Werewolf Academy Book 4: Taken (6 page)

“Beside you,” Cherish said with a smile. “That’s fast.”

Alex shook his head with an answering smile. “I’m not going to propose to her the next time I see her or anything, but I worry they’ll find her.” He smile slipped. “I can’t let the General hurt her again.”

Cherish stared at him. “You rescued her from General Carso?”

Alex nodded. “What do you know about him?”

She sat back in her chair and pulled her knees up under her chin. “They don’t let much information through. If you search on the Internet, it’s like the stories are being erased as quickly as they’re put up.” Her eyebrows drew together. “But from what I’ve seen, he’s done some very horrible things.” She tipped her head to look at him. “Like kill your brother.”

“And his son killed my parents.” Alex leaned his elbow on the table. “They’re not a very nice family.” His heart clenched at the thought that he was a part of that family.

“What is it?” Cherish asked. “You’re holding something in.”

Alex studied her. “Are you sure you don’t want to be a psychiatrist?”

Cherish gave a soft laugh in reply. “Let’s just say I’m a pretty good judge of people.”

Alex nodded. “I’ll give you that.”

She crossed her arms around her knees. “So you’re not going to tell me?”

Alex hesitated, then shook his head. “I think I’ve told you more tonight than any of my friends know. I don’t know why I did that.”

Cherish shrugged. “I’m a good listener?”

Alex smiled. “Yes, you are. Thank you.”

“Any time,” Cherish replied. She tried to stifle a yawn, but it escaped. “Sorry,” she said. “I guess it’s late.”

Alex rose. “I should get going. We both have school tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Cherish said, standing up. “I don’t want to keep you from your ninja combat classes.”

Alex laughed. “That’s not all we learn.” He grinned at her. “We have poetry classes as well.”

Cherish opened the door with a shake of her head. “I’d love to see werewolves reciting poetry.”

Alex grimaced. “It’s not always good poetry. Trust me. Torin, one of the Alphas, once wrote a poem about a shoe.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“He rhymed sole with potato.”

It was Cherish’s turn to grimace. “That is bad.”

Alex stepped out into the hallway. “Thanks again,” he told her. “This was nice. Really nice.”

“Come back soon,” she told him. “Our house is open to everyone for Sunday dinner.” She gave a teasing smile. “Maybe you could bring your girlfriend when you finally get to telling her how you feel.”

“If it was that simple,” Alex replied with a dramatic shake of his head.

Cherish laughed. “Goodnight, Alex.”

“Goodnight, Cherish.”

Chapter Five

Alex pushed the receiver button near the shield on his helmet as he climbed onto the motorcycle. “Trent?”

“Finally,” Trent replied immediately.

“Have you been waiting all day?” Alex asked.

“Well, yeah.” Trent’s dismay was obvious. “Your mother insisted, and she calls down every five minutes to see if I’ve heard from you. She’s convinced the humans have eaten you for dinner or something.” His voice lowered. “It’s late enough that I was getting concerned, too.”

Alex smiled. “You know I can handle myself.”

“I don’t know how many there are, if they’ve contacted the General, if they know about silver, if they—”

“Okay, okay, I get the point,” Alex said, his tone gentle despite the sarcasm of his words. “I think my mom’s gotten to you.”

“I do, too,” Trent said with a half-laugh.

Alex cleared the last building. The dark horizon swept away, rolling hills scattered with small towns where lights only showed in a few windows at the late hour. “I’m already clear of Greyton and on my way home. That should give both of you some relief.”

“I already knew that,” Trent replied, reminding him of the tracking device beneath the motorcycle’s gas cap.

Alex had debated removing the device, but he knew the freedom the dean gave him was bought with trust, even if Trent was on the tracking end of that trust. He would leave the chip unless he had a real need to take it out.

“Will you put me through to Siale?”

“Alex, it’s two in the morning. I don’t think she’ll be awake.”

“Just humor me,” Alex said.

“Fine,” Trent replied, but there was long-suffering in his dramatic sigh that told Alex he actually enjoyed doing the werewolf’s bidding.

Alex didn’t know what he had done to deserve such a friend, but knowing that Trent was always at the other end of the line keeping an eye on him made him feel better rather than trapped. Wolves were meant to be pack animals. It was good to know that his pack always had his back.

“Alex?”

The sound of Siale’s voice sent a rush of warmth through him. A smile spread across his face even though she couldn’t see it. “Hi, Siale. Sorry to wake you.”

“I wasn’t asleep,” she said.

“Liar,” he replied at the grogginess in her voice.

She laughed. “Yeah, well, decent werewolves go to bed at a decent hour.”

“Is that a quote from your dad?”

“How’d you guess?” Siale asked wryly.

Alex’s smile refused to go away. Just hearing her voice put him in an extremely good mood. “It just seems like something Red would say; although that really doesn’t apply on full moons.”

“No,” she said. “It really doesn’t. I’ll have to ask him how he feels about that.”

Alex laughed. “I’m sure he’ll have an answer.” He weaved the motorcycle around a patch of snow that had been blown into the road.

“What are you doing out so late?”

“I had dinner with some human friends,” Alex replied. While everyone else might only know pieces of his life, he had decided from the moment he met Siale that she would know everything she wanted to. That way, it was up to her to decide whether she truly wanted to be a part of his life.

“That’s a new one,” Siale said with a hint of surprise. “Do you have dinner with humans often?”

“Tonight was the first time, actually,” Alex admitted. “And it was nice.”

“No silver daggers?”

Alex laughed. “Now you sound like Trent.”

“I don’t want that to happen,” Siale replied in a tone of mock worry.

“I’ll introduce you when you get to the Academy,” Alex promised. “He and his sister are great.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Siale replied sincerely.

The thought of Siale coming to the Academy filled Alex with hope that things would look up. It was going to be difficult with Kalia, he had no doubt about that, but having Siale close by was more than he had dared to hope when he watched her be lifted out of the body pit. How she had survived the entire night let alone make it through her recovery as well as she had still amazed him.

“Dad’s been insisting that he and I need to watch old movies together,” Siale said. She sighed. “He has a whole collection. I guess he and Mom used to watch them together all the time, so I really can’t say no.”

“Have you seen anything good?”

“He showed me ‘My Fair Lady.’ It made me cry.”

The thought of Siale crying made Alex’s hands clench. He had to force himself to relax his grip on the gas. “Is that a good thing?” he asked carefully.

“Yes,” Siale replied. “It’s a beautiful movie.”

Alex let out a slow breath.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Alex told her honestly. “I just don’t like to hear about you crying. It makes me want to hit something.”

The laugh Siale gave was warm as though his words touched her. “You don’t have to worry about me, Alex. It’s okay if I cry once in a while.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Alex replied quietly.

“You worry too much. Now who’s sounding like Trent?” she asked.

Alex snorted. “I just don’t know if you need other things to make you cry after what you’ve been through.”

“We were there together,” Siale reminded him, her voice gentle. “You’re the one who pulled us both through. If it wasn’t for you...”

“I would do it again a million times,” Alex told her truthfully.

“I don’t think I could.”

“I’ll make sure you never have to,” Alex vowed.

Silence filled the space between them. The hum of the tires on the frozen asphalt filled Alex with peace. “It’s beautiful tonight,” he told her, glancing up at the stars. “You should see the sky.”

“Light pollution out here’s kind-of killed that for me,” Siale replied. “I don’t remember the last time I actually saw more than two or three stars at a time.” She paused, then said, “Describe what you see.”

Alex smiled at the request. He pushed back the shield on his helmet and looked up as he drove. “The sky’s so dark it looks like someone’s wrapped the world in black velvet, and the stars shine through bright and clear as though the same person poked a hole in the velvet in a million places and is shining a light through.” He paused. “I’m not a poet,” he said, embarrassed.

“It sounds beautiful,” Siale replied with a hint of longing.

“It is.” Alex looked back at the road with just enough time to register the deer standing in his lane, its eyes reflecting the light of his headlight. “Crap.”

Even his werewolf skills didn’t give him enough time to react. He slammed into the deer so hard he flew over the top of the motorcycle. He managed to pull his arms in before he hit the road on his side. He slid along the asphalt, hearing the scrape of the gravel tear his shirt and the skin of his shoulder.

Alex stopped in the middle of the road. He glanced over his aching shoulder far enough to confirm that he wasn’t about to be run over. At the sight of the unbroken expanse of black road trailing like a ribbon into the night, Alex let his head fall back to the pavement.

“Alex, are you okay?” Siale asked in panic.

Alex gave a short, painful chuckle. “Yes, just stupid.”

“What happened?” Relief filled her words at the sound of his voice.

“I hit a deer.”

“On your motorcycle? Are you sure you’re okay?”

Alex took in a testing breath and let it out slowly. “Just a bit road burned, and a few bruised ribs.” He sat up gingerly. A glance at the deer showed it motionless near his motorcycle. “But I’m afraid I can’t say the same for the deer.”

Alex stood. His vision swam for a moment, telling him he should probably have waited longer before moving. He gritted his teeth and limped toward the animal.

The deer was definitely dead. Its neck was bent at an unnatural angle across his fallen motorcycle and its eyes were glazed over.

“At least I don’t have to kill it,” Alex said quietly. He knelt by the animal’s side with a flood of remorse. He set a hand on its neck. The animal’s fur was still warm. He could smell the fresh blood spilling out on the ground. At least the animal hadn’t suffered.

“What are you going to do?” Siale asked. “Do you need help?”

“Let’s see what I have to work with.”

Alex limped around the deer to his motorcycle. A quick check of his aching leg showed the skin from his knee to his ankle had been removed by the abrasive road. He knew his shoulder didn’t look much better. The gravel and dirt embedded in the wounds would slow the healing process if he didn’t get them cleaned out.

He grabbed a bottle of water from the saddlebag on the side of the motorcycle. He didn’t realize his hands were shaking until he tried to open the lid.

“Apparently I can fight Extremists and hounds without a problem, but let me hit a deer on my bike and I’m shaking like a leaf,” Alex said wryly.

“Alex, you’ve been through a trauma,” Siale told him, her voice thick with concern. “You’re probably in shock.”

“I’ll get over it,” Alex replied. He tipped his helmet back enough that he could drink some water but still stay in contact with Siale. The cool liquid calmed his nerves. He shoved his helmet back on and bent over so he could pour water on his leg.

“What was that?” Siale asked.

Alex hadn’t realized he’d made a sound. “Oh, just cleaning my leg.”

“Sounds like it hurts,” she replied quietly.

“Or your boyfriend’s just a sissy.”

Alex paused. He hadn’t meant to call himself her boyfriend. As he had told Cherish, they had only spoken face to face twice. The first time was in the body pit when she was half-unconscious from pain, and the second was when she had removed a bullet from his shoulder before the silver could kill him. Neither had led to the discussion of relationships.

“You’re not a sissy,” Siale replied without addressing his poorly timed words.

Gratitude filled him at her discretion. “I hate to admit it, but sometimes I am.” He poured the rest of the water bottle over his shoulder. The twisting it took to reach the wound told him that there were a few other injuries he didn’t want to take into account.

When the bottle was empty, Alex found a piece of his shirt that hadn’t been torn up by the road and scrubbed both wounds.

“Alex, you’re really quiet. It worries me,” Siale said.

“I’m trying to clean my road rash without further confirming my sissy status,” Alex replied tightly as he worked several stubborn rocks from his leg. Thankfully, his shoulder proved a bit less rock-filled. He finished them both and tucked the remains of his shirt into the saddlebag with the empty water bottle.

“Now for the part I’ve been dreading,” Alex said. “Let’s see what the damage to the motorcycle is.”

“That’s the part you’ve been dreading?” Siale repeated with a little laugh.

Alex clenched his jaw at the pull to his wounds as he righted the motorcycle.

“How’s your bike?”

“Better than I thought it would be,” Alex replied with relief. While the road had scraped a good amount of paint from the side and broken the left saddlebag, the frame and roll bar had prevented a lot more damage. The deer’s body had broken his headlight and dented the front fender, but Alex was able to straighten it with his hands enough that it didn’t rub on the tire.

He looked from the still form of the deer to the motorcycle.

“I have an idea,” he said.

“Are you doing what I think you’re doing?” Siale asked suspiciously.

Alex grinned as he hefted the deer onto his shoulders. “If you think I’m tying the deer to the back of my motorcycle so I can take it back to Rafe’s pack, then yeah.”

Siale laughed. “That’s what I thought you were doing.”

Alex set the deer on the back of the seat and used the straps from his saddlebags to tie it down. “I couldn’t just leave it. It seems like such a waste. At least if I feed the wolves, its death will have a purpose.”

“I like that,” Siale replied. “But are you sure you can drive a motorcycle with a deer on the back?”

“We’ll see,” Alex said. He brought his leg around gingerly and sat on the seat. He rolled his shoulders in an effort to work out their stiffness. “At least I still have over an hour before I get back to the Academy.”

“Why is that good?”

“Because I can heal before Trent sees that his worry is for a good reason.”

Siale laughed. “Someone needs to take care of you.”

Alex thought of Cassie and his mom. “Don’t worry. There will be plenty of scolding when I get back.”

“Glad to hear it,” Siale told him.

“Whose side are you on?” Alex asked good-naturedly as he kicked the motorcycle into gear and eased it up the road.

“Whoever’s side will keep you from getting yourself killed,” Siale replied.

“It’s probably the side of those who will be doing the scolding,” Alex admitted with a chuckle. He shifted the motorcycle into a higher gear. The weight of the deer on the back made him steer with more conscious thought, but he had evened it out the best he could and it didn’t tip the motorcycle too strongly to either side. He settled into the highest gear and sped down the road, this time searching the forest for deer. He wasn’t sure he or the motorcycle could take another hit.