Werewolf Academy

Chapter XXIII

For those of you who have read both this story and the dragon story I just now realized that I accidentally created a double name (main character in the other story and Brian's sister here) but I like it and this Amber isn't one you see super often so I am not going to change it. Anyways, the next chapter.

Word had already spread through the pack about what Alysandra had attempted and failed to do. Soon after the reason she was out of her cell, no silver in sight. She kept to her rooms for meals and to not put stress on the pup she carried. A guest room now.

Jack had yet to speak with her.

He was torn but no one could blame him. Most of the pack knew of our childhood history and though she was his mate he found our bond of friendship to have more value after what she did.

We spent more time together now and I could see the slight jealousy in my mate's eyes when Jack's scent lingered on me from the nights I would slip out of bed to talk with him. I called him a possessive ass for it but I knew it wouldn't change.

He actions of the past rogue had put more than just the few of us on edge. There was constant discussion of moving the untrained to allied packs and new patrol rotations were being made.

I truly tried to think back on Brian's words of the packs admiration of me but I saw the questioning of the older wolves. Was the story of what happened in that bedroom a cover up for an ex-assassin falling back on old habits? I did my best to prove myself, but so had Alysandra. Why would a pregnant female risk her pup's life by attempting the murder of the Luna, turned to her enemy pack's side for only a few months now?

At least Jake wasn't siding with them in their suspicions again. That would have hit me harder than any of the others, having earned his trust so recently after lying to his face previously.

I had made my statement though. No one was to make a speech to praise me or my intentions. In a short time they would see me kill the man who tempted my shattered heart to want revenge. I would kill him or die trying.
———
The evening meal was awkwardly silent and more than uncomfortable. Amber was practically squirming, as her normally chirpy attitude was diminished by the cold atmosphere.

The previous Alpha rarely gave me the time of day and this "family dinner" was seeming more pointless by the second. I was content with my own silence, were a conversation to be carried between others but I couldn't take this.

"What is the purpose of this meal if we're all going to just sit in silence?" The elder male at the table slowly meets my gaze. "I don't care if you think I'm the one responsible for this. Half of the pack does anyway but you should at least  say something over it. Sitting here staring at one another has absolutely no point."

"From what I've heard, she has more to lose than you," the female to his left says. "A younger brother. Kaden, am I correct?"

"If her story isn't just another lie," Brian growls.

I roll my eyes at his tone, catching a small smile on his sister's lips. "One day you'll have to deal with it too, Amber," her mother says in a way of scolding, though I'm sure she had the same thought herself in that moment.

I am well aware of your past, she had said to me during my third week here. I don't approve of what you've done but I know it was never your fault you were forced down that path. Knowing it was my own mate who brought that upon you is a heavy guilt I face every day, even if he never told me what he planned to do. So I will give you my trust, Adalynn. Don't make me regret it.

I won't.

Where I stood when it came to that trust now I wasn't quite sure.

"You're going for try to find the kid, aren't you?" Amber inquires softly.

"There's no need to search. He won't change his methods and locations just because I'm on your side now. There's no getting in. Not without having my own allies inside."

"There's no one there that would back you?" she asks.

I smiled grimly. "They have the mindset that women don't belong in the business I was caught up in. Naturally, I was the only one there. They were stronger so I had to be smarter and faster. I clawed my way to the top and made each and every one of them hate me for it whether they showed it or not. So no. There is no one there that's ready to stop kissing his feet and help our team." I straighten my spine. "But we will end this soon. That I will promise."