New Moon (Alpha Wolf Academy)

by JJ King

  The darkness looked different with my wolf eyes. Even with the non-existent light, I could see the general shapes of things, of Bash and Daniella. I lifted my nose into the air and inhaled, getting a good whiff of fertilizer and silver first, then the rancid fish from my clothes and hair. I shook my entire body and wished desperately for a shower. Gingerly, I tested my ankle and found it already well on its way to being healed. Whatever magic allowed our bones to shift from one state into another, also allowed that process to heal most wounds.

  Bash’s fingers tickled the length of my spine, raking through my fur with an appreciative stroke. I moved into him, leaning against his legs for a moment and wishing we were back out in the forest, running beneath the moonlight, before all of this shit had gone down.

  I cocked my head to the side as I realized something. Needing to put my thoughts into words, I threw myself back into the shift and was standing, naked and furless, in moments. Words gushed out of me as I reached for my clothes.

  “Holy shit, I just realized the body in the woods and the one at the gate were a set up.” I pulled the scrub top over my head and reached for the pants. “The academy freaked out and brought in more guards…”

  Bash groaned. “Which is how these assholes got an entire army of terrorists on campus without anyone questioning it. Donahue practically rolled out the welcome mat for them.”

  “What does this have to do with anything?” Daniella asked with a long-suffering sigh from her spot on the floor. “How does this help us in any way?”

  I gritted my teeth and forced myself to not snap at her. She was in pain and a natural born bitch. I could be the bigger wolf this once.

  “Because,” I said in a deliberately patronizing tone, “there are more of them than there are of us and understanding their motives and strategic abilities is an asset.” I chewed my lip for a moment then snapped out, “and maybe shut the fuck up. You’re not in charge here, Daniella. Your bitch squad are writhing in agony out there.” I pointed towards where I’d left Seraphina. “And you’ll die if we don’t get you that antidote. Do you really think your vendetta against me is worth your life?”

  Chapter 19

  I stared into the darkness and waited for Daniella to either lose her shit or fall in line. Either way, I was moving now. Xavier had been waiting long enough. My stomach twisted, and I refused to give into the worry that he was already dead.

  When she didn’t speak, I shook my head and turned toward Bash. “I can’t wait any longer. Are you coming with me or…” I swallowed the lump in my throat at the thought of continuing alone, “staying here?”

  Bash stiffened. I could practically feel my question tearing him apart and my heart ached, but we were literally at war and tough decisions had to be made. He could stay and risk me being captured before I could get the antidote back to Daniella or come with me and risk not being there if she was captured or if the poison stopped her heart. I wished I had the right answer, but I didn’t.

  Part of me wanted him to stay; the part that had been terrified when I’d seen that guy shot in the head on the quad. The part that had wondered if Bash would be next. Old Ones knew, he’d be safer here, but there were risks both ways.

  He was strong, capable, and looked at me with the same emotion in his gaze that I felt when I looked at him. He’d have my back and I’d have his.

  I almost sighed when I realized what that meant but I managed to keep it together as I bent forward to grab Daniella’s uninjured arm. She struggled as I pulled her to her feet and cursed with quiet but intense fervor at me.

  When she was standing, I let go and hissed. “You wanted to come with us, didn’t you?”

  Beside me, Bash’s entire body jerked, relaxed, then tightened again. He must have been running through the same scenarios I had and knew the risks.

  “They have gas masks now, so this,” I reached into my pocket to pull out the last vial, which had stayed intact, thankfully, this entire time, “is useless.” Still, I tucked it back into my pocket, knowing there might be some guards without masks. I chewed my lip and brought the layout of the Administration building back to mind. “The nurse’s office is on the second floor, next to counselling center. If we go in these doors, it’s a straight shot up the hallway to the stairs, then,” I closed my eyes to picture it better, “a left, straight, left again and we’re there.”

  “It’s probably locked,” Bash said, echoing my exact thoughts. I leaned into him and felt a flood of warmth when his arms moved around me to encircle my waist.

  I nodded, even though it was a bit hard to concentrate on the task at hand when Bash’s body was touching mine. Life and death, I reminded myself. There would be time for sex later, if we survived. “Wish I’d brought my axe,” I mumbled.

  “We need cover, right?” Bash said, as if thinking aloud, but I nodded and waited for him to finish. “What if we could get one of them alone and knock him out. We could take his uniform and mask so no one would be able to recognize us. We’d be able to move about freely.” Hesitant excitement made his voice rise a bit.

  I thought it over carefully, wishing it to be as simple as that but remembering the wide open space outside and the steps that had given the guard a straight line of sight to our hiding spot. What if she was still there?

  “It could work,” I said slowly, “but there’s a lot to consider. There was a guard on the steps that can see back here and the yard was packed. How are we going to get just one without alerting the others?”

  “If we could just see out of this shed, we’d be able to move when no one was looking.” Bash’s frustration matched mine.

  Daniella cleared her throat quietly. “Can you shine your phone light on the floor again?”

  My eyebrows shot up and I was glad for the darkness hiding my shock. That was the nicest Daniella had ever been to me. For a second, it had even sounded as if she were going to follow up her request with a “please.” I turned my torch back on and shone it down at the floor.

  It was a clean space, well-kept and tidy. Daniella turned slowly with a wince and pointed to the wall just past the wooden countertop. I followed the direction and felt my lips tug up in a grin. A manual drill sat neatly on a board against the wall, its outline drawn around it. Bash reached for it first and slowly rotated the handle. It moved without a squeak. I had no idea why the groundskeepers would need it but, right now, I loved them for having it.

  Bash lifted it to the wall that faced the steps and placed the bit against the wood. With measured movements and a look of intense concentration, he began to drill through to the outside.

  The hole the drill made wasn’t big but it afforded us a small peek at what was going on outside while keeping us safely hidden. I chewed on my lip and waited impatiently as Bash peered out first then moved aside to make room for me.

  “I’m going to make another hole in the front wall,” he murmured, moving off to start the process again.

  I nodded absently and pressed my eye up against the small hole. The steps were clear now and I could hear voices filtering through that I hadn’t been able to hear before.

  “No luck yet. We’re still looking for her,” a gruff voice said no more than ten feet away from the shed. I held my breath knowing that if I could hear them now, there was the chance they could hear me, too.

  Still, it was worth the risk. I waved my hand in the air and signaled for Bash to stop what he was doing then pressed my ear to the hole.

  “Maybe the reports were wrong and she’s not even here.” This was said in a female voice that was softly rounded at the edges. I strained to recognize the accent but couldn’t place it any more definitively than European.

  I focused on their voices even though my stomach muscles had tightened painfully the moment I’d heard them talk about “her,” the girl the guard in the library had thought was me. They were after someone, a young woman who, apparently, looked something like me, but wasn’t me.

  This school was full of the children of import
ant people, rich people, influential people, and I was a scholarship kid from Newfoundland with a simple background. There was nothing that made me special enough for a band of terrorists to attack the academy over.

  “You questioning the boss?” This was said with an incredulity I could hear plain as day. As if questioning the “boss” led to very unsavory results. I flashed back to the two executions I’d witnessed and knew that if the minions were that deadly, chances were the boss was deadlier.

  If the woman responded, I didn’t hear it because they’d moved out of earshot. I strained harder to hear, but it was no use. There was no one in hearing distance that was talking. In fact, I realized, there wasn’t much noise at all outside.

  There’d been a hell of a lot of weeping and wailing after I’d run through group with my vial, but there was none now. I needed a better look.

  “Coast clear?” Bash whispered when I looked over at him. He was watching me intently with those green eyes. I wished we weren’t in the middle of a war so I could enjoy that look just for a moment.

  I shook my head. “I’m not sure. It’s awfully quiet out there. I think they carted all the students and faculty off somewhere but I can’t be sure.” A lump formed directly in the middle of my throat but I spoke around it. “Without looking.”

  Bash cocked an eyebrow and stepped closer to me, his eyes bright with nerves. “What if there’s a guard just outside. Maybe if I drilled a few more holes.”

  Dread coated my tongue and I wanted to just hold back and let us stay safe here in this tiny refuge, but another part of me couldn’t forget that I’d made a promise. Xavier would die and I’d never forgive myself.

  I shook my head, hating myself for it, and murmured, “No.” A surge of emotion welled up in me and I didn’t have the strength to fight it back. I lifted my hand to Bash ’s cheek and rubbed my thumb gently over the stubble there, thinking absently how sexy it was and that I’d give anything for the chance to feel it again. “It’s time. I can go first.”

  Bash’s hand took mine and shifted it until my palm pressed against his lips. They were hot and soft, and the look in his eyes made me want to cry, so I looked away for a moment and caught Daniella watching us with a look of surprise.

  “We’ll go together,” he whispered, pulling me into his arms and making me forget about Daniella. His strong arms wrapped around my waist, making a cocoon that I would gladly live in. For a long, quiet moment, it was just me and him, no attack, no sister, nothing, just the steady beat of his heart and the warmth of our embrace.

  It ended too soon. Bash pulled back slightly and brushed a wisp of hair from my face. “I hate to say it, but if you could distract a guard, I can get the drop on them with something heavy.” He reached for my phone and shined it on the walls, then grabbed a long wrench that would make a fine club. “This’ll work.”

  I eyed it and the flexing muscles in his arm as he welded it. “Yeah,” I agreed with a flutter of lust and fear, “that’ll work.”

  We went over the details as best as we were able to given the fact we had no idea what was waiting for us outside. The hedge provided the privacy necessary to lure one of them away from the others, while the shed provided the perfect hiding spot for Bash.

  I took a deep breath and slipped out of the shed in a low crouch.

  The shadows were deeper now as we crept to the hedge and peered out. The path between the Administration and Arts buildings was empty, but there were still a few guards patrolling the area. I saw one disappear past the apple tree I’d braced myself on earlier and another walking towards us with a gas mask still firmly fit across her face.

  I looked over at Bash and cocked an eyebrow. She was about my size, maybe a little shorter, but her uniform would fit. She’d work for the bait and switch routine we’d worked up. All we had to do was lure her behind the hedge without her calling it in.

  “Good luck,” Bash’s voice broke the tiniest bit. I kept my gaze straight, watching the woman, because I knew that if I looked, I’d break.

  So, I just whispered, “You too,” and blew out a deep breath.

  Bash slipped away to hide while I placed the ripped and bloody piece of cloth just outside the thick hedge where she’d, hopefully, see it and investigate. Then, I crawled across the ground and lay face down, a few feet from the shed.

  The wait felt like forever as I interpreted each crunch of stone, playing up the possibility of our single guard silently signaling for a partner. This could go horribly wrong, we all knew it, but we couldn’t stay here.

  My pulse hitched and sped up when I heard the tell-tale rustle of branches as someone pushed their way through the hedge. I breathed in the scent and recognized the pheromones that marked her as female. She was alone.

  Her knees cracked as she bent down and, a second later, I felt her fingers on my neck. I knew what she’d find there, a racing pulse, hot skin, and a surprise she’d never see coming.

  I twisted and shot my hand out a split second before she reached for her walkie-talkie.

  Bash appeared out of nowhere and, with a grimace, belted her across the back of the head with the wrench. She fell to the ground at my side like a ton of bricks.

  He groaned quietly. “That doesn’t feel right.” His arms were gentle as he picked her up and carried her to the shed, regret and determination clear on his gorgeous face.

  I undressed her because I knew it would make Bash feel even worse to strip an unconscious woman, regardless of the fact that we were fighting for our lives and that she would kill us if given the chance. I wasn’t planning on giving her or anyone else that chance.

  Her uniform fit well, if a little snug in the butt. The too-short pants were covered by the black military style boots that were just a bit too big but worked. I quickly braided my hair just like hers and tucked it under, so as little of the bright auburn color was showing as possible. When I pulled the mask over my head and covered most of it with the black cap, I became just another drone in the terrorist army, which was exactly what I’d wanted.

  “Now for you,” I said with a tense smile. I walked out of the shed this time, leaving Bash and Daniella, who, I just realized, had been awfully quiet this last while, behind. This part should be easy enough.

  The guard I’d seen pass between the buildings crossed again just a few minutes after I’d assumed my post. He glanced down my way and halted when I raised a hand and motioned him forward, hoping to the Old Ones not to give myself away.

  “What’d you find?” he called out as he strode forward, arms swinging casually by his sides. Although I couldn’t clearly see his face through the mask, his body language looked relaxed.

  I pointed to the hedge and pitched my voice low. “I saw something back there near the shed. Boss said to double up.”

  He nodded, as if that were the norm in their profession of murdering and terrorizing. Without asking for further clarification, he walked past me and pushed through the hedge. When he was standing just a few feet from the shed, he paused and looked over at me. “Are you coming, or what?”

  He didn’t even see the wrench descending.

  “Still doesn’t feel right,” Bash muttered as he deposited the unconscious man on the floor of the shed.

  “That’s because you’re a good person.” I ran my hand up his arm and smiled. He was a good person, an exceptionally good guy. I glanced over at Daniella, who was still just silently watching us and thought, she must have sucked all the bad right out of him in utero.

  I knelt to pull the guard’s boots off and felt my stomach explode with millions of excited butterflies when Bash began taking off his clothes.

  Nudity was commonplace among our kind, I reminded myself as he slipped his shirt over his head and tossed it on the countertop.

  It’s just another body, my brain told me as my body filled with lust the second his fingers unbuttoned his jeans. A super fine body, but just a body.

  I tried to keep my gaze away from him as he stepped out of his jeans, leavi
ng them puddled on the floor in my line of sight, but doubts filtered through and I realized how obvious I was being. I was about to straighten and casually hand Bash the boots when the scent of my own arousal hit my nose.

  I swallowed a groan and lifted my eyes to see Bash watching me with amusement and the reflection of my response in his emerald eyes. I let a smile tug at my lips for a moment, then looked away, and met Daniella’s intense gaze.

  My eyebrow cocked of its own volition. “What?” I asked in my best non-hostile tone.

  She gave me a slow smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes and slowly shook her head. “Nothing.”

  I didn’t believe her but this wasn’t the time nor the place to be starting a fight, plus, she was injured and I wasn’t half the bitch she was.

  “Ready.” Bash patted his hands over the uniform then fit the mask over his face with a grunt. “Let’s escort the prisoner.” He reached a hand out to his sister without looking and she automatically slipped her smaller palm into his.

  I stared at that small and intimate physical connection between them and suddenly knew without a doubt that Bash would sacrifice what was growing between us for his twin. I drew in a long breath and let it out slowly.

  If we survived, I’d have to figure out a way to live with Daniella.

  Chapter 20

  I kept my back rod straight as we marched Daniella through the front doors of the Administration building. I figured that’s the way most terrorists walked.

  The hallways inside the building were empty for the most part. We moved down the long hallway without encountering anyone and met only one distracted-looking guard as we turned and ascended the stairs. He was past us before I even realized he was there.

  My stomach muscles relaxed as he moved around the corner away from us. Even with the mask and uniform, I felt utterly exposed. I couldn’t imagine how Daniella felt.

  I glanced at her, walking stiffly between Bash and I, and frowned. There was a sheen to her skin now that hadn’t been there earlier. I leaned forward and shook my hand to get Bash’s attention. We’d agreed on talking as little as possible during this trek.