Wolf Moon (Alpha Wolf Academy Book 2)

by JJ King

  I glanced over my shoulder when I heard a slew of creative curses pour from Grey's mouth. From what I'd seen of him today, he wasn't one for cursing.

  He shouted now and held something in the air, something dark, a box. Then Benson was yelling and throwing his hands up as if they just won some tournament of skill.

  “What’d they find?” I called out to Adeline, who was daintily picking through a container nearby.

  Her eyes sparkled with the first proof of excitement I've seen in her all day as she flew to join her friends. “It's the black box! We're saved!”

  My heart leaped, how could it not? We were hurt, we were cold, and we were surrounded by the dead. Most of all, we needed to get Miss Morgan the help she needed and that wouldn't be found in the middle of the wilderness.

  I scrambled to my feet and started to rush across the clearing towards Grey and his amazing find, when another shout rose up to my left and I looked over to see Jared appear from out of the tree line holding something else.

  But the look on his face wasn't triumphant, not like Grey’s. I pulled to a stop and stared as a feeling of dread washed over me, ripping all trace of relief from my soul. I took a hesitant step towards him, watching his face, looking for clues. His eyes were dark with fear and his hands shook as he held up a collection of scraps of melted plastic and bent metal, and whispered in a terrified voice, “It's a bomb.”

  Chapter 18

  I forgot how to breathe.

  For one long minute, my body refused to draw air as my mind imploded with the words that had just slipped from Jared's lips.

  How could that pile of scrap in his hand be a bomb? That was ridiculous. I stared at it, my heart thundering painfully in my chest as my brain cried out for oxygen.

  Grey strode up to the group with the black box tucked beneath his arm like the winning football after a hometown game. “Looks like a pile of plastic to me, man.” He held up the box triumphantly and grinned. “Cheer up, we’re saved. They’ll find us in the morning, if not before.”

  Jared's hands trembled so fiercely he almost lost grip on what he held. I saw indecision in his eyes, matched by terror. I wanted to reach out, to lend him whatever bravery was left in me, but there was nothing left. I stared, unable to take my eyes off the remnants in his hands, and finally drew in a shaky breath.

  “This came from a bomb,” he repeated, his voice stronger, his eyes harder. In them, I still saw fear, but there was something else now, something confident that made my stomach clench.

  He held up one of the scraps, a twisted bit of metal that looked like part of a motherboard. He pointed to a part of it and stared straight at Gray. “You see this? This wire would have connected to a timer, which could have been programmed to explode at any point. The crash wasn't an accident,” he said with a shudder. “It was taken out, with this.”

  He lifted the piece then handed it off to Benson, who just stared at it, like someone who'd had a small baby thrust into their arms when they weren't prepared. He jerked his hand back and let it fall to the snow at their feet.

  No one said a word and the silence stretched out, growing like a shadow to envelop them all. Then Rachelle’s breath began to come in quick gasps, and she backed away, shaking her head.

  “No,” she said, putting voice to the very words circling my mind. “No, that can’t be a bomb. Don’t be foolish. The engine broke, we all saw the smoke coming from it.” She glanced around now, eyes wide, looking for confirmation. “That’s all. It was a malfunction.” Her chest rose and fell rapidly. “Right?” She turned to look at me. “Right?”

  I shook my head slowly, both because I didn’t want to believe it and because I didn’t have an answer that would satisfy her. I shifted my gaze back to Jared and asked the question still unasked. “How do you know what a bomb looks like?”

  Jared’s eyes narrowed for a moment and he glanced off into the trees. I recognized the eye movement from the psychology class I was taking this term. Liars looked off to the right, while those experiencing memories looked up and to the left.

  He’d glanced to his left.

  “My grandfather has this thing for electronics,” Jared muttered, looking back uncomfortably. “We played around with stuff like this.” He shrugged as if it were completely natural.

  “You played with bombs?” Adeline said in a throaty whisper.

  Jared shrugged again. “We didn’t rig them to explosives or anything. We just played with the electronics, that’s all.” He made a frustrated sound deep in his throat and poked a piece with his toe. “I’m telling you this came from a bomb.” His eyes hardened. “One that detonated and took down our plane.”

  Rachelle doubled over from the waist and braced her hands on her thighs as she fought for breath. There was little doubt left in her now.

  Chaos erupted around me, coloring the air with demands for explanations, sobs of panic, and the relentless gasping for breath from Rachelle. I stood in the midst of it all and felt everything melt away.

  My heart still thundered but it dragged out between beats, slowing down the explosion of emotion around me so that it looked to me like a funny play, done in quarter time. In the stillness, I looked down at the plastic bits at my feet and knew Jared was right. It was a bomb.

  A bomb meant for me.

  I inhaled slowly and let my thoughts travel the logical path it had to take. Viktor had been spotted on American soil. Sylvie had been alerted and the decision had been made to send me back to Alpha Wolf Academy with just bodyguards and an accompanying teacher.

  My heart ached again for the dead.

  My movements had been easy to foresee, I realized. So easy to plant a rumor and incite worry for my safety. It wasn’t safe in Idaho, even though Sylvie’s own guards were there surely making it the safest place I could have been. No, plant the seed then wait for me to be sent home on a plane already prepped for destruction. I’d stepped right into his trap.

  A cold white mist of knowing engulfed me. They’re dead because of me… again.

  I shivered and focused on my breathing, in and out, in and out. Viktor. The name resonated like a gong, chasing away the logic I’d just grasped. Viktor had planted the bomb. Viktor had taken down the plane.

  Viktor knows where I am.

  “We need to go,” the words slipped from me in a whisper.

  No one stopped. No one listened.

  “We need to run,” my whisper was louder this time, more insistent, and I reached out, grasping the closest person’s arm. Rachelle glanced up at me from the midst of her panic attack with wild eyes and I let go. My gaze shifted like a bolt of lightning to the blinking black box still in Grey’s hands.

  I didn’t stop to think about the repercussions of my actions. My fingers closed over the box and ripped it away from Grey so fast that nobody saw it coming, even me. The second it was in my arms, I turned on my heel and ran.

  “Elena!” Frantic voices screamed for me to stop but I blocked them out and heard only one thing, repeated on a vicious loop.

  Viktor’s coming.

  I was fast, but I pushed myself harder, digging my heels into the frozen earth to gain distance. If they caught up to me too soon… I shook my head and trained my eyes on the large formation of rocks straight ahead and ran even faster.

  I gained a second or two, maybe three, but that was all I’d need I told myself, fighting to stay sane, to think through my decision. Because if I was wrong…

  I wasn’t wrong.

  My momentum slammed the box into the huge rocks and cracked the shell, revealing the workings inside, the heart of the beast. With dizzying certainty, I grabbed the closest rock, the one I’d chosen on my mad dash, and brought it crashing down on the black box.

  Chapter 19

  The light stopped blinking and everything in me gave out. I sagged to the ground, gasping for breath, and let the box slide out of my hands, ruined. Hands grabbed my shoulders, shook me, and dragged me to my feet.

  “What did you do?�
� Furious shouts aimed like barbs drove me to the ground again. I curled into a ball and covered my head with my arms to defend against the blows I expected. “Why, Elena?” They screamed. “Why?”

  They closed in on me, rocking me back and forth while I curled even tighter into myself and rocked. “He’s coming,” I whispered urgently, wishing they’d shut up and just listen for a moment. “He’s coming, we need to leave.” I squeezed my eyes shut and pictured his cold blue eyes hovering over me, the same blue eyes I saw in the mirror every day.

  “Get off her!”

  I felt their retreat but waited several seconds before lifting my head and looking up to catch Daniella’s utterly confused expression. She squatted down and stared at me for a long moment, eyes narrowing like she was trying to read my mind, which, I suppose, she was. My emotions, at least.

  I focused on her, knowing she’d understand. She’d almost died during the attack on campus and had probably talked to Bash about fighting Viktor. She knew how deadly my uncle was and how very much he wanted me dead.

  “He’s coming,” I hissed, shooting out a hand to grab her arm. “We need to get out of here right now.”

  Daniella frowned but her voice was calm and low when she asked, “Who’s coming? Elena, why did you break the black box?”

  I dug my nails into her arm, needing her to understand, and yanked her close. “Viktor blew up the plane and he’s coming for me. He’ll kill everyone if we don’t get out of here right now!” My voice rose with each word until they were a scream, tearing from my throat.

  Daniella’s face blanched and her hand lifted to rub at the phantom ache of her bullet wound. Her eyes shifted as she thought it through and came to the same conclusion I had. Her jerky nod made the panic in my chest subside enough to give me the strength to do what needed to come next.

  “Who’s Viktor?” Benson stepped forward, his face hard. “What’s going on?” His chin jutted forward with defiant entitlement.

  I took a steadying breath, knowing it wouldn’t help. This wasn’t going to go over well but they needed to know the truth if we were going to survive.

  “You guys might want to sit down,” I said, gesturing to the frozen ground around me. When no one sat, I pushed to my feet and forced myself not to shift from foot to foot. I didn’t want to dig this all up, I didn’t want to remember just how much of the devastation of the last few months was my fault, but there was nothing else to do. I swallowed my fear.

  “Viktor Dom Volkov,” I practically spit the name out. “The Alpha of Russia,” I continued, steeling myself for the confession, “and my biological uncle.”

  Eyebrows winged up but no one said a word.

  I licked my lips and wished for a glass of water to wet my throat. “The attack on campus wasn’t an attempt to blackmail families for ransom,” I blurted it out, wishing there was a way to just be done already. “Here’s the truth because we don’t have time for lies.” I raked my hand through my hair. “My father, the former Alpha of Russia, was murdered, along with the rest of my family, when I was a baby. A nurse stole me away before I could be killed, too, and The Sisterhood put me with a family in Newfoundland.” I blinked away tears that sprang to my eyes at the thought of my mom and dad, my real mom and dad. “I didn’t know any of this until the attack. But it wasn’t random. He was there for me, to kill me.” My heart squeezed painfully. “He promised to finish the job. He’s responsible for the bomb on the plane.”

  The silence lasted only a split second this time. Then a dozen questions were shouted at me from every direction so that I couldn't keep up. My head whipped back and forth between them but it was impossible. I held my hand up and shook my head.

  “Stop!” Daniella’s voice boomed, shutting down the bombardment. I shot her a grateful smile and pointed at Benson, knowing he’d be insufferable if he didn’t get first dibs on questions.

  “Are you saying that you’re the reason everyone’s dead?” His voice dripped with acid as he gestured towards the crumpled remnants of the plane.

  I blinked. It was odd hearing the questions I asked myself every single day come from someone else’s mouth. I looked down at the snow and nodded.

  “No,” Daniella snapped. “She isn’t the reason everyone is dead. Viktor is. He’s a psychotic megalomaniac who will stop at nothing to get rid of anyone who can destroy his claim to the Alphaship. Elena isn’t to blame here,” she gestured to me but kept her gaze trained on Benson. “She’s just as much a victim as the rest of us.”

  Part of me didn’t like being called a victim but I dismissed the thought and focused on the fact that I was being defended by my arch-nemesis.

  Benson pressed forward, pulling himself up to tower over Daniella and growled. “If she hadn’t been there, it wouldn’t have happened. That makes her responsible.”

  My stomach curdled at his unyielding insistence. Despite my constant fear that what he was saying was true, I’d hoped the rest of the world wouldn’t see it that way. “He’s right,” I said through clenched teeth. I touched Daniella’s shoulder and pulled her back enough to slide in front of Benson.

  He towered over me and puffed up his chest even more to intimidate. I tilted my chin up to study him and couldn’t help but compare him with my uncle. On his own, Benson’s entitled intensity was intimidating, but in comparison…

  “You’re right,” I said again, arching an eyebrow at him. “If I hadn’t been there, it wouldn’t have happened. And if I hadn’t been on that plane, it wouldn’t have gone down. But you,” I punched a finger into his chest, pushing him back a full step before continuing, “crashed my plane ride, not the other way around. I never asked for any of this. It’s fucking ruined my entire life, which is constantly in danger, by the way, from an insane Alpha. So, you need to back the fuck up, Benson, because I’m not in the mood for your shit right now. We leave now, or we’re all dead. It’s as simple as that.”

  Benson’s face went a deep purple as my insolent words tipped his already precariously poised control. His hands curled into tight fists by his side and his breath came in short and ragged pants.

  I braced for an attack, almost willing it to happen. I wasn’t as big as him, nowhere near, but I was quick and pissed off. Plus, I’d been battling my own personal demons for months with no one to actually fight. I curled my lips up to reveal my teeth and growled low in my throat.

  A hand clapped Benson’s chest just as he leaned in again, pulling him back far enough to break the tension of the moment. I kept my gaze trained on him, not foolish enough to take my eyes off an enemy, especially a slimy one with zero morals like Benson Wellington the fucking III.

  Jared stepped between us, forcibly breaking my death stare. “Elena,” he said in the same tone he’d used to convince me he was right about the bomb. “We need to go, like you said.”

  My eyes widened in surprise at his simple statement. He sounded as if he trusted me.

  Jared shrugged. “You believed me.”

  I nodded, appreciating his support. I didn't know him very well, since he ran with Benson. Although, I sincerely doubted that would be true anymore. There was a hell of a lot more substance to Jared than his former buddy.

  “Well, I’m not going anywhere,” Grey stepped up beside Benson, obviously siding with him. His body language was defensive and brimming with anger. “Even if you’re right,” he said, furrowing his brows, “they would have already received the signal from the box. They know where we are and they’ll be here soon. If we leave, we’re fucked.”

  He made a good point, one I’d thought about, but he didn’t have all the information. “That’s if that was their black box.”

  His eyebrows pulled down even further and I knew he was thinking it through. When they lifted in surprise and fear darkened his irises, I knew he’d connected the dots.

  I inhaled and blew out my breath slowly, wishing Bash or Katherine or even Sylvie were here to help me explain. They’d trust them and listen. I needed to make them listen. I squar
ed my shoulders, pulled myself up to my full height, and lifted my voice. “He killed kids on campus and brought down an airplane. He has the resources of an Alphaship behind him and is batshit crazy. Grey, he’ll kill us all,” I pleaded for him and the others to understand.

  The muscles in his jaw twitched and I saw indecision flash through his eyes. He didn’t want to believe me, I could tell, but he was too selfish not to think about his own self-preservation. He gave a quick nod that probably hurt to offer and stepped away, annoyance radiating through his entire body.

  “We have a lot to do,” Jared said thoughtfully with an edge of urgency in his tone. “Ms. Morgan needs to be moved carefully. Did anyone see a stretcher or anything in the wreckage that we can use?” He started towards the crash site, gathering Adeline, whose copper-colored skin had an ashy cast, into his side to support her. Jared reached out for Rachelle, too, but she pulled away and turned her angry gaze towards me.

  “We could just give you to him,” she hissed.

  I just stared at her, not really comprehending her words. “You want to give me to him?” I asked in a complete stupor. I must have heard her wrong, I thought. There’s no way someone would…

  “Yeah,” she said, jutting out her chin. “Why not? He obviously wants you dead. Why should the rest of us die for you?”

  “Shut the hell up!” Daniella rounded on Rachelle, pushing her hard enough to make her stumble. “We’re not giving anyone up to a murderer, even you,” she pushed her again, “even though I wouldn’t mind right at the moment.”

  Rachelle’s hand came up so fast it was a blur in the air. The sound it made when it connected with Daniella’s cheek echoed through the frigid air. Rachelle’s eyes went wide for a moment, then narrowed again as she balled her hands into fists. Her arm pulled back to strike.

  My mind still reeling from Rachelle’s apparently easy decision to sacrifice me to Viktor, I moved to intercept the blow and was yanked back.