Alpha

by Samantha Allard

  “This is nothing,” I said with a shrug, my face hot. “I’m just a little sore.”

  “Rachel.” There was no mistaking how disappointed he sounded, and guilt hit me like a ton of bricks.

  “You know, being able to tell when I’m lying is starting to get old,” I snapped as I walked away from him. I wasn’t angry at him but at myself. Everything hurt. “What’s up?”

  “Besides the fact my girlfriend isn’t telling me she’s hurting? Rachel, I can’t help if you don’t tell me something’s wrong.”

  “I’m fighting against shifters. I’m outclassed.” With a sigh I sat on the edge of my bed and pulled a pair of jeans over my legs. “It won’t always be like this. I know that, but until I take the bite I’m always going to be behind. I’m the only Alpha here who can’t shift.”

  “Arturo won’t let you take it until he thinks you’re ready.”

  “I know that.” I stood and did my jeans up. “What did you want?”

  “Michael and I have an assignment. We’re back off to London.” He raised his hand as if he knew that I was about to protest. “We’ll be fine. I just wanted to let you know. We’ll be back soon, couple of weeks’ tops, but I need you to promise me.” He closed the distance between us and my heart took a one-way trip to the bottom of my feet. “If you get hurt, let someone know. Let Arturo know.”

  And what would he do? Make me pack my bags and send me on my way? This was why I didn’t mention it before. The decision to be here was mine. I might have needed my mum’s permission to come here, but I knew that as soon as I told her I was being hurt she’d have me out of this place so fast my head would spin. “I’ll tell someone,” I promised. Since Henry hadn’t asked me to tell anyone specific. I planned on telling Gilly to start pulling her punches, Henry probably didn’t mean her, but it wasn’t strictly a lie he could pick up on. “Keep safe.”

  He brushed a kiss against my forehead. “You too.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Something felt off when I left my room first thing in the morning on my way to class. I spotted Gilly and Jack standing outside History to Lycan, they were in deep conversation, Gilly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her arms crossed, and Jack tapped his foot, restless, but they looked up as I approached. I smiled but I didn’t get one in response. Jack turned away from me and glanced down the corridor as if he was looking for someone.

  “Have you seen Sophia this morning?”

  “No.” The last time I’d seen Sophia was when we were all together. I looked at them both. The feeling I had before, about something being off hit me again. “What’s wrong?”

  “I went to her room this morning and she wasn’t there.” Gilly bit her bottom lip. “Jack hasn’t seen her either. It isn’t like her to disappear.”

  I really didn’t know her that well, but Sophia didn’t strike me as someone who would leave without telling anybody. A sweet girl with a complicated past didn’t equal to someone who would make her friends worry for no reason. “Where would she have gone?”

  Jack punched the wall, the plaster splitter and I flinched. The noise unexpected. Gilly glared at him and took his hands in hers. Jack snatched them away, but not before I spied the blood on his knuckles. “She wouldn’t have gone anywhere. She doesn’t have any family at least nobody that she would willingly go back to. I’m going to report it to Arturo.”

  “I don’t think Sophia has just left, but you know what he’ll say.” She touched his arm. “What have they done about the others? The ones who they said just left?”

  I looked at Gilly sharply. That was the first time I’d heard anything like that. “What do you mean, other kids have vanished?”

  Jack stalked down the corridor and we rushed after him. Gilly nodded. “Over the last few weeks some of the other Bitten have left the academy. At least that was what we were told by the teachers. Remember when I told you that Bitten have a problem forming groups? We’re loners by nature so the only thing we have in common with the ones who left is the fact we’re Bitten. We never talked to them. The three of us, Sophia, me and Jack, we’re rare. It helps that we’re family.”

  “And I’m going to Arturo. He has to help us.”

  “And what if he doesn’t?”

  “Sophia is one of his students. We’re not second-class citizens and we deserve the same level of protection. It has to mean something that Bitten are being taken.”

  I listened to them talk and my mind raced. Why hadn’t I heard anything about it? The Academy was supposed to be safe. It was why my mum had let me come here. Henry hadn’t mentioned anything and neither had Arturo before I joined. Did they both believe because the kids weren’t pure, that they just left? That wasn’t right.

  Jack opened a door and we followed him in. A woman who I hadn’t noticed before glanced up from some paperwork. Her long blonde hair was tied up in a knot and she looked confused. Jack looked on the verge of shifting and Gilly touched his back. Calmness swept through her and into him. I’d seen something similar, when Arturo had calmed down a group of wolves that Jonas had riled up.

  “Can I help you?” She glanced at the door behind her. Arturo’s office. I could feel him in there.

  “I need to speak to Arturo.”

  I stepped forward and smiled. “We need to speak to him.”

  The woman’s gaze shifted to me. I hoped that being an Alpha would at least help us in this situation. Half the battle was in getting her to open the door. To call us through. An angry Bitten might be the quickest way for us to get dismissed and I didn’t think that was going to help our situation at all. Jack was too worked up and I didn’t blame him for it, but it wasn’t going to help us. She got to her feet and knocked on the door. I heard Arturo’s voice and she opened the door, poking her head around it. “Arturo, there are some kids who really want to talk to you.”

  “Let them in.”

  Jack walked in and we rushed after him to keep up. Arturo lowered his glasses off his face and put them on the table in front of him. I’d only been in his office once and the only real difference was the stack of paper in front of him. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and then studied us. Jack was a ball of restless energy, it wouldn’t take much for him to offload everything on his mind, especially the fact his girlfriend was missing. Gilly touched his arm again and I caught the same energy she used in the waiting room. I noticed Arturo cock an eyebrow as he must have caught it as well.

  “What can I do for you, guys? Shouldn’t you be in class?” He looked at a clock on the wall.

  “Sophia Adam’s is missing,” Gilly said.

  Jack clenched his hands into fists and I kept my mouth shut. It didn’t seem right to take control of the situation.

  Arturo frowned. “What do you mean, missing?”

  Gilly spent the next few minutes filling Arturo in and all the details we had, which wasn’t much, and she made sure that he was aware that it was unlike her to just get up and leave. He nodded a few times and asked questions. What did Sophia look like? When did we see her last? I admit he took it all in stride and looked like he was listening to us. As soon as Gilly stopped talking, Jack shrugged her arm off.

  “We need to find her. She might still be on the grounds. Maybe she had an accident, or she’s trapped somewhere?”

  Arturo raised a hand. “We can look for her. Jack, isn’t it? You can come with me. It’ll be easier for us to shift and search for her that way. Both of you can search her room, see if she left anything behind to show where she might have gone if she has left the grounds.” He looked at Gilly. “I know you said that it’s unlike her to just leave, but we have to take that as a possibility.”

  Gilly nodded.

  “Some students just leave. The Academy isn’t a prison, but I can see that she’s important to you. The three of you can usually be found together, correct?”

  “I’m just the new one.”

  He smiled. “Yes, Ms. Valentine and I hear that you are already making an impression.” My face went hot
. “We haven’t had much hope on finding out what happened to your room.”

  “It’s okay. Sophia is more important.”

  “Indeed.” Arturo pushed his chair out and got to his feet. He walked past us and out of the room. The woman glanced up from her own work. “Ms. Helfer, I’m going to be busy for the next hour or so. If anyone comes searching for me tell them I will be in touch when I get back.”

  The woman nodded.

  “Come on, Jack.”

  Gilly’s brother took one last look at the both of us, a soft smile and a determined nod before he took off after Arturo.

  I nearly jumped when Gilly slipped her hand into mine. Her skin was clammy, and I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. The sense of calmness I caught from her earlier had vanished. “I’m sure they’ll find her.” For a second, I didn’t think she would say anything, she seemed preoccupied looking at the empty doorway. “Gilly?”

  She let my hand go. “Let’s go check her room.”

  I’d never been to Sophia’s room before and I think I managed to keep my surprise to myself when Gilly opened the door to reveal a room which looked like a unicorn had thrown up on it. Pink and white walls. Pictures of horses. Teddy bears laid on the pillowcase. It wasn’t what I expected at all, sure Sophia was a girly girl, but she also sprouted fur and howled at the moon. Hell, she had probably eaten her fair share of horses. “Where should we start looking first?”

  Gilly didn’t answer me, instead she knelt by the side of the bed and peeked under it. I opened the wardrobe. When I was in the convent it was where I hide most of my stuff. Very carefully I ran my hand along the bottom of it, feeling for a latch. It didn’t take me long to realised that there wasn’t anything there.

  Come on Rachel, think like Dad. Where would he look? I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, as I let it out in a sigh I opened my eyes again. There was a desk pushed against the wall and I walked up to it. I opened each of the drawers, first looking inside of it and then running my hand along the bottom of it, seeing if she had hide anything there.

  “What are you doing?”

  “You’ll be surprised where people hide things. The Mother Superior hid a spare key like this.”

  “Any luck?”

  I closed the last drawer and stepped back. “No, it would help if I had an idea about what I’m looking for.”

  “I don’t know. I think Arturo told us to do this to keep us busy.” Gilly looked at something just behind me. “There’s a bin.”

  I couldn’t help the smile. “Good idea.” I pulled the small, white plastic bin free and very carefully rooted through it. It didn’t take me long to realise there was nothing useful there. “Nope. What did she leave behind when she came here? Did she have a family?”

  “A poor excuse for one.” Gilly stood and started moving things around on the bed. “She ran away from home when she was twelve and we met her a couple of years after that. She doesn’t like to talk about them or those years in-between.”

  “That was when she was with Caine?”

  She nodded. “What’s this?” I turned to see her picking up an envelope. The top of it was ripped open and it held a single sheet of paper that Gilly currently held in her hand. She sat down on the bed and started to read out loud. “Sophia, I’m sorry about how it ended. You must know I can’t stop thinking about you and we both know I’m better for you than Jack. Please come and see me in the trees where we use to meet. Caine.” She glanced up at me. There was no mistaking the shock in her eyes.

  “Have you seen Caine this morning?”

  “No, Goddess, do you think that they’ve run off together?”

  “There’s only one person who’s going to know the answer to that.” My stomach took a one stop trip to the balls of my feet. “Do we know where Mags is?”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Gilly didn’t say anything as we walked back to the classrooms. We had about five minutes before the class kicked out. The fact we had to ask her for help didn’t sit well with me at all. I was pretty sure that she had been the one to ransack my room, even if I couldn’t prove it, but she was also the only person I knew who knew Caine. Did Sophia run away from the Academy with him? I didn’t want to think that it was possible. There was a genuine love in her eyes whenever she looked at Jack and I knew that her relationship with the Alpha had been complicated, but had it been enough for her to leave Jack?

  I peeked in through the door of History of Lycan and noticed that Mags was in her usual seat. Impossible to miss with the pink hair. We decided to wait down the corridor for her to get out. Though I didn’t doubt that the teacher had sensed us near the door I didn’t want to risk being caught up in a game of million and one questions especially since it looked like we were running on a time limit.

  Time seemed to stop as we waited. Minutes dragged like hours and I fought against the urge to pace. I hadn’t talked to the girl since she tried to rip my head off in gym and especially not when she kissed Henry. Talking to her was the last thing that I wanted to do. The door opened. I kept watch as people left, I hadn’t learnt any of their names. In our current situation, with students missing, that was probably a mistake. We should all be bonding over our situation, but our circumstances, the Alphas and the Bitten, drove a wedge between us. I had made friends with Gilly, but I seemed to be an exception to the unspoken rule that both side didn’t mix.

  Mags left the room. Thankfully she turned toward us, so I didn’t have to chase her down the hallway. She looked preoccupied. The frown on her face out of place from the usual snarl that seemed to always be there. I just wanted to let her walk passed, talking to her wasn’t going to help.

  “Mags.”

  Gilly didn’t say anything, but she didn’t leave my side. I knew that she was terrified of Mags and the fact she didn’t leave my side meant a lot to me. Mag glanced at me, frowned and kept walking. I did the first stupid thing of the day and grabbed her arm. I did it quickly, so I didn’t chicken out, but as soon as I touched her arm I knew that it was a mistake. It was like all the noise in the corridor vanished. If we hadn’t drawn some curious stares before we sure as hell had done now.

  She looked down at my hand, surprised at first which quickly gave way to an emotion I’d seen on her face plenty of times. Anger. She grabbed me by my t-shirt and banged me against one of the lockers. Pain exploded through my back and I did my best to mask how much that hurt.

  Another bruise to add to the collection. Joy.

  “What the hell do you want?”

  Gilly stepped forward, but I raised my hand. It was best if Mags only had one focus for her temper.

  Don’t be honest. Don’t be honest. “I want to punch you really hard in the face, but it would probably do more damage to my knuckles than it would do to your face.”

  Mags dropped me. “While that would be entertaining as hell to see you try, I’ve got other things to do.”

  “Looking for Caine?”

  She’d been in the process of walking off, but when I said Caine’s name, she stopped. “Have you seen him?”

  “No, we’re looking Sophia’s. It looks like she’s gone missing. We thought she might have gone somewhere with Caine.”

  Mags crossed her arm. “I know they had a relationship, but that’s old news.”

  “Caine wanted to meet her,” Gilly spoke up from behind her.

  “What are you talking about?” As Mags glared at her, Gilly handed over the letter we took from Sophia’s room. Mags snatched and read it. After a moment she brought the letter to her nose and breathed in. When she was finished, she looked at both of us before shoving the sheet of paper back at Gilly. “This is bullshit.”

  I’d seen her anger plenty of times, but this was different in a way that I couldn’t put my finger on. “Do you know where he is talking about?”

  “I don’t know who wrote the letter, but it isn’t from him. The letter doesn’t smell anything like him.”

  “Someone used him to lure her out?” I really wasn�
��t liking where this was going. The letter had been the first clue we had and now it was turning into a red herring of epic proportions. “Then where is Caine?”

  “I don’t have a clue, Last time I saw him was last night. I was just heading to his room now to find out why he isn’t in class.” She kept walking down the corridor.

  Common sense told me that we should probably leave her to it, but I rarely listened to common sense. If Caine was in his room than at least it ruled out the idea of them running off together. I looked at Gilly and then nodded at her. Yep, we were going to follow her. It didn’t take her long to notice that we weren’t leaving her alone. She glared at us, but her steps didn’t slow.

  As soon as we reached the boy’s room, we drew more curious stares. I didn’t know if we were allowed here, but Mags obviously didn’t care. She reached a random door and knocked on it. “Caine?” She tried the door and it opened.

  I peeked around her shoulder and into a room which obviously belonged to a boy. Band posters on the wall and clothes that missed the laundry basket. Mags walked into the room, grabbed the duvet and tore it off, revealing a naked boy underneath, curled up, asleep. I spun on my heels and Gilly followed suit. That was more naked than what I was used to.

  “Mags, what the hell?”

  I bent down and picked up some jogging bottoms, throwing it over my shoulder. Mags grunted, and I suspected that I’d managed to hit her first. I smiled.

  “Thanks. Why are the three of you in my room?” There was a shuffling noise. “Okay, I’m decent.”

  We dutifully turned around and I stopped smiling, it probably wouldn’t help our situation. Mags was on a knife edge and we were far away from the main school. Nobody knew where we were, and I didn’t put it past her to try and hurt us here. At least now she was with one of her cronies. Caine hadn’t bothered putting a t-shirt on and I noticed that Gilly was staring at the ground as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. He ran a hand through his dark hair and looked at all of us. Mags still looked pissed.