Werewolf Academy Book 5: Lost (5 page)

***

Alex reached Greyton just before dusk. He could feel the pull of the full moon that would soon rise beyond the skyscrapers. Until then, the call felt like an itch between his shoulder blades that wouldn’t go away until he was forced to phase. He left the motorcycle at the park and roamed the streets restlessly, but his feet soon took him to Cherish’s apartment complex. It was the only place that felt somewhat like home within the city.

Alex settled for climbing the fire escape. He sat near the window and listened to the sounds of laughter and talking within. He told himself it was enough just to listen, that they would be safer if he kept his distance, and that no more of his friends would end up like Kalia.

Someone pushed the window up. Tanner stuck his head out; a billow of smoke rolled out with him.

“I told you Josh would burn the coo—” Tanner met Alex’s gaze and his eyes widened. “Alex! How long have you been out here? Come inside!”

The boy grabbed Alex’s shoulder and practically pulled him through the wide window.

“Guys, it’s Alex!” Tanner exclaimed.

Before Alex could so much as get his bearings, arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

“Thank you,” Sarah said, holding him so tight he was amazed at the girl’s strength. “I was so scared.”

Alex realized all of his friends were at Cherish’s. Mrs. Summers gave Alex a warm smile from near the counter where a tray of charred circles sat cooling. Cherish, Josh, and Jen rose from their places at the table.

“Dude! I’m so glad you’re a werewolf!” Josh said, slapping Alex on the back. “That was amazing!”

“Not so loud,” Jen warned with a worried glance at the door.

“We don’t care in here,” Mrs. Summers replied. She gave Alex a motherly smile. “Do you have a place to stay?”

Alex nodded. “I do, thank you.”

Cherish’s eyebrows rose. Alex searched for a change of subject before she could question him. Sarah saved him the trouble.

“My mom and dad want to thank you. They’re so grateful,” she said.

Alex looked at Tanner. “Do they know, uh, what I am?”

Tanner nodded. “I told them. They don’t care. They just want to say thank you to the person who rescued their daughter.” He set a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “I never got to thank you.”

“You don’t have to,” Alex replied.

Tanner nodded, gratitude bright in his blue eyes.

“What if we go over there together?” Cherish offered. At Alex’s questioning look, she shrugged. “It might be a bit less overwhelming if you have all of your friends with you.”

“Good idea,” Sarah agreed, slipping her arm through Tanner’s.

“I’m always up for a walk, especially when nobody can mess with us,” Jen said, grabbing her coat.

“We have the Demon of Greyton on our side,” Josh said.

“Josh,” Jen scolded.

Alex looked between them. “The Demon of Greyton?”

“That’s what they’re calling you,” Josh said with an apologetic smile. He pulled out his cell phone. “I thought you knew.”

Alex glanced down at the image on the screen. It was a slightly fuzzy cell phone picture of him carrying the injured girl. The others girls walked close to him as if afraid of leaving his side, even with the officers around them. Alex towered above the crowd. His shaggy head was bowed; only the glint of his golden eyes and the barest hint of fangs showed in the shadows of his face. His dark claws were visible, and the strange length of his limbs set him apart. The title of the picture proclaimed, “The Demon of Greyton frees the innocent.”

“Is that really you?” Cherish asked quietly.

Alex nodded without speaking.

“I’ve never seen a werewolf look like that,” Mrs. Summers said, her words gentle.

“There aren’t any others like me,” Alex replied. Professor Dray was the only other werewolf he had heard of who changed the way he did, but with the professor it had been a solitary incident. Alex felt his differences much more sharply under the gazes of the students around him. He looked at Mrs. Summers. “I’m the only one who can morph like that. I’m not sure what kind of a monster I am.”

Sarah set a hand on his arm. When Alex met her gaze, her expression was serious. “Alex, all I know is that I was convinced the gang was going to kill me, and seeing you walk down that hallway and hearing you speak my name was like being given my life back.” Her voice faltered. “No one should have to live through something like that.”

Tanner wrapped her up in his arms and held her close against his chest. “I’ll never let them get you again,” he promised.

“Us, neither,” Josh promised with an arm around Jen’s shoulders.

“Looks like you’re in good hands,” Alex told Sarah.

“I sure am,” she agreed. Cherish opened the door and led the way down the stairs.

Chapter Five

Sarah’s parents were waiting in the small apartment living room when Sarah led the way inside.

“Mom, Dad, this is Alex,” she introduced.

Everyone stepped to the sides so that Alex could pass by. He felt suddenly very out of place amid the cozy furnishings and welcoming scents of the apartment.

Sarah’s mom crossed to Alex and hugged him without hesitation. “Thank you so much,” she said with tears streaming down her face. Alex’s gaze shifted to Sarah’s dad.

“Thank you for helping our baby come home,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. He held out a hand. Sarah’s mom stepped back and Alex shook Mr. Buchanan’s hand. “You are welcome here any time.”

A knock sounded on the door. Everyone froze for a moment. “I can go out a window,” Alex offered.

“Nonsense,” Mrs. Buchanan said, her voice soft. “Sarah, Tanner, why don’t you guys take Alex into the back room?”

Alex followed them down the small hallway. Sarah and Tanner crossed to a couch while Josh and Jen pretended to look through a stack of movies on a bookshelf. It was obvious everyone’s attention was on whoever was at the front door.

“Mr. Buchanan?” a deep voice asked.

Alex heard an answering sound of surprise. “Uh, good afternoon, Officer.”

Alex’s heart clenched and he heard a small gasp escape from Sarah.

“Mr. Buchanan, we have been notified that you are harboring a werewolf on your premises.”

“A werewolf?” Mr. Buchanan repeated. “Why would there be a werewolf here?”

“If there is a werewolf in your residence, you can be charged for sheltering a fugitive,” the officer continued.

Alex crossed to the window. He pushed it open soundlessly.

“Alex, I’m so sorry,” Sarah whispered.

“It’s okay,” Alex replied, forcing a smile. “I know the risk you took bringing me here.”

“We wouldn’t do anything that would bring danger to our family,” Mr. Buchanan was saying from the front room.

“Then you won’t mind if I search your apartment?” the officer asked.

Mr. Buchanan was left with no choice. Alex climbed out the window and levered himself onto the roof. He slid the window shut just as the voices reached the back room.

“I’m sorry to disturb you,” the officer said, “But I need to check everyone’s identification cards.”

Alex listened to the shuffle as the students pulled out their school cards or drivers’ licenses. After a moment, the officer spoke again. “Everything checks out. I apologize for the inconvenience, and I will leave you to your evening.”

Alex listened to his footsteps cross back to the door, then it shut.

“Come back in, Alex. We’re so sorry...”

The doorbell rang as Alex’s foot touched the window sill. He paused.

“I’ll go see who it is,” Mrs. Buchanan said.

When the door opened, a teary voice spoke. “Is he here? Is the werewolf who saved your daughter here?”

Alex pulled his foot back up and crouched above the window, listening intently. If they were trying to flush him out, he was determined not to do anything that would bring Sarah’s family under possible condemnation.

“No, he’s not,” Mrs. Buchanan said.

It meant something to Alex that she didn’t deny the fact that a werewolf had saved her daughter.

The woman at the door broke down. “Do you know how I can find him? I need him to save my Abby. She never came home. We waited, and she just didn’t come. I know they’ve got her. They left a sign.”

“Come sit down,” Mrs. Buchanan offered. Alex followed their footsteps in his mind. He heard the woman take a seat at the edge of the Buchanan’s couch. “Tell me what happened, Millie.”

Alex settled on his back on the cold, rough roof. A shiver ran beneath his skin as he listened to the woman tell about coming home to find her daughter missing. The pull of the moon was getting stronger. Alex couldn’t stop thinking of girls locked in makeshift prisons within the Saa, prey to any of the merciless desires of the gangs that held them hostage.

A harder shiver shook his body. Cold warred with the need to phase. Alex wouldn’t be able to deny it much longer. He sat up and glanced at the horizon. The last of the daylight was almost gone. He could feel as much as see the glow of moonlight peering from between the buildings. He was out of time.

Alex rolled from the roof, caught a drain pipe, and worked hand over hand to the ground. He shoved his clothes into a gap behind the building just before the moonlight caught him.

Dark gray fur, darker than he remembered it being, ran up his arms and down his shoulders. The tension fled from his muscles as his tumultuous thoughts were replaced with purpose and drive. His pain at losing Kalia remained, but instead of being numbing and consuming, it drove him to protect those he could.

Alex loped through the streets and traveled deep into the Saa as the moon rose above the buildings, catching in broken windows, stagnant puddles of water, and shattered glass lying along the dirty cement.

He followed his nose through the unlit streets, using the scents of fear and anger, frustration and greed to guide him.

“What is that?” someone asked from a doorway.

Alex stopped on the sidewalk in front of them, studying the pair.

A blue clover had been painted on the door. Someone had crafted it with skill, outlining the leaves and giving enough detail to make the graffiti look like it was coming out of the wood.

“It’s a dog,” another man replied.

“Dogs aren’t that big,” the first pointed out.

They carried knives, but Alex wasn’t afraid of blades. He bared his teeth and a low growl rumbled from his throat.

“I think it’s going to attack,” the first said, scrambling for the door knob.

Alex took a step forward. The second man pounded on the door.

“Let us in!” he cried.

The door opened and the pair rushed inside. Alex lowered his head as he ran. He dove into the door just before it closed. The force of his body slammed the door open, flinging both men backwards. The man who had opened the door for them stood staring at Alex like he was a demon.

Alex loped past him, following his nose down the corridor of the building. Yelling erupted behind him. Alex ignored the commotion as he ran down the hall. The floors of the building rose up and down in a spiral with a wide, vast space in the middle. A dead elevator sat open near the lobby. Alex could tell when he passed that it hadn’t moved in years.

Alex paused by a set of stairs, wondering which way was the logical direction to find the girls. Shouts and the sounds of doors slamming echoed down. With it came the faintest whiff of feminine scent. It was tangled with fear and pain, and shut off quickly, but was enough to give Alex his heading.

“Stop him,” a voice yelled.

Alex lowered his head and charged up the sloping path.

A gunshot sounded. Alex dodged to the right, then ducked under the shooter and shoved him over the rail. The yell of the man falling gave rise to shouts of surprise from those below.

Alex grabbed the next man with his fangs by the arm, rolled, and used his weight to throw the man into the next two. A woman with a bandana around her forehead blocked his path above them.

“Leave, devil,” she spat. She passed a switchblade from hand to hand with a speed that told Alex she knew how to use it. He wondered what she thought of the gang’s kidnapping of young women.

He lifted his lips in a snarl.

The woman backed up a step in surprise at the vehemence in Alex’s eyes.

“Diablo,” she cursed him. “They’ll kill you.”

Alex gathered his legs and leaped. She swiped at his chest. The blade cut shallowly through his skin as he knocked her heavily to the ground. He hit the ground running without looking back.

He was almost to the next landing when the scent caught his nose. Spinning, Alex ran straight to the door. He ducked his head and hit it so hard the wood splintered inward with a sharp crack.

“What the—”

Screams of fear touched the air. The sight of girls cowering on mattresses with their ankles chained to the walls sent Alex into a rage. He grabbed the closest guard in his jaws and pulled him down, using his body to leap at the next. The man stumbled backwards and yelled when Alex’s fangs tore into his arm.

Something slammed into Alex’s side. He turned so fast he grabbed the bat before his attacker could pull it back. Alex bit down, snapping the bat in two. The man looked around for another weapon, but Alex was on him before he could defend himself.

He wanted to tear the man’s throat out. The scent of fear, pain, and the salty tang of tears let Alex know what happened in that room. The girls didn’t deserve it. No one deserved to be chained to a wall and treated like a possession to be used and thrown away.

He gave another guttural growl. The man froze at the feeling of Alex’s fangs on the bare skin of his neck. Alex could hear the commotion of men hurrying to reach the room. He didn’t have much time to free the girls and get them to safety.

Alex snarled loud enough to let the man know that his life would be forfeit if he moved so much as a muscle. He let the man go and paced to the nearest mattress. The girl cowered against the wall. The handcuff around her ankle had rubbed her skin raw. The other end was fastened to a thick eyebolt screwed into the bricks.

Alex bit the handcuff closest to the wall. The girl screamed in terror as if she thought he was trying to kill her. When he stepped back, she stared at the broken handcuff. Alex left her and hurried to the next girl.

She made a little squeak of fear as his massive head bit down near her ankle. The scent of the blood that stained her mattress made his stomach roll. The girls shouldn’t have gone through such things. He bit back a roar of rage and loped to the next bed. He broke the next three handcuffs with his fangs before the door flew open.

“Back away from the girls,” a man shouted.

Alex’s paws hit the ground twice, and then he was at the man’s throat. The force of his body slamming into the man barreled them both through the door. Knives, fists, and clubs rained down, but Alex barely felt them. He tore through an arm and snapped a man’s leg. The cry of pain that answered was covered by Alex’s roar of rage.

He could smell the scents of the men who had been in to see the girls. He tore into them, worrying them like rag dolls. Blood coated his muzzle and slicked the floor. As more attackers poured up the stairs, more bodies lay mangled at his feet. They whimpered and cowered away from him, holding broken arms and torn torsos. He wanted to ensure that they would never hurt anyone ever again.

Eventually, they stopped attacking. Alex fought to catch his breath. His dark gray fur was slicked black with blood. Alex limped to the next bed. The girl didn’t make a sound as Alex bit carefully through the chains. They kept watching the doorway as if fearing more members of the gang would appear and imprison them again, but though Alex’s senses strained, he didn’t hear anyone rushing to oppose him.

When he made his way to the door, those he had fought cowered away from him and let the girls pass behind him unstopped. A hand touched Alex’s shoulder, then another. The girls walked with their fingers entwined in his fur as if they needed the reassurance. Alex let their trust calm his pounding heart. They knew he was a werewolf, and they knew he fought to free them. It was enough to chase away his rage and let him lead them to safety.

When they reached the street, one of the girls held out a cell phone. It was covered in blood; no doubt taken from a gang member still left below.

She dialed a number with shaking fingers. Alex could hear the other end of the conversation.

“Hello?”

“M-mom?” she said; her eyes filling with tears.

“Dessie? Oh my goodness, Dessie! Bill, it’s Dessie, it’s Dessie!” Alex heard the familiar voice cry on the other end.

Dessie closed the phone after a few minutes. “They’re coming to get us,” she told the other girls. “And they’re bringing the police.” Her voice wavered. “We’re going home.”

Tears shone in the moonlight as they held each other. Alex stood apart from the group, watching them, protecting them. The fact that the girls came from one gang hideout and were the victims of a single gang’s kidnapping wasn’t lost on him. He wondered how many more suffered from abuse and fear, unable to return to their families.

Police sirens sounded in the distance. The fact that they were entering the Saa again filled Alex with determination. He would help them rid the Saa and Greyton of the scourge that plagued it. No one should have to live in fear. He had done so long enough to know that it wasn’t truly living.

As soon as the police cars pulled up, Alex slipped back to the doorway to ensure that the members of the blue clover gang wouldn’t interfere with the rescue. His heart warmed when the man and woman from the diner rushed from one of the vehicles and wrapped Dessie up in loving arms. The rest of the girls were bundled in blankets and helped into the back seats.

“Do I need to send an ambulance or get body bags?”

Alex was surprised to realize the officer was addressing him.