Werewolf Academy Book 2: Hunted (27 page)

“Are they afraid?”

Boris nodded without speaking.

“I should have insisted that you went with your dad instead of me,” Alex admitted.

Boris shook his head. “It sounds like my dad gave you no choice if you wanted to stay here.” True regret crossed his face. “You shouldn’t have been put in that position.”

Alex shrugged. “I didn’t mind. Sometimes it feels good to hit someone.”

Boris chuckled at that. “I know what you mean.” He gestured to Alex’s face. “You don’t look so good.”

Alex grinned, feeling blood in his teeth
from when his face had hit the mantle. “You’re pretty banged up yourself. You might want to hide from the servants for a while.”

Boris laughed. “Just what I need. For them to be even more scared of me.”

“You like people being scared of you,” Alex said.

Boris nodded. “I do. It’s something I can control. Here, I am constantly reminded that I’m something to be feared, that I’m different, that I’m a monster. At least at the Academy I can be myself and not feel bad about it.”

Alex took a testing breath. He could tell that his bruised ribs were healing, but they ached with each inhalation. He glanced out the window at the almost full moon filling the air with shimmering light.

“We should go out there,” Alex said.

“Why?” Boris asked.

Alex pushed g
ingerly to his feet. He wavered and caught himself against the wall. He waited until his knees were mostly steady before he headed across the room. Boris followed behind without further questions.

If the servant at the door thought it odd that the two bruised and bloody boys wanted to go outside at such a late hour, they weren’t questioned.
Maybe there were some benefits to the servants’ detachment from those who employed them.

Alex led the way across the well-manicured lawn to a little rise.
He sat down and Boris took a seat wordlessly beside him. After a minute, Alex settled onto his back. He opened his eyes a few seconds later to see Boris with a pensive expression on his face.

“Relax,” Alex told the Alpha. “Try to enjoy something for a change.”

Boris gave a snort of humor. “I enjoy things,” he replied.

“Right,” Alex said, closing his eyes again. “When was the last time you enjoyed something?”

He heard the Alpha lay on his back. “I enjoyed throwing you across the room.”

Alex gave a wry chuckle. “I’m sure you did.”
He fell silent for a moment, then said, “You know you could have just asked me about going with your dad instead of attacking me.”

Boris was quiet so long Alex didn’t think he would respond until the Alpha finally said, “I’m sorry.”

Alex fought back a smile. He stretched out, feeing the ache in his ribs ease. “You don’t have to apologize. I think if I had a dad and he asked some stranger to go with him instead of me, I’d be pretty upset, too.”

He glanced at Boris.

The Alpha was staring up at the lowering moon. There was a hint of wistfulness on his usually guarded face when he said, “Dad needed a werewolf. For the first time in my life since I found out what I was, I could have helped him. I guess it just made me mad that he would choose you instead.”

Alex couldn’t imagine what it must feel like for someone’s own parents to despise and fear what they were.
It was one thing for someone like Drogan to be fixated on wiping him from the earth; he couldn’t even begin to understand what it would feel like if that person was someone who was supposed to love and care for him unconditionally.

“I should have insisted that he take you,” Alex
repeated with regret.

Boris shook his head. “It sounds like he gave you an ultimatum.” He cracked a smile. “My dad sure likes his ultimatums.”

Alex nodded. “He sure does.” He sat up.

“Feel better?” Boris asked, eyeing him uncertainly as he sat up, too.

Alex stretched his arms out gingerly. “Yeah. Moonlight works wonders.”

Boris glanced over at the orb that was almost lost behind the mountains on the horizon. “It does. I forget it sometimes.”

The silence that settled over them was companionable. Crickets chirruped in the night that was much warmer than in the mountains where the Academy lay. Thoughts of Cassie and the place they had learned to call home filled him with longing. He remembered the cell phone Jaze had given him before he left.

He stood.

“Where are you going?” Boris asked.

“I need to call Cassie. She’s probably missing me and I promised I’d call.”

“It’s late,” Boris noted.

Alex shrugged. “She said to call whenever. I feel bad I haven’t called her before now.”

“You’ve been busy,” Boris replied with a hint of what Alex was surprised to recognize as humor.

Alex jogged to the porch. He looked back to see if Boris was following, but the Alpha had laid back down on the small rise in the grass. It was the first time he could recall
ever seeing the Alpha look somewhat peaceful.

Alex stepped through the door, aware of how easy it was to get used to somebody at each doorway.

Henry met him in the hall.

“Hello, sir.”

“Don’t you sleep?” Alex asked in surprise.

Henry shrugged. “I sleep enough.”

“I’m not sure about that.”

Henry gave a smile that lifted his small mustache. “I could say the same about yourself.
You look a bit worse for the wear.” He gave Alex’s torn clothes and bloody face a pointed look.

Alex smiled back. “
You should see the other guys. I’m heading to bed. See you in the morning.”

Henry gave a nod that was close to a small bow. “Same to you, sir.”

Alex jogged up the stairs. He dug through his luggage for the phone, then collapsed on the bed. The battery showed low. He made a mental note to plug the phone in when he was done. He hit the speed dial for the number of the phone Mouse had given to Cassie.

“Hello?” she answered groggily after the second ring.

Alex felt bad about catching her asleep. “Hi, Cass. I’m sorry I woke you up.”

“Alex, it’s so good to hear your voice!” she exclaimed. “What have you been up to? I thought you would call before this. I was starting to get worried.”

It felt so good to hear her familiar voice that Alex couldn’t stop smiling. “I should have called sooner. I didn’t want you to worry. Everything here is fine.”

“Just fine?” Cassie asked, reading into his words like she always did. “What happened?”

Alex debated whether to tell her about acting as Mr. Dickson’s personal bodyguard, or his fight with Boris, or the fact that their family was apparently responsible for wiping out most of Kalia’s relatives. He went with, “Oh, you know. I don’t really fit in here.”

He could hear the smile in Cassie’s voice when she replied, “You know we don’t fit in anywhere.”

He chuckled. “That’s true. At least I haven’t bitten anyone.”

Cassie laughed outright. “So you’re keeping the werewolf thing under wraps. Good call.”

“I figured as much.” Relief that she was alright was tempered with worry that the threat Drogan presented might still be following him. “Has Mouse figured out how to thwart the heat signature missiles?”

“I’m not sure, but I’ll check with him in the morning,” Cassie promised. “Meredith said to tell you hi and that she missed you when I got the chance to talk to you. She said she has a present for you.”

“She didn’t have to do that.” The fact that their aunt had gone so far as to get him a Christmas present warmed him.

“I told her the same thing,” Cassie said, “But she insisted, saying that she was so happy to have a family for the holiday this year that she wanted to spoil us rotten.”

“That might not be a bad thing,” Alex said.

Cassie laughed. “It might not. We need to get her something so she knows how much it means to us to have her here.”

Alex smiled. “I was thinking the same thing. I’ll figure it out. We can surprise her when I get back.”

“Okay. I love you, Alex.”

“Love you, Cass. Have a good night. Tell Tennison I said hi.”

“I will,” Cassie promised.

Alex hung up the phone feeling much better. At least one part of his life made sense and was safe. He was almost asleep when he remembered to plug in his phone. Cassie would surely be upset with him if he let it die and forgot to call her. He smiled. Sometimes it was nice having someone who cared so much. The smile stayed on his face as he fell asleep.

“Is it supposed to be some sort of cruel irony that the full moon falls on Christmas Eve?” Boris demanded.

“It can’t be that bad,” Kalia replied, though she, too, looked anxious.

They had spent the
entire day trying not to bring up the subject. Kalia’s worried glances toward the door in the poorly used sitting room let Alex know she was still concerned about her father overhearing. The werewolves had been too restless to do anything remotely close to sitting.

“It is that bad, Kali. It’s not like you know,” Boris spat. At Kalia’s hurt expression, Boris sighed. “Look. I know you’re
caught in-between
and all,” he said, waving his fingers. “But for those of us real werewolves, it’s hard to think of anything but phasing tonight. Right, Alex?”

Alex
wasn’t sure Boris’ explanation had helped Kalia feel any better. He gave her a forced cheerful smile. “There are benefits to not being able to stop moving. I fixed the squeaky door.”

Alex
opened the door to the closet and shut it again for emphasis. It gave a louder squeak than it had when he started.

Kalia rolled her eyes. “You took off the hinges, cleaned them, checked the alignment, refastened the screws, and it still squeaks. Did you think of greasing the hinges first?”

As if on command, Henry came into the room carrying a bottle of grease on a fancy silver tray that looked as if it should be used to carry fine Hors d’oeuvres or wine in fancy glasses instead. He offered it to Alex with a flourish.

Alex sprayed the grease on the hinges, then opened and shut the door again. To his dismay, it was completely silent. He sighed at Kalia’s satisfied expression. “Okay, so the entire day was wasted.”
He gave Henry a weary smile. “Thank you for bringing the grease.”

“You’re welcome, sir,” Henry replied before leaving the room.

“He apparently likes you,” Boris noted, flinging himself into a corner couch with enough force to make it tip on two feet before it fell with a thud back to the floor.

Alex glanced to the shut door uncertainty. “He said he was a manservant and is doing his job.”

Boris smirked. “Do you see any servants following me around? Our servants avoid Kalia and I like the plague until they absolutely have to be around us. Henry seems to actually like your company. It’s odd.”

Alex walked to the bay windows as he had done a million times that day.
The sun was setting. Relief that he would soon be able to run in the moonlight filled his chest, then a nagging thought touched his mind. He turned slowly. “Where do you go during the full moon?”

He had a sudden cringing image of phasing in his bedroom and spending the whole time locked within the walls of the Dickson household afraid to make a sound in case the servants checked on him and were terrified out of their minds. The worst would be Mr. Dickson. For all he knew, the ex-Extremist still had weapons that would no doubt render a phased werewolf into a nonentity.

“We have chains in the basement,” Boris said with a hint of dread in his voice. “Dad’s too worried we’ll kill the servants or terrorize the neighborhood. It’s his requirement when we’re home during the full moon.”

Alex tried to keep his voice steady. “Even you?” he asked, meeting Kalia’s gaze.

She nodded, her light blue eyes serious.

The dread in his stomach tightened into a knot at the thought of chains around his neck and wrists. He had heard of Jet and some of the other professors
suffering such things, but never imagined he would also.

Something flashed in Kalia’s gaze. It took him a second to recognize it as laughter. He glanced at Boris. The Alpha was watching him with an almost-straight face. Suddenly, Boris’ grim expression dissolved into a huge
smile.

“Gotcha,” he crowed.

Alex looked at Kalia. She was smiling as well. For the moment, it looked as if the brother and sister were extremely pleased with their joke.

“You know that was mean,” Alex said.

Boris laughed. “Yeah, but you should have seen your face. You tried to keep calm, but I could tell you were close to panicking.”

Kalia grinned. “So close.”

Alex hesitated, then nodded. “I was close.”

“I told you,” Boris hooted. “He’ll believe anything.” He gave Alex a closer look. “You must really think things are horrible
here for us.”