Oath Keeper

by Shelley Wilson

  I FELT EDGY and out of sorts the next day. Zak’s reaction to me being with Cody had not only annoyed me, but it upset me more than I could put into words. How could he think I’d do anything to interfere with pack business? I knew I was sulking, but I didn’t care. If it meant all the boys in the house stayed out of my way for the day then I was onto a winner. Perhaps I could tempt Elizabeth to ditch class and meet me in Ravenshood for a hot chocolate at Taylor’s Coffee Shop. The idea perked me up, and I burst into the kitchen with a determination to my step.

  Any note of positivity was eradicated when I glanced around at the sombre faces sitting at the kitchen table. Zak was at his usual place at the head flanked by Terry and Byron. Cody sat in between Ari’s mother and father. There were a few new faces in the mix, men and women I’d never met before, but as my gaze moved to the assembled group, I spotted a familiar face.

  ‘Miss Ross!’

  I rushed to embrace my friend, eager to hear her news, but Zak halted my reunion with his booming voice.

  ‘Mia, take a seat, you need to hear this.’ He motioned for me to pull up a chair and from the tone of his voice and his demeanour it wasn’t going to be in my best interests to ignore his demand.

  I squeezed Miss Ross’s hand as I took my place beside her, wishing that she could have brought Elizabeth with her too but also feeling elated to see my godmother again. Her eyes were dull and hooded as she stole a look my way and I wondered how hard Mr Parker had been on her before escorting her off Hood Academy grounds.

  Zak cut through my muddled thoughts.

  ‘It’s come to our attention that the Governors’ Agency, or the GA as they like to be known, have taken up residence at Hood Academy while the students are still on summer break. We don’t know if this has anything to do with the pharmaceutical company or if it’s coincidental, but we all need to be on high alert. As we’ve seen before, the GA’s presence can only mean danger for the local packs.’ He paused to make sure he had everyone’s attention before carrying on. ‘We’ve received information from a reliable source that a select group of hunters are still on-site at the academy. We know they’re working on a top-secret mission but we can’t confirm if this is connected with the Governors’ Agency.’

  ‘Do you have any more information on the mission?’ a broad, muscular man with a shock of red hair asked.

  ‘Not yet, our source was…compromised before they could pass on any further details.’

  My mind was a whirling mass of thoughts. I was aware of the giant man talking to my brother and discussing possibilities, but somewhere in my core something didn’t feel right. I’d always thought Miss Ross was Zak’s reliable source, but she was sitting next to me. So who was their reliable source? What did Zak mean by compromised? I could feel Cody’s eyes on me as I wrestled to slot the ideas and musings together in my mind. There was only one other person at the academy who could report to the pack about what was going on and had a vested interest in seeing Mr Parker and Felicity banished—Elizabeth.

  I shot out of my seat tipping the chair over as I went.

  ‘Where’s Lizzie?’

  Miss Ross stood up slowly and put her arm around my shoulders; she moved her hand so she could squeeze my fingers the way Elizabeth always did when she needed to make me feel better. Cody watched my outburst with a pained expression, unable to help, unable to comfort me.

  ‘I’m sorry, Mia,’ Zak whispered. ‘We’ll do anything we can to help her.’

  I narrowed my eyes as I tried to process what he was suggesting.

  ‘No, she can’t be. I just saw her…’ My words sounded muddled.

  How had sweet, innocent Elizabeth got herself mixed up with the Governors’ Agency?

  ‘Where is she?’ My voice didn’t sound like it was coming from me. It sounded distant, cold, and detached. Somewhere on the periphery, I could hear Zak talking, but his words weren’t penetrating the thick wall of protection I was building around my heart.

  ‘As far as we can see she’s been transferred off-site. The agency is holding her on the offence of collaborating with werewolves, which is against the hunters’ oath.’

  I wriggled free of Miss Ross’s embrace and rushed out of the kitchen door and into the garden. The summer sun was rising in the sky, but the warm rays did nothing to thaw the chill that crept along my spine. I bolted for the gate, running into the forest and picking up speed. The wind lifted my hair and the leaves rustled in the trees as I ran, deeper and deeper into the trees. In the distance, Zak called my name, but I kept moving. I didn’t want to stop until my lungs burst or my heart gave up. Why had I left Elizabeth behind at that school? Why didn’t I insist that she leave the academy and come live with us at the farmhouse?

  If anything happened to her, I would raze Hood Academy to the ground.

  TEARS STREAMED DOWN my face as I imagined the horrors Elizabeth must be facing at the hands of Parker and the Governors’ Agency. Sebastian and his lab rats were bad enough when they tortured captured werewolves, but these guys were hunters who dedicated their lives to annihilating the packs. Elizabeth had been found guilty of collaboration with the enemy. I could only envision what Parker or Felicity would do to my friend.

  I stopped to gather my strength and realised I’d run all the way to the lookout point that Cody and I used to meet at when I ran away from Hood Academy. Ravenshood town and valley spread out below me, but I couldn’t see the beauty in the view today, I could only see darkness.

  Like some cruel instance of déjà vu, I heard a rustling in the undergrowth. A few short months ago, I’d come face to face with four werewolves in this very spot, not knowing at the time that they were my brother and his pack. My heart thundered in my chest as I waited to see what would emerge from the bushes this time.

  Ari broke through the treeline carrying a posy of wildflowers. She grinned when she saw me, and I relaxed my shoulders and uncurled my fists.

  ‘What are you doing out here?’

  Ari gawked at the flowers and then back up at me as if I’d asked her the most ridiculous question in the world.

  ‘I wanted to get Mummy a bunch of flowers, but I saw some of those bad girls again, so I decided to go back to the farmhouse.’

  My ears pricked up at the mention of the bad girls. Hood Academy students no doubt, but Zak said most of them were on summer break. I had a feeling the select few girls left behind were Felicity’s goons.

  ‘Show me.’ I turned Ari around and urged her back the way she’d come. We stumbled on the dirt track that the students followed during their training runs; green flags still marked a safe passage through the woods. I huffed as I recalled Felicity moving the flags and throwing me off course on one of our training sessions.

  ‘This way,’ Ari said in a hushed voice, pointing towards a crumbling barn. ‘They went behind that building.’

  I clamped a hand on Ari’s shoulder and pushed her gently to the ground. Crouching beside her I put my finger to my lips and urged her to be quiet. She nodded and dropped down lower into the bushes clutching her pretty flowers.

  Stay here, I mouthed.

  Creeping forward I was able to assess the building. It had once housed hay bales, possibly for horses kept at the academy before it became a school. The wildlife had taken over it now with swallows’ nests visible in the roof beams. Ivy grew up one side covering every inch of brick. As I circled the front, I could see where erosion had taken place and the front side had crumbled. It resembled a ruin you’d normally see on castle grounds. The inside was empty apart from an old cartwheel and lots of weeds. There didn’t appear to be anything more to the building. I inspected the area to see if there were any other barns where Ari’s bad girls could have gone but there were only trees as far as the eye could see. I was about to return to Ari when I smelled something familiar. Lavender. It was faint, but it was there, lingering in the air. My pulse quickened at the thought of Elizabeth being in danger.

  A movement caught my eye, and I glanced over to where
I left Ari crouching in the bushes. She was waving at me and pointing towards the back of the building. I moved as quickly as I could until I reached her side.

  ‘Look, over there,’ she hissed.

  I followed the line of her finger and saw a glint of glass in the base of the wall. It looked like a cellar window. Dropping as low as possible, I shuffled ahead until I was alongside the barn. The wall was weather-worn but solid. I inched closer to the glass and lowered myself onto my stomach. It was a tiny window set into the foundations, a small slit of glass covered in dirt, grime, and greenery. I carefully cleared away some of the brambles and using a section of my sleeve rubbed at the dirty glass.

  Beneath the inconspicuous barn was a small room set up with trestle tables and boxes. In the centre was a large table littered with drawings and printouts. I could see the backs of two Hood Academy students, both in their training uniform of grey jumpsuits and matching shoes. Another figure stepped out of the shadows, and I jumped away from the window, slapping my hand across my mouth. Sebastian’s hair was unkempt and his face unshaven, and he wore a long white lab coat covered in blood. My stomach rolled, and I gulped in great lungfuls of air to calm my nausea. Was that Elizabeth’s blood? The thought that my father could harm my best friend was too much to take in.

  Voices filled the air, and I frantically scanned the area for Ari to see if she was safe. I couldn’t see her anywhere so I prayed that she was nose down in the undergrowth and out of sight. The two academy students sauntered past within inches of where I lay next to the basement window.

  ‘Do you think his serum would have worked?’

  ‘I don’t care, the serum was to help the werewolves, so they never had to turn again. I couldn’t care less if it helped them or not. We’re trained to kick their furry butts and that’s all that matters to me.’

  ‘We won’t be able to kick anything if this new stuff wipes them out.’

  Their laughter carried through the trees as they walked deeper into the forest leaving me reeling at their words. It wasn’t bad enough that Sebastian was creating flawed serums that ended up killing innocent people, it now sounded like he was making a weapon to kill all werewolves.

  Ari appeared above me dragging me out of my stupor.

  ‘I’ve found the way in.’ She motioned for me to follow and I scrambled to my feet dusting off my jeans as I went.

  There was a trapdoor hidden under a mound of ivy a few yards away from the old barn. By the look of the well-worn path in the mud around the entrance it was a facility someone used often.

  ‘I saw the bad girls climb out of here.’

  ‘Thanks, Ari. You did really well. Now, do you think you could be the lookout while I go inside?’

  Her eyes gleamed with pride as she puffed her chest out and gave a little salute.

  ‘Aye, aye, Captain.’

  I smiled at her, pleased that she was by my side no matter how young the little wolf was.

  ‘I’ll be back soon.’ I hoped that wasn’t a lie. I had no idea what I was walking into. The lab beneath the academy had been one long row of single rooms leading off one another, each room holding a fresh horror. Was I about to venture into another evil place filled with test tubes, dusty files, and dried blood?

  A ladder balanced against the opening leading down into the darkness. I cursed at not having a torch or weapon with me. When I’d stormed out of the kitchen an hour ago, I hadn’t imagined this was how my day would unfold.

  Upon reaching the ground, I waited until my eyesight adjusted to the gloom. I was standing in a square space with no way out except the corridor straight ahead. Cut into the wall was a heavy metal door with a small window. I moved forward, tuning into my senses as Cody showed me. The window was made of reinforced glass, which made it difficult to see through or decipher with any real clarity what was inside. However, I saw a man in a white coat moving around the space and assumed this was my deranged father.

  The door handle turned with ease, and I pressed my shoulder against the metal and inched it open. Sebastian had his back to me. He was scribbling notes on one of the many pads scattered across the table. The smell of lavender permeated the room, which I scanned for any sign of Elizabeth. To my left was a shelving unit with row upon row of syringes in sterile packaging. Boxes marked with a blue pharmaceutical logo filled the floor space.

  So, there was a link between Sebastian and the pharmaceutical company, but was the GA involved too?

  The window I’d peered through only moments ago was high in the wall above Sebastian’s head casting a dim light over his work. My gaze drifted to the right where two trestle tables were laid with blankets. I’d seen something similar to this in the lab beneath the academy. Sebastian chained the werewolves to the table and injected his serum into their body, gauging the response and recording his findings. Was this where Ari and her sister had been treated? If not, that meant there could be facilities like this one dotted across the country. I couldn’t imagine any alpha allowing members of his pack to come here even if there was the hope of a cure for lycanthropy.

  I allowed my eyes to travel to the furthest corner of the room. There, on the floor of a small metal cage, was Elizabeth’s pink jumper, but my friend was nowhere in sight.

  The rage that overcame me was swift. My fingers curled up into tight fists, and all I could hear was the blood pumping around my body. The smell of lavender was overpowering, and somewhere I could hear the slow tick of a wristwatch. Before I could stop myself, a deep growl rumbled from my throat. Sebastian spun around clutching the table behind him. His face registered shock and then fear. What did he have to be scared of?

  ‘Mia! How did you find…? What are you doing…?’ His eyes shifted to Elizabeth’s jumper and realisation dawned.

  A roar in my head drowned out everything else in the room. I was aware that Sebastian was trembling. I could smell the fear rolling off him. Every speck of blood and grime on his white coat stood out, and even the clump of grass stuck to his shoe attracted my attention.

  ‘It’s okay, Mia. She’s okay; no one hurt her, I made sure of it.’

  My hands ached where I was clenching them so tightly, and they felt slick. Beads of sweat dripped from between my fingers and hit the floor.

  ‘Mia, I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you.’ Sebastian held his hands out in a gesture of surrender. ‘But I haven’t given up on you, I promise. Please trust me when I say I’m looking out for you.’

  A guttural sound escaped me as I swept my gaze between the cage and Sebastian. The sweat glistened on his forehead.

  ‘The GA have her, they’ve taken her for questioning, something about breaking the oath. I…I told them not to harm her.’

  I took a step backward and then another until I was in the gloomy corridor. I reached out for the metal door and readied myself to slam it in Sebastian’s face, but instead, I stopped in shock. I caught sight of my hand. Huge claws protruded from my fingers, blood dripping from them. I turned my palm over to see the four small puncture wounds where the claws had dug deep into my hand, although it wasn’t a human hand any more, it looked part human and part wolf.

  Sebastian took a step forward, and I flinched.

  ‘Mia, I can help you. I’ve finished my work, and we have a cure.’

  I shook my head and took another step backward. The roar in my head was still there, but I could also hear Ari moving about in the forest above. What the hell was going on?

  ‘You don’t have to do this alone, Mia. I’m your father, and I will always have your best interests at heart. I can save you from this fate.’

  I left the door where it was and spun on my heel running for the ladder. I climbed up the rungs in two leaps and slammed the trapdoor shut behind me.

  Ari stood a short distance away watching me with wide eyes.

  ‘What?’ My words sounded odd like I had too many teeth in my mouth. I lifted my clawed hand and felt around my lips. A bump caused my top lip to protrude. I ran my fingertip down the lump
and met something sharp and solid. A fang.

  My eyes filled with tears as I processed what was happening. I was turning. This was it. No more feeling like I didn’t belong with Cody and my brother, I was finally going to be a proper member of the pack. I was going to be a werewolf, like my mum.

  I grinned, and Ari flinched. Clearly a fang-filled mouth wasn’t conducive to a pretty smile. Throwing my head back, I laughed; it felt wonderful to finally belong. I stared up at the lush green canopy of leaves, and the blue sky above. I closed my eyes and soaked up the feeling of the warm sun on my skin. Wait a minute. That wasn’t right. Where was the full moon?

  ‘Mia, can you hear me?’

  I glanced over at the young wolf and noticed she was still keeping her distance. I nodded.

  ‘We need to get out of here.’

  That was an understatement. Not only had I proved to my father that I had inherited my mother’s werewolf genes, but I’d also shown him that I could half turn in the middle of the day. He’d have a field day dissecting me in his laboratory.

  Ari grabbed my hand and pulled me in the direction of the Mills farm. It was a long walk back home, but we seemed to make great time as we sprinted through the trees.

  Looking down at my body I noticed I was still a human: two arms, two legs, a human torso. No hairy limbs or cracking bones. I’d watched Cody turn when Felicity attacked him, and it had been horrific. He broke nearly every bone in his body, changing shape until he became a huge wolf the size of a horse. I was still little old me. My hair brushed my shoulders, and when I lifted my clawed hand, I could feel a human nose and cheekbones. What the hell was wrong with me?

  WITH THE FARMHOUSE in sight, I slowed to a walking pace. Ari rushed through the back door, and I heard the commotion in the kitchen as the pack listened to the young wolf’s expressive account of the morning. I expected Zak to come barrelling out of the door, but I was delighted when Cody emerged.

  He spotted me instantly. I heard the gasp like a cannon blast across the sky. The muscle in his cheek twitched as his gaze dragged from the fangs to my clawed hands. Recovering himself, he sauntered over to where I stood, as if this was an everyday occurrence. His eyes never left mine.