Oath Keeper

by Shelley Wilson

  Bursting from the dirt floor, I leaped to my feet and howled, a deep guttural sound that shook the branches of the trees close by. Felicity baulked. I took advantage of her confusion and launched myself at her, clamping down on her throat with my fangs. I tasted her blood as it gushed from the wound in her. The gurgling sound of her choking broke through the roaring rage, and I let go. She dropped to the ground gasping for breath and clutching her hands to her throat, her eyes wide with terror.

  My face screwed up into a snarl as I crouched low over her trembling body. I traced a claw along the side of her face leaving a tiny trail of blood in its wake. Blood frothed at her mouth as she coughed and sobbed. I felt nothing. No remorse, no anger, just a desire to finish her. I spread my hand wide and uncurled my claws lifting my arm above my head in readiness to strike.

  ‘Mia, no!’ Elizabeth’s cry was cut short as a golden wolf burst through the bushes and skidded to a halt a few feet away. I recognised Cody’s scent immediately.

  More wolves followed, a mix of colours: light brown, silver, black, and a dark brown, the latter being twice the size of the other wolves. I sniffed the air and my shoulders sagged as Zak’s scent filled the small space. He bared his teeth and growled at me. My entire body shook as I tried to resist his cry. He was my brother, and he was trying to stop me from making a fatal mistake. He was also my alpha, and I couldn’t act against him.

  Lowering my arm, I backed away from Felicity and stood up to my full height. She stared up at me with pure hatred gleaming in her eyes. Blood poured from her neck wound and dribbled out of her mouth. I had no idea if she would, or could, recover from her wounds and the werewolf part of me didn’t care. The human part of me, Mia, was slowly returning and my eyes grew wide as I looked down at my handiwork. My claws began to retract leaving a dull ache in my hands and my mouth felt normal again as my fangs disappeared.

  ‘Leave,’ I whispered. ‘Before I kill you.’

  Felicity scrambled to her feet and ran, tearing through the trees on wobbly legs, using her free hand to try to keep herself upright as she manoeuvred through the forest. I watched her until she disappeared from sight and then I kept watching that space for a long time not wanting to look at my brother, Cody, or the other wolves. What would they think of me? What had I become?

  I STARED AT my reflection in the mirror, my eyes flitting from the bruises on my cheek to the cut on my lip. Felicity had given it her all when we fought, throwing all her anger, fear, and training into hurting me. I didn’t blame her. I couldn’t. She was entitled to hate me for the beating I’d inflicted on her all those months ago and now, well, now she had more cause than ever to want me dead.

  Is that how Frank had felt when he beat me? Had he lost all control of himself when he kicked and punched me? Was I no better than the man who raised me under a cloud of terror?

  The wolves had dispersed quickly following my altercation with Felicity as they sensed the upcoming battle between their alpha and his little sister—the wannabe werewolf. I couldn’t deny it any longer. I wasn’t a proper wolf, I wasn’t a valid or valuable member of the pack. I was a stupid girl who just so happened to have fangs and claws when someone pissed her off. I was a typical teenager.

  Zak led me back to the farm in silence. Cody followed a few steps behind. I had an insane and inappropriate urge to giggle as I likened the scene to a prisoner being transported to their doom. I was Anne Boleyn!

  No one spoke to me or even looked in my direction as I was escorted to my room. I wanted to express my annoyance that Zak hadn’t left Lizzie’s rescue up to me, Terry, and Cody but felt the need to follow with the entire pack. He’d had that planned all along, which was why they had all congregated when we left earlier. Zak had prepared himself for me screwing it all up.

  The door closed behind me, and I only caught the slightest glimpse of Cody, his shoulders slumped and his eyes sad, before the loud clunk of the wood in the frame. I waited for a few moments and then tried the handle. It opened. I closed the door again, but the heavy weight in my chest lifted ever so slightly knowing they hadn’t locked me up as Sebastian had.

  That girl in the mirror was an imposter. She wasn’t who I wanted to become. I’d survived so much in such a short time, and I knew I was stronger for it. I could feel that inner drive spurring me on to be better than the losers who had hurt me. I wasn’t going to make the same mistakes, but here I was, banished to my room because I’d let my emotions get the better of me. I didn’t know who to turn to for help. Zak was my brother but he was also the alpha; he had to be extra tough on me for the sake of the pack. Cody meant the world to me, but he was a valuable member of Zak’s inner circle. Miss Ross and Elizabeth were like my family, but they didn’t have the knowledge to figure this out.

  There was only one person who could help me. One person who might know what I was becoming and how to handle it.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Was I ready to deal with the devil? Was I so far gone that the only chance I had at finding the real Mia was in the hands of a maniac? I snapped my eyes open again. I saw a coldness there, a lack of empathy, and something else, something deeper and more frightening. I saw rage buried below the surface. Rage at myself, my mother, Frank, Zak, and Sebastian. If anyone could help me to figure it all out, then it was him. Sebastian could well be my only hope.

  THE STARS LIT up the night sky as I sat by the open window. One of the wolves I didn’t know delivered my evening meal. Clearly Zak didn’t want me talking to my friends, and I couldn’t blame him.

  I could see the extra cars in the driveway and hear the voices of many visitors drifting up from the kitchen. Packs from all over the country had started to gather, and it was Zak’s job to hear their stories and work out a plan of action. I didn’t want to cause my brother any more heartache than he was already dealing with but I was also aware that without me in the picture he could concentrate all his efforts on saving the wolves and securing the packs’ future.

  Yes, he’d be mad, and so would Cody, Elizabeth, and Miss Ross but if I could return to them with answers that might help them rather than hinder them, they couldn’t stay mad for long.

  I sucked in a breath and slung my backpack over my shoulder, dropping my phone on the bed as I went. If I was going to do this, I couldn’t have them contacting me or risk Zak tracing my phone. It was now or never. The warm and musical tones of my family and friends’ voices vibrated through the floorboards pulling me in two directions. It would be too easy to slide between the sheets of my bed and wait for everyone else to look after me but I didn’t do easy and I didn’t do victim. I’d survived more than most girls my age and it was time to stand alone again and fight for what I believed in.

  Swinging my legs out on the ledge, I waited until I could train my enhanced hearing onto the sounds from the kitchen.

  ‘Why is the GA here?’

  ‘That doctor has no right to use experimental serums on our children.’

  ‘We don’t have all the facts. Elizabeth told us the GA is here to review the academy after recent events. We have no idea if there is any link between them and the pharmaceutical company.’

  ‘Yet our kids are still at risk.’

  ‘It could be a free-for-all. If our kids have that injection they’ll either die or they’ll turn early. The hunters think they’re free to hunt without remorse, killing our children.’

  The conversation raged on with voices unknown to me contributing their thoughts. Zak was surprisingly quiet, perhaps taking in all the information and worries before working on a solution. I could hear Terry and Cody adding to the discussion with Terry offering his first-hand account of being held captive at Hood Academy and the many times they’d carried out a rescue.

  As quietly as I could, I shimmied down the trellis that ran down the side of the house from my window, dropping lightly to the floor. Crouching for a few moments, I made sure that no-one had heard me but I don’t think the assembled packs would have heard a chainsaw over th
e heated discussion they were having.

  Through the cosy glow of the kitchen light, I could see Zak at the head of the table, his brow furrowed as he listened to his friends. Cody stood behind him with Terry and Byron on either side. They had each other, and a small part of me was grateful for the fact that they were so close. Brothers united. Miss Ross would look out for Elizabeth, which only left me – the outsider. It was a role I’d played my entire life, and I slipped into it like an old pair of gloves. Sebastian might be a crazy scientist with more flaws than most human beings but he was also my biological father, and I had to hope and pray that this fact was enough to keep me safe, at least until I learned what I needed to about my genes.

  I took one last look at my family and friends before melting into the darkness of the forest, their voices growing fainter with every step I took.

  THE EMPTY BARN where I’d found Sebastian stood a short distance away. It was cloaked in shadows and looked as derelict as it was supposed to be. Finding my father in a secret room below the ramshackle building was the only clue I had. No doubt he would have moved, or been moved by whoever was in charge, but I hoped there was enough of his scent left for me to follow.

  I climbed down the ladder into the blackness below. It didn’t fill me with as much dread as when I’d descended the same steps in the hope of helping my friend. That inevitability that I was about to come face to face with my dad had hijacked the moment. At least this time I had a torch.

  The room where I’d found Sebastian was now empty, the tables cleared of all paperwork, and the equipment he’d been using gone, the small imprints in the dust the only sign that he’d been here at all. I swivelled the torch towards the far corner, but the boxes with the pharmaceutical logo had also vanished.

  A faint scuffling noise filled the air behind me causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. Goose bumps trailed down my arms as I tuned my senses to the surrounding area and the entrance. If Sebastian was still lurking, maybe I would get a chance to talk to him before he launched into an assault or capture.

  I clicked the torch off, plunging the room into darkness, and waited for my eyes to adjust. Sniffing the air, I tried to determine what, or who, I could be about to face. I lifted the torch above my head ready to wallop whoever appeared then I caught the faintest whiff of a familiar scent—lavender.

  Elizabeth’s pale face shone in the muted light cast by the window high up on the wall as she moved into the doorway. Her eyes were as wide as saucers, and yet I had the overwhelming urge to shout ‘Boo!’

  Instead, I lowered my makeshift weapon and walked to the centre of the room.

  ‘What the hell are you doing here, Lizzie?’

  She jumped at the sound of my voice then her eyes adjusted to the dim light, and she could make out my shape.

  ‘I was worried you’d do something stupid,’ she said glancing around the room. ‘Like return to the scene of the crime.’

  I huffed. It had been a reckless thing to do, but deep in my bones, I knew Sebastian wouldn’t be here in person. I just needed to inhale his scent, gather my strength, and push forward.

  A rustling behind Elizabeth’s back drew my attention, and I almost yelped when a tiny figure darted out of the corridor to join us.

  I stared from one face to the other.

  ‘When did you think it was a good idea to bring Ari along?’

  Elizabeth rolled her eyes and nudged the child with her elbow.

  ‘See, I told you she wouldn’t like it.’

  Ari giggled.

  ‘I saw you climb out of your window, so I went to get Lizzie. You’re lucky I didn’t tell Zak!’ She put her tiny hands on her hips and tilted her chin looking every inch the defiant young pup she was.

  I couldn’t help but laugh at her stance. Elizabeth’s shoulders relaxed, and she giggled too.

  ‘What’s the plan then?’

  I raised an eyebrow.

  ‘You don’t think I’m going to let you run off on your own, do you? Mia, we’ve been friends for a while now so you should understand this whole friendship bond by now.’

  I smiled. She was right. The two of us had been through so much together, and we made a pretty good team.

  ‘I’m looking for Sebastian,’ I said, squaring my shoulders so she knew I wouldn’t be swayed from my decision.

  It worried me that someone I cared about might get hurt during my mission and I was about to express this when Ari piped up, ‘They took that man to Hood Academy.’

  ‘What man?’ Elizabeth asked.

  ‘The one in the white coat who was here earlier.’ She pointed to a lab jacket hanging on a hook behind the door.

  I knelt down, so I was eye level with the youngster. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Yes, I followed him and another man and saw them go through a back door with a red cross on it.’

  ‘He’s going to the lab,’ Elizabeth said. ‘That door leads to the nurse’s station, and we both know where it goes from there.’

  A shiver skittered down my spine at the memory of those clinical rooms, and the abysmal experiments that had taken place over God knows how many years.

  ‘He could be visiting Felicity.’ I dropped my head as I wondered for the millionth time about her injuries after our fight in the forest. Had she made a full recovery or was she seriously ill and in need of Sebastian’s medical assistance?

  ‘That girl would survive a nuclear blast.’ Elizabeth squeezed my hand as if reading my mind. ‘Whether he’s there as a visitor, doctor, or psycho scientist, we at least know where to begin.’

  She was right, of course, and it was thanks to Ari’s super snooping skills.

  ‘Well done, Ari.’ I placed a hand on her shoulder as she beamed with pride. ‘Now, I need you to go back to the farm.’

  She pulled out of my grasp and crossed her arms over her tiny chest, that defiant glint returning to her eyes.

  ‘I’m not going anywhere. We’re a team. You need me.’

  I had to admit that so far it was Ari who had found the barn, discovered Elizabeth’s captor, and kept a beady eye on my movements. Maybe she would be useful – but from a safe distance. I couldn’t risk her life.

  ‘Okay, yes, we need you, but you will do everything me and Lizzie tell you, or I’m sending you home.’

  Ari grinned and raised a small hand to her forehead. ‘Aye, aye, Captain.’

  Elizabeth covered her laugh with a hand and moved away to investigate the empty space. I could only gawp at the fierce little werewolf as she clicked her heels together and followed Lizzie. I prayed that keeping Ari close wasn’t a mistake.

  ‘Look at this.’ Elizabeth handed me a scruffy notepad with a logo printed in the top corner. Evermore Pharmaceuticals. It was the same logo that had covered the boxes, which had recently occupied the small space where we stood.

  ‘I’ve seen this before,’ Ari said. ‘This was the picture on the doctor’s jacket. The man who injected my sister and me.’

  Another link perhaps between the strange pharmaceutical company offering the cure to the packs and Sebastian. Did that mean the GA was in on it too?

  Could an agency dedicated to upholding the hunters’ oath really step over the line and be responsible for killing entire packs? Entire families? My blood ran cold thinking about it.

  I pocketed the notepad and gave the room one last sweep with my torch. ‘We’re not going to find any answers here.’

  Elizabeth smiled, but I could see the glimmer of fear shining in her eyes. We both knew what the next step entailed. We both understood that returning to Hood Academy was necessary, but neither of us needed another run-in with Felicity or the GA.

  I squared my shoulders and faced my friends. ‘It looks like we’re going back to school.’

  I KNEW MY brother was going to be mad at me when he found out I’d gone, but part of me hoped that he knew me well enough to understand my reasons. Since finding my way back to him, I’d battled with those feelings of being an outsider. Not
because I hadn’t turned, although I knew that was an issue for Zak, but because I wasn’t what everyone expected. They had listened to the tales of my violent life with Frank when Terry had spied on me at Zak’s request, and then the stories I told them about Hood Academy. They listened, scowled, shook their heads in disgust, and welcomed me into the sanctuary of their home, but I think they were expecting me to be a weak, timid victim. I wasn’t a victim. I refused to live my life in fear.

  They hadn’t been prepared for the survivor in me to be so strong and so I was left on the edges of their lives, circling like the runt of the litter trying to fight its way to the dinner bowl.

  Maybe Zak thought he was getting his little sister back, the one who wore pigtails and pleats in her skirt. The little girl who had idolised her big brother before he abandoned her to a life of terror. Instead, he got a teenager with uncontrollable rage and trust issues.

  Now wasn’t the time to mope about not fitting in. As the daughter of a werewolf and a hunter, it was inevitable that I would be odd, but even I couldn’t have guessed how peculiar my situation would be.

  Elizabeth stopped suddenly in front of me, and I bumped into her, snapping out of my inner musings.

  ‘What is it?’ I hissed.

  She pointed ahead, and I saw the flickering porch light above the nurse’s office door. The windows to the main reception area were dark, and no sound came from the surrounding area.

  ‘Just a short run across the car park and we’re in.’

  I manoeuvred my way in front of Elizabeth and assessed the area. The main school building loomed up on the right; no lights shone on the dormitory floors. In the distance, across the large expanse of lawn, I saw the patio doors leading to Adam’s old room. The door had been blocked off with heavy timber strips following Elizabeth’s rescue.

  Ari tugged on my sleeve and nodded in the direction of the car park. Felicity and her father pushed their way through the nurse’s office door and onto the gravel. As Mr Parker pressed something in his palm, a long black car lit up like a Christmas tree, the lights flashing in time to the loud beeps that bounced off the cold stone of the academy.