Werewolf Academy 07 Chosen (27 page)

Dray threw off one of the Demons he fought and it slammed into the one pinning Alex’s right arm down. Alex clenched his claws into a fist and drove a haymaker into the face of the Demon who tried to rip out his throat.

The Demon yelped and let go. It snarled down at Alex and opened its mouth to bite him again. Alex shoved his hand into the Demon’s mouth. Startled, the Demon jerked back. Alex held onto its tongue and was yanked to his feet. He used his momentum to bowl the Demon over. Still keeping ahold of the Demon’s tongue, he drove the creature to the ground. He shoved his other hand into the Demon’s mouth with the first.

Alex roared with the force of his rage and balled both hands into fists. The Demon’s teeth cut into his arms. He ignored the pain and forced his hands apart. The Demon let out a throaty yelp of panic. It clawed at his stomach with its feet. The other Demons tried to pull Alex back, but he wouldn’t let go. Alex gave one more roar of rage and jerked his hands open. The Demon’s jaw dislocated. He raised his hands high into the air, bringing the Demon with them, and slammed his fists to the ground. The impact of his fists between the Demon’s skull and the cement made a sound like dropping a melon onto the road. The Demon quit struggling.

Alex spun around, certain the other Demons were about to tear him apart. Instead, they backed up uncertainly.

“
What are they doing?” Dray asked. His breath wheezed through his chest and blood coated his skin.

Alex couldn’t tell what was from the Demons and what was the professor’s. Dray held his mangled right arm to his chest. Both bones protruded through the skin.

“
They almost had me,” Dray continued. “Then they dropped me at the same time.” He glanced at the lifeless form at Alex’s feet. “You killed one of them!”

Alex nodded, his attention on the other Demons. “It was luck.”

The creatures had backed up to the alley. They looked in different directions, their eyes no longer filled with anger and hatred, but with panic.

Realization hit Alex. “Their Alpha. Something happened at the Academy.”

Alex spun, searching the lawn. He found Trent near the mayor. The werewolves had blockaded as many of the humans as they could inside the courthouse. When the Demons made it through Alex and Dray, the others were prepared to fight for the lives of the humans they protected.

Pain flooded through Alex when his Demon left his wounded body. He stumbled on the lawn.

“
Trent!” he yelled, his voice raspy through his mangled throat.

Relief filled his friend’s gaze when he spotted Alex, but the expression changed to shock. Alex wanted to run, but his legs weren’t willing. He sunk to his knees on the grass.

“
Alex!” Trent called at the same time that Siale screamed his name.

Both werewolves ran to him.

“
Alex, we have to get you to a hospital,” Siale insisted. She touched his shoulder and her hand came away bloody.

“
Seriously, Alex, you need help,” Trent replied. The werewolf’s gaze flickered past Alex to the alley. “What happened to the Demons?”

Alex didn’t need to look back to know they were gone. “Drogan…” He struggled for breath. “The Academy…something happened.”

Trent’s eyes widened. “Their Alpha gave the order to attack and they stopped. Jaze did something.”

“
We’ve got…” Alex couldn’t form the words.

Siale dropped to her knees in front of him. “We’ve got to get back to the Academy, but you can’t go anywhere like this.” She raised her hand to his throat as if she wanted to stop the blood, but her fingers shook. “This is too bad, Alex. I don’t know what to do.” She raised her voice. “Meredith!”

The fear that filled the name gripped Alex’s heart. “You…shouldn’t…” He swallowed painfully and tasted blood. He closed his eyes and said, “Be afraid.”

“
I’m afraid of losing you,” Siale replied.

A familiar hand touched Alex’s shoulder. Something was pressed to his throat.

“
Hold this,” his mother said, her voice tight with command.

He wished he could open his eyes to see her in action, but just kneeling on the ground with his head bowed took all of his strength. He hoped Trent was getting the helicopter, but he couldn’t give the command to make it happen. He could only hope the small werewolf knew what needed to be done.

“
Lyra, bring me more bandages,” Meredith said. “Siale, put pressure here. Alex, we’re going to lay you down.”

More hands than Alex thought would be available helped lower him to the ground. He willed his eyes to open for a brief moment. Faces blocked out the setting sun. Strangers that had come for the wedding, humans and werewolves alike, looked down at him with worried expressions. He caught sight of the mayor and Principal Dalton. Officer Dune looked on from further back; Alex recognized his young daughter at his side.

Alex’s eyes shut of their own accord.

“
Stay with me, Alex,” his mother said. “Don’t you fall asleep. You’ve got to fight.”

“
I…” Alex gave a small, pained smile, “Don’t want to…stop fighting.”

It was the first words he had said to Jaze when he reached the Academy. The thought of the dean forced him to open his eyes again.

“
We’ve got to…” He drew in a ragged breath. “Get to the Academy.”

Meredith shook her head. “We can’t move you. You’ve lost so much blood. If I can’t stop it, you’re going to bleed out before Dr. Benjamin can get here.”

She put another bandage around his throat. Siale held pressure on the wound. Lyra returned with a bag.

“
Have Trent radio for Dr. Benjamin again,” Meredith said. “How’s Dray?”

“
He has fractures to his arm and femur. He might have a collapsed lung,” Lyra replied. “Gem is helping me.”

Meredith nodded. “Let me know if he needs an emergency decompression.”

His mother’s voice faded as Alex’s eyes closed again. He wished he could tell her how proud he was of the person she had become. Memories of the beaten, starved woman Jaze had saved merged with the strong, confident woman his mother was. He couldn’t believe how much she had changed. Life at the Academy had been exactly what she needed. The thought that it had also been what he needed made him anxious. He needed to make sure Jaze was alright. He had to get to a helicopter. They needed to leave, now.

Alex pushed himself up at the same time that the beating of helicopter blades touched his ears.

“
Alex, don’t move!” Meredith commanded.

“
I’ve got to get to Jaze,” Alex replied. Strength filled him at the sight of Trent lowering the helicopter to the lawn of the courthouse.

“
Alex, I don’t think you should do this,” Siale told him.

Alex wanted to stand. He put every bit of willpower into wanting his legs to hold, but his body refused to move any higher than his sitting position leaning against Siale for support.

“
I can’t stay here,” he said. Frustration at his weakness touched his voice. “Jaze…Jaze might need me.”

Hands reached down.

“
We’ve got you, Alex,” Mayor Hendricks said.

“
You’ve done so much for us,” Officer Dune told him as he helped pick Alex up.

“
Now it’s our turn,” another man from the crowd said.

The feeling of dozens of hands carrying him across the lawn left Alex speechless. He looked into the grateful, smiling faces of the Greyton citizens he had just fought to save from the Demons.

He caught Mrs. Summer’s gaze.

“
You’re family,” she said, her eyes shining with tears.

Other humans nodded.

Someone stumbled and Alex winced at the pain that coursed through what felt like every inch of his body. Other hands reached in to steady him.

A young girl slipped her hand into Alex’s. “You’re our Demon.”

She held his hand as he was set gently on the floor of the helicopter. Her big green eyes held his gaze. “Come back, okay?” she asked, her voice small but hopeful.

Alex nodded tightly. “I will. Thank you.”

Meredith and Siale climbed in next to Alex. Kaynan, Chet, Rafe, and Vance followed.

“
Do we know what happened at the Academy?” Vance asked, his deep voice gruff with concern.

“
No idea,” Trent replied from the front seat as he lifted the helicopter into the air. “Communications are down. I’ll get us there as quickly as possible.”

Alex heard a cloth rip. He opened his eyes to see Siale press a piece of her wedding dress to his shoulder. She ripped another cloth free and wrapped the wound from one of the Demon’s fangs the best she could.

“
You’d be a good…” His words slurred and Alex couldn’t get himself to finish the sentence. A deep rushing sound filled his ears. Darkness took over his gaze before his eyes closed.

“
Alex?” Siale said. Alarm touched her voice. “Alex, stay with us!”

“
Come on, Alex,” Vance’s voice beat against him like the banging of a bass drum.

“
What’s going on?” Trent asked from the front seat.

“
He’s lost so much blood,” Alex heard Meredith reply.

A zipper opened, the sound strange and muffled to his ears. Something stabbed his arm. He gave in to the insistent embrace of nothing.

Chapter Twenty-eight

Voices broke through the darkness in Alex’s mind. He felt like he was swimming across freezing cold water as the uniting chant pulsed through his thoughts.

“
My brother, a body of flesh and blood no longer your soul holds. Run without the confines of bone and sinew, howl without the constriction of lungs or breath, and live within the embrace of the moon and her welcoming light. Your life is one with wolvenkind, and your heart will beat with ours forevermore. You will not be forgotten.”

Alex recognized the voices. Jet’s quiet words were entwined with Jericho’s confident voice and Kalia’s softer tones. His adopted mother and father chanted with the others, their caring and love audible within the phrasing. Nikki spoke with the smile he always remembered, and even Pip’s squeaky voice could be heard in the background.

Another voice said the chant. It was deep and gruff, filled with anger the way it had been in life. The General, his hatred of Alex thick even in death, repeated the words with those Alex had loved and lost. The words were a threat, a reminder. Alex had won that battle, but there were so many others left to fight. He would never stop fighting.

Alex’s eyes flew open.

“
Never forgotten, always one,” Jet’s voice whispered in the back of his mind.

Alex gasped for breath. Moonlight spilled into the helicopter. They had positioned him near the open door so he could get the full effect of its healing touch. Kaynan sat between him and the door to keep him from falling out. Siale and Meredith knelt on his other side.

“
Alex?” Siale said.

He tipped his head to look at her. The relieved smile that spread across her face filled him with warmth.

“
I thought I was dead,” he told her. His voice was croaky and dry. Talking hurt.

She touched his cheek. “So did we. You weren’t breathing well.” She blinked quickly to keep back the tears that made her gray eyes shine in the moonlight. “Your heart kept slowing down.” Her words stopped as though her throat had tightened too much to speak. She merely smiled down at him, her lips pressed close together in a smile that looked as though it held back a sob.

“
You lost too much blood,” his mother said. She smiled when he looked up at her. “We did a transfusion, but I thought it would be too late.”

Alex followed her gaze to the tube in his arm. He traced it back to the port at her own elbow.

“
Mom,” he protested.

She gently set a hand on his chest to keep him from rising. “That’s what moms are for.”

Alex didn’t like the fact that she could hold him down so easily. If they found Drogan at the Academy, he would have to be able to fight. He struggled to rise again.

A hand covered Meredith’s, pressing down stronger. “Stay there, Alex. You scared us all,” Vance told him. “Get the rest you can. We’re almost at the Academy.”

Alex let out a slow breath and nodded. He didn’t want to show how much the huge werewolf’s hand hurt.

“
How far are we?” he asked, his voice quiet among the steady thumps of the chopper’s blades.

“
Almost there,” Trent replied. He looked back at Alex from the front seat. “Good thing I’m the only pilot we have. I would have been the one to give you blood.”

Alex huffed a small chuckle that sent pain through his chest. “Are we even a match?”

Trent shrugged. “Who knows? That’s one way to find out.”

“
He’d be dead,” Siale reminded the small werewolf with the tone of someone repeating the same argument.

“
Or alive,” Trent replied. “I’m going with alive.”

Alex smiled at Meredith. “Thank goodness you’re here.”

His mother brushed his hair away from his forehead with gentle fingers. “I don’t always get the opportunity to be your mother. I’m just glad I can be there when you really need me.”

“
I always need you,” Alex told her. He thought of how he had felt listening to her give orders when he was fading. “I’m proud of you.”

That brought a smile to his mother’s face. “Why?” she asked, her expression puzzled.

Alex sucked in a breath through his damaged throat and let it out slowly. “Because you remind me that…you don’t have to have muscles to be strong.” He swallowed, then concluded, “You have to have heart.”

Tears showed in her eyes and she leaned down to kiss his cheek.

“
Oh my goodness.”

Trent’s gasp brought everyone’s attention to the front of the helicopter.

“
No!” Kaynan exclaimed.