Silver (17 page)

I spoke my thoughts. “Well, there are
werewolves who are out of line, dangerous ones who listen too much
to instinct and not enough to their brains or conscience. Sometimes
we can’t handle them by ourselves before humans get hurt.”

Roger jumped on that. “Maybe we could
facilitate a sort of peace between the Hunters and werewolves. You
know, work together and stuff!”

Meg and I both stared at him and I heard
Nikki’s sneakers shift on the carpet. “Are Hunters that organized?”
I asked carefully. I had always pictured the werewolf-hating humans
as individual lunatics with a thirst for wolf blood, not an
organized and controlled group of killers. The thought was as scary
as it was reassuring.

Roger nodded. “The Hunters are very
organized. There’s a central hub where all Hunter activities are
monitored and where we receive our assignments; they know roughly
how many werewolves live in each area and send us out in task
forces for control situations.” He stopped and glanced at Meg.

“
Mass genocide,” I said
quietly. “Not pretty, but smart. Especially if they think what
they’re doing is for the common good.”

“
But they just don’t know,”
Meg replied, her tone gentle.

I nodded and took a breath to rein in my
emotions. “We’ll deal with that later.” I turned back to Roger.
“You asked what was going on with the Alphas. It probably fits in
with how the Hunters think we all are.” I shook my head and
continued, “My uncle, Mason, is in the process of killing all the
Alphas in the hope of controlling their wolves. As far as I can
tell, he wants power over all the North American packs. He's not an
Alpha himself, but if he wipes out all of the Alphas, he'll be the
next in line.”

They stared at me, eyes reflecting their
shock. Meg spoke, “We’ve got to tell the others.”

Roger and I both shook our heads at the same
time. Nikki took a few more steps down the hall until she stood
just out of sight. “They’d bring Hunters to kill all the
werewolves, not just the ones involved,” I stated firmly. “There
are innocent werewolves who deserve to live peaceful lives.”

Meg snorted, but I could tell the derision
was a habit. I pressed on, “What I need is your help to find
Mason’s home base so that I can defeat him and end the
killing.”

“
And all the wolves will
just go quietly back to their homes?” Meg asked with doubt heavy in
her voice.

She frowned when I nodded. “As organized as
Hunters seem to be, I’m guessing we come out on top when it comes
to listening to Alphas. What Mason is doing is wrong, but because
he’s the strongest wolf around thanks to his killing spree, no one
can challenge him.”

Roger studied me. “But you can.”
I nodded. “I can and I will. What he’s doing is horrible and I’m
going to put an end to it one way or another. I can’t let him hurt
anyone else.”

Meg’s voice grew gentle. “He had something
to do with how your father died, didn’t he?”

I nodded and clenched my fists to control
the rage the thought brought to the surface. When I could trust my
voice again, I forced out, “Yet another reason I don’t want Mom
involved in any of this.”

“
She’s not a werewolf
though, is she?” Meg asked.

I shook my head and ignored the way my chest
constricted at the relief in her eyes. “She’s not. It’s a fluke I’m
an Alpha, but we’ll use it to our advantage.”
Meg and Roger glanced at each other, and Meg nodded. “We owe it to
Nikki to help out however we can. We let her get involved in this
and didn't realize she was in too deep until it was almost too
late.” She blinked the sudden shine of tears from her eyes. “We owe
you for saving her life, and she won't be out of danger until
things are settled.”

I heard Nikki step around the corner and
turned when her parents did. “I want in, too.”

“
No,” her mother said.
“It’s too dangerous.”

Nikki shook her head. “You’re always leaving
me out of everything. I can help and I want to this time.”

Her father rose and took her hand, his eyes
softening. “Nikki, darling, we just don’t want you to get
hurt.”

She pulled her hand from his and I could
hear from the way she breathed that she was fighting back tears. “A
little late for that, Dad.” She saw the pain in his eyes and
touched his arm. “It’s not like I’m asking to be thrown into the
middle of a werewolf battle, but if I can help somehow, I want to
be included.”

Roger hesitated, then nodded despite the
stubborn look on his wife’s face. “We’ll include you. Just promise
you’ll be careful.”

Nikki nodded. “I promise.”

Roger took a deep breath, and then turned to
me. “Alright, where do we begin?”

It took another day before I felt well
enough to sit through school, and one more before Nikki’s mom
agreed to let me. She didn't want any of us where Mason could find
us unexpectedly, but I had to go. Alpha instinct wouldn't let me
lie low when the safety of my loved ones was at stake. I had to
speak to Chet to tell him about Mason's intentions and also to see
if I could keep him from lashing out at Nikki and her family.

We sat around the table that morning and I
could feel Meg's worry tight in the air. “I'll go by myself,” I
said for the twentieth time. “I can take care of it.”

Nikki pointed her waffle-laden fork at me.
“You're not going alone and you know it, so stop saying that.”

Roger nodded. “You'll both be alright as
long as you keep your weapons handy and your wits about you.”

Meg rolled her eyes. “I still don't
understand why you have to go. If Chet thinks he won, he'll leave
you alone, right?”

My hands clenched into fists at the thought
of Chet thinking he had beat me when he had used his whole pack to
do it and still failed. I willed my hands to relax and took a
calming breath. “I have to face Chet and tell him about his
parents, and I have to show him that he didn't hurt me.” Meg's
eyebrows lifted and I fought back a grimace. “At least as much as I
can hide. I'll call for Alpha Accord. He'll have to talk to me
then.”

“
What's Alpha Accord?”
Roger pressed.

I wondered how many laws I had broken by
mentioning it, but it was too late and the laws hadn't protected my
family so my respect of them was dwindling rapidly. I rubbed the
back of my neck and winced when the movement pulled at my healing
wounds. “It's a meeting between two Alphas. When an Alpha calls for
Alpha Accord, no other werewolf is allowed to touch him until he
and the Alpha speak. After that, it's up to the Alpha in charge of
the pack to decide what he wants to do.”

“
So he could have his
wolves attack you?” Meg asked, concern in her voice.

I nodded, but didn't let the worry I felt
show. “He won't after he's heard what I have to say. I need him on
my side and I need to get to him before Mason does. The longer I
wait, the more innocent lives are at stake.”

Meg sighed, but knew if I wanted to leave
the house, they couldn't stop me. “Alright, but you have your
knives and the guns?”

I gritted my teeth, but nodded. Meg and
Roger had taken Mason's methods to the next step, coating
break-away silver knives in a silver-based gel to immediately slow
any werewolves we used them on. They had also given us small
pistols with silver bullets that we each carried in our backpacks.
All of the weapons were cased in a specially formulated plastic
that would hide the metal from the metal detectors at school. It
felt like overkill to me, but I couldn't argue against parents
protecting their daughter from a pack of angry werewolves.

It felt funny listening to Meg and Roger,
but I owed them my life and the fact that they were willing to help
still felt like a crazy dream. My stomach and side ached from the
slowly healing knife wounds, but I had more energy and my strength
was returning. I had spoken to Mom a few times on the phone. She
was worried when she couldn’t reach me the first day after the
attack, but when I explained the neighbors had convinced me to stay
at their place, she was thrilled. I just failed to mention it was
because I had been ripped apart by werewolves. I felt guilty but
knew it was better this way.

The doorbell rang and I jumped even though I
had listened to the footsteps up the stairs. I pushed down the
anxiety building in my chest and rose, pretending not to notice the
glances Meg and Roger exchanged. Brock met Nikki and I at the front
door with a big grin.

“
I knew you were alive!” he
exclaimed and gave me a punch on the shoulder that woke up the ache
in my muscles from the silver poisoning. He threw his arms around
me and hugged me tight.

I finally shrugged him off, embarrassed but
happy to see him, too. “Well, someone had to protect you on your
walks to school. How did you manage when I was gone?” My tone was
only teasing on the surface.

Brock grinned. “I told my mom I was sick.
She let me stay home and play video games. Best sickness ever.”

Nikki and I laughed. I moved to sling my
backpack over my shoulder, but Brock grabbed it from me. “I’ll get
that.”

“
Hey!” I
protested.

Brock shook his head. “You should be dead
after what you’ve been through. The last thing you need is to be
hauling a heavy load of books to school.” He shook the backpack
with a suspicious look. “Although this is surprisingly light.”

I laughed again but the pain that laced
through my stomach stole my breath. “You know I don’t study,” I
managed to get out. I leaned against Nikki’s porch railing for
support.

Brock grinned, but I could see the worry in
his eyes. He slung the backpack over one shoulder. “Well, I suppose
I should be grateful you don’t want to pass your junior year.”

“
Watch it,” I said with
mock anger.

“
Whatcha gonna do? Breathe
on me?” he teased. I grabbed for him and he danced just out of
reach. “Uh-huh, just what I thought. I guess I’ll be protecting you
on the way to school.”

I grimaced and followed him down the
sidewalk, Nikki at my side. The knives strapped to my ankle felt
conspicuous and strongly out of place, but their weight was
reassuring given the exhaustion that refused to leave my body. I
felt a surge of gratitude that Meg had fashioned the knife holster
so that the silver wouldn't touch my skin.

By the time we reached the school, I
regretted not taking one more day to help my body recover. When we
entered the front doors, the smell of silver from all the students
making their way through the metal detectors hit me full force. I
breathed out of my mouth and fought back a wave of nausea. I
glanced at Brock and he shouldered past me. “I got this,” he
whispered as he went by.

Brock dropped some silver wristbands, a
couple rings, and two silver chains into two separate cups,
discreetly handed me one, then passed his to the security guard as
he went through the metal detector. I did the same, took my cup on
the other side, and slipped it back to him with a sigh of relief.
Even being that close to silver made my skin crawl. Brock gave me a
thumbs-up and tossed the contents of both cups into his
backpack.

Members of Chet’s pack stared at us as we
made our way down the hall. Nikki walked so close to me our
shoulders touched, but the werewolves didn’t seem to notice her. I
met their shocked gazes until they remembered protocol and dropped
their eyes. Several wore slings and bandages, and Shane, one of the
smaller members of the pack, had a splint from his elbow to his
wrist from Meg's bullet. I felt like a weight lifted off my
shoulders knowing he had survived being shot and I smiled despite
his glare. The pack took off down the hall together and I knew we
wouldn't catch Chet by surprise. His anticipation of our arrival
could make things a bit harder, but it was too late to turn back
now.

Mouse leaned against my locker and his eyes
lit up when he saw us walking down the hall. I patted his shoulder
in thanks and he grinned at me, pushing his glasses up on his nose.
“You’ve walked into the lion’s den,” he whispered.

“
I know, I planned on
that,” I told him. He nodded, his eyes worried. I threw my mostly
empty backpack in the locker, then Mouse, Nikki, and Brock followed
me toward the side hall where Chet and his pack hung
out.

“
You’re meeting him now?”
Brock asked; he fought to keep his voice down.

“
Better now than later,” I
said. He looked around me at Nikki, but I pretended not to notice
and kept walking, leaving them to catch up or fall behind. I fought
to keep my breath steady, alarmed at how quickly my returning
strength wavered, but I forced any sign of weakness or pain down
when I rounded the corner.

Most of Chet’s pack stood around him with
their backs to us. After a few steps down the hall, the closest
wolves smelled me and turned. “What the-“ Chet growled. Then he
looked straight into my eyes. His gaze widened then narrowed. He
glared at me. “What are you doing here?”

“
We need to talk,” I said.
I was aware of the way his pack began to inch around my sides to
get behind me. I heard the scuff of a shoe and Nikki, Mouse, and
Brock were at my shoulders.

Chet shook his head. “Never.”

I threw down the one law he couldn’t break.
“I demand Alpha Accord.”

His brow lowered angrily and he gestured to
the hallway. “Here?”

I pointed to the bathroom door. Max, his
second in command, stepped into the bathroom. A slight scuffle
ensued and two students rushed out and sped past us, throwing
glances over their shoulders. He nodded at Chet.

“
You first,” Chet said with
a dangerous gleam in his eyes.