Werewolf Academy Book 1: Strays (29 page)

It was against the rules for anyone to howl when the buses were still out front, but Alex recognized Cassie’s voice. He took off running for the Academy.

Kalia had paused near the gate at the sound of the howl. Alex pushed past her.

“Is everything—”

Kalia’s voice died away as Alex ran through the door and up the stairs.

He found Cassie in her room. Her window was open, and she sat near it with tears on her face.

“Close the door,” she said in a voice that quivered.

Alex did as she requested, then hurried to her side. “Cassie, what happened?”

She tried to talk, but no sound came out. She shook her head and more tears ran down her cheeks. Alex crouched in front of her and took her hands.

“Cassie, you need to tell me what happened,” he said in a tone that was cajoling and commanding at the same time.

She looked at him, and the sorrow in her dark blue eyes made a pit in his stomach. “I know who betrayed us.”

Alex’s breath caught in his throat. He waited without speaking for her to continue.

The door opened behind them. Alex glanced back to see Kalia in the doorway. He nodded for her to enter and turned his attention back to Cassie. He heard the door shut quietly as Kalia stepped inside.

“It was Pip,” Cassie said in a strangled voice.

Alex stared at her. “Are you sure?”

She nodded. “I’m positive. Remember the first time
Drogan’s men found us?”

“He said we should look for the Alphas in the forest,” Alex replied. The pit in his stomach deepened.

“And the second time?” Cassie pressed.

“
I talked to Kalia,” Alex said, glancing back at her. Kalia watched them without speaking, her gaze jumping from one to the other. Something about that night struck Alex. “But I spoke to Pip first. He asked me if I was going to be late for P.E.”

Cassie nodded as if she had guessed as much. She wiped the tears from
her cheeks with a steady hand.

“How did you know?” Alex asked, hoping by some miracle that it wasn’t true. He really liked Pip; the thought that the young Second Year was the source of the attacks ate at him. Even though it all made sense, he wished it wasn’t true.”

“You know how nobody’s supposed to bring cellphones from their homes?” Cassie asked. At Alex and Kalia’s nods, she explained, “I was wandering down the halls and I saw Pip hiding one in a hole in his mattress. When he left, I snuck it out.” She met Alex’s gaze. “There was only one number on the phone. He didn’t call with it, he used it to text, and the last text said, ‘He’s gone. He’ll be back in about three hours through the woods.’ That was on the night of the last attack.”

Alex let out a slow breath. He leaned against the wall,
his gaze on the forest outside.

“We need to turn him in,” Kalia said. “We’ve got to tell Jaze.”

Alex shook his head. “Not yet. I need to talk to him.”

Both Kalia and Cassie
stared at him. “That’s a bad idea,” Cassie said. “There’s a reason he’s spying on us, some sort of motivation. He could get defensive.”

“And what, beat me in hand to hand combat?” Alex
replied incredulously.

“If he’s working with
Drogan, he may have other ways to defend himself,” Kalia said reluctantly. It was obvious she didn’t want to get involved with anything relating to Alex, but she couldn’t let him walk into a battle blind.

“Give me
ten minutes,” Alex said.

He walked out without waiting for them to argue.

Alex found Pip in the dining room. It took all of his self-control not to attack the kid and demand why he was setting them up. Instead, he grabbed Pip’s arm and led him from the room. Pip walked beside him without a word as if he knew what was coming. Alex escorted him to the boys’ bathroom, then shoved the garbage can under the door to jam it shut. It wouldn’t keep an Alpha out, but it might slow a Gray down or convince them to use another restroom if necessary.

“Why did you do it?” Alex demanded, spinning to face the boy.

“They have my family,” Pip replied. He forced himself to meet Alex’s gaze.

Alex’s hands were clenched into fists. He wanted to hit Pip so badly, to make him pay for almost getting Cassie killed and for getting him shot. He drew his hand back. Pip flinched. Instead of hitting him, Alex punched the brick wall next to the boy’s head as hard as he could. The bricks cracked and sent down a shower of dust.

“I’m so sorry,” Pip said. Tears showed in the young boy’s eyes. He blinked quickly.

Alex shook his head. He bent down so
he could meet the ten-year-old’s gaze directly. “I need you to tell Drogan where I’m going.”

Pip sniffed, his eyes wide. “What?”

“Listen to me,” Alex said. “This is very important. I’m going to go to the safe house again, and I need you to tell Drogan where I am.”

“B-but he’ll kill you,” Pip replied.

“Don’t worry about that. Do you know where he’s holding your family?”

Pip nodded. “He made me stay with them at Christmas.”

Alex flinched at the pain in the young werewolf’s voice. “Okay. As soon as I leave, I want you to go with Cassie and tell Jaze what happened. Let him know where your family is. Whatever you do, don’t tell Jaze where I am. We need Drogan away from his hideout so Jaze can get your family free. If he’s worrying about me, your family will still be in danger.”

“But you’ll be in danger,” Pip argued.

Alex shook his head. “I’ll be fine. Just do what I say. If we can get your family out and destroy Drogan’s base, we’ll put a huge hitch in his ability to hurt others. I’ll keep him distracted; you tell Jaze where he is. Do you think you can do that?”

Pip nodded, speechless.

Alex patted him on the shoulder. “Good.”

He pulled the door
open and found Cassie and Kalia waiting in the hall.

“You’re not going,” Cassie said.

“I’ve got to,” Alex replied, shouldering past them with Pip close behind.

“You can’t go alone,” Kalia protested.

Alex paused and turned to the three of them. “I’ve got to. He wants me, Cassie, and Meredith. Now that Meredith is here, all he has to do is hit the Academy. Everyone here will be in danger. I don’t want that, and I know you don’t, either. If he thinks I’ve gone to the safe house to visit Meredith again, he’ll think he can, as his man said, kill two birds with one stone. He’ll get greedy and careless. That’ll give us the time we need to get Pip’s family out of there.”

“What if Jaze can’t get them out?” Kalia asked.

Everyone stared at her. “You don’t know Jaze very well, do you?” Alex said.

Kalia shook her head.

Alex took a steeling breath. “Look,” he said, addressing all of them. “If you want to help me and protect everyone in the Academy, you’ve got to do what I ask. I’m leaving now. Pip, deliver the message. Cassie, see that Pip gets to Jaze and the others. Kalia,” he paused, hesitating. “Kalia, please protect my sister. If I fail, Drogan might be coming back here anyway.”

“I will,” she said. The girl’s icy blue eyes flashed gold for the briefest moment.

Alex nodded. “Take care you guys.”

Cassie broke free from the others and wrapped her arms tightly around Alex. The
students walking past them in the hallway who had no idea what was going on gave the siblings strange looks. Alex shrugged out of his sister’s grasp. “Be careful,” he told her. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she replied with a sniff.

Alex nodded at Pip. The three of them headed for the stairs. Alex took off running toward the back doors.

Alex ran through the snow, pushing himself faster than he ever had before. His paws flew in front of him, creating a quiet shush as he loped along the snowy landscape. He was grateful for the way his huge paws allowed him to run above the snow instead of sinking beneath it and slowing his progress. A rabbit darted past. He ignored it as he focused all of his attention on reaching the safe house.

Drogan
might not know where the safe house was, but Cassie knew, and she would tell Pip. He only hoped he could get there early enough to make the few preparations he needed before the man with the mismatched eyes arrived.

He was running to his death. He knew that. He only hoped he could take
Drogan down with him and end the threat once and for all. If he could protect Cassie and the others with his life, it would be a life well spent. The words repeated over and over in his mind as he leapt frozen streams and ducked beneath snow-laden boughs. Given Drogan’s earlier response times, it wouldn’t be long for them to find Alex, then the base would be exposed and Jaze could take Drogan down from the inside.

Alex’s heart
beat thundered in his ears as he paused on the rise where he had stood many times overlooking the cabin nestled in the valley below. It was empty. No smoke rose from the chimney, and no tracks of cars showed since the last snowstorm. Since Meredith was no longer there, and Jaze had successfully relocated the other families to safe houses throughout the country, this one was abandoned until further need. Well, Alex had need.

He loped down the hill without bothering to hide his trail. He wanted
Drogan to know he was there alone. He hoped it would provoke the man into meeting him alone as well.

Alex phased on the porch. The chill of the crisp evening bit his exposed skin. He shoved the door open with his shoulder and stumbled inside. He glanced around quickly. A pair of dressers against the far wall looked promising. He raided the dresser on the right and found women’s clothing. While the thought of
Drogan finding him in a dress might have caught the man off-guard, Alex chose not to humiliate himself in his final moments.

He searched through the other dresser and found a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt with a howling wolf on the front. Alex rolled his eyes at the irony and pulled on the shirt. He found several pairs of shoes beneath the dresser,
picked the pair that fit best, and pulled them on. He turned one of the arm chairs so that it faced the front door and waited.

The sound of a chopper cutting through the air came to Alex much sooner than he expected. Alex watched out the window as six men dressed in black slid down ropes. He willed his muscles to relax as he made his way back to the chair.
The chopper flew away.

“
Is this some sort of trap?” Drogan called out.

Alex’s chest tightened at the sound of the man’s voice. He kept silent.

“If it is, you better be a much better fighter than the last time we met,” Drogan continued, goading him. “Because you’re all alone, and I’ve got six men. You don’t have a wolf pack ready to protect your back when you realize you’re too weak to take us all on.”

“Are you too weak to take me on alone?” Alex called.

Silence followed. Alex could hear their footsteps outside the cabin.

“Clear,” someone called softly from the back.

“Stay out here,” Drogan ordered. “If I’m not the one who comes out, shoot.”

The door opened and
Drogan stepped inside. He squinted at the sudden darkness. Alex crossed the space between them in a heartbeat and slammed several punches into the man’s stomach. Instead of doubling over, Drogan laughed.

“Thought I would come unprepared?” he asked.
Drogan pulled up his shirt, revealing a black shiny material underneath. “Kevlar,” he said with a light of triumph in his eyes.

“You should have worn it on your face,” Alex replied, throwing a quick punch at the man’s head.

Drogan tried to block it, but the werewolf’s fast reflexes snuck the punch in to land a glancing blow on the side of the man’s head. Drogan staggered back.

Alex stepped in to take the advantage, but when he threw a second punch,
Drogan blocked it and followed with one of his own. The man had fists like steel; Alex’s head snapped back. A growl tore from his throat. He punched Drogan twice in the ribs hard enough that the man felt the impact despite the Kevlar; when Drogan winced, Alex threw a haymaker at the side of Drogan’s head.

Drogan
ducked at the last second and slammed an answering punch to Alex’s chest above his heart. Drogan attempted to kick him in the stomach, but Alex blocked it and rammed his shoulder into Drogan’s chest, barreling him against the door.

Something seared across Alex’s back. He stepped
away in surprise at the fierce pain.

Drogan
held up a knife. “As much as I would like to fight you, I have to question why you would come here by yourself.” He let the knife catch in the light that filtered through the window. “This is silver and made to splinter. Every time I cut you, it will leave silver shards in your wounds, bringing you that much closer to dying. You’d best tell the truth.”

Alex grimaced at the sensation of blood dripping down his back. “Why would I need anyone else here with me?”