Werewolf Academy Book 1: Strays (20 page)

Alex’s eyes w
idened at the sight of a dozen camera views spread out on the screens. One showed Jaze riding in the back of what appeared to be a van without seats. He wore a headband with a camera on it, black clothes, and gloves. There was a small silver wolf paw print medallion around his neck. His camera showed about twelve other werewolves crammed together in the same van.

“What are they doing?” Alex asked.

“They’re on a mission. Quiet,” Brock replied, his eyes on the screen.

Alex pulled
two rolling chairs over. Cassie took a seat next to him.

“This is it,” a familiar voice said. Jaze’s camera panned to show Mouse in the driver’s seat.

“We’re going in,” Jaze said. “You got us, Brock?”

Brock
set his pizza down and touched his earpiece. “Got you. Be careful.”

“We’re always careful,” Jaze replied. The other cameras showed a grin on his face. Alex felt himself smiling back.

“Yeah, I’ll believe that when I see it,” Brock said, rolling his eyes. He took a bite of a huge sandwich that sat next to the pizza as he watched the monitors.

Alex followed his gaze to another screen that showed what appeared to be a house layout. Red lights flashed and moved. There was a single
red light in the middle of the house that others were milling around.

“Whose house is that?”
Cassie asked in a whisper.

Brock glanced back at them.
“We tracked Drogan to it. They’re holding someone inside. Jaze’s team is investigating.”

Alex felt Cassie tense beside him. He leaned forward, his own muscles tightening.

Brock recited what he saw on the house monitor. “There are four bogies on the front porch, three behind, and two waiting in the trees. They’re rotating shifts every ten minutes. If you want silence, you’ll have to take them all out.”

“Got it,” Jaze replied. He motioned to his team. “Let’s move.”

Alex watched as the van door was pulled open and the members of Jaze’s team swarmed out. Alex’s gaze locked on Jaze’s monitor as his team split to either side, leaving him and another werewolf to take the porch.

Jaze nodded at his companion
; Alex was surprised to see it was Kaynan. The red-eyed werewolf kept to the shadows as he crept noiselessly to the far side of the porch and out of sight. Jaze waited next to the porch for a minute. Brock watched everyone on the monitor. The red dots took up places near those that had been there before, then grew still.

Brock touched his earpiece. “Everyone’s in place,” he said quietly. “Go.”

The red dots attacked. Not a sound was heard. Alex watched in shock as Jaze leaped the porch and slammed a fist into the first man’s jaw, knocking him out cold. The Alpha caught the body and lowered it just as the second man on his side turned. Jaze spun and knocked his feet out, and made it back around in time to catch him in a headlock before he hit the ground. A few seconds in a sleeper hold had the man out beside his companion.

Jaze rose and Kaynan did the same
, leaving two more bodies near the shadows. The glint of a blade showed in the gray predawn light before Kaynan fastened something around his wrist. Alex realized he had seen the wristband before. The professor always wore it. Alex had figured it was a gift from Grace; the fact that it was a weapon changed his whole view of the professor.

“That’s our dean?” Cassie whispered in awe.

“And our professors,” Alex replied. “I never would have believed it.”

Brock grinned at them both. “There are a lot of secrets at this Academy. It’s good to know who has your best interests at heart, isn’t it?”

The twins nodded in amazement.

“Ready?” Jaze whispered
over the intercom.

Brock checked the screen. The other red dots were still. “Ready,” he replied.

Jaze’s team surged toward the house. Kaynan tested the door knob; it was locked. A quick glance showed three more members of the werewolf team waiting on the stairs. Chet’s dark eyes and black hair were easy to identify within the shadows. Dray waited next to him, his sun blond hair held back by another headband with a camera similar to Jaze’s. The third member turned out to be Colleen. Chet moved to kick the door in, but Jaze motioned for him to wait. Colleen slipped something into Kaynan’s hand.

“Old habits can come in useful,” she
whispered, her violet eyes flashing in the porch light.

Kaynan opened his hand and smiled at the small pieces of metal he found there. He knelt by the front door. In less than five seconds, Alex heard a click and th
e door opened with a slight creak.

“How’s the back door?” Jaze asked.

Brock, Alex, and Cassie shifted their gazes to the other monitors. A camera showed Rafe on one side of the door with Vance on the other. Vance put a hand to the doorknob. It was obvious that it was locked as well. Vance gave the knob a sharp turn. The door opened.

“Good,” Vance replied.

“Keep low, stay silent,” Jaze whispered. “Let’s try to do this without a shot fired. We don’t know who they have and don’t want to put whoever it is in jeopardy. Mouse, you got the lights?”

At that moment, the power in the house cut completely. Commotion could be heard inside. The cameras switched to night vision.

“Move in,” Jaze commanded.

Both teams opened their doors and stepped inside. Jaze flowed silently to the left through a small dining room. Kaynan followed close behind. Dray and Colleen took the right.

Three men waited in the kitchen. Jaze reached one, punched him in the kidney and slammed an elbow into his ear. As the man fell, Jaze was at the second who was just turning with his mouth opening to give an alarm. Jaze silence him with a straight punch to his throat followed by a blow to the stomach. When the man doubled over, Jaze elbowed him in the back. The man fell to the floor and the Alpha still him with a fist to the side of the head.

He stepped over the man Kaynan had already brought down.

“There are four men upstairs, but the majority are in the basement,” Brock informed them. For once, his sandwich and pizza sat forgotten next to the computer.

Vance’s team ran up the stairs. Jaze motioned for Colleen to stay on the main floor in case backup arrived. He, Kaynan, Dray, and Chet
hurried on silent feet down the stairs.

“The power company’s sending a guy to check it out,” one of the men in the basement said.
He held out his phone, its glowing light casting the room in shadows.

“No need,” Jaze replied
in the darkness.

Everyone turned in surprised. The werewolves had them surrounded. Jaze crouched and knocked the
feet out from beneath two men with a sweep of his leg. He silenced them both with two haymakers. Jaze rolled forward, hit a man in the groin, then rose and slammed the back of his elbow into another man’s jaw. He spun and kicked the head of man who was grappling with Dray. Dray dropped him and turned to slam a two-fisted punch to the next man’s chest.

A shot rang out. Jaze
tackled the shooter against the wall. He slid a chop down the man’s arm to knock his gun out of his grasp and followed it with a back-hand across the man’s face. The man tried to punch him in the stomach. Jaze blocked the punch and popped an uppercut to the man’s jaw that sent his head against the wall. He slid to the ground.

A quick check showed all of the men down.

“Is everyone alright?” Jaze asked.

“A shot was fired,” Chet pointed out dryly. “Mission failed.”

Jaze shook his head. “Lights on, Mouse,” he said.

The power was immediately turned back on. A single door
led from the room.

“Anyone else in there?” Jaze asked.

“Two people,” Brock replied, looking at the screen.

“Careful,” Kaynan warned.

Alex watched with abated breath as Chet reached for the doorknob at Jaze’s nod. When the door opened, Jaze dove into the room, came up to his knees, and knocked the waiting man’s gun away before he could fire. Jaze drove a fist into the man’s groin followed by a punch to the stomach. The man doubled over. Jaze wrapped an arm around the man’s neck and rolled, slamming the man’s body to the ground.

“You get to have all the fun,” Chet said from the door.

“That was awesome,” Alex breathed, unable to tear his eyes from the screen.

Jaze rose without a word and walked to the cage in the corner. A lone woman sat huddled on a dirty blanket with another thrown over her shoulders.
Jaze touched the cage.

“We’re going to get you out of here,” he said gently. She looked up at him

Cassie’s hand grabbed Alex’s. His heart skipped a beat.

“It’s Mom!” Cassie exclaimed. “That’s Mom!”

Alex shook his head. “No, it can’t be,” he replied, though he stared at her sitting there. Her dark hair was shorter than his mother usually wore it, but the same light blue eyes looked straight at the camera, filled with loss and pain from her confinement. She had the same high cheekbones and the creases at the corners of her eyes that said smiling was a habit, though no smile lit her face. Only fear showed in her eyes at the werewolves that surrounded the cage.

“It can’t be,” Alex said again. Tears burned in his eyes and began to stream down his cheeks. “I saw her die. I watched her die, Cass. It can’t be.”

“But it’s Mom,” his sister replied, her voice tight and her gaze locked on the woman in Jaze’s camera. Tears trickled down her cheeks. “It’s Mom. It has to be.”

Brock looked between them, stunned.

Alex shook his head, his voice broken. “She died, Cass. It can’t be.”

He watched as Vance broke the lock to the cage and Jaze stepped inside.

“I’m Jaze Carso,” he said. “Do you know who I am?”

Her face showed a flicker of familiarity with the name. She nodded. “I know who you are,” she said softly in a voice that was so like Alex’s mother’s that his heart clenched because he knew it couldn’t be.

Jaze held out a hand and the woman took it. Jaze led her carefully from the cage.

Brock checked the screen. “The area’s clear. Have a safe trip back.”

“Thanks, Brock,” Jaze replied. He reached up and his camera turned off. The others soon followed.

“That was her,” Cassie said.
Sobs shook her shoulders. “She was on the camera. You saw her.” Her voice was near hysterical.

“It couldn’t have been,” Alex replied
, putting an arm around his sister’s shoulders. He was so confused. The woman looked just like his mother, but her voice was slightly different. He had watched his mother die. Yet the woman’s face looked so achingly like hers that he couldn’t stop picturing it in his mind.

“Where are they taking her?” Cassie asked. The same confusion showed in her voice.
Tears wouldn’t stop rolling down her cheeks.

Brock
set his sandwich down. He looked as though he knew he shouldn’t tell them, but after what they had seen, he couldn’t deny the twins. “To our closest safe house,” he answered. “It’s on the other side of the forest at the furthest end of the preserve.”

“Can we go there?” Alex asked.

Brock shook his head. “It would be best if you wait for Jaze. I’m sure he’ll have some answers for you.” He looked around and ran a hand through his spikey hair. “He’s going to be upset you were down here.”

“Tell him I overpowered you,” Alex replied.

Brock gave him an incredulous look. “And you forced me to open the door in the first place? I know better than that.”

“Tell him I was crying,” Cassie said.

They both looked at her. She tried to wipe the tears from her cheeks, but they wouldn’t stop coming. “I bet he wouldn’t be so upset.”

Brock nodded. “Fine. I need you both to go to your rooms. I’ll wake you as soon as Jaze gets back.”

“Thank you, Brock,” Alex told him as he led his sister up the stairs. She clung to him, refusing to let go after what she had seen.

“Yeah,” Brock replied, his tone showing he doubted whether he had made the right decision.

Alex and Cassie made it back to Pack Jericho’s quarters. Cassie refused to go to her room, so Alex let her into his. She settled on his bed wrapped in her red blanket. Quiet sobs shook her small body. Alex held her close while he stared out the window, wondering with an aching heart about the woman they had seen on Jaze’s camera.

Alex listened for the vehicles to return.
He kept seeing his mother’s face in his mind, watching the way the light had flickered out. He had to remind himself over and over again that the woman Jaze had rescued wasn’t her. He wanted to believe so badly. He listened to his sister cry herself to sleep, and it broke his heart. He wanted to tell Cassie that he was wrong, that by some miracle their mother was still alive. Yet he knew deep down that it couldn’t be true, and every time he reminded himself of that, it felt like a piece of him died.

He finally rose and, checking to make sure Cassie was sleeping soundly, he crept down the stairs. Early dawn light spilled in through the windows, lighting the halls that would soon be packed with students rushing to class. Alex couldn’t find any joy in the thought of being with them. He had to know; nothing else mattered until his questions were answered.