Feral

by Nicole Luiken

  Instantly solicitous, Jefferson lowered the rifle and helped her back to his pickup truck. He turned to Coach. “Tell the police to call me, Ed Jefferson, if they need an incident report or anything.” He held out a business card.

  “I will.” Coach nodded and pocketed the card. “Thank you for protecting our students, Mr. Jefferson.”

  The logging executive swelled up. “I’m just glad I got it before it infected some kid.”

  Chloe bit her lip to keep from shouting that the wolf didn’t have rabies.

  “Thank you again.” Coach held out his hand.

  Mollified, Jefferson shook hands, reracked his gun and climbed into the pickup beside Ilona’s aunt.

  Chloe waited tensely until the pickup drove off, then turned to Coach. “Help me get Marcus into the trees.” Forestry Services would be on their way by now. Dean’s dad worked for them, but there was a fifty percent chance that his human partner would respond to the call. Chloe wouldn’t be able to bluff a trained forest ranger into believing Marcus was dead. Anxiety roughened her breathing. Time was running out.

  Coach looked at her sharply. “He lives?”

  “He’s still bleeding. We need to call my dad,” Chloe said urgently.

  Coach growled at her. “You need to get back into the school.”

  Marcus lifted his furry head and growled back.

  “Yeah, I don’t think so,” Chloe said. “Marcus doesn’t like you. Leaving you two alone strikes me as a bad idea. Just call my dad, okay?”

  “I’m ordering you to go back into the school. Now.” Coach tried to intimidate her.

  Chloe fought not to drop her eyes, not to admit his Dominance. Not with Marcus’s life at stake. Desperation gave her the strength to push to her feet. She locked her legs, though Coach still had almost a foot of height on her. She would not give in.

  Coach growled deep in his throat, baring his teeth.

  Chloe’s gaze flickered down for a second, but she forced it back up. She bared her own teeth. “Back off.”

  “He’s too much of a risk. He’ll expose us all,” Coach said.

  The hairs rose on the back of her neck. Coach meant to break Marcus’s neck.

  “I’ll fight you.” Tears stung the back of her throat.

  “You’ll lose.”

  The simple, brutal truth made her sway. Coach might not be able to Dominate her, but she couldn’t Dominate him either, and he was physically bigger and stronger than her. She couldn’t stop him from killing Marcus.

  Chloe lifted her chin. “I’ll still fight.” Inspiration hit. “Unless you want to explain to the principal why you attacked a female student, back off!”

  Coach and Chloe were fighting. She didn’t understand how dangerous Coach was. Marcus had to stand with her.

  The bullet was still lodged inside him, a hot ball of agony, and fever continued to rage through him. He wasn’t healing as fast as he should.

  Old advice from his father came back to him. “If you’re grievously injured, Change forms. Sometimes that will put right whatever’s wrong.”

  It hadn’t helped with the sickness, but it might help with the bullet. Marcus concentrated on being a boy for Chloe.

  chapter

  18

  Coach took a sudden step backward. “He’s Changing!”

  “Marcus, stop! Change back!” Chloe pleaded, but Marcus’s fur melted into skin, his muzzle shrinking.

  So. Bad.

  She moved to shield Marcus from view, and Coach did the same, swearing viciously.

  They were still on the grass at the edge of the parking lot, right out in public. The parking lot and street were deserted, but there were houses across the street, and one of the classroom windows faced this way.

  Was that Ilona’s face by the window? Crap!

  And then a naked, bleeding boy lay at her feet. Pieces of metal began to extrude from the open wound in his upper chest, pushed out by his amped up werewolf healing. The bullet had deformed into something more mushroom-like. Ew.

  Once the bullet was out, the bleeding stopped, though the wound remained raw and angry looking. They needed to cover it up before someone non-Pack saw it.

  “Give him your shirt,” Chloe said.

  “No. I could get fired,” Coach said sanctimoniously.

  “Don’t want anything from him,” Marcus said, glaring balefully. He sat up.

  “Where did you leave your clothes?” Chloe threw his arm over her shoulder and helped him to his feet.

  “Back in the trees.” He waved a hand toward the far side of the playground. They walked in that direction.

  “He’s proven himself a menace. I’ll be telling the Alphas,” Coach called after them.

  “He had a fever!” Chloe yelled back, but bile scoured her throat. How had things gone so wrong? Her mind worked frantically. Should she call her parents and ask them to pick her and Marcus up from school? Or was this one straw too many? Should she urge Marcus to flee into the woods for a while? Maybe go stay with Lady Sasquatch in her log cabin?

  The possibility calmed her. The werewolf Pack carefully avoided Lady Sasquatch’s area of the Preserve, but Chloe’s father had gone out a few times on health matters, and he’d taken Chloe with him. Lady Sasquatch had the best blueberry muffins.

  Chloe’s nose twitched. She narrowly avoided stepping into a pile of vomit. He had been sick. A few feet away, Marcus’s clothes lay strewn about.

  Marcus got dressed. He winced as he pulled his shirt on, but his face no longer looked flushed, and he was already steadier on his feet.

  “What happened?” Chloe asked.

  “Got sick. Poison then fever.”

  Poison? Did he mean food poisoning? Before she could ask what he meant, Marcus grabbed her arm. “Chloe, I remember the crash now. Coach is trying to take over the Pack!”

  Chloe rocked back on her heels. Marcus’s story did cast a suspicious light on Coach’s motives, but other than the argument distracting his mom, Coach hadn’t had anything to do with the plane crash that she could see. The bit about the witch was just plain weird. It didn’t fit. Why would a witch want to hex the Jennings’ plane?

  Witches were mentioned in the Lore—there was even a Law forbidding werewolves from having dealings with witches—but Chloe had never met one. She’d figured they were just stories.

  “We can’t go to the Alphas with this yet,” she told Marcus. “All we have are your mom’s suspicions. We need proof.”

  He growled. “Coach had something to do with the plane crash—I know it. I won’t let him get away with it!”

  Her gaze snapped up. “Of course not! We need to talk to my parents and find out what Pack Coach came from before he joined ours. See if we can find out what made your mom think Conrad Wharton was an assumed name. Maybe contact Scout,” she added.

  “Why?”

  “He called Coach by another name, but Coach denied it. I can’t remember the name he used.” Chloe shook her head. “But in the meantime, you need to go into hiding. You broke Pack Law by Changing in public. Even if no one saw, the Alphas may still banish you for it.” Or condemn him to death. I promised Abby I’d keep you safe.

  Marcus shook his head, expression stubborn. “I won’t leave you.”

  She blew out an exasperated breath. “I’m not in any danger.”

  “Are you sure?” Marcus grasped her shoulders. “You’re an Alpha, and Coach is your enemy. He can’t take over the Pack and leave you standing.”

  “Please.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m not an Alpha.”

  “You’re my Alpha.” Marcus gazed at her worshipfully.

  Chloe twisted her fingers together, flustered. He only looked up to her because she’d been the one to save him. It didn’t mean anything. “Even if I have the potential to be an Alpha in the future”—a big if—“I’m not one now. Judy’s mom gave me the Bite, remember?”

  “I remember,” Marcus growled. “But you don’t bear her Bite.” He tugged the neckline of her shirt off her s
houlder, then stroked the skin. “No scar.”

  Chloe’s eyes widened. Bites weren’t supposed to heal. She went cross-eyed trying to take a look. Her fingertips couldn’t find any raised scars. Her head spun like a carousel. “How?”

  Marcus shrugged, unconcerned. “She isn’t your Alpha.”

  For him it was that simple. Not so for Chloe. Mind. Blown. “Does that mean I don’t belong to the Pack?” Panic tugged at her. She didn’t want to be outcast and alone.

  “You’re my Alpha,” Marcus said. “I belong to you.”

  She blinked back sudden tears at the certainty in his voice, her mind blown in an entirely different way.

  “You should Bite me,” he said.

  Yes. Chloe’s wolf reacted enthusiastically to the idea. Bite him.

  “What?” Chloe took a step back. Why would Marcus suggest such a huge break in tradition? Logic kicked in. “Oh. You mean so that Olivia won’t have authority over you?” And be able to condemn him. “That’s a thought, but it might backfire on us.” Chloe did not want to end up banished. She’d just avoided that fate, the fate of a Dud. And only an Alpha could make a Bite.

  Marcus didn’t argue, but he didn’t agree either. His crystal blue eyes met hers. “I want everyone to know I belong to you.”

  Her wolf thrilled to the statement. Yes. We belong together.

  Chloe struggled to ignore the wolf instinct urging her to do it, to Bite him. This is a bad idea.

  The bell rang, breaking the spell. Time for last period. Go in or go home?

  With a lurch Chloe remembered Ilona’s face at the window. That settled it: they had to go in and do damage control if needed.

  “Marcus is feeling better now,” Chloe said, sliding into her seat. She watched Ilona carefully, but the girl only paid them cursory attention, busy getting out her binder. Good. Maybe she hadn’t seen anything.

  But then it struck Chloe that Ilona would normally have wanted to know all the details of why Marcus had left class. Was her silence now a sign that she had seen the wolf Change into Marcus? Chloe wouldn’t have thought Ilona had enough self-control to keep quiet, but the possibility worried her. She chewed her lip.

  After school she quietly pulled Dean aside. “Do me a favour? Make up with Ilona. She might have seen Marcus Change. If she did, I want her to confide in you, not somebody else.”

  Dean brightened. “On it.” Moving like a predator, he cut Ilona from the herd of other students. He leaned his arm on the wall, half-trapping her. Whatever he said, it made Ilona’s face light up.

  Dean shoved Kyle toward the bus, and he drove Ilona home.

  “So what happened?” Kyle whispered once the bus lurched into motion. Judy crowded closer, too.

  The more allies the better. Chloe laid it out for them: Marcus getting sick and Changing in public view and his restored memory of the crash and what his mother had said about Coach.

  “Judy, do you remember Coach giving Abby a gift?” Chloe asked.

  “Nooo,” Judy said. “But she definitely had a crush on him.” She bit her lip. “Should I tell my parents he might be planning a coup?”

  Chloe considered, then shook her head. “Not just yet, please. Could you get me Scout’s phone number? I’d like a little more proof before we go to the Alphas.”

  Judy promised to do so, and then it was her turn to get off.

  Ten minutes later, Marcus and Chloe jogged down their driveway. Her steps slowed; two vehicles were parked near the house. Her parents were home early again.

  Apparently, Coach had been busy on the phone. Not good.

  Fearing an ambush, Chloe motioned Marcus to stay outside while she crept inside. She tiptoed toward the kitchen where her parents were talking.

  “What’re we going to do?” her father asked, voice heavy with despair. “It will take us months to pay off the credit card as it is.”

  Chloe paused in confusion. Were they having money problems? Was the town’s stupid pro-logging boycott actually having an effect? She couldn’t imagine anyone being foolish enough to drive a sick animal an extra hour and a half to the next nearest town with a vet.

  “I don’t give a damn about the money,” her mother said. “It’s Chloe I’m terrified for. Marcus, too.” Shockingly, her mom began to sob.

  “It’s not your fault,” her dad said. “They did it, not you.”

  “I should have fought harder,” her mom said passionately.

  “It’s a wolf’s nature to submit to the Alpha,” her dad soothed. “We didn’t know she’d been corrupted.”

  The hairs stood up on the back of Chloe’s neck. What was going on? Suddenly the problem of Marcus Changing in public shrank. There’s something wrong with the Pack. Something wrong with Olivia besides the cancer. Was that why Chloe’s Bite had healed?

  She shifted and the board under her foot creaked. Her parents stopped talking. Chloe walked into the kitchen.

  “Chloe,” her mom said.

  “We’re home from school,” Chloe said inanely. Act normal. She went to the fridge to pour a glass of milk, but paused, shocked by her mother’s ravaged face. Puffy eyes. Streaky mascara. She looked haggard and old. Beaten down.

  Her father looked grey. He stood close by her mom, touching her.

  The milk was hard to swallow. What was going on? Chloe didn’t dare ask.

  Her father cleared his throat. “We received a phone call about what happened at school. Is Marcus all right?”

  “He got food poisoning and puked it up. Ran a bit of a fever. That’s why he went outside. He Changed to his wolf hoping it would make him better, but it didn’t help. He was feverish when he wandered onto the field. It could have happened to any one of us. It was just bad luck the kindergarten class was outside. Then after he got shot, he didn’t have any choice but to Change in order to get the bullet out. I don’t think anyone saw.” Chloe didn’t mention Ilona. “He’s fine now.”

  “Good,” her father said. “Good.”

  Chloe stared at him. Where was the lecture? Her parents lack of response to the near-catastrophe weirded her out.

  “Call Marcus in,” her dad continued. “We’re having early supper. There’s a Pack meeting tonight.”

  Her throat tightened. “Is it about Marcus? Coach threatened to invoke Pack Law.”

  “Olivia may think it is,” her dad said, oddly. “But I spoke to Nathan, and I think he has something different in mind.”

  “Should we go?” Chloe asked. “Marcus and I could run off into the woods for a few days. Wait for things to cool down.” She didn’t mention Lady Sasquatch. It made her sick, but she didn’t fully trust her parents right now.

  “That might not be a bad idea,” her mom said.

  But her dad shook his head. “I don’t think we’re at that point yet.”

  But we may get there?

  “Better to face the charge head on and let Marcus tell his side of the story than be condemned in absentia.” He put his hands on Chloe’s shoulders. “Marcus broke Pack Law. There will be consequences, possibly banishment, but I swear to you, I won’t stand by and let them execute him, no matter what the cost.”

  “But—” Her mother stopped and bit her lip.

  Chloe took a deep breath. “There’s more. Marcus got part of his memory back. The plane crash wasn’t an accident.”

  She called Marcus in while her parents were still gaping, and had him tell the story all over again.

  Her parents’ reaction confused her. They shrugged off the stuff about Coach and focussed on the witch. “Conrad has always been ambitious. That doesn’t mean he had anything to do with the plane crash. Marcus, can you describe the witch again in more detail?”

  “Long grey hair. Ugly nose.” He shrugged. “Dunno. She was flying a cup.”

  Her parents exchanged disappointed looks.

  “Are witches real?” Chloe asked.

  “Oh, yes,” her mother said grimly. “Very real.” She touched the crystal hanging at her neck.

  Are the
crystals magic? The question died on her tongue when her dad caught her gaze and deliberately made the exact same gesture. She glimpsed a silver chain with a crystal hanging around his neck, too.

  Her dad, who never wore jewelry, not even a wedding ring because of his profession. Her dad who scoffed at New Age holistic healing or anything without hard science backing it up. Her dad who had suddenly changed his stance on the existence of witches.

  The hairs rose on the back of Chloe’s neck, and a growl rose in her throat.

  Danger. Danger to the Pack.

  Yet another meeting in the Alphas’ backyard. It got colder and scarier every time.

  Olivia’s eyes narrowed. “Marcus Jennings,” she said in a carrying voice. “You broke Pack Law. Explain yourself.”

  Marcus’s chest vibrated with a growl.

  Chloe put a hand on his arm. “He was sick,” she said loudly. “Feverish. He tried to burn out the illness by Changing and made a mistake. No one saw.” Crossed fingers. She hadn’t had time to speak to Dean about Ilona.

  “This cannot be allowed to happen again,” Olivia said.

  Chloe tensed, ready to launch counter-accusations against Coach, if the Alpha handed down too harsh a punishment.

  And then things went sideways.

  Nathan stood up. “I have an announcement to make!”

  Olivia goggled at her husband. “What—?”

  He didn’t pause. “I’m resigning as Alpha.”

  Surprise punched Chloe’s stomach. Is this what her dad had meant? A startled murmur burst from the other Pack members.

  “No. You can’t,” Olivia said.

  He never even looked at her. “I can no longer be a good leader, so someone else must step forward.” He moved off the wooden deck.

  “Oh, good,” Chloe’s mother said under her breath. “We have a chance to untangle this.”

  “God, he’s brave,” her father said, low-voiced. “She’ll have his balls for this.”

  She, who? Olivia? The Alpha looked more hurt than furious, her face white and her lips pinched together. She had obviously had no idea her husband had planned this—another sign of something grievously wrong with the Pack. Judy’s parents had always acted as a team, with Olivia more policy and Nathan more discipline.