Werewolf Academy Book 1: Strays (28 page)

“Alright, I’ll go with you.”

“Yes!” Cassie said. She slipped her hand into Meredith’s. “You’ll love Christmas dinner. They always make it so beautiful, and now we have our aunt with us!”

“That
will be nice,” Meredith said. “I’m excited to share it with you.” She walked on ahead with Cassie.

Rafe smiled at Alex as they followed close behind. Rafe’s wolves
fell in around them. Alex let his hand rest on one of the younger male’s backs. The wolf walked beside him as they made their way through the trees toward the familiar silhouette of the Academy etched against the sky.

Jaze welcomed Meredith with open arms. As soon as they entered the dining hall, Nikki rushed to greet her. They hugged awkwardly over Nikki’s
pregnant belly, then laughed like sisters about it. The rest of the Lifers were introduced, and by the time they sat around the table, it felt like a family group.

Alex watched Meredith and Cassie talk as they ate. Cassie told their aunt about life at the Academy, and Meredith shared little stories about what she was learning as she lived at the safe house.

“You should stay here,” Nikki said.

Meredith looked surprised. “I though
t you’d want me to wait until the beginning of the next school year.”

Nikki nodded. “
Jaze’s team has been helping to relocate werewolf families, and our student body has been growing so much each year we’re going to have to take on more staff members if we have any hope of keeping up, so the sooner, the better.” Nikki patted her stomach. “And I’m definitely going to need more help around here when this little guy’s born.”

“
Are you sure?” Meredith asked.

“Only if you’re comfortable with it,” Jaze replied. At the growing shock on Meredith’s face, the dean continued, “
We were going to ask you to move in when this school year is over so we could prepare for the next one,” he smiled at Nikki. “But now’s as good a time as any.”

Meredith looked from Jaze and Nikki to the twins. Cassie and Alex nodded encouragingly. “I’m not sure if I’m good with kids,” she said hesitantly.

“We’ll help you,” Cassie replied. “You won’t be thrown to the wolves.” She giggled.

Alex rolled his eyes, but smiled. “Everyone here is nice. You would make a great teacher.”

“You think so?” Meredith asked. The answering nods made her smile. “I guess I can try it.”

“Wonderful!” Nikki exclaimed. “We’ll help you get settled in. It can give you a chance to get to know the students before you start teaching.”

“I don’t need to stay at the safe house?” There was relief in Meredith’s voice.

For the first time, Alex realized she might have been lonely there. Jaze’s guards rotated often, but it was probably hard to be away from
everything she knew, especially after being taken by Drogan. Alex’s heart went out to her.

“You are welcome to move in here whenever you are ready,” Jaze replied. “We have plenty of rooms for staff. You’ll be comfortable here.”

Meredith looked like she wanted to hug all of them at the same time. She settled for kissing the top of Cassie’s head. “That’s sounds wonderful,” she said.

“We can eat lunch together!” Cassie replied. “I can show you my room, and you can meet
the rest of the pack. They’re crazy sometimes, but really nice. I think you’ll like them.”

Alex found himself watching them
so closely he barely ate his dinner. It was amazing to see Cassie open up; it felt as if he was seeing a whole different person. She glowed as she told their aunt about learning history with Professor Thorson, and how much she was enjoying reading ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in Grace’s English class.

By the end of the evening, sorrow began to crowd the happiness from Alex’s chest. Dinner was over, and everyone was finishing the last remnants of the chocolate mousse pie that was a tradition to close Christmas dinner at the Academy. Most of the other Lifers had fallen
away into groups talking and laughing around the room. Cassie and Meredith still sat in their seats, catching up over the last years.

“It’s absolutely wonderful,” Cassie was saying. “You’ll have to try it. Grace taught me that you don’t always need your sight to create something beautiful.”

“I’d love to,” Meredith replied. “You’ll have to show me.”

“I will,” Cassie promised.

Alex couldn’t take it anymore. He pushed away from the table and walked as calmly as he could manage to the hall. As soon as the door shut behind him, he took off running for the training room.

He ran straight to a wooden practice dummy, slammed it against the wall, knocked another in the chest with
a two-handed punch, and then kicked the first so hard it bounced off the wall again, leaving a dent in the sheetrock.

“What’s going on?”

Alex spun at Jaze’s inquiring tone. Jaze leaned against the doorframe with a calm expression on his face. Alex’s chest heaved. He looked from Jaze to the dummies. “It’s not right,” he finally forced out.

“What’s not right?” Jaze asked.

Alex gritted his teeth. It was a moment before he could answer. “Cassie is up there telling our aunt all of the things we do here.”

Jaze’s forehead creased. “That bothers you?”

Alex shook his head, then changed his mind and nodded. “No. Well, yes. It bothers me.” He took a calming breath and let it out in a rush. “It bothers me that Meredith is there hearing about how much Cassie loves school and my mom and dad should be there, too.” His eyes burned. He blinked quickly. “They should hear about how she’s learning to make friends, and night games, and the time Pip got his head stuck in the banister.” His chest heaved. He felt his heart protest.

“Do you want me to ask Meredith to go?” Jaze asked quietly. There was no judgment in his voice, only understanding that cut Alex to the quick.

He shook his head. “No. I’m glad she’s here. I just. . . I just want Mom and Dad to be, too.” It was the first time he had spoken those words aloud to Jaze. Jaze and Nikki had tried so hard to make Academy life easy for the twins, and Alex had never complained or told Jaze how much he ached to see his parents again because he knew it would never happen. Seeing Aunt Meredith laughing with Cassie nearly broke his heart.

“I know what you mean,” Jaze said. The Alpha stepped into the room and crossed to the
boxing ring. He leaned against the ropes facing Alex. He met the young werewolf’s gaze. “I wished a million times that I could bring my dad back after my uncle killed him. I replayed his death over and over in my head, wishing I could have been there, that I could have stopped them.”

The fire left Alex. He sat down against the opposite wall and studied his worn sneakers. “It’s enough to drive someone crazy,” he said in a voice just above a whisper.

He saw the dean nod out of the corner of his eye. “It really is. But you couldn’t have stopped them. Not all of them.”

“We can stop
Drogan now,” Alex said, looking back up at the dean.

Jaze nodded. “We can, and we will.”

“When?” Alex asked. He knew he was being belligerent, but he couldn’t help himself. The words spilled out. “We have to stop him before he hurts anyone else. I don’t want other kids to end up like Cassie and me. I want him locked up or dead where he can’t destroy lives anymore. If he’s gone, this world will be a better place.”

“It will be a safer place for werewolves,” Jaze concluded softly. At Alex’s nod, he gave the young Gray a searching look. “We know that Kalia’s not the snitch. Can you think of anyone else who might be working with
Drogan?”

Alex shook his head. “I’ve thought through everything I said, and I can’t think of anyone who knew where we were
during the times when Drogan attacked. I’ll ask Cassie to be sure, but I can’t figure it out.”

Jaze nodded. “Don’t worry. We’ll find him. And for now, I think Meredith might be safer here, especially if she’s been wandering the forest on her own.”

“You might have to talk to your security team at the safe house about that,” Alex suggested.

A hint of a smile touched Jaze’s mouth. “I’ll do that.” He rose somewhat stiffly from
the ropes. “Care to join us for the last hours of Christmas?”

“I’d be happy to,” Alex replied, rising.

They walked together back up the hall, the attacked dummies lying forgotten on the floor of the training room behind them.

Alex searched through the students that wandered back inside the Academy. The buses and cars that brought them back looked out of place amid the snow-lined trees and gray brick landscape. The air was filled with the acrid scent of exhaust. His nose wrinkled.

Students pulled their luggage across the snow, leaving tracks
in the expanse of white. Stories of what each had done during the break made laughter and shouts echo off the walls. Alex forced a smile when Marky and Steven walked by.

“Good to be back!” Marky exclaimed, pulling a suitcase that was held together by thread and duct tape.

“My mom cried when I left,” Steven said by way of greeting.

“That’s, uh, that’s too bad,” Alex replied, unsure of what to say.

“See you inside, chief,” Marky said. He ducked inside the door just as a snowball sailed through, missing him by inches and instead splattering on Vance’s chest.

The glower the
huge werewolf gave the crowd of students rushing inside sobered them up a bit until another snowball took residence where the first had been.

“Alright. Who did—” Vance’s words cut off when he saw Jaze standing outside the door packing another snowball. “You’re dead,” the huge Alpha exclaimed. He shoved past the students out the door.

The dean hit him squarely in the face with the next snowball. “You sure about that?” he asked.

Vance bent down and gathered a snowman-sized snowball and began to pack it. “Oh, I’m sure.”

“Excuse me,” a familiar voice said, breaking Alex’s attention from the ensuing battle.

He looked over to see Kalia brushing by, her head lowered and her blonde hair hiding her expression from view.

“Kalia, wait,” Alex said, hurrying after her. “We need to talk.”

She spun a
round. “Really, Alex? Somehow I lost the only friend I had before Christmas and I don’t even know what I did because he won’t take the time to tell me, that’s how much he cares.”

Alex stopped in his tracks, frozen by her hurt and the way her eyes flashed gold in anger. Students swarmed past them, but it felt like they were the only two people in the hallway.

A tear trailed down Kalia’s cheek. “What is it, Alex?” she asked, a bit softer.

“Come with me,” Alex implored. On impulse, he took her luggage and slid it to the wall out of the crowd’s way, then caught her elbow. “Trust me.”

Kalia followed without a word as he led her out of the throng to the backdoors of the Academy. They walked through the gates and beneath the trees. Alex’s head felt clearer without the chaos of Termers coming back. He led her through the trees, and stopped when he felt her hesitate.

“What is it?” she asked, her voice guarded.

“I need to apologize,” Alex replied.

“For what?” Kalia demanded. “What did I do that ostracized me?”

“Nothing.” Alex quickly shook his head. “It wasn’t you. I thought I knew something, and I was wrong. I’m so sorry it hurt you.”

Kalia looked up at him through lowered lashes. Her hands trembled. She put them in her pockets. “What did you think you knew?”

Alex let out a breath that fogged in the chilly afternoon air. He forced the words out that he knew would hurt her even further. “I thought you were Drogan’s spy, telling him where Cassie and I were so that he could try to kill us.”

Kalia gasped. She put a hand over her mouth and turned away from Alex. He wanted to comfort her, but when he touched her shoulder, she ducked away from his grasp.

“Kalia, I—”

“Don’t talk to me, Alex. Don’t even look at me,” Kalia snapped. Her blue eyes were filled with ice when she met his gaze. “I can’t believe you could think I would do such a thing.
You think I’m a traitor, a snitch? Is that why you thought I was trying to be your friend?” More tears broke free. She wiped them angrily away. “How dare you assume something so terrible of me?” The next words that left her tore Alex’s heart in two. “Why does everyone assume I’m a monster?” she demanded more to herself than to him.

“You’re not a—”

“Don’t talk to me, Alex Davies,” Kalia snapped. “Don’t look at me, don’t sit by me, and don’t presume we’re friends, because we’re not.” She took a step closer, her boots crunching in the snow. “If you so much as try to sit next to me at lunch, I’ll have Boris tear you apart.” Her eyes gleamed. “And you know he can,” she said, reminding him of the practice bout in the training room.

She turned and walked away.

Alex stood there listening to her stomp angrily back to the Academy. He ached, knowing he had lost her through his rashness, and had hurt her as well. He longed to go after her, but with the anger on her face, he knew it would be a bad decision. He was about to walk deeper into the forest when a quiet howl broke through the air.