‘My brothers and sisters, the ones that were saved by my parents, they are my family, no matter what blood flows in their veins. Terry, Byron, Sean, Jenna, Katy and…Zak.’
I stared at him for a long moment, aware that I’d heard his words but unable to process them and sort them into a suitable emotional category. Zak? My Zak? So he did know him.
‘Your brother came to live with us when I was seven, long before my parents were killed. He became part of my family straight away and my dad helped him through…certain changes.’
My voice sounded tinny and distant when I finally spoke. ‘I’m fully aware of the changes my brother had to go through. Terry filled me in on the whole werewolf DNA that runs in the family. What I want to know is did you know who I was when we met?’
Cody dropped my hands and they swung through the vast void that separated us even though we were only a few steps apart.
‘Yes,’ he whispered. ‘After I saw you in the woods that night, I wanted to meet you in person but I didn’t know how I could. Going anywhere near the academy is dangerous for us, so I…’
I held my hand up to silence him.
‘When did you see me for the first time, Cody?’
‘It was the night you ran away. You came crashing through the trees and we had to investigate the sound, so Zak led us to the overhang. You were leaning against a tree trunk looking really sad. Then you saw us.’
I gasped and pushed my fingers to my lips. The four wolves in the forest.
‘You…you’re a werewolf?’
I mentally kicked myself. Now I thought about it, he was part of a random family that included Terry and Zak—werewolves. How had I not put the pieces together? Even after Terry told me Cody was cool about his brother being a wolf, it still never dawned on me that he was one too. Or perhaps I hadn’t wanted to believe it.
Cody nodded, his blonde hair flopping into his eyes until he brushed it away. I watched his hair dance in the sunlight and thought back to that night. A large brown wolf had broken away and circled me. Was that Zak? There was another wolf too, its fur golden and its eyes as blue as the ocean.
‘Oh my God.’ My knees gave way and I dropped to the dirt track with a thud. Cody rushed to my side.
‘I’m so sorry, Mia. Zak told me to stay away from you and the academy, but I couldn’t. I had to meet you and speak with you.’
‘All this time and you knew about the werewolves, my brother and me. Did Byron know who I was that day in the café?’
‘Not until you told him your name. When we’re in wolf form we don’t really see you in the same way as when we’re human. The scent is the same, but you were scared that night in the woods. You just smelt of cinnamon in the café.’ His voice trailed off as he caught my mortified expression.
‘So why hasn’t Zak come for me?’ That hurt more than the lies. My brother knew where I was, had always known where I was, but remained in the shadows—or in his wolf form. I felt abandoned all over again.
‘When my parents died, Zak became the alpha wolf. He has to be careful. Coming anywhere near Hood Academy is more dangerous for him because of your uncle. It’s like he has a personal vendetta against our pack. He suspected that Terry was being held here, but we couldn’t do anything about it.’
‘So you used me. You sent me to free him instead of getting your hands dirty.’
‘I’m so sorry, Mia. I never wanted to put you in danger. Neither did Zak. He’s spent his life trying to keep you safe and prepare for your future.’
Tears spilt down my cheeks as I sat in the dirt trying to digest Cody’s words, but they stuck in my throat.
‘But I wasn’t safe,’ I cried. ‘I was never safe. Our father beat me until I couldn’t see, he hurt me so I couldn’t walk and he terrorised me every day of my life. Zak didn’t keep me safe. He left me to rot.’
I jumped up, grabbing my bag as I did, and ran past the old animal cages and across the lawns, wiping frantically at the tears that flowed down my face with the back of my sleeve.
I stumbled through Adam’s patio doors and collapsed in a heap on the floor, sobbing hysterically until Terry scooped me up and set me down on the bed. He stroked my hair until I felt the tears subside and the ache in my heart lessen.
‘I’m guessing you spoke to Cody.’
I nodded and blew my nose on the tissue Adam handed me.
‘Yes, he told me everything. How he’s a werewolf too and that Zak’s your pack leader.’ I hiccupped as the sobs wracked through me. ‘Zak chose his pack over me, Terry. I’m not sure I can ever forgive him for that. And now, I’m all alone. Again.’
We spread the contents of the files across both beds. I propped my mother’s photograph on my pillow. It gave me a warm feeling in the pit of my stomach, like she was there with me, trying to sort out the lies from the evidence in front of us.
‘Terry said he was sorry.’ Elizabeth had only just returned from Adam’s room. The night was dark and overcast and Terry had made his escape, running for the treeline wearing one of Adam’s navy hoodies and joggers.
‘I’m not interested. Zak, Cody and all his pack of werewolves can rot in hell for all I care.’ Of course, I didn’t really mean that. I was just so angry at all of them. Mad at Cody for not telling me the truth from the beginning, cross with Terry because he could have given me more than cryptic clues at our first meeting, and as for Zak—I was furious at my brother for everything. I’d believed in him and he’d let me down.
Elizabeth gave a little half laugh in response and carried on reading through the file on Joel Mills. She had been nothing but supportive since I returned to our shared room with puffy eyes and incoherent babble about renegade siblings.
I wondered if it was possible to adopt Elizabeth as my sister and trade off a hairy, slobbering man-wolf. A giggle escaped my lips and Elizabeth raised a single eyebrow.
‘Something funny?’
I shook my head. ‘Not at all. That’s why I’m laughing. My entire life has fallen apart in a matter of weeks, and now I discover I’m descended from werewolves.’
We both giggled. Then we laughed out loud. It wasn’t long until we were rolling around the floor, clutching our sides and wiping away the tears that fell. It felt so good to have fun.
After we had exhausted all inappropriate humour, we sat with our backs against the wall and stared at the mass of photographs and graphs that littered the room.
‘Do we even know what we’re looking for?’
I hiccupped a little and shook my head. ‘Not a clue.’
‘Okay, let’s look at what we do know.’ Elizabeth clambered up from the floor and stood over the mountain of paper with her hands on her slim hips.
‘We know that your mum was a werewolf and that Joel was the pack leader. We assume from her letter to Sebastian that your mum was a member of Joel’s pack and he didn’t let her leave.’
I stood up and adopted the same stance as Elizabeth. Surveying the yellowed pages, I processed Elizabeth’s findings and voiced some additional thoughts that had been brewing in my mind for a while.
‘Terry says that once you’re sworn in as a pack member you can’t leave without good reason. Apparently, falling in love with a werewolf hunter was frowned upon in Joel’s pack.’
Elizabeth laughed.
‘We now know that my brother is a werewolf and abandoned me to join Joel’s pack after Mum died.’
Elizabeth snatched up the crumpled letter we found behind my mum’s photograph in Sebastian’s office and opened it up.
‘Your mum wanted Zak to come to Sebastian and not Joel. Why? What could your uncle offer Zak that a werewolf pack leader couldn’t?’
‘Freedom.’
Neither of us had noticed Miss Ross slip inside the room, nor did we hear her creep up on us.
We squealed in unison as she spoke.
‘So it was you two who helped our guest to leave.’ She wasn’t asking. The glint in her eye told me she knew exactly what we’d been up to.
>
A sharp tug of fear pulled at my gut.
‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell Sebastian. Believe it or not, girls, I’m on your side.’
She stared down at the papers strewn across the bed, and I noticed the small muscle in her jaw twitching. If she had information but didn’t know if she should tell us, it was down to us to coax it out of her. Miss Ross could have a vital clue from her friendship with my mum and her working relationship with Sebastian.
‘We didn’t mean any harm,’ Elizabeth said, her voice barely a whisper.
‘Oh, I know you didn’t.’ Miss Ross patted Elizabeth’s hand and the warmth returned to her eyes as she turned to look at me.
‘I wanted you to know the truth about your mother, Mia. No child should be left in the dark about their heritage. Your mother was a kind, caring and beautiful woman, and she was my dearest friend. I felt obliged to point you in the right direction. It was obvious that Sebastian was never going to tell you.’
‘So you hired Adam to help you out.’
‘Kind of,’ she said. ‘I’ve known Adam a long time and when I asked for his assistance he was only too happy to come to Hood Academy. I needed someone I could trust on the inside to watch out for you without arousing suspicion. Adam fit that role perfectly.’ She moved around the bed, glancing at the collection of evidence. ‘When young Elizabeth here had her altercation with Felicity, it presented me with another way of keeping a closer eye on you.’
I balked and instinctively took a step away from Elizabeth. Her eyes widened.
‘No! I didn’t know anything about that, I promise.’
‘Relax, Mia. Elizabeth was as clueless to my plans as you were. I just felt it would be advantageous for the two of you to be friendly, so I persuaded Sebastian to put you together as roommates.’
My initial panic subsided as I moved to stand beside my friend once more.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said quietly.
She smiled and reached for my hand.
Miss Ross continued, ‘It all worked out quite well when Adam was dazzled by Elizabeth before you arrived.’
Elizabeth blushed and lowered her head.
‘Oh, don’t worry, my dear. Young love is a wonderful thing and I wouldn’t do anything to harm your relationship.’
‘Did you help Adam to get the key to the underground lab?’ I asked, trying to work out how Adam had helped Miss Ross when he had seemed as much in the dark as the rest of us.
Miss Ross chuckled and took a seat on the end of Elizabeth’s bed, pushing the pages of Joel Mills’s file to the side. Her eyes were bright and sparkled in the light cast from the table lamp.
‘No, I only told Adam to befriend you. I didn’t give him any more information than that. I thought it would be a slow task with everything you had been through at home. But it appears that you girls, and Adam, discovered far more than I had planned all by yourselves.’ She fiddled with the hem of Elizabeth’s blanket as if choosing her next words carefully. ‘I merely wanted you to learn that your mother was a werewolf so you could prepare yourself for the change should you carry the gene. But you dug a little deeper and unearthed Hood Academy’s secrets.’
‘I think you’re giving us too much credit, miss. We might have found my uncle’s files and the hidden lab, but none of us have any clue what it all means.’
I grabbed a file from Elizabeth’s bed and waved it in the air.
‘Did Joel Mills kill my mother?’
A shadow passed over Miss Ross’s face and she took a deep breath. ‘Joel was Cassie’s pack leader and when your mother told him she wanted to leave the pack he became angry. You have to understand; it is possible to leave a pack without issue but the reason your mother wanted to leave was what caused the tension.’
‘Why did she want to leave?’
‘Sebastian,’ Miss Ross said softly. ‘Your mother fell in love with Sebastian when they were young but he was a hunter and she came from a family of werewolves. They tried to hide their relationship from the world but Sebastian’s brother found out the truth. He didn’t have the hunter gene but he understood the laws.’
‘So my dad threatened to expose them?’ It was a guess, but understanding how cruel my father could be, I presumed that I wasn’t far off the truth.
Miss Ross nodded. ‘Your dad told them he would go to the pack and tell them everything unless she agreed to marry him.’
Elizabeth sucked in a deep breath. I’d moved beyond being shocked by my dad’s actions long ago and urged Miss Ross to continue.
‘Your mother had no choice but to agree. They got married and then went on to have Zak. She tried so hard to make a go of the marriage and forget about Sebastian, but the pull was too great. They were like magnets and every time they tried to separate, an unseen force would pull them back together.’
‘That’s why Dr Roberts has all the photographs of Mia’s mum in his office.’ Elizabeth squeezed my hand as she spoke and I was once again grateful that she was with me.
‘Yes, he never stopped loving her,’ Miss Ross said with true affection in her voice.
AFTER MISS ROSS left, I squared my shoulders and leant back against my bed. I couldn’t feel sorry for Sebastian; what he was doing to the werewolves wasn’t right. I thought about Terry. He was a human being ninety-nine per cent of the time. Torturing him wasn’t the right thing to do—it was beyond cruel.
‘Do you think it’s Felicity that hunts them?’ Elizabeth asked as she collected the files from the bed.
‘Yes, I do. She’s the one with a secret key to the lab, and I heard Terry’s screams when she was down there with him.’
‘She isn’t just catching them, is she?’
‘No, she isn’t, but I don’t know if Sebastian is even aware that she’s torturing them for pleasure.’
‘Are you going to tell him?’
I flopped onto the bed and picked up the letter my mum had written to Sebastian.
‘I can’t tell him without owning up to our part in all of this.’
‘So what now?’
I couldn’t answer her. I didn’t know who to trust to help us. I glanced over the letter again, my eyes settling on the final words.
‘I believe in what you are doing…I hope you carry on without me.’
It was my mum’s wish that Sebastian continue to work on the serum, but why? Realisation hit me and a chill spread over my skin. She did it for us. Me and Zak. I’d only just found out that it was even possible that I could turn into a werewolf, but beyond the shock and horror I hadn’t given much thought to the practical side of things. Would I be prepared to undergo treatment to avoid turning?
‘If my mum wanted Sebastian to finish the serum, I think she hoped it would work on Zak, and me.’
Elizabeth stopped what she was doing and sat beside me.
‘But Zak’s the alpha. The pack needs him.’
‘I doubt he would be interested in a cure.’ I felt despondent that I didn’t know anything about my brother any more.
‘Your mum was a willing test subject, Mia. From what Miss Ross told us, Sebastian treated her with care.’
‘So she wasn’t shoved in the animal cages then,’ I mumbled.
Elizabeth wrapped her arm around my shoulder.
‘We’ll figure it all out, don’t worry.’
The smile I gave her didn’t quite reach my eyes. I felt numb all over. When she moved away, I wrapped my arms around my legs, hugging them to my chest like a protective barrier. I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was Sebastian’s fault that my mum had died.
There was a faint tap at the door and a small square envelope appeared under the gap. We both stared at it for a while until Elizabeth scooped it up and handed it to me.
Inside was a photo of my mum and Sebastian; they looked so happy, with twinkling eyes and radiant smiles. On the reverse was a short note from Miss Ross.
Sebastian was protecting you by not telling you the truth about your mother’s death. He arranged for the po
lice to notify you about the car accident. He wanted to finish his work before Zak came of age and turned for the first time.
‘I guess that explains why your mum wanted Zak to go to Sebastian instead of Joel.’ Elizabeth said over my shoulder.
If Frank had ever realised that your mum was secretly seeing his brother, it would have been catastrophic for you and Zak. Sebastian thought he was doing the right thing by keeping the truth from you.
I gave a little huff as I read her words and thought about how catastrophic my life had been regardless of whether we had known the truth or not. I wished that my dad had chosen to cherish and care for me in the aftermath of Mum’s death instead of beating me. It was as if he had taken all his hatred for Sebastian out on me.
Miss Ross’s note continued, Look closely at the photo, Mia. What similarities can you see?
A wave of understanding washed over me as I thought about how my dad would look at me from beneath a furrowed brow. His face would twist into a mask of loathing for the little girl with dark eyes and long brown curls. As I reached my teenage years I had always been so grateful that I hadn’t inherited his lacklustre mouse-brown hair but had a deeper, richer hair colour—the identical colour to Sebastian’s.
At the bottom of the note, Miss Ross had scrawled a single sentence.
Yes, Mia, Sebastian is your real father.
I couldn’t sleep. The room felt claustrophobic and I longed to escape to the woods beyond the academy. If I was honest, I longed to see Cody and tell him everything I’d discovered. To share my world-changing news. Sebastian was my real dad. I didn’t know how to even start to handle that.
Part of me was shocked that my mum had cheated, although the overwhelming evidence proved that she had loved Sebastian above anyone else. There was also a part of me relieved to discover Frank wasn’t my flesh and blood.
I’d always wondered if that violent gene was hereditary and after going all ninja on Felicity, I’d questioned it even more.
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