Werewolf Academy Book 3: Instinct (22 page)

Chapter Twenty-nine

ALEX LIMPED INTO HIS room. As soon as Siale shut the door, he leaned against it and willed his thoughts to calm.

She was there, outside the door. He had thought he would never see her again. Now, Siale’s sage and lavender scent drifted under the door, helping him gather what strength he had left. His heart pounded raggedly, reminding him that if he didn’t get the silver out soon, it could stop beating altogether.

Alone and without the need to stay strong for anyone else, Alex bit back a whimper out of habit when he stepped on his right paw and it collapsed beneath the pain in his shoulder. He tucked the paw against his chest and limped slowly to the dresser. Each step hurt as the force jolted through his silver-laced body. He finally collapsed in the middle of the room. Unable to keep the wolf form any longer, Alex let go of his careful control.

His paws elongated and fingers formed where wolf toes had been. The dark gray fur that covered his body vanished and a chill ran across his skin at the lack. When his shoulder pulled and lifted, he couldn’t quite stifle the cry of pain that tore from his lips.

“Alex, are you okay?” Siale called from the doorway.

The warmth of her voice filled him with strength. Alex pushed up to a sitting position with his arm cradled in his lap.

“I’m alright,” he replied quietly, knowing her werewolf hearing would pick it up.

“If you need help...” Siale’s offer died away.

Alex heard the hint of awkwardness in her voice. Somehow, the thought of her feeling embarrassed brought a smile to Alex’s face. He called back, “I don’t think I can stand without help.”

He heard her hand brush the doorknob. She paused as if gathering herself.

Alex chuckled. “Just kidding. I’ll save you from having to see this.”

He heard her laugh in reply on the other side of the door.

Alex pulled himself up using the dresser. It alarmed him how weak he truly was. Just standing seemed to take every last bit of energy he had. He fumbled for clothes and found black pants with a drawstring that didn’t look too difficult to put on. By the time he managed to get them on both legs and tie the drawstring, sweat ran down his back and burned in the throbbing wound in his shoulder.

The distance from the shelf to the door felt like it expanded as he crossed it. He leaned against the door for a few minutes to catch his breath and will the strength he needed to open it. He finally managed to turn the knob and push it open.

“Alex?” Siale exclaimed, looking at the deep bruises that spread across Alex’s chest from being shot point-blank with his vest on. The blood that flowed down his arm dripped with a quiet patter to the floor. “Oh my goodness. What happened?”

Alex forced a weak smile. “Let’s just say that silver allergies are detrimental to one’s health.”

Kalia threw the door open to her room as if she had been waiting for him to appear. She opened her mouth to say something, but at the sight of him, she closed it again and ducked under his arm.

“He needs to get the bullet out fast,” Kalia told Siale. “Where should we go?”

Siale had paled at the mention of silver. She led the way down the side of the warehouse to another room. The sterile scent of bleach and lemon tickled Alex’s nose. He fought back the urge to sneeze, knowing that if his knees gave out, he would probably be stuck having the bullet removed on the floor.

“Nobody’s come back yet,” Siale said, her voice pinched with worry as she and Kalia helped Alex to a table.

Alex and Kalia exchanged a look.

“They’ll be back soon,” Kalia replied. “Things got a bit dicey, but Jaze will take care of it.”

Siale looked up from soaking gauze in a bowl of water. “Jaze? You mean Jaze Carso?”

Kalia nodded. “He’s our dean.” Her voice faltered. “H-he came to save me.”

Siale looked as if she wanted to ask more questions, but chose to give them some peace. She took out one of the water-soaked gauze pieces and held it to Alex’s shoulder.

The room spun. Alex lowered onto his back on the table before he fell off. He could feel his heart slowing. The silver was making his blood pump sluggishly.

“You’ve got to take it out,” he said, his words slurred.

Siale and Kalia exchanged a wide-eyed look.

“The doctor will be back,” Siale said quickly.

“Yeah, and Colleen will know what to do,” Kalia said.

Alex shook his head. Darkness pressed at the edges of his mind. His stomach cramped and he could barely think. “The silver’s in my bloodstream.” He swallowed against a tight throat, willing his heartbeat to hold. “If anymore leaks from the bullet, it’ll put me into cardiac arrest.”

Tears filled Kalia’s eyes. She looked to Siale for help.

“I, uh...” Siale shook her head. “I don’t know what to do.”

Alex grabbed her arm with his good hand. He couldn’t even close his fingers. “Cut my shoulder. Take out the bullet. Flush the wound. My body can take over after that.” His hand fell away as the weight became too much to hold it up any longer.

Their voices were muffled to his ears. He couldn’t keep his eyes open.

“I-I can’t do it,” Kalia said.

“I’ve never removed a bullet before,” Siale replied, her voice unsteady. “He needs pain-killers.”

Alex’s heart gave a silver-filled pump. He groaned at the pain of the blood flowing through his body.

“There’s,” he took a breath. “No time. Do it.”

Panic filled Kalia’s eyes. Siale looked from her to Alex. Resolve hardened in her gaze. She pushed past Kalia and grabbed the tray. She spoke quietly, but Alex couldn’t make out what she was saying. The ting of metal instruments sounded muffled to his ears. He could barely breathe. He felt himself slipping away.

A dull pressure pressed against his shoulder, then knife-edge pain followed. He gritted his teeth, willing himself to remain silent.

The sound of his blood dripping to the tile floor resonated with the clink of metal against metal and the sound of the blade pulling through his skin. He felt the pressure as instruments dug for the bullet. The pain was dulled by the burning of his body from the silver. He concentrated on breathing, the simple rise and fall of his chest that normally didn’t require thought, but felt as though it would so easily stop if he didn’t force it to happen.

A louder chink of metal against a countertop sounded. More drops fell as the wound was flushed with warm water. A small prick followed. The sound of thread being pulled through his skin was loud and harsh, like sandpaper against a chalkboard.

If the girls spoke, Alex couldn’t hear them above the rush of blood that pounded against his ears. The sigh of air from his lips came with less of a struggle as though the removal of the bullet had lessened the amount of silver in his body enough that his normal systems were remembering how to function on their own.

“Alex?”

He realized he must have dozed off. He opened his eyes. The light from above bored into his retinas. He shielded them with his left hand. It felt like it weighed a ton.

“Can you sit up?” Siale’s quiet voice reminded him of what had happened.

Flashes of the mall, the firefight, and finding Kalia tied in the room beneath the mall made his heart race. Memories of the hounds, werewolves with crazed eyes and death in fangs sent chills up his spine. He could hear them howling and whining as they pursued him and Kalia. He had killed so many, tearing out the throats of werewolves who deserved to live.

“Alex?”

The hand on his arm made him flinch. He shook his head, willing his eyes to focus on the present. He saw both Kalia and Siale watching him. He took a deep breath and pushed himself up. Kalia took his left arm, helping him to a sitting position. Siale’s hand fluttered near his knee as though she didn’t quite dare to touch him after all they had been through.

“There’s a couch in the main room,” Siale said. “You might be more comfortable there. You need to rest.”

Alex eased carefully to his feet. Though his still felt weak, it appeared his legs were willing to hold him. He let the girls guide him through the door of the operating room and into the wide cavern of the warehouse. The need to sleep and heal pushed against the backs of his eyes, beckoning for him give up walking and sleep where he stood. He forced himself to continue until his fingers brushed the upholstery of a brown and orange checkered couch.

He sat, but couldn’t bring himself to lie down and sleep. The girls stood in front of him, watching him anxiously. They needed reassurance. Fear was clear on their faces. He wouldn’t leave them to worry alone.

“Red should be back soon,” he said with a reassuring smile. “I’m sure he and Jaze are together. It was quite the battle at the mall, but we knew to expect such a thing and we were prepared.”

He didn’t tell them that they had never gone against such odds and with so few werewolves to fight with them. He didn’t mention that the hounds were something they had never accounted for, and that he and Kalia got lucky when they found the delivery truck. Werewolf soldiers for the General who killed relentlessly and would obey his orders sent another shudder through Alex’s body.

Kalia voiced what she had been keeping inside. “What if they find us here?”

Alex didn’t need to ask who ‘they’ was. She had just gone through what was probably the worst experience of her life, and he was trying to tell her that they were safe in a warehouse in the same city.

“We’ll be okay,” he said.

He was about to offer for them to sit with him and wait when a sound caught his ears. He rose slowly.

“What is it?” Siale asked. Her hand touched his arm.

Alex didn’t know if she meant to touch him or if the action was unconscious, but the brush of her fingers on his bare skin sent a thrill of warmth up to his shoulder.

Alex had to will his thoughts to focus. He listened carefully, waiting to hear it again. There it was, the quiet fall of footsteps in the alley. Dread washed through him. He didn’t know if he could protect them all, but he would fight. He took a step forward, placing himself between the girls and the back door.

“Someone’s here,” he said softly.

More footsteps followed. The girls stood behind him, their breaths abated. Alex looked around for a weapon. He couldn’t phase again without pushing his heart too far after all he had gone through, and he didn’t have a gun. There wasn’t anything else in sight. Alex’s hands clenched into fists.

The door swung inward, bathing a rectangle on the floor with bright sunlight. Alex squinted, trying to make out the silhouettes of whoever waited in the doorway.

“Alex and Kalia, thank goodness.”

Alex breathed a sigh of relief at Jaze’s voice.

“Alex!”

Cassie burst around the dean and ran down the stairs. The sight of his sister alive and unharmed made Alex want to laugh and cry at the same time. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. He held her with his good arm.

“I’m so glad you’re alright,” he said.

“I thought you were dead,” she replied. “We couldn’t find you and when the General disappeared, we thought he had both of you.”

Her eyes met Kalia’s. Both girls were crying. “I’m so glad you’re safe,” Cassie told Kalia. She reached out and pulled Kalia into the hug, too.

“Kalia!” The rumbled voice made everyone turn. Boris stood at the top of the stairs, relief on his face as he looked down at his sister.

Boris followed Jaze down the stairs along with many other werewolves. Several bore gunshot wounds or jagged fang marks from the hounds. These were assisted into the operating room.

After checking her over to make sure she was alright, Boris caught Kalia up in a tight, relieved hug. Jaze reached Alex at the exact time his sister’s hug was about to strangle him. He ducked from beneath her arm. The motion made his head swim and he stumbled. Siale caught him with a hand on his elbow.

Jaze looked him over quickly. “You smell like silver,” the dean noted. “Are you alright?”

A hand flew to Cassie’s mouth as though she had just noticed the bandages and the bruises that colored his chest in black circles bigger than his fist.

“I’m fine,” Alex reassured her. “Siale and Kalia got the bullet out, or I wouldn’t be standing here right now.”

“You’re barely standing here now,” Cassie replied.

Tennison came up behind her and set a hand on Cassie’s shoulder. “You sure you’re alright?” his sister’s boyfriend asked.

“I’m okay,” Alex replied. Chet and Dray reached them with Trent and Tennison close behind. Trent had a bandage on his forehead that made him look a lot tougher than the sixteen year old could usually manage. Everyone else looked beat up but they were still standing.

“You operated on Alex?” Jaze asked, his eyebrows lifted as he looked at Kalia.

Boris stared at his sister in shock.

Kalia shook her head with embarrassment. “I couldn’t.” She pointed at Siale. “But she did. She saved his life.”

The attention of the little group shifted to Siale. Alex felt her fingers slide off his arm. He noticed the absence of her touch as though she had taken all of the warmth in his body with her. She seemed to shrink behind him as if hoping everyone would forget about her.