Werewolf Academy Book 4: Taken (4 page)

To Alex, they were his mom and dad, they had held his fingers when he learned to walk, had been there for his first lost tooth, and the first time he phased. His mother used to worry when he would go out roaming with his brother Jet. She would put her foot down with the same stern jaw set as Meredith, but Dad had always been the one to remind her that boys needed freedom, and no one would keep Alex safer than Jet.

“Can I talk to your mother alone for a minute?” Jaze asked, breaking Alex from his thoughts.

Alex nodded and left the room, pulling the door shut behind him. He didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but as a werewolf, it was impossible not to hear the voices from other room, even with a closed door in between. He wondered if Jaze had counted on that.

“What if they betray him, Jaze? What then?” Meredith asked, her voice heated with worry.

Jaze’s reply was calm and sincere. “To me, the opposite is worse. I worry that werewolves won’t learn to trust humans, and that our fear will keep us apart forever. Without trust, our lives will never hold peace. These humans trusted him enough to invite him into their home. Alex can protect himself. If he can trust them in return, perhaps they can make waves that will impact these next generations.”

The room was silent for a few minutes. Meredith finally said, “You’ll know where he is?”

“At all times,” Jaze reassured her.

A smile spread across Alex’s face.

Chapter Three

Alex was surprised at how hard his heart was pounding when he parked the motorcycle in front of the apartment building that matched the address Cherish had written down.

“I can’t believe you’re doing this,” Trent said into his headset. “And here I thought my job was to keep you from doing something stupid. Now the dean signs off on this? You’re unarmed
and
alone? Who’s to make sure you come back in one piece?”

“I am,” Alex replied. He had argued with Trent during the entire trip to Greyton. Part of him wondered why he hadn’t just turned off the headset the werewolf had placed in his helmet; the other part replied that he liked to frazzle Trent, and visiting the humans was doing a fantastic job.

“You’re insane, Alex. You have a death wish. Why else would you willingly meet with five people who are probably planning to put a bullet through your heart, and a silver one at that?”

“Because life is getting just a little too boring,” Alex replied. He could hear Trent sputtering on the other end. He grinned and said, “I’ll talk to you in a few hours. Don’t freak out.”

“I’m already freaking out,” his friend replied. “Don’t be an idiot.”

“You’ve already informed me twenty different ways in which I am being an idiot,” Alex said. “And I think you said it in a few different languages as well.”

“Cursing you out in Latin at least gives me practice,” Trent muttered.

“I’d say your Spanish and French are rusty, but I’d probably be wrong, because I don’t speak Spanish or French,” Alex told him. “Do you know what I speak?”

“What?” Trent replied, clearly past the edge of his patience.

“I speak Hungarian, because I’m hungry. Get it?”

“That was perhaps the worst joke in the history of the world,” Trent said dryly.

“But it made you smile,” Alex replied, pulling off his helmet.

“I’m not smiling.”

Alex put the helmet on his foot peg.

“Alex, I’m not smiling,” Trent shouted.

“I’m going to enjoy my dinner,” Alex told him.

He could still hear Trent’s protests as he made his way up the steps of the apartment complex. He pulled the front door open and walked inside. The scent of more than a hundred humans living in one building stopped him. He glanced around quickly, more nervous than he cared to admit. He had left all weapons at the Academy to make a point; he was starting to regret the decision.

Alex pulled the paper out of his pocket. The directions said third floor apartment B. He put the paper away and jogged up the stairs. When he reached the third floor, he walked quietly down the thin carpet. To a werewolf, the slightest brush of fibers against the bottom of his shoes would give him away no matter how carefully he walked. To a human, he knew such a sound was inaudible, but it made him self-conscious just the same.

Sounds came from the door marked A. He could hear a baby gurgle and the quiet voice of a woman. A child piped up, asking for a cup of milk. The woman’s reply was kind.

Alex crossed to the apartment marked B. The sound of people talking and laughing floated from beneath the door. The scent of spaghetti and meatballs wafted with it. Alex’s stomach growled, reminding him that he was truly hungry. He took a steeling breath and lifted his hand.

His knuckles hit the wood of the door like a tree falling. The talking inside the apartment stopped. Someone hurried to the door and pulled it open.

Alex couldn’t help but smile at the look of happy surprise on Cherish’s face. “I was hoping you’d come!” she exclaimed. She grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. Her black hair was caught back in a thick braid and she wore a blue dress, looking far from the tom boy Alex had met at the park.

“You look beautiful,” he said honestly. He could feel the heat rush to his cheeks.

Cherish laughed. “Don’t say that too loud. I don’t want the boys to start getting ideas.”

She pulled him through the small living room and down a short hall to the source of the spaghetti scent. Alex paused when they reached the kitchen.

The four other human students from the park were already sitting around a table.

“Hey, Alex,” Tanner said with a nod.

A woman at the stove turned. Her cheekbones and long black hair with gray at the temples gave no doubt that she was Cherish’s mother. She smiled, her eyes creasing at the corners.

“Mom, this is Alex the werewolf.”

Alex stared at Cherish.

She laughed at his expression. “It’s okay. Mom’s best friend growing up was a werewolf. You don’t have to worry.”

Cherish’s mother crossed the small tiled floor and held out a hand to Alex. He shook it carefully.

“Pleased to meet you, Alex,” she said without a hint of nervousness. “I’m Mrs. Summers. I’m glad you came for dinner.”

“Me, too,” Alex replied, but it came out sounding like a question.

“We saved you a seat,” Sarah said. She patted the chair between her and Jen on one side of the rectangular table.

Alex sat, aware of Tanner and Josh’s attention from across the wooden surface. It didn’t feel thick enough by far to be sitting between both humans’ girlfriends.

“Thanks for the other day,” Josh said.

“Yeah,” Tanner seconded. “That was pretty awesome.”

“And scary,” Jen said. She pulled on a strand of her red hair as though it was a habit. “I thought we were going to die.”

Mrs. Summers set a big bowl of spaghetti in the middle of the table. She gave Alex a warm but worried smile. “The kids told me what you did. That was very brave.”

Alex shook his head. “Fighting Extremists is part of being a werewolf. It’s the only way I can keep those I care about safe.”

“It’s dangerous,” Sarah said.

Alex was touched by their concern. He hadn’t known what to expect at the dinner, but the humans’ fear for his safety hadn’t crossed his mind.

“It gives me something to fight for,” he said quietly.

Mrs. Summers sat down at the head of the table. Cherish took a seat between the two boys across from Alex. She handed him a roll, put one on her plate, then passed the bowl to Tanner.

“What ever happened to your friend?” Josh asked, looking at Mrs. Summers.

She shook her head with a sad expression. “I’m not sure. We were close through high school, and then during our senior year, she disappeared. I still look for her, but haven’t been able to find her since.”

“I could ask Jaze,” Alex said.

Mrs. Summers’ eyebrows rose. “You know Jaze Carso?”

Alex nodded. “He’s sort of been like my father since my sister and I moved to the Academy.”

Josh whistled. “Jaze Carso is your father figure? That’s amazing.”

“What do you know about him?” Alex asked curiously.

Tanner spoke up. “Only that he’s a legend. They tried everything they could to kill him, but they failed and he saved his people anyway. He’s the deadliest werewolf there is.”

“Yeah, only Jet would have him beat on that title,” Josh said.

Alex fought back a smile.

Cherish caught the look. “What is it?”

“Jet was my brother,” Alex admitted. He felt no sorrow with the statement, only a surge of pride at the amazement on the humans’ faces. It was obvious they had heard more about Jet and Jaze than he realized, and the fact that his words weren’t met with fear or loathing filled him with a sense of liberation.

“Maybe we’ll find Jacey yet,” Mrs. Summers said, passing Sarah the bowl of spaghetti.

“I know Jaze won’t give up until he’s followed every lead,” Alex reassured her. “If you want to write down what you remember about her, I’ll make sure it gets to him.”

“I sure appreciate that,” Mrs. Summers replied.

“All that and you don’t even know how to play soccer,” Josh said, shaking his head dramatically.

“Hey, I learned,” Alex replied.

“After nearly taking out that kid on the slide,” Jen said with a laugh.

Alex grinned sheepishly. “I was hoping you would’ve forgotten about that.”

“Guess it’d be hard not to be strong all the time,” Cherish said.

Alex’s brow furrowed as he twirled spaghetti around his fork. “I usually don’t have to think about it. At the Academy, everyone’s a werewolf, so we don’t have to hide.”

“The whole school is werewolves?” Sarah asked in awe.

Alex nodded, worried for a second that he had made a serious mistake. Nobody was supposed to know that Vicki Carso’s Preparatory Academy was only for werewolves. If word got out, the Extremists would attack in full force. The General and Drogan didn’t know, or else they would have already leveled the school.

“It makes sense,” Mrs. Summers noted before taking a bite of her salad. “You need a place to hide out.”

“It’s more of somewhere to be normal,” Alex explained. He realized the truth of the words as soon as he said them. “Jaze has given us the chance to just be ourselves without having to hide what we are. We can phase without worrying about being seen, and we learn about our wolf heritage as well as our human side.”

“Wolf heritage,” Josh repeated, his eyes wide. “That’s awesome!” He took a huge bite of his spaghetti.

Alex shrugged a bit uncomfortably. To him it was normal, but to humans he wondered how sharing DNA with an animal really came across.

Jen set a hand on Josh’s arm and he winced.

“What was that?” Cherish asked.

Josh gave a self-conscious smile and pulled back his sleeve. On his forearm was a firefighter helmet with a badge bearing the words Fire and Rescue below it. The tattoo was red around the edges.

“Did you just get that done?” Tanner asked. “It looks amazing.”

Josh nodded. He caught Alex’s gaze. “My dad was a firefighter. He died last year. I’ve been asking my mom ever since to let me get this done and she finally gave in.”

“I think that’s a good tribute,” Alex told him. Josh gave a grateful smile.

“Does it hurt?” Sarah asked.

Josh shrugged. “A bit when they did it, but it feels more like road rash right now. I’m glad I got it.”

Mrs. Summers squeezed his shoulder as she walked by with the empty spaghetti bowl. “Your dad would be so proud of you. You take such good care of your mom and brother.”

“I’m glad to have them,” Josh replied, pulling his sleeve back down. “And to have this girl.” He drew Jen close and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

She laughed and hugged him. “You’re so cheesy. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Josh replied, smiling down at her.

“Gross,” Cherish said.

Everyone laughed.

A few minutes later, Sarah nudged Tanner. “We’d better get home. It’s getting late.”

Alex glanced outside. The sun was just starting to set. Cherish gave him an apologetic smile. “The city’s not safe after sundown.”

“You mean with bullies like Ruse?” Alex asked.

Cherish shook her head. “Not exactly. They’re mild compared to what else is out there.”

Sarah nodded with a shiver as she rose and pulled on her puffy purple coat. “The gangs take over after dark. Depending on what block you’re on, you might get robbed, beat up, or end up dead on the sidewalk.”

“It’s not pleasant,” Tanner said, helping her with her yellow scarf.

“Want a bodyguard?” Alex asked.

Tanner chuckled, but Sarah nodded quickly. “Yes, please.”

“Were you kidding?” Tanner asked.

Alex shook his head. “Not at all. I’d be glad to make sure you get home safe.”

“We’ll walk with you, too,” Jen said.

Josh rose and helped clear bowls from the table while the girls finished getting ready. Alex washed the dishes in the sink while Cherish wiped down the table.

“It’s nice to have so much help,” Mrs. Summers said when they were done. “It sure gets everything cleaned up much quicker.”

“Are you saying I’m slow, Mom?” Cherish asked with a teasing smile.

“No, honey,” Mrs. Summer replied, leaning over to kiss the top of her head. “You just take more time to do things.”

“So I’m slow,” Cherish repeated with a laugh.

Her mother laughed as well. “Okay, if you want to take it like that.”

The others were ready to go. Alex waited by the door.

“Do you need a coat?” Mrs. Summers asked.

Alex shook his head. “I don’t really get cold, but thank you for the offer.”

“Come on back after,” Cherish invited. “We usually have hot cocoa before bed. It helps to keep the chill away.”

“I will,” Alex promised.

The walk down the stairs and then out to the street was quiet. Though cars rushed down the road, no one was in sight on the sidewalks. It felt eerie to walk between the apartment buildings knowing that they were filled with families but seeing no sign of them. Spray-painted graffiti tagged walls and posts with gang signs and names.

“They’re getting bolder,” Sarah said quietly. “It used to be you only saw the tags in the alleys or in the Saa.”