by Jayme Morse
“Yeah. I knew about all of this.”
“Milos and Iris have long known that the two of them would be a part of the Triangle.”
“How did they know that?”
“Easy. They’re both born of two of the most powerful werewolf families.”
“I didn’t even know Iris was an Alpha. How is that possible when she’s always here?” I asked him.
“Easy. Every Alpha has a Beta,” he explained. “Her Beta fills in for her most of the time, but before she does anything, she has to have Iris approve everything first. So, basically, she’s still Alpha, just from a distance. And I doubt she likes being an Alpha from afar, but they’ve been making it work just so that she can come to the Academy. The thing about Iris is that she’s extremely loyal when it comes to Milos. She would never do anything to let him down, and in case you haven’t already figured it out, Milos is the one who sent her here to keep an eye on you.”
“But Iris started this school at the same time as I did,” I replied with a frown.
“And that wasn’t by coincidence. Milos has werewolf friends who work at the Academy. When he found out that you were enrolled, he came up with a plan: have Iris enroll as a student, which they were able to accomplish last minute thanks to compulsion. From there, the plan was simple. All she had to do was befriend you, and keep an eye on you. She would report everything she learned about you back to Milos, and, ultimately, would help bring him closer to you.”
“But that wasn’t necessary when Milos is able to tap into my mind,” I pointed out.
“He just felt better about having someone here who could watch you every day—someone who could ask all the right questions to learn about you who you didn’t even suspect wasn’t on your side. It was genius, really. It was all with one goal in mind—to lead you one step closer to him.”
“Well, they made that happen. They kidnapped me over the summer,” I informed him.
“I know. I would have tried to stop it from happening, but I couldn’t. And for that, I am deeply sorry.”
“What do you mean you ‘tried to stop it’?” I just stared back at him, sort of confused. “Iris told you it was happening?”
“No, she didn’t tell me it was happening, but I always try to keep an eye on you. The entire reason I enrolled at Werewolf Academy was to try to keep an eye on you, Raven. I’ve followed you pretty much everywhere you go.”
My eyebrows shot up. “How is that even possible? I never see you any place I go.”
“Sometimes I use invisibility spells to remain hidden. My sister is a monster, Raven. I figured you would need some protection from both her and Milos, and I was right. I’ve tried to watch out for you ever since your first day at Werewolf Academy, and the day Milos lured you to those woods to kidnap you was no exception. But there was something that happened that prevented me from rescuing you from being kidnapped,” Eric explained. “Iris has long known that one of the main reasons I’m a student here is to protect you. So, to get me away that day, she told me our aunt died and convinced me that both of us needed to go back to Savannah.”
“Wait, there’s actually an aunt in Savannah?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
He nodded. “Yeah, our Aunt Geraldine. She was an aunt who lived in the human world at the time of the virus, so she was able to survive even when most of the ancients didn’t,” he explained. “The thing is, she’s still very much alive. That was all just a ploy for Iris to get me out of here so that Milos could kidnap you without me trying to stop it from happening. Of course, I didn’t realize that at the time. Not until it was already too late.”
“Wow,” I murmured. “That’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I appreciate you even coming here to look out for me.”
“I’m not sure if he told you this, but you were rescued because of me,” Eric told me then. He glanced around, as if he was nervous that that someone was listening. “I’m the one who let him know you needed rescuing.”
My eyes widened. “Really? He never mentioned that.”
In fact, the truth was that I had never even really considered how my rescuer had known that I needed rescuing.
“Yeah,” he replied with a nod. He hesitated for a moment. “There’s something else, too.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“You might not know this, but Milos didn’t kill your parents.”
“What?” At first, I stared back at him completely dumbfounded. But then I let out a little laugh. “Of course he did.”
“No, Raven. I know you’ve believed this all along, but you’re wrong. I can tell you for a fact that Milos didn’t kill your parents.”
“How can you be so sure?” I asked him.
“Because Milos was with me and my sister the day your parents were murdered. We were in Wolflandia. He wasn’t anywhere near Pennsylvania or your parents.”
The look in Eric’s light blue eyes told me he was telling the truth. Milos Santorini really hadn’t killed my parents.
I swallowed hard, trying to make sense of this all. “But if Milos didn’t kill my parents, then who did?”
“I don’t know,” Eric replied, shaking his head.
I didn’t know, either, but one thing was for sure.
I was determined to find out.
Chapter 11
As I left the bar, so many thoughts and emotions were swirling around inside my mind.
Knowing that Milos hadn’t killed my parents was a total game-changer.
I had spent the last two years fully believing that he had killed him, that he was enemy. Don’t get me wrong. After kidnapping me and keeping me locked away in his dungeon for three months like he had, there was no doubt that I still considered Milos was my enemy. That was all unforgivable. But knowing that he hadn’t actually killed my parents made me hate him slightly less.
I just wasn’t sure who else would have wanted to kill them.
I was so shocked by this information that Eric had given me that I had completely forgotten about getting in touch with Aiden.
“Are you finished with Headmaster Black yet?” I asked him. “I have so much to tell you.”
“He’s getting ready to leave in a few seconds. I’ll follow him out the door when he opens it,” Aiden replied right away.
“Okay.” I just stood there waiting for him for a few moments.
Realizing that I probably looked like I was waiting for someone, I pulled my cell phone out and texted Vince.
I just met with Eric. I learned so much.
Just as I hit “Send,” Headmaster Black strolled out of the Psychic Investigations building.
I glanced down at my phone, pretending to be reading something, as he got closer.
I didn’t think he was going to actually say anything to me, but then he moved out of his way to stand in front of me on the sidewalk.
“Miss Gallagher, aren’t you out fairly late for a school night?” Headmaster Black asked.
“I was unaware that we had a curfew,” I told him.
“Well, we don’t, but I just figured that someone like you would want to be home studying. I was reviewing your grades recently, and it looks like your GPA is beginning to drop. I wouldn’t want these late-night rendezvous to interfere with your academic career.”
“Thank you for your concern,” I said sweetly.
“Someone has to be concerned about you, Miss Gallagher.” The Headmaster stared at me for a moment longer. “I also find it rather surprising that you’re out all alone. For someone who claims that another student tried to kill her, you seem to feel safe enough to go out at night.”
It took everything in me not to snarl at him.
“Unless, perhaps, you’re not alone,” the Headmaster continued. “Maybe one of your mates is nearby?”
“How does he know?” I thought silently to Aiden.
Out loud, I just shook my head. “Nope. It’s just me.”
“Well, Miss Gallagher, you really should be careful when you’re out here all alone. I certai
nly wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to you.” Then, without saying another word, he turned away from me and set off in the direction of his car.
I watched as he climbed into a black sedan. He just sat in the parking lot, not too far away from where we were parked.
“Don’t say anything to me until we reach my car,” Aiden told me. “He can’t know you’re with me. In fact, you’re driving.”
“I don’t even know how to drive,” I insisted. The Darken had sort of ripped me out of the human world before I’d even had the chance to learn.
“Don’t worry. It’s just like riding a bike,” Aiden said as we headed in the direction of the car. Not that I could see him. I just assumed that he was moving in that direction with me.
“You never saw this girl ride a bike. It was a pretty scary thing.” As we approached the car, I said, “Umm, how can I open the car if I don’t have the keys? And you can’t give them to me without Headmaster Black seeing you give them to me.”
“Put your hand inside your purse to act like you’re touching the keys,” Aiden said. “I’ll unlock the doors. Open the car door and let me in before you. Once we’re inside, I’ll give you the keys.”
I did as he said, putting my hand inside my bag. A second later, I heard the sound of car doors beeping as Aiden unlocked them.
As I opened the car door, I glanced over my shoulder at where Headmaster Black was sitting in his parked car. He was staring in my direction.
“Because him staring like that isn’t creepy as fuck or anything,” I said, pretending to drop my purse on the ground, hoping that explained why I was leaving the door open but not getting inside the car.
A few moments later, I stood up again and then slipped into the driver’s seat, closing the door behind me.
“Okay, I’m dropping the keys now,” Aiden informed me, and a moment later, the keys fell to the floor of the car.
I reached over and picked them up.
Then I turned them in the ignition, revving the car to life. I turned on the headlights.
“You know which is the gas pedal and which is the brake, right?” Aiden asked.
“The gas pedal is on the right,” I said confidently.
“Bingo. You’re going to want to put the car into Drive. And the emergency brake—”
“I have driven a car before, just not much. But why are you even trusting me to drive this car when I none know of this?” I asked.
“Because you’ve done far harder things than drive a car, Raven,” Aiden replied. “Now, drive. If you sit here for too long, Headmaster Black is going to start wondering what’s going on.”
“Do we care what Headmaster Black has to think?”
“After everything I just learned about him tonight, we should care. Headmaster Black is not a good werewolf.”
“Please tell me that’s not the first time you’re realizing this,” I said as I slid the gear into ‘Drive.’ I gently tapped my foot on the gas pedal.
“You’re doing just fine. Pull out of the parking lot, and then give it a little more oomph when you pull out onto the street,” Aiden instructed.
As I made it out of the parking lot, I hit the gas pedal a little harder.
“I’m driving. I’m actually driving,” I commented. “You know, I was supposed to take driver’s ed during my senior year of high school. But then somebody ripped me out of the human world and brought me here.”
“You know you’re glad we did that. Just admit it,” Aiden said.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” I thought with a smile. Glancing in the rearview mirror for the first time, I realized that we weren’t alone. The black sedan was right at my tail. “Headmaster Black is following us.”
“Turn left at the next stop sign,” Aiden said. “There’s absolutely no reason he’d have to take that road to get to his own living quarters, so if he follows us, then we know he’s actually following us.”
I turned on my blinker before we hit the stop sign. I watched as Headmaster Black’s blinker indicated that he was turning left, too.
“He’s totally following us.”
“Okay. Well, I was going to make myself visible soon, but clearly, I can’t do that until after we get home. He must be following you to find out, for sure, if one of us is with you. He clearly realized someone was invisible in there, and then he saw you, so he must have put two and two together. I probably shouldn’t have followed him, but I’m really glad I did. It makes me think of him completely different now.”
“Was what you learned really that bad?” I asked him.
“You don’t know the half of it. This shit is crazy.”
“Well, I would know if you just spit it out already,” I replied with an eye roll.
“I really want to tell you everything, but I’d rather wait to tell the others, too. Besides, you need to stay focused on getting us home without crashing.”
“Even if we do get into accident, it won’t kill us. We’re werewolves. Remember?” I asked as I turned onto the road that would leave to the Darken house.
“Yeah, but Theo would be freaking pissed if you crashed the car. It’s his baby, you know.”
“Why is that, anyway? Theo doesn’t strike me as the type who gets caught up on material possessions.” In fact, in comparison to the rest of my mates, Theo seemed like he enjoyed the simple things in life the most.
“He bought this car the day his best friend died,” Aiden explained. “So, for that reason, the car has a lot of sentimental value to him.”
“I didn’t even know Theo had a best friend who died.” Apparently, I hadn’t known my mate as well as I thought I did. I thought his pack members were his only close friends.
I supposed that was naïve of me to think. An eternity was a really long time to just be friends with three people. Of course, he’d had other friends.
“Yeah, her name was Fawn,” he replied, just as I pulled the car into the long driveway.
“How did she die?” I asked.
“She was killed, as werewolves usually are.”
I watched as Headmaster Black’s car pulled around up the street. We waited for a few moments. He made a U-turn and then pulled off the street, slamming his car into high speed.
“He’s gone.” I breathed a sigh of relief.
“I’m still going to stay invisible until I’m in the house,” Aiden replied. “I’m afraid that if he finds out the truth, if he realizes that I was there with him, he’ll kill me.”
As I held the driver’s side door open for Aiden to climb out, I heard the sound of a car speeding down our street.
Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the Headmaster’s black sedan again.
A knot tightened in my stomach. Whatever Aiden had overheard, it must have been freaking huge. Why else would the Headmaster have been trying to catch us off guard?
Chapter 12
“So, what did you find out?” Theo asked as we all sat in the living room.
“This shit is seriously disturbing. I can’t even believe this guy is Headmaster.” Aiden shook his head.
“Aiden, what did he do?” I asked gently.
“He’s been killing students.”
“W-what?” That was the absolute last thing I had been expecting him to say.
I hadn’t trusted Headmaster Black in a really long time, and I thought he was capable of a lot of shady shit. But I honestly never would have guessed that killing students could have been one of those things.
The surprise that I felt was mirrored in Colton’s eyes. “Who did he kill?”
“Meghan Thornby, Charles Rover, and Addison Hickey,” Aiden replied.
“I’m a little confused. If this is all true—” Theo began, but Aiden interrupted him.
“It is true. I heard him say it with my own ears.”
“Okay, but if he killed those students, then why is he just telling this psychic investigation agency? Considering how corrupt all of this is, don’t you think he would just keep it to himself? Why
risk getting caught?” Theo asked.
“Because this is crazy,” Aiden said, shaking his head.
I could tell that there was a lot about this that he wasn’t revealing yet. “Tell us everything.”
“Yeah, start from the beginning,” Theo agreed with a nod.
“Okay, so I followed him into this place, right? He had an appointment with this psychic investigator. Her name was Pauline. She’s apparently part fae, part witch, so the intuition runs really strong in her genes. I guess she really knows her shit,” he explained. “So, Headmaster Black starts to tell her about how he’s been killing students so that he can drink their blood and become more youthful.”
“What? Does that actually… work?” This wasn’t something we had ever learned about in class.
“It requires some lunar magic, but yeah, drinking the blood of someone who’s younger than you can help you maintain your youth,” Rhys replied with a nod.
“It can also make you stronger,” Colton added.
“Ew.” I felt sick to my stomach. It was as if we were in the real-life version of Hocus Pocus—except, I would have much rather taken my chances with the Sanderson sisters than I would have with Headmaster Black.
“Anyway, Headmaster Black has been killing these kids and burying their bodies in the Dead Woods. Well, he got an anonymous letter from someone letting him know that they were onto him and that if he doesn’t do what they say, they’ll expose all of his secrets. He wouldn’t tell Pauline, but I get the feeling that this person has a lot of shit on him—secrets that could completely destroy his career.”
“Because killing kids to drink their blood to become younger isn’t enough to destroy his career,” I said sarcastically.
“Anyway, Headmaster Black went out to the Dead Woods the other night, and he found out that whoever wrote these letters actually dug up the bodies of the kids he’d murdered. So, the threat is real and, in his mind, serious.” He paused. “The reason he’s seeing Pauline is to try to figure out who is sending these letters. Who knows his secrets? It’s all very intriguing, but it’s all very, very twisted. So, I guess you were right all along,” Aiden said, glancing over at Theo. “We definitely can’t trust Headmaster Black.”