by Cheree Alsop
Using the strength of the Demon, Alex dove at the grizzly’s throat. The force of his attack propelled the animal up and over onto her back. Alex held tight. The bear swiped at him, but he closed his jaws tighter and gave the grizzly a warning growl. The animal did something that seemed completely opposite of her instincts. Instead of fighting him, she held still like a wolf in the same submissive situation.
Alex saw her small eyes flicker to the cubs in the tree. They were about the size of a small wolf, probably born that winter. Both cubs had thick brown hair and gave plaintiff calls. A small moan of worry came from their mother.
Alex glanced below the tree. Relief filled him that Mr. O’Hare had found the presence of mind to leave the area. The bear struggled for breath beneath his grasp.
Alex knew letting go might be the last thing he did, but he wasn’t about to kill a bear, especially one with cubs. He slowly released his grip and took a few careful steps away from both the grizzly and the tree.
The blue faded from the edges of his vision as the Demon vanished. Every muscle tensed when the bear rolled to her side, then back to her feet. The animal was breathing heavily. She looked from Alex to the tree. He could smell her relief that the human was gone.
The grizzly rose on her hind legs and bellowed at him. The animal’s breath smelled of dirt and grubs from the rotten log next to the tree where the bears had probably been foraging before Mr. O’Hare surprised them. When the animal hit the ground again, he could also smell the fear she had for her cubs.
Alex took a step backwards, then another, hoping space would give the animal peace of mind. For a moment, she glared at him, swinging her head from side to side in a warning. Then, to his relief, the bear turned away and ambled back to the tree. She gave a grunt and the little bears answered with happy cries. They more tumbled than climbed down the tree and wrestled happily with their mother. Alex left the clearing to the sounds of the mother bear’s reassuring grunts.
He could smell Mr. O’Hare’s progress through the trees. The journey pulled at the healing wounds along Alex’s back. He wished it was night so the moonlight could help while he padded back toward the Academy, but evening would be soon enough as long as Mr. O’Hare avoided angering any other animals.
Alex reached his clothes and phased. He stifled an exclamation at the pain when he lifted his arms to pull his shirt on. The stickiness of the blood made the material cling to his back. Alex wished he could skip the shirt altogether, but he didn’t want to alarm anyone. He had visited the Academy’s medical ward far too many times, and his mother, as the main nurse, wouldn’t be thrilled to see that he had managed to get injured once again. The wound would heal quickly enough on its own.
“I thought students weren’t allowed outside of the grounds during school hours.”
Alex’s head jerked up at the sound of Mr. O’Hare’s voice.
“Technically, the forest is part of the school grounds. It was given to Rafe as a grant from the government in gratitude for—”
“Save it for someone who cares,” the man said, cutting him off with his curt tone.
Alex stared at him. “I just saved your life.”
The human glared at him. “Am I supposed to thank you? It’s probably your fault the beast went after me in the first place. You probably sent it.”
Alex sputtered. “I can’t send a bear after you even if I wanted to!”
“So you admit that you want to,” Mr. O’Hare replied with heavy venom in his voice.
Alex shook his head, then changed his mind and nodded. “Yes, maybe. Not to kill you, but perhaps to show you how much this school means to me. This is my home, Mr. O’Hare, and you are intent on destroying it.”
“From what I’ve seen, you’re doing a pretty good job of that on your own.”
Alex glared at the human. “What does that mean?”
Mr. O’Hare met his glare. “If a werewolf student has the ability to send a bear against an academic professional, who’s to say that the world would be safe coexisting with such a creature?”
“I didn’t send the bear to attack you!” Alex protested. “You were between the grizzly and its two cubs in the tree. It would have killed you to get to them!”
“So you admit that it wanted to kill me.”
Alex clenched his hands into fists in an effort to stay calm. “Mr. O’Hare, I didn’t send the bear to attack you. You had the stupidity to stand between a mother grizzly and her two young cubs. Any person, or werewolf, for that matter, would get mauled to death in that situation. As it was, we got off with our lives, so we should consider ourselves lucky.”
Alex spun on his heel and stormed toward the Academy. He didn’t care if the man followed; he would almost rather Mr. O’Hare go visit the grizzly again.
“Hey, Alex!” Trent said as soon as he stepped through the doors.
Alex turned so his friend wouldn’t see the blood through his shirt. “Hey, Trent. How are things going?”
“Great!” Trent exclaimed. “Professor Mouse let me demonstrate electrolysis using a battery and pencils. It was awesome!”
“I’m glad,” Alex told him. Trent had always been the science expert of Pack Jericho. It was good to see him in his element. “You didn’t blow anything up?”
His friend grinned. “Nope. That’s your job, remember?”
Alex chuckled. “I guess that’s why they assigned me to Mr. O’Hare instead.”
“So you can blow him up?” Trent asked.
Alex lifted his shoulders and was reminded about the lacerations down his back when his shirt stuck to the skin. “I might, if things keep going the way they are.”
“Not so good, huh?”
Alex shook his head. “He hates me, and before you say I shouldn’t be surprised, he hated me before he got here. I could save him from a bear and I don’t think it would matter.” Alex grimaced at the poorly veiled truth.
“I’d stick with something smaller than a bear,” Trent said, missing Alex’s expression entirely. “How about a raccoon? Of course, those things are mean, and a lot of them carry rabies. Plus, they’re born with masks. How good can you be if you’re born wearing a mask?”
“Trent?”
“No, seriously, Alex. Perhaps we should look into that. Raccoons are always breaking into Professor Dray’s greenhouse and stealing stuff. Maybe there’s something to that. It could be ingrained into their genetic makeup, and nature’s given us a warning, like how poisonous frogs have bright skin or—”
The bell rang, cutting him off.
“I guess I should get to class,” Trent said.
“Back to Mouse’s?”
Trent shook his head. “All the senior boys are supposed to be with Vance to help train the football team. You might have to fight for quarterback against Torin and Boris.”
The thought of throwing a football with his back all scratched up wasn’t a pleasant one.
“Don’t worry, you’ll win,” Trent reassured him, misreading his expression. “You’re a great quarterback, and you had all that practice on the beach during the summer. You’ve got it; no problem.”
“I’ve just gotta grab something in my room,” Alex told him. “Let Coach Vance know I’ll be there in a sec.”
“Okay,” Trent called over his shoulder. “But you know how much he hates it when we’re tardy.”
“I’ll be there,” Alex promised.
Chapter Six
Alex sat on the couch in his quarters and gingerly pulled off his shirt. The wound was healing, but it would do better if he washed it. Luck for him, Trent didn’t pay as much attention to scents as some wolves. Cassie or Siale would have been all over the smell of blood.
He dabbed at the lacerations along his back the best that he could. From what he could tell by feel, there were four gouges that ran from the base of his neck to about midway down his spine. It wasn’t exactly the easiest place to clean.
Footsteps sounded in the hallway. Alex grabbed a shirt, but the door opened bef
ore he could get it on. He glanced back and saw Mr. O’Hare in the doorway. The man’s expression was unreadable.
“You’re missing class?” the man asked, his gaze on Alex’s back.
Alex drew on the shirt, grateful he had chosen a black one that would hide any blood that leaked through during practice.
“I’m leaving right now,” Alex replied. He grabbed the torn shirt and tossed it in the corner he had turned into his laundry pile.
“Nice,” the human said dryly. “Bachelor quarters, huh?”
“Lone wolf quarters, really,” Alex said. He glanced around the room. “It’s a bit messy,” he admitted. “But it’s home.”
“Until I get it shut down.”
Alex stared at Mr. O’Hare. There wasn’t any budging in the man’s expression. “I saved your life today,” Alex reminded him quietly.
“That’s a matter of opinion,” the Board Member replied. “But what’s not an opinion is that a student from Vicky Carso’s Preparatory Academy violated the school grounds policy and trespassed during school hours.”
Alex tried to remain calm. “Wouldn’t that be on the student’s head instead of the school?”
Mr. O’Hare met his steely gaze. “That depends on how your school board decides to handle it.”
“My school board?”
The man nodded. “Whenever there is a violation of school policy, a board meeting should be called to address the punishment for the action.”
“Punishment?” Alex repeated. He hated miming the man’s words like a parrot, but he couldn’t believe his ears. “For fighting a grizzly to save your life?”
“For leaving the school property during the hours in which you should have been assisting your administrator, namely, me.”
“You trespassed, too,” Alex said, his tone barely above a whisper in his struggle to remain calm.
“I wouldn’t have if you hadn’t forced me to go looking for my assistant,” Mr. O’Hare replied curtly.
Alex’s hands balled into fists. “You’re putting this on me.” The lacerations down his back stung. He had to fight down the Demon that rose in the face of his outrage.
Mr. O’Hare turned away. “See that you report it to the dean so that the appropriate actions can take place.”
Alex stared after him. It wasn’t until he heard the man’s footsteps hit the bottom stair that he could will his muscles to relax again.
The bell rang.
Alex slammed his door shut and ran down the hallway. He jumped down the stairs and hit the bottom floor running. By the time he slid into Coach Vance’s classroom that was situated closest to the football field, he was a minute late.
The huge coach’s unforgiving gaze locked on him from where the werewolf was taking role at the front of the class. “Thirty laps and a two hundred pushups, Alex. It won’t do for a senior to show a bad example to our first year students, would it?”
Alex knew better than to argue. He shook his head. “No, Coach.” He headed to the outside door.
“Sorry, Alex,” Trent whispered when he went by.
Alex looked back at his friend. “You told me so.”
Trent’s response followed him outside. “Sometimes I wish I wasn’t right all the time.”
Alex jogged around the field. By the fifteenth lap in the warm afternoon, sweat dripped down his back and stung the scratches. All he could think about was Mr. O’Hare’s demand that he ask Dean Jaze for a punishment for leaving the school grounds during class hours. He had saved the man’s life. Mr. O’Hare had no way of knowing Alex had been outside of the school until the incident with the bear. He couldn’t get his mind wrapped around what was happening.
“Done with your pushups yet?”
Alex looked up at Coach Vance. The rest of the seniors were on the field warming up.
A wry smile crossed Alex’s face. “I lost count somewhere around eighty.”
“I counted three-hundred and seven, so if you’re done showing off, you’re welcome to join us.” The coach held out a hand.
Coach Vance wasn’t one to give any show of kindness toward the students. He had lost his wife during the same werewolf annihilation that Jet died in. Even though Vance’s wife had been human, her relationship with a werewolf had made her a target. Nikki had told Alex that Vance never forgave himself for losing Nora. Because of that, he seldom let anyone else in.
Alex took the coach’s hand and rose to his feet.
“Your mind somewhere else?” Vance asked.
As badly as Alex wanted to tell the coach about Mr. O’Hare, he was determined to handle things on his own. Jaze had asked him to be a good representative of the school. He needed to do just that.
“I’ve got to talk to Dean Jaze,” Alex said. “Can I be excused?”
“You’ll miss tryouts for starting quarterback,” Coach Vance replied.
Alex nodded. “It’s probably for the best. I’ve got a lot going on and I wouldn’t want to let the team down.”
Vance looked at him carefully. Finally, he nodded. “You’re excused.”
“Thank you,” Alex said with relief. He turned toward the school.
“Alex?”
Alex glanced over his shoulder.
“Get your back looked at,” the coach said. “It’s bleeding.”
Alex’s stomach tightened into a knot at the searching look the huge werewolf gave him. He nodded, grateful that the coach didn’t ask any questions. “Will do.” He jogged toward the school feeling as though Mr. O’Hare had just managed to avoid an encounter with another bear.
Jaze stared at him from behind his desk a few minutes later.
“Let me get this straight,” the dean said. “You want me to punish you for going into the forest?”
Alex shook his head. “I want the school board to decide an appropriate punishment for violating school rules.”
“But we don’t have a rule about leaving the school grounds,” Jaze protested.
Alex sat back in the chair, then winced when his back touched the wood. He scooted forward again. “Yeah, I didn’t think so, but there is one; at least, there should be one.” He realized he was rambling and said, “Mr. O’Hare saw me leave the school and go into the forest. He suggested that I talk to you so that the school board can make a decision as to the best way to handle the situation.”
Jaze watched him closely. “By suggest, you mean that Mr. O’Hare said he could use your violation of the rules to shut the school down.”
“He more or less implied it.”
Jaze shook his head. “I don’t like him holding something like that over you. It’s not your individual duty to keep this school from getting shut down.”
“It is.” At Jaze’s surprised look, Alex said, “I’m pretty sure Mr. O’Hare has taken a personal vendetta against me and if the school shuts down, it’ll probably be my fault. Let me do this and clear my name. It could go far toward improving our relationship with the man.”
Jaze sighed. “I don’t like this.”
“Trust me,” Alex told him. “I don’t like it either, but I don’t see another way. I can take it.”
Jaze nodded. “I know you can, but you shouldn’t have to. We’ve had classes held out in the forest before. Technically, that makes it part of the school grounds.”
“Only if you want to tell Mr. O’Hare the nature of the classes,” Alex shot back. “I’d rather take this one then open that can of worms.”
A slight, begrudging smile spread across Jaze’s face. “You’re starting to think like a dean.”
“What?” Alex replied in surprise.
Jaze nodded. “Listen to you. You’re more worried about the school than the punishment you’re going to receive for a violation you didn’t even know about. You’re willing to put your pride aside to keep this investigator in check, and I haven’t once heard you talk about your own problems since the moment you got in here.”
“What problems?” Alex asked uneasily.
Jaze speared him with
a look. “Alex, you smell like blood and bears. What’s that about?”
Alex studied the dark wood of the desk in front of him. It was familiar, like the slight curve of the railing on the stairs or the board near the backdoor that creaked whenever he walked on it. He could have just not stepped on the board, but that wasn’t the point. The board was a part of him as much as the school.
The wood of the desk was covered in the tiny scratches and marks of years as a part of the dean’s furniture. ‘Torin’ had been scratched along the edge where Jaze wouldn’t see it from his seat. The letters were crude and oiled, as much a part of the desk as the wood itself.
“I went for a run in the forest,” Alex finally said. “I heard a scream and found Mr. O’Hare cornered by a bear. Somehow he had gotten between the grizzly and her cubs. I fought the bear so he could get away.”
The dean’s gaze was sharp. Alex could feel it even though he kept his gaze on the desk. He had never known Jaze to miss anything.
The dean’s voice was quiet when he said, “So you saved his life and he wants you to turn yourself in?”
Alex gave a reluctant nod.
Jaze sat back in his chair. “It’s not worth it.”
The words were so quiet Alex barely caught them with his sensitive werewolf hearing. He looked up at the dean.
Jaze was watching him with a concerned look. “It’s not worth it,” he repeated, louder.
Worry filled Alex. “Worth what?”
“This,” Jaze said, motioning to Alex. “I’m not going to stand by while one of my students goes above and beyond to protect a human only to be punished for it. I’d rather lose the Academy than stand by while injustices like that happen.”
Alex shook his head quickly, shocked by the dean’s direction of thought. “No, Jaze, you can’t do that!”
“Werewolves take care of their own, Alex. You may have chosen to be a lone wolf, but you’ll always be like a son to me. My pack is your pack, and I won’t stand by while some anti-werewolf activist tears down someone I care about.”