Werewolf Academy Book 1: Strays (27 page)

The look of understanding that brushed Jaze’s face almost undid Alex’s carefully constructed composure. Jaze sat against the wall, and motioned for Alex to do the same. He slid down among the wreckage that was his room, his attention on the dean.

“Did I ever tell you about the time I accused Nikki of hanging out with me only because she wanted to get back at her parents?”

Alex
shook his head, his curiosity piqued. A footstep in the hallway matched Cassie’s gait. The slight tilt of Jaze’s head said that he had heard it, too.

He smiled. “You might as well come listen, Cass. It’s a good story.”

Cassie entered the room with a sheepish look and sat down by Alex. “Sorry for eavesdropping,” she said.

“It’s a little hard not to when you’re a werewolf,” Jaze answered. “But standing in the hallway makes it a bit easier.” His tone made them both laugh.

Jaze’s voice took on the cadence of one who liked to tell stories. “She was my neighbor; that’s how we met. I found out later that her parents were Hunters, and that was before Hunters and werewolves made their alliance.” A shadow crossed his features. “For as long as that alliance lasted.” He shook his head to chase the emotions away and kept speaking, “We snuck away to a place where there were a bunch of storage sheds that were used for a giant swap meet on the weekends. We used to climb on the roofs and look at the stars. That’s when she told me about her parents.”

He smiled at the thought. “She was afraid that I would laugh at the fact that her parents hunted werewolves. Instead, I was terrified!”

Alex and Cassie laughed at his exaggerated expression.

“Imagine, us moving next door to werewolf Hunters. It wasn’t ideal, especially considering that I was falling in love with their daughter.” Jaze tipped his head against the wall.
“My heart was already hers, and that scared me. I tried to chase her away, telling her that the only reason she was hanging out with someone like me was because she wanted to get back at her parents.”

“What did she say?” Cassie asked.

Jaze smiled. “She said for me to take my oh-so-composed self-confidence and shove it.”

Alex laughed. “No wonder you like
d her.”

Jaze winked at him. “Just you wait until a girl steals your heart. When you find someone worth fighting for, you won’t let anything stand in your way.”

“How did you win her back?” Cassie asked, excitement in her eyes at the story.

Jaze’s smile deepened. “I
let her think my heart was broken. She’s too compassionate to let someone deal with heartbreak on their own.” He grinned. “I used that against her.”

“Heartless,” Cassie said, shaking her head, her eyes sparkling.

“I know, right?” Jaze replied. He grinned. “I apologized for being an idiot, and she forgave me.”

“It was that easy?” Alex asked doubtfully.

Jaze shook his head. “Apologizing isn’t easy, especially when you do it right. It’s got to come from your heart, or else she’ll see right through it.”

“Who?” Cassie asked, looking from Jaze to Alex. Her eyes widened. “Kalia?”

Alex dropped his gaze and nodded. “I was wrong, and it hurt her. I’ve got to make it right.

“I trust that you will,” Jaze said. He rose to his feet and held out a hand to help Alex and Cassie up. “I guess we’d better get started in here,” he said, looking around at the mess.

Christmas morning was always a quiet affair at the Academy. Though Alex had fond memories of him and Cassie tearing into presents with their parents looking on, he was grateful for the holiday routine for the Lifers. They woke up at eight o-clock, which was sleeping in at the Academy. The cooks had egg nog, biscuits, and a rich meat gravy ready as the Lifer orphans stumbled into the dining room.

After breakfast, Nikki and Jaze gave everyone presents. Alex was grateful for his new jacket and pocket knife. Cassie showed everyone the new princess book series Nikki had picked out for
her. It was the most outgoing his sister ever became. Alex knew it was because she had grown up with most of the orphans at the Academy. Without the Termers around, she was no longer shy. He smiled as she and Terith looked through their new books.

“I have something I want to show you guys,” Rafe said quietly.

Alex looked up at him in surprise from where he was experimenting with his knife on a piece of aspen Jaze had found for him. The teacher of wilderness education very seldom entered the Academy. Colleen, Kaynan, and Grace had flown home to visit their family for the holidays, but Rafe hated confined spaces and usually stayed in the forest.

“Meet me out back with your sister,” Rafe said. He left through the doors as silently as he had entered.

Alex hurried over to Cassie. “Come on, Rafe wants to show us something.”

Cassie left her books with Terith, promising to return as soon as possible. She
didn’t ask questions as Alex led her outside. The twins knew how rare it was for the professor to reach out, and neither of them wanted to miss out on whatever Rafe thought they would be interested in.

Rafe was waiting near the gate already in wolf form. With his dark gray coat, he blended almost perfectly with the bricks of the wall. He vanished through the gate as soon as they saw him. Only paw prints in the snow told where he had been.

“Let’s hurry,” Alex said.

They ran to the forest and quickly phased into wolf form. Cassie pranced around Alex, glad to be a wolf again. Alex grinned at her. He knew exactly how she felt. Living in human form without phasing into a wolf felt like eating food without drinking water, or having a day without night. It had been a few days since the siblings had phased, and Alex had truly missed it.

He took a deep breath of the crisp winter air. The scent of fresh snow, dormant trees, and frozen sap filled his senses. His breath fogged the space in front of him when he let it back out.

A low bark caught his attention. He looked up to see Rafe waiting for them a few paces away. Neither sibling had heard the wolf
return. Alex and Cassie exchanged an excited look before following the wolf beneath the trees.

They traveled
to a different part of the forest they had never seen before. The trees were older and larger. Snow didn’t penetrate to the forest floor in places, leaving patches of white and shadow. The light was fainter. Alex found himself relying on his sense of smell and hearing. He padded quietly past an ermine hiding in its burrow waiting for them to pass, and heard the soft rustle of an owl adjusting its wings on a low branch overhead.

Alex was concentrating so much on his other senses that he almost ran straight into Cassie when she stopped walking.
He looked up to see Rafe pause on a small rise. His head lowered when he met Alex’s gaze and his ears flattened, indicating for the wolves to go slowly and quietly. They padded softly behind him, intent on what was ahead. A strange smell filled Alex’s nose. He ducked beneath a bush, then froze.

A female cougar stared directly at them. Alex’s heartbeat quickened. It was no secret that the scars that showed in Rafe’s hide were from
saving Colleen from a mountain lion. Alex worried for a second that he was about to be attacked.

Cassie let out a little snort that sounded like a laugh. Alex glanced at her, wondering if she had gone crazy. She was looking intently at something beyond the cougar.

Alex followed her gaze. Three baby cougars played just beyond their mother. The cubs tumbled over one another on wobbly legs and huge paws. They had spots and were covered in downy tufts of fluffy fur. One chewed on a stick that poked from the snow. The other two saw what had caught its attention and pounced. The tumbling ball of cubs rolled into their mother. She broke her attention from the wolves long enough to lick them before they scampered back to their stick.

The female cougar yawned. It was then that Alex realized she wasn’t alarmed by their presence, just watchful. Perhaps Colleen and Rafe came often to check on the cougar cubs.

The cougar’s ear flickered. She turned her head slowly to the right. Alex saw a flicker of movement in the shadows. His wolven eyes made out the form of a cream-colored wolf watching them from the shadows.

Rafe gave a little bark. The three cougar cubs looked up in surprise. The female wolf lowered her head slightly in acknowledgement. Rafe padded softly back the way they had come. Alex and Cassie fell in close behind. In a few minutes, the cream-colored wolf joined them.

Her scent touched Alex’s nose. He felt a surge of happiness when he recognized the scent of pine and mint he had learned to associate with his aunt. Meredith followed them beneath the trees to the cave that Rafe and Colleen used as a go-between from the cave further in the woods that was their home.

Rafe went in first and phased. When he came back out, he gestured to Meredith. “I set out a change of clothes for you. The twins will be happy to wait.”

She gave another nod of gratitude and disappeared inside. Rafe leaned against a tree, his golden eyes glittering.

Meredith stepped out, and Alex’s heart skipped a beat. He scolded himself,
telling himself again that his mother was gone. It just amazed him how much Meredith looked like her, especially with her dark hair and light blue eyes. She gave them both a shy smile. Alex tried to be patient when Cassie ran in to change, but a tingle ran down his spine. He didn’t know if it was his wolf instincts trying to tell him something, or the crisp breeze that tickled his fur. Either way, when he felt his aunt’s gaze and he turned to meet her eyes, he couldn’t help the happiness that filled him.

Cassie shocked them all by running straight back out of the cave
after she was dressed and wrapping her arms around Meredith in a big hug.

“Well, hello,” Meredith said with a surprised smile. Her head jerked up when Cassie’s scent touched her nose. She looked at Rafe
in surprise.

Before she could say anything, Cassie burst out, “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I’ve just been waiting so long to meet you. We didn’t know we had an aunt, and Alex has been watching over you; now here you are!”

“An aunt?” Meredith repeated, clearly shocked.

“Yes,” Cassie said, her excitement clear in her flushed face and sparkling eyes. “You’re our mother’s sister. When our parents died, we thought we were orphans. We didn’t know she had a sister. I’m sure there was a good reason she didn’t tell us, but it’s so good to see you now.” Cassie paused, aware that she was babbling.

Alex stared at her. It was more than his sister ever said in the presence of a stranger, even if that stranger was their aunt.

“Are you going to phase?” Rafe asked, his tone one of polite inquiry.

Alex realized he had been watching his aunt and sister without moving. He snorted and trotted into the cave. He phased quickly, then pulled on the clothes Rafe had set out for him. It took a few more minutes for him to gather himself before he stepped back outside.

It felt strange to know that in one moment, he would have family again. Jaze and Nikki had been there for the twins
since the Academy opened, taking care of the siblings as if they were their own, but there was a feeling that came with knowing you had no true relatives, no one who shared your blood and your bond with kin. It was especially painful as a werewolf, because packs were made of families and the blood bond was extremely strong; having no one hurt.

To know that stepping beyond the cave and truly meeting his aunt for t
he first time would change that made Alex’s heart give a painful beat. He put a hand to it. He knew he couldn’t stay in the cave forever. He took a steeling breath, willed his heartbeat to settle, and stepped outside.

The awkwardness he had feared vanished when Aunt Meredith hugged him. He held her tight, denying the tears that burned in his eyes. He realized she had no such reservations as answering tears fell on his head.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” she said. “I can’t believe you made it.” Her arms shook as she held him. She motioned to Cassie. She joined them in another embrace. Tears showed in Cassie’s dark blue eyes as well.

“When Jaze told us our mom had a twin sister, we could barely believe it,” Cassie said, sniffing as she stepped back and wiped away her tears with the corner of her sleeve.

“I always hoped I would see you,” Meredith said. She looked them up and down with a proud, watery smile. “You are so much more beautiful and amazing than I ever could have hoped. Mindi said you were perfect. I never imagined just how much that was true!”

Cassie laughed. At Meredith’s questioning look, she said, “You called Alex beautiful.”

Meredith gave him a warm smile. “I meant handsome.”

“It’s okay,” Alex said, dragging the toe of his borrowed sneaker
across the snow.

“Do you want to join us for Christmas dinner?”
Rafe asked.

Meredith stared at him. “I, uh, I’
m not sure if Jaze would want me there.”

Rafe gave her a kind smile. “Of course he would. Please join us.”

Meredith glanced at the twins. Alex and Cassie both nodded eagerly; neither wanted to let her leave now that they were together. She finally gave in.