Werewolf Academy 07 Chosen (10 page)

“
This,” the man said.

His gaze shifted and his shoulders tensed, foretelling of the punch before he threw it.

Alex ducked under the man’s arm and spun. “What’s going on?” he demanded.

None of the men replied. Instead, they attacked in force.

Alex realized the answer to his question in that moment. Mr. O’Hare had mentioned that there were others who weren’t thrilled about his involvement with the werewolves. Alex ducked under another fist, threw one man into another, dodged a kick, and blocked a hammer fist with crossed forearms.

Alex wasn’t there for Mr. O’Hare to throw around his authority and tell him what to do. Alex had been positioned at the door as a bodyguard.

He spun, using an attacker’s momentum to propel the man into one of his companions. Alex blocked another kick with his forearms and was about to follow-up with a punch to the man’s groin when he realized the truth.

None of the men were seasoned fighters. Their skills were methodical and rusty at best, yet they were persistent as if they were under someone else’s orders instead of their own. If they hated werewolves so much and would go so far as to attack one within their own building, desperation fueled them. Perhaps Mr. O’Hare truly hadn’t found enough to shut down the Academy. If five men could report that Alex had attacked and hurt them as innocent bystanders in their own building, it might be the step they would need to shut down the school entirely.

Alex spun inward, falling into Chet’s defensive training. He couldn’t hurt any of the men. That much was obvious. They threw themselves at him over and over without appearing to fear what would happen as a result. Alex blocked, ducked, jumped back, and spun, only to block again. The hallway felt much smaller with the five men throwing themselves at him.

Luckily, as long as Alex remembered not to throw the punches and kicks that came with the muscle memory of hundreds upon hundreds of hours of training with Chet and the other professors and students, Alex could block attacks for hours. Even when the men intensified their assault, he was able to keep them at bay with hand flips and blocks that sent them harmlessly down the hallway; yet his attackers refused to give up.

The men gasped and stumbled over each other. The bald man threw a slow fist at Alex’s head. The werewolf stepped to the side in time for the man to fall into his friend with the goatee. Both men fell heavily against the door to Mr. O’Hare’s office.

Alex was in the middle of blocking punches and a kick from the three other men when the office door opened.

“
What’s going on out here?” Mr. O’Hare demanded.

Alex looked from the men frozen in their various attacks back to Mr. O’Hare. He had thought Mr. O’Hare had set him up in an effort to launch his political attack against the school; however, it was clear by the expressions on the faces of the exhausted men around him that Alex’s theory was wrong.

The bald man lowered his attempt to drive a fist through Alex’s jaw. “I, uh, didn’t know you were back,” he said.

“
It appears that way,” Mr. O’Hare answered flatly.

“
We were just introducing ourselves to Mr. Davies, here,” a man with short gray hair said, straightening his tie.

Mr. O’Hare gave him the same flat look he often used with Alex. “Are you working on making a good impression for the Board, Welks?”

To the gray-haired man’s credit, he looked somewhat uncomfortable when he answered, “Of course.”

Silence settled over the hallway. The sound of the men’s heavy breathing as they fought to catch their breaths was harsh and loud. Satisfaction rose in Alex at the thought that he, on the other hand, wasn’t breathing hard at all. He folded his arms and leaned nonchalantly against the wall; a smile touched his lips at the discomfort of the exhausted grown men.

“
I think we’re done here,” Mr. O’Hare finally said.

The bald man nodded. “Yes, we are.” He walked back up the hall. Three of the men followed.

Welks hung back. He glanced at Alex but refused to meet his steady gaze. Welks cleared his throat and gave Mr. O’Hare a straight look. “James, because we’re friends, I just want to warn you that the conversations around here haven’t been pleasant since you took your position.”

Instead of softening at the man’s apologetic tone, Mr. O’Hare appeared to stiffen even further. “Don’t make assumptions about where we stand, Welks. You know that friendship died long ago.”

The man’s statement deflated Welks further. “You’re not going to let that go, are you?”

Mr. O’Hare’s jaw tightened a moment before he said, “There’s nothing to let go. This conversation is over.”

Welks watched Mr. O’Hare for a brief minute, but the man stared past him at the empty hall. Welks let out a sigh and turned away. His footsteps echoed long after he had taken the turn at the end of the hall.

Mr. O’Hare’s answering sigh was so quiet Alex’s werewolf hearing barely caught it. His shoulders relaxed and he turned to Alex with the first sign of concern Alex had ever seen from the man.

“
Are you alright?”

Alex nodded. “I’m fine. What was that?” He had his guess, but he wanted to know what the human’s thoughts were.

To his surprise, Mr. O’Hare answered his question as though speaking to a peer instead of talking down to him. “That, Alex, is the last-ditch effort of my superiors to bring the question of werewolves as individuals with rights to an end. If you had bloodied and broken them, you would be dragged out here and probably been given the death sentence in front of the nation to end this fight once and for all. Instead, you managed to save face and merely humiliate them.” Mr. O’Hare watched him closely. “Are you sure they didn’t hurt you? Remember, I’ve seen you fight a bear and walk away.”

Alex fought back a slight smile. “They didn’t touch me, though I’ll admit it took nearly every bit of self-control I have to defend instead of attack.” He paused, then said, “Until I realized how poorly trained they are.”

Mr. O’Hare actually let out a short laugh. His eyebrows rose as if the sound surprised him. “Sergeant Ryker would have something to say about that, I’m sure. Our saving grace will be that each of those men has too much pride to admit that an eighteen-year-old werewolf beat them without gaining so much as a scratch, and they have nothing to show for it. You may have single-handedly saved your precious Academy.”

“
Really?” Alex kept his tone guarded, unwilling to give the man too much.

Mr. O’Hare raised one shoulder slightly. “That’s left to be seen, but you didn’t doom it.”

He turned away. Alex caught the briefest hint of fear in the air.

“
Mr. O’Hare?”

The man paused with his hand on the open door to his office.

“
Is that why you brought me here?” Alex asked. “Did you know they’d attack?”

Mr. O’Hare hesitated as though he debated what to say. He finally gave a slight nod, more to himself than to Alex as if he had made up his mind. “To be honest, I had no idea what to expect. The correspondence I have received since taking up my position at the Werewolf Academy—” He paused, then corrected himself, “At Vicky Carso’s Preparatory Academy, have been hostile to say the least. Many feel that if we approve the education at your school, it’ll close the gap between werewolf citizenship approval.”

Alex couldn’t contain the enthusiasm he felt at the man’s words. “That’s great!” he exclaimed.

The candidness Mr. O’Hare had shown vanished behind his expressionless wall once more. His look was flat when he replied, “As far as I’m concerned, I’m doing my job here and it’s a job that needs to be done. Prejudice aside, children need an education and it’s my duty to see that they are educated to the same degree as the rest of the nation. Until things are decided otherwise, Vicky Carso’s Preparatory Academy is still under intense scrutiny for educational measures and extremes of student activity beyond the guidelines approved by the Board. I’ll be done shortly. Stay here.”

Mr. O’Hare pulled the door shut with a sharp bang. Alex leaned back against the wall, baffled by what he had heard and seen. His trip to Mr. O’Hare’s office hadn’t cleared anything up. Instead, many more layers of politics had been revealed than he had imagined existed.

Chapter Ten

Alex’s eyes snapped open. Something was wrong. He could feel it in his bones. A shiver ran through his skin. He looked around the room.

Despite his insistence that the werewolves rejoin Jericho in his quarters, the pack that had chosen him had refused to listen. He thought back to the argument earlier that evening.

“
You’re our Alpha,” Terith said and Von nodded at her side with a stubbornness the scrawny werewolf seldom showed.

“
But what about the Choosing Ceremony?” Alex pointed out.

“
You didn’t choose anyone.”

Alex stared at his sister. “Of course I didn’t! I’m not an Alpha.”

“
You are,” Trent replied with the quiet persistence that showed up whenever Alex tried to debate the point.

Jordan nodded at her fiancé’s side.

Alex shook his head. “I’m not, and I’m not a good leader.”

“
We’re still alive because of you.”

Silence filled the room after Tennison’s response. Alex let out a slow breath.

“
I could argue that,” he finally said.

“
But you’d be wrong,” Trent replied. “As your Second—”

Alex stared at him. “You’re my Second now?”

“
Of course,” Trent told him. “I handle the details you don’t have time for; I make sure someone covers for you when you’re gone.” He gave Alex a straight look. “Like when you took off gallivanting with Mr. O’Hare without letting anyone know where you’d gone.”

“
I wasn’t gallivanting,” Alex sputtered. “What does that even mean? I was forced to go with him and…” Alex shook his head with a huff. “That’s beside the point! I shouldn’t have a Second because I’m not an Alpha!”

“
You are,” Trent replied.

Alex didn’t know whether to punch something or jump through a window. He felt as though the werewolves looking to him to be their leader had no idea how unworthy he was to lead them. He could barely keep his own thoughts under control, much less meet the needs of seven other students who watched him with matching smiles as though they had already known the outburst he would make at their decision.

“
Alex.”

He turned at the gentle touch to his arm. Siale’s gaze was soft and understanding. It took some of the frustration from him just to see it.

“
Yes?” he asked quietly.

The little furrow formed between her eyebrows. “You need us, Alex.”

Her words were completely different than what he had expected.

“
I need you,” he repeated with a hint of confusion.

Siale nodded and a slight smile turned the corners of her lips. “Werewolves need Alphas, and Alphas need their pack. You chose to be a lone wolf, but no werewolf is meant to be alone. A pack brings support, love, and stability.”

She held his gaze. He felt in that moment like they were completely alone. The instinctual part of him still tracked the werewolf students who watched them, but for the human side of him, everything else fell away. He held onto Siale’s words because he felt how much he needed them.

“
Alex, you’ve done so much for all of us and for this school, and we know that the things you’ve had to do have scarred you.”

Alex felt laid bare as if her words took away his clothes, his skin, and exposed the marks on his soul that he carried from his encounters with the General, with Drogan, and in his rescues. He dropped his gaze, ashamed of how weak the scars made him.

“
Alex,” Siale said softly. When he didn’t look up, she continued, “Someone once told me that my scars were beautiful because it meant I survived.”

Alex’s eyes burned when he looked back at her. “Yes,” he said, his voice rough through his tight throat. “But I think I’m past the point of beautiful. Sanity doesn’t feel like my strength anymore.”

Siale set a hand on his cheek. He closed his eyes, concentrating on her touch.

“
That’s why we’re here,” she said just above a whisper.

The silence that settled around them was filled with the breaths of the pack that had chosen him. Alex felt unworthy to be their leader, but they wouldn’t leave. He didn’t know what to do or how to face them.

“
In the wild, wolves don’t choose the flashy new young wolf to lead them,” Cassie said from somewhere behind her brother.

Tennison spoke up when she stopped. “They choose the grizzled, scarred veteran wolf who knows how to protect them.”

“
Nobody wants a leader that hasn’t been proven,” Von said.

“
Yeah,” Terith echoed. “The point of leading is using what you’ve learned in your experiences to protect those who look to you for guidance.”

Alex turned around to face them. He asked the question that bothered him the most. “But what if I can’t lead?”

“
You already have,” Trent said.

Tennison nodded. “You’ve led this entire school, Alex. We fought against Drogan’s men together, survived the mutants, and you’ve led our pack numerous times on Jaze’s missions. You lead all the time.”

Alex fought back a smile at the werewolf’s encouraging tone. “It’s a lot easier when there’s a mission to follow.” He waved a hand to indicate the room. “It’s this that I’m not good at, the everyday, making sure everyone’s needs are met stuff.”

“
That’s why you have such a good Second,” Trent pointed out.

Jordan smiled from his side. “Yeah, and why you have a pack that can take care of itself. We picked an independent Alpha because we’re self-sufficient. You don’t need to walk us through our homework or anything.”

Everyone laughed at the thought. Alex had barely squeaked by the last several terms by studying Trent’s notes well past midnight for weeks and weeks. The little werewolf was the sole reason Alex had made it to his senior year. His best friend had been looking out for him ever since their very first term at the Academy.