by Cheree Alsop
Alex locked gazes with Jaze. The dean didn’t look surprised at Drogan’s words, but worry showed beneath the Alpha’s calm demeanor.
“He needs to be there,” Alex protested. “He’s family and his presence will be just as important as the mayor’s.”
Drogan shook his head. “Werewolves are pack creatures, Alex.” His lips tightened for the briefest moment. “I’ve gotten over that fact, thanks to you destroying anyone I even remotely considered part of my pack. Now, with infusions of human blood—”
“Infusions?” Alex repeated.
Drogan sighed as if Alex’s attempt to stall him in order to create a plan were mere annoyances. “Yes, Alex. Human blood has been highly effective in turning away the undesired effects of being a werewolf, like the control of the full moon. It was the perfect time to hit the Academy with pretty much everyone out of commission after the predictable run. The human blood has also thankfully wiped out any sympathies I might have toward the fact that we share the same bloodline, or at least half. Your other half is a little lacking.” He looked at Meredith meaningfully.
Alex bristled. “Using humans for blood is disgusting. It’s something your father would have done.”
“Our father,” Drogan reminded him, “Which gets me back to the discussion of packs. Werewolves will do anything to save their pack, and I know you well enough to understand that Jaze has been your Alpha from the day I sliced your adopted parents’ throats. If you don’t kill the mayor with all the world watching, I will slice his stomach with the same blade and watch him die in front of his children, then I’ll let you hear them scream when I do the same to them.” His gaze sharpened with his threat. “You will kill the mayor, sic my Demons on the crowd, and watch the acceptance you have been trying to build for werewolves fall down in blood and ashes at your feet. If you don’t, Jaze and his kids will die.”
Chapter Twenty-six
Alex fought back the urge to tug at the neck of his tuxedo. The cameras broadcasting the wedding to the nation were no doubt recording his every move. He glanced at Siale. She gave her father a weak smile. Red grinned proudly back at her while he fiddled with his cufflink for what had to be the twentieth time.
Alex couldn’t see how beautiful Siale looked in the wedding dress Jericho’s mother had tailored for her. He wasn’t able to enjoy standing next to Cassie and Tennison as they all prepared to say their vows. Worst of all, he couldn’t look the mayor in the eyes while the man read from the book he held and smiled at the young couples in front of him with the innocence of someone who didn’t know he was about to die.
“Stay calm, Alex,” Drogan said into his earpiece.
Alex’s jaw tightened. Having Drogan in his head every step of the way made it worse because he knew the man’s bladed hand was inches away from Jaze. The fact that Drogan had placed the same blade he had used to kill Alex and Cassie’s parents on the stump of his arm was twisted enough to let them all know just how far the Extremist would go.
The professors sat on the chairs below pretending to enjoy the wedding while waiting for the inevitable to take place. Only Brock, Drogan, Jaze and the children remained at the Academy. Trent and Terith sat side by side, both siblings looking as though they were about to be sick. Alex wished it was Trent’s voice in his ear reminding him to be calm. It was all Alex could do to keep his composure. His whole world was about to implode no matter what he did.
“My dad gave Jaze the same conundrum,” Drogan said, his voice irritatingly calm. “Jaze had the gall to let his own mother die to save the nation’s views of werewolves. Naming a school after her doesn’t exactly make things better, does it, Jaze?”
Alex couldn’t hear the dean’s muffled reply, but Drogan laughed. “You can try to justify it, but you killed her. That’s what will happen to you if you fail, Alex. You’ll kill Jaze as surely as if you sliced his stomach yourself. His blood will be on your hands. Your mentor, your dean, your Alpha, will be dead because of you, and so will the kids. Don’t slip up, or you can add three bodies to the others hanging over your head.”
Alex could see the hulking forms of the Demons hiding in the alley just beyond the courthouse. With William held at knifepoint, Jaze had been forced to tell the Black Team and the GPA to stand down. He denounced the wedding as not a threat, and told them their time would be better spent tracking down the Demons by following the false leads Drogan gave him. Alex felt the absence of the teams he trusted. He hadn’t realized how much he appreciated having them at his back until they were gone.
“Your attention is wandering, Alex,” Drogan said. “I can just imagine how it will feel to slice the stomach of your newest little cousin. She’s awake now; should I see if she likes my new hand?”
“Touch her and die,” Alex growled under his breath.
The mayor paused. “Did you say something?” he asked politely.
“Easy, Alex,” Drogan warned in his ear. “Be smart. I want you to kill him right after you say ‘I do’, not before. Step lightly or Jaze dies before you draw your next breath.”
Alex forced a smile that felt more like a snarl on his lips. “Sorry, mayor. Something got caught in my throat.”
“Of course,” the mayor replied with a warm smile. “I’ll continue.” He lifted his book and continued reading passages about love and life that rushed past the hum in Alex’s ears.
He looked down the row of professors below him. They were his only hope, yet they were as tied as he. Drogan had made it perfectly clear that if a werewolf tipped off the mayor or police force in any way, Jaze and the children were dead. Drogan would also signal his Demons to attack the crowd and annihilate them regardless of what anyone did, so they would doubly lose.
The expression of loss on all of their faces hit Alex hard with the realization that it was their Alpha on the line even more so than Alex’s. Jaze had been there for him in so many ways, yet they had grown up with the dean, survived incredible hardships with him, and followed him without question. The fact that they were now unable to stop their Alpha’s death if Alex slipped up showed in the frozen expressions and intense attention to the proceedings. Alex knew it wasn’t fair to expect them to step in. With Jaze’s life on the line, his pack would do all they could to save him.
Alex’s gaze stopped on his mother. Meredith’s hands were knotted together in her lap and she looked pale in her beautiful light blue dress. She had cried on and off since Drogan made it to the Academy; now, there was a determined look on her face, her eyebrows pulled together and her jaw clenched as her gaze roamed restlessly across the beautifully decorated stage in the manicured grounds of the courthouse. Alex wished he could read her mind. He needed desperately for someone to tell him what to do. Every decision he made would mean someone’s death, and many people stood to suffer if Drogan’s plans were carried out.
“Tell your sister to stop crying,” Drogan said. “A few tears are expected at a wedding, but if she keeps it up, she’s going to shed suspicion on the whole occasion.”
Alex glanced at Cassie who stood across from him next to Siale. Though his sister’s face showed no expression other than a forced smile, tears trickled down her cheeks.
“Cass, you’ve got to be strong,” he whispered while attempting to keep a smile on his face.
“I know,” she replied with a matching fake smile. “I just can’t help it.” She looked at him and more tears echoed her words. Alex’s heart went out to her. She looked so beautiful and grown up in her tailored white dress; no bride should cry with such despair in the same minutes she was supposed to marry the man she loved. Siale’s hand gripped Cassie’s; their fingers were white with matching terror. Alex could hear their thundering heartbeats and stilted breaths.
Tennison’s hand moved as if he wanted to hold his fiancé, but he couldn’t and still keep up appearances for the wedding.
“What do we do?” he whispered from Alex’s side.
Alex shook his head. Fear warred with outrage in his thoughts. Was he about to le
t his sister and fiancé watch the audience be ripped apart by bloodthirsty Demons? Was he going to start the bloodshed by decapitating the mayor as Drogan commanded? Would he let Jaze, William, and baby Vicki die because he refused to do what his half-brother demanded of him?
Alex bent down with his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands.
“Um, Alex, are you okay?” Mayor Hendricks asked, pausing in the middle of his sermon on dedication to one’s spouse.
“What are you doing, Alex?” Drogan asked, his tone touched with warning. “You’re acting out a little early.”
Alex let out a little groan.
“Are you feeling sick?” the mayor asked. He raised his voice. “It is normal to feel a little anxious on the day of your wedding, but it’ll pass.”
Several members of the audience chuckled in response.
“Get it together, Alex,” Drogan snapped. “You’re supposed to wait until after the I Do’s, not before.”
A hand touched Alex’s back. He knew the worried expression he would see on Tennison’s face. The student loved his sister. He saw it in the way Tennison treated her each day, how he cupped Cassie’s cheek in his hand, the way he stole kisses in the cafeteria when he thought no one was looking, and now in the tense, determined, yet fearful scent that wafted in the air. Tennison wanted to protect Cassie, but he didn’t know how.
Alex had vowed to keep Siale safe. He had promised her she wouldn’t have to know fear again like what she had experienced in the body pit, yet here they were, fear entangled with her sage and lavender scent. He didn’t want to meet her gaze, because he knew he would see the same fear in her soft gray eyes. She didn’t deserve this; none of them did.
Jericho’s voice came in his head. It was calm and self-assured in the way that he always spoke. Alex used to wonder how Alphas had all of the answers. After becoming one, he realized they didn’t, they just had a way of projecting confidence about their decisions. He had always admired Jericho’s way of reasoning; remembering the Alpha’s assurance of his own words made them echo even stronger.
“I think that’s your key to defeating Drogan.”
Alex had stared at his friend, wondering how a death wish could ever impact his half-brother. “What do you mean?”
“You might not feel like an Alpha at the school, but throw you into battle or in a mission and you’re all in. You don’t show fear, you don’t second-guess yourself, and every thought you have is on protecting those who look to you for safety. I think that’s how it’s going to happen.”
Alex had watched him closely, wondering if the Alpha was making a joke. “So you’re saying my wanting to get shot is how I’m going to end him?”
Jericho had smiled his easy smile. “I guess you could look at it like that. What I’m saying is that when you have the chance to end it, do what you do. Don’t hesitate, don’t second-guess yourself. He may be your half-brother, but he’s destroyed so many things in this world he doesn’t deserve to be a part of it any longer. Think you can do that?”
“If my Alpha commands it,” Alex had replied evasively.
Jericho gave his usual chuckle and shook his head. The Alpha knew Alex too well. “You’ve gone way past needing anyone to tell you what to do. You’ll figure it out.”
“Someone’s got to save the world, right?” Alex had replied with only a hint of sarcasm.
“That’s right,” Jericho told him. “And somewhere along the line, you volunteered for the job.”
The truth to the Alpha’s words rang through him.
Drogan’s voice growled over his earpiece, “You look like an idiot. Stand up and do what you need to do.” When Alex stayed down, Drogan’s voice deepened. “Don’t ruin this like Jaze did when he let his mother die. You can save him and your little cousins. Kill the mayor, now.”
Alex let out his breath slowly and straightened back up. He met the professors’ gazes followed by his mother’s. Everyone looked strained beyond what a wedding should require. It was time to end things.
Siale gave him a pained smile. “Are you alright?” she asked.
Alex straightened his shoulders. “It’s going to be okay.”
Siale nodded with a light of hope in her eyes. The fact that she believed in him spurred Alex on.
Alex looked back at the mayor. “I’m sorry. I had to settle my stomach a bit. I guess I’m a little nervous.”
Mayor Hendricks exchanged a knowing glance with Chief Harrington who stood near the edge of the crowd watching over the proceedings. “Don’t worry, son. Our own chief had to say his vows twice; Jack was so shaky no one could understand them the first time!”
“At least I didn’t forget the ring for my wedding,” Chief Harrington replied with the good-natured grin of friends who ribbed each other often.
Mayor Hendricks smiled at Alex. “Back to the important questions. Do you, Siale Andrews, take Alex Davies to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
“I do,” Siale said.
They were already at the vows. Alex’s hands began to shake. He balled them into fists, then realized the camera would pick up his nervousness. He willed his fingers to relax. Mayor Hendricks turned to him.
“Do you, Alex Davies, take Siale Andrews to be your lawfully wedded wife?” Mayor Hendricks asked.
Alex knew what he had to do. As Drogan had reminded him, Jaze had been in the same situation. Alex didn’t need to ask what his mother or brother would do. He had already had the greatest example of sacrificing to save what they had worked so hard to accomplish. He only hoped the others would forgive him.
“Do it.”
The shock of hearing Jaze’s voice in his earpiece spurred Alex to action. He spoke loud enough that his voice would carry across the lawn that had been packed to standing room only. “Mayor Hendricks, your life is in danger. Drogan is holding my dean hostage, and he is going to kill Jaze and his children if I don’t kill you on national television. He wants to destroy the way the world has accepted werewolves, and he is going to give the order for his Demons to attack the audience. You need to act, now!”
Mayor Hendricks stared at him. A yell rang out in Alex’s ear so loud he yanked the earpiece out. Whether it had been Jaze’s or Drogan’s, he had no way of knowing. Screams of terror sounded through the crowd. The humans bunched back from the alley where the Demons had waited. Blood-thirsty growls answered. Drogan had given the kill command.
Alex grabbed Siale’s hand. “Get the humans out of here. Drogan won’t stop until their dead.”
“Tennison, Cherish, with me,” Siale called.
“Chief Harrington, call your men!” Alex shouted as he jumped off the stage and ran for the Demons.
Alex willed his own Demon to surface. Blue colored his vision. His tuxedo that Jericho’s mother had so lovingly crafted split in two. His muscles lengthened and claws curved his hands. The crowd ran past him. Alex placed himself between them and the advancing Demons.
Chapter Twenty-seven
The eight Demons rushed at Alex. They would kill him; of that he was sure, but if he stalled them long enough, some of the humans would get away. He would uphold all he and Jaze and fought for, and he would use his Demon to destroy as many of his brother’s as he could.
The sounds of their snarls as they advanced sent a chill down Alex’s spine. If the false wedding had done anything for him, it was the realization that he wasn’t ready to die. Siale was worth living for and fighting for. Alex gritted his teeth and drove his claws into the sidewalk. If he had to die so that she could live, so be it.
Someone fell in beside him. Alex glanced over and shock filled him. It was Dray, but as he had never seen the professor. The werewolf’s blue eyes were the same, but he was huge and bulky, a Demon with gray fur and sharp claws.
“We face them together,” Dray said, his voice gruff.
“They’ll kill us,” Alex replied.
Dray glanced over his shoulder. Alex followed the professor’s gaze to Gem. The tiny werewolf Alex h
ad never seen frown a day in her life helped as many humans flee the courthouse lawn as she could.
Dray turned back to the Demons. “It’s worth it.”
The beasts hit them with the force of eight bulldozers.
Alex was shoved to the ground by four of Drogan’s Demons. Claws tore into his arms and legs. Fangs sunk deep into his shoulder. They matched him strength for strength. Each time he got ahold of one, another would tear him free with unforgiving claws that marked his body in crimson ribbons.
Alex willed the panic to keep away. Muscle memory took over. He attacked with the skills honed into his body by years of training under Chet and Dray’s tutelage. He gave as much as he got, and was rewarded by yelps and cries of pain.
Two Demons caught Alex by the arms and another sunk its claws into his legs. Alex struggled to break free, but they pinned him to the ground. A Demon with Drogan’s mismatched eyes clamped onto Alex’s neck. Alex rolled from side to side, but couldn’t turn over with the Demons holding him down.
He struggled to breathe as the Demon’s fangs ground together. He could feel his blood pouring down his chest. Black filled his vision along with the intense pain. He was going to die. The realization hit Alex like a bucket of icy water. Siale’s face filled his vision. The Demons would go after her and the others. He wouldn’t be able to save them.
Dray threw off one of the Demons he fought and it slammed into the one pinning Alex’s right arm down. Alex clenched his claws into a fist and drove a haymaker into the face of the Demon who tried to rip out his throat.
The Demon yelped and let go. It snarled down at Alex and opened its mouth to bite him again. Alex shoved his hand into the Demon’s mouth. Startled, the Demon jerked back. Alex held onto its tongue and was yanked to his feet. He used his momentum to bowl the Demon over. Still keeping ahold of the Demon’s tongue, he drove the creature to the ground. He shoved his other hand into the Demon’s mouth with the first.
