with extreme hatred.
“Good, surprisingly,” Trent told them. He took a bite of his food. “Apparently, everyone’s tiptoeing around trying not to make waves until the government decides how to approach the issue. Hopefully Mr. O’Hare won’t do a belly flop in the middle of it all.”
“Are you comparing werewolf politics to a swimming pool?” Terith asked her brother. “You can do better than that.”
Trent grinned. “I was going to say wolves in a hen house, but I thought that was in bad taste.”
Terith rolled her eyes.
“This is good,” Alex said. The promise of what Trent was telling them caught up to him. It was hard to keep his voice quiet. “If werewolves keep coming out of hiding, the government will realize that there are families, students like us, just trying to survive. They’ll see that we’re normal citizens and that we’re not dangerous.”
“Not all of us,” Jericho reminded him. “Drogan’s another issue.”
Siale nodded from Alex’s side. “But at least he was an enemy before all of this. The nation’s united against him, which puts the humans and werewolves on the same side.”
“‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend,’” Terith quoted.
“Exactly,” Siale replied. “Now all we have to do is find Drogan.”
Everyone looked at Alex. “We’ll get him,” he promised. “Our team and the Black Team have been searching everywhere. We’ll find where he’s been hiding.”
“And when we do, problem solved,” Trent replied.
He and Alex exchanged a look. They both knew it wouldn’t be that easy, but their words appeared to satisfy the others who returned to eating and their own conversations.
“Problem solved,” Siale repeated softly from beside Alex. She leaned against him.
Alex spread butter on her nose with his spoon.
“Ew!” Siale exclaimed.
Alex grinned. “Just lightening the mood.”
Siale rolled her eyes, but couldn’t stop smiling.
***
“Where do we go next?” Mr. O’Hare asked when they left the Great Hall.
Alex knew it wasn’t his imagination that made the talking louder behind them as soon as the human exited the cafeteria. He was just glad Mr. O’Hare couldn’t hear the expletives that followed their swift retreat.
“Take it easy,” Vance ordered.
The talking quieted at the coach’s brusque command.
“You’ve seen all the classrooms,” Alex replied. “Where else would you like to go?”
“I’d like to view the students’ quarters,” Mr. O’Hare replied.
That was the one place Alex hadn’t wanted to take him. Werewolves were very territorial. They wouldn’t take kindly to the intolerable human in their living spaces. Alex hoped that during the lunch hour they would find the quarters empty.
“Up this way,” Alex said, motioning to the stairs.
He led the way along the hallway toward Pack Jericho’s quarters. If any Alpha would give him leeway for bringing the Board Representative in their rooms, it was Jericho, though Alex could still pay for the infringement.
Alex pushed the door open. He tested the air for signs that anyone was there, but none of the smells were fresh. Relief filled his chest.
“Each group of students, what we call a pack, gets their own separate quarters. The Alpha is in charge of making sure the others in his pack gets their homework done and has all of their other needs taken care of.” Alex pointed down the left hallway. “The girls sleep down there and the boys have the other hall. The Alpha takes the first room.”
“The quarters are co-ed?” Mr. O’Hare asked in surprise.
“Yes,” Alex replied with a hint of uncertainty as the man jotted something down in his small notebook. “Is that a problem?”
“It’s highly unusual,” Mr. O’Hare replied, apparently forgetting his earlier proclamation that he would never answer any of Alex’s questions. He finished making notes and peered around the room. "You've never had any problems from cohabitation?”
Alex shook his head. “Never. The Alpha protects all members of his or her pack. No one would be unsafe in their own quarters, or anywhere in the school, for that matter. If anyone messed with a werewolf in a pack, they would have to answer to the pack’s Alpha.”
“So the Alpha is the first line of accountability before the professors or dean?” Mr. O’Hare asked with interest.
Alex swallowed when the man jotted something else in his infernal notebook. “Yes. That way there is security for the students at all times. It really is a good system.”
Mr. O’Hare looked at Alex over the top of his glasses and asked dryly, “Because you know differently?”
Alex fought back a surge of defensiveness. “Yes, I do. I was here when the Academy was created and I’ve worked with Jaze on many, uh, trips to different areas on, uh, school-related outings.” He met the man’s doubtful gaze. “I’ve seen enough to know that humans could do better in pack situations where they have someone to protect their backs at all times. It’s better than being out there alone and defenseless.”
The man studied him for a moment before he asked, “And how did your schooling fare during these so-called school-related outings?”
“I have excellent marks that I’ve worked hard to earn,” Alex replied; his tone was steady and left no room for argument.
Mr. O’Hare watched him for another minute in silence. He finally motioned to the door. “Fine. Let’s move on.”
Alex stepped into the hallway and his stomach clenched.
“We followed the stench,” Boris said. He waited at the end of the hallway with his entire pack behind him. “What are you doing with that human up here?”
“He’s surveying our school for the Board of Education,” Alex said, hoping the answer would appease the Alpha. He and Boris had come to friendly terms, but an Alpha’s instinct to protect his pack was nothing to be trifled with.
“Could they have sent someone less rotten-egg like?” Boris demanded. “The entire lunchroom stinks.”
“If you have a problem, you will address it to me,” Mr. O’Hare told the Alpha.
The man attempted to push past Alex, but Alex didn’t budge. The human’s second, harder attempt didn’t even move the student.
“Boris, we don’t have a problem here. Mr. O’Hare and I were just leaving. We won’t come back up this way.”
“No, you won’t.”
Boris’ pack stepped to the side at the sound of Torin’s voice. The other Alpha made his way through them as if he didn’t see any of Boris’ werewolves. Torin’s gaze burned with anger.
“Did you come here to threaten our students?” he demanded.
Mr. O’Hare seemed to realize why Alex was standing between him and the Alphas. He stopped pushing and even had the presence of mind to take a step back into Pack Jericho’s quarters.
“I came here to ensure that the quality of education provided by Vicky Carso’s Preparatory Academy meets the standards set by the Board of Education,” Mr. O’Hare replied, though his tone was a bit less haughty than Alex was used to.
“So why are you investigating our living quarters?” Torin demanded.
It seemed Boris was content to le
t the other Alpha do the questioning. He folded his arms and leaned against the wall as if enjoying the show.
“Because where a student eats and sleeps is also essential to success. If you were living in shambles, it goes to follow that your grades would be diminished as a result of poor living conditions.”
“And what did you surmise?” Torin asked, his tone matching the human’s.
Alex saw Mr. O’Hare’s reluctant acceptance out of the corner of his eye.
“Your quarters are acceptable,” he said. “We have concluded our business here. Alex?”
Alex stepped out of the man’s way. When Mr. O’Hare brushed past him, the human’s hate-filled scent was intermittent with the sour lemon smell of fear. A slight, begrudging amount of respect surfaced in Alex’s chest when the man walked past both packs and down the stairs without showing any of the fear Alex knew he carried.
Thankfully, both Alphas let him go, though the occasional growl or disgruntled mutter from the packs voiced how the other students felt about that.
As soon as the man was down the stairs and out of earshot, both Alphas grinned.
“Did you see the look on his face?” Boris asked.
“I thought he was going to pee his pants!” Torin exclaimed.
Alex stared at them. “You were joking?”
Boris chuckled. “Of course. Do you think we’re stupid? We’re not about to attack a human on school grounds. Let him wander the forest, though…”
Alex rolled his eyes at what the Alpha left unsaid. “You guys are ridiculous,” he admonished. “My job is to help him approve our Academy, not let him be scared half-to-death by the students.”
Torin’s smile faded. “He already hates us, Alex. He’s not going to pass the Academy; you know that.”
“He’ll pass it out of the sheer fact that he’ll have no reason to fail us if I can keep the students,” he speared them both with a glare, “from messing things up.”
Both Alphas had the presence of mind to look somewhat apologetic.
“Sorry, Alex,” Boris apologized. “We don’t like the way he treats you like a lapdog. We’ve all seen you showing him around. He’s an entitled tool.”
“A tool with the power to shut down our home so we have nowhere else to go,” Alex reminded him.
Torin nodded. “Just the same, nobody has a right to treat anybody else like that, regardless of their race. How do you think it looks to the other students that he can push you around?”
Alex lifted his shoulders in a shrug to hide how much it bothered him. “I can handle it. Just trust me and try not to scare him so much that he leaves the Academy. As it is, he’s the only Board member who dared to come out. We have to give him credit for that."
“Do we?” Sid, Torin’s Second, muttered from behind the Alpha.
“Yes.” Torin’s response was firm. “We’ll trust Alex.” He gave Alex a steely look. “But if that fails, we will rely on our own means to protect our Academy.”
“I understand,” Alex said.
He walked down the stairs after the human.
Chapter Five
Alex found Mr. O’Hare sitting in his office with his forehead on his desk.
“Mr. O’Hare?” Alex asked.
“Get out,” the man growled in a voice that would have done a werewolf proud. He raised his head and glared at Alex. “Didn’t your dean,” he said the word with heavy sarcasm, “teach you manners? You don’t walk into an office without knocking and waiting for a response. Get out. Now.”
Alex didn’t move. He knew it was fear that made the man so gruff. He hoped that perhaps he could get through to Mr. O’Hare with sympathy.
“I know it’s a strange school and—”
“GET OUT!” Mr. O’Hare shouted so loudly Alex knew half the school heard it.
“Fine,” Alex snapped. He spun on his heels and retreated through the door, pausing only long enough to slam it behind him.
Alex leaned against the wall with his heart thundering in his chest. He felt like he had run a hundred miles. His muscles tightened and released, and it was all he could do to keep the Demon from forcing its way forward. Nothing in all of his experiences had taught him how to deal with someone like Mr. O’Hare.
“I need a run,” he muttered.
He crossed to the back doors and shoved them open. The warm sunlight fell on his face and shoulders. Alex took a deep breath of the fresh air. The scents of the forest filled his nose. Pine and aspen heated by the August sunshine mixed with the loam and mushroom smell of the shadows. A tickling hint of clover and clay told him that a rabbit was eating beneath the bushes inside the wall. Alex made a mental note to mention it to Dray. It wouldn’t do for the rabbit to get into the professor’s greenhouse, and the other werewolves weren’t especially kind to animals they found within the grounds.
Alex pulled the gate open and stepped outside the wall. He phased in the shelter of the trees and left his clothes next to another bush. He shook himself, grateful to be in wolf form once more. The colors became more segregated with heavier shades of gray, and the scents separated into the stories of the individual plants and animals that gave them. He could tell in his wolf form that the rabbit had been grazing beneath the bushes all morning. The scent of dew from the early hours still lingered on its soft, downy fur.
Alex glanced down at his forearms, then stared. He looked over his shoulder and his chest tightened. Alex gritted his teeth and took off running.
His paws knew the forest. Each fallen trunk and windfall was a part of his home. The scent of the sunflowers that grew thickest in the meadow just south of the river flooded his sense, but he barely thought about it. The rush of deer hiding in the next thicket failed to pike his interest.
Alex didn’t slow until he reached the lake. The cliff that towered above it gave shade to half of the water. Alex stopped just outside the shadows and looked down at his reflection. The wolf that stared back at him with his same dark blue eyes had a coat of solid black. His scars showed through his fur as patches of gray, the only reminder of the wolf he had been. Looking down at his reflection, it was unmistakable. Somehow, and for reasons he couldn’t explain, Alex had truly become an Alpha.
His best friend Trent knew it, and the way the other students, especially the Alphas, treated him said they guessed as much. The fact that Torin and Boris had acted with such amiable deference when he asked for them to lighten up on Mr. O’Hare said they regarded him as an equal. His coat announced that he was an Alpha; whether he felt like he deserved it or not didn’t matter.
“Help!”
Alex’s head lifted. He stared back in the direction he had come. A growl sounded. Alex’s eyes widened. It hadn’t been the growl of a wolf, but of a bear.
“Help me!”
Mr. O’Hare was the one in trouble.
Alex spun and ran back toward the Academy with a speed only a few of the students could even match. Thanks to the challenge presented by Tennison’s skills, Alex had constantly pushed himself to work harder. Since his heart no longer gave him problems, he usually stopped when he was on the verge of collapse. Luckily, Mr. O’Hare was much closer than that.
Alex slid to a halt just inside the sunflower-filled clearing. He stared at the sight of Mr. O’Hare cowering at the base of a windswept pine. A grizzly stood on its hind feet and towered over him. A snarl of rage rumbled from the animal’s deep chest.
Alex searched the area quickly. The only things he knew made a bear upset was when someone got between the animal and its chosen food or the animal and its cubs. Alex’s heart slowed. A glance in the pine tree the human huddled beneath showed two cubs up in the branches. One gave a plaintiff cry. The grizzly bellowed at Mr. O’Hare again.
Alex knew he had to get the human away from the tree before the animal attacked. Whether Mr. O’Hare was aware of the cubs didn’t show. He merely cowered lower at the bear’s angry advance. If Alex could get to him before the animal dropped to all fours, he might have a chance.
Alex darted through meadow and hit the bear’s side just before her huge, swiping claws could reach Mr. O’Hare. The force of the blow rolled the grizzly along the ground and threw Alex over her shoulder. He leaped back to his feet and placed himself between the bear and human. The animal rose to her feet and shook her head from side to side, her small eyes narrowed in anger at this new threat to her cubs.
Alex had to get Mr. O’Hare away from the tree. The bear wouldn’t stop until her little ones were safe. As long as the human cowered beneath the pine, Mr. O’Hare’s life was in danger.
Alex backed up next to the man without letting his gaze drop from the bear. He pushed Mr. O’Hare with his shoulder.
“Get away from me!” the man shouted. He hit Alex on the head.
Caught off-guard by the surprise attack, Alex growled at him. The bear, taking the growl as a danger to her cubs, attacked. Alex jumped to the left to avoid a swipe of the bear’s huge claws and latched onto her shoulder, stopping a second swipe at the human.
The bear tried to shake him off. When she couldn’t, the animal dropped onto her right side in an effort to dislodge him. Alex leaped free before he was crushed and placed himself between Mr. O’Hare and the danger once more.
He didn’t know how to convey to Mr. O’Hare that he needed to get away from the tree. If he didn’t, they might both get killed.
Alex barked as the bear lumbered back to her feet. Mr. O’Hare merely stared at him with wide eyes like a startled deer. Alex barked again and motioned with his head.
“W-what?” the human asked.
The bear charged. Her angle of attack meant that she realized Mr. O’Hare was the weaker of the two. If she could take one of them down, perhaps she could then focus on the other and eliminate the threat to her cubs.
Alex saw Mr. O’Hare tense out of the corner of his eye. There was only one thing he could think of to do to get the human out of danger. As the bear rushed past him with the speed of a raging bull, Alex surged around the animal at full speed and charged headlong into the human. Mr. O’Hare went sprawling to the ground the same time that the bear’s thick claws sank into Alex’s back. He let out a yelp of pain and spun around to protect himself.
