“What’s your name?” I asked, stepping out from the motel’s lobby. “And how do I know you’re the real deal? Not some random guy who's trying to lead me into the woods and do something devious?”
He reached for one of my duffel bags, taking the strap out of my hand and throwing it over his shoulder. “I’m Elijah. Elijah Ledger, but my friends and family call me Eli.”
“Right. So, Elijah?”
Elijah sighed, putting down the duffel beside his feet, and rolled up the sleeve of his navy shirt, revealing a geometric-like moon symbol with a print in the center that looked a lot like a wolf paw. “Happy?” A dark brow quirked. “Mine is a little different from everyone else’s marks, considering my dad is the alpha.”
“Alpha, as in leader?” I enquired.
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Not sure how this works, but he’s like a king to wolves?”
Elija sputtered a laugh, shaking his head. “I guess you can say that.”
“So.” I gave him a sideways look. “Why is the prince out looking for a peasant?”
“I’m part of the Moon Guardians. As I mentioned before.”
“Okay, but aren’t you important compared to the others?”
“As long as my dad rules, not really,” he said. “Guess you could say I’m a back-up alpha if something happens to him. Which is unlikely. Nothing can kill that stubborn old fool.”
“You don’t seem to be close to him?” I prodded.
“Not really, no.” Elijah sighed. “But enough of me. Why are you out here in the middle of nowhere?”
“My mom dumped me by the train station, so I stayed here hoping one of you would come for me.” I paused, giving him a suspicious look. “How did you know where I was? Did Luca tell you?”
“Luca who?” he asked, rolling his sleeve back down. “No. I used magic and my senses to track you.”
“You said our marks look similar,” I redirected the conversation. “Mine doesn’t look anything like yours. Not even close. Mine’s all veiny and it looks like there are weird symbols forming in them. It glows, too.”
“Yeah?” His eyes narrowed down to my arm, covered by the sleeve of my jacket. “Can I see it? The veiny look is normal, by the way. It passes, so don’t worry about that.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” I pushed back my hair to reveal my neck. “Mine almost takes up my entire neck.”
“Your neck?” Elijah’s face contorted into a shocked expression. He swooped forward and grabbed hold of my shoulder. “What the hell?”
My brow shot up. “What? Is there something wrong with it?”
His gaze rose to meet mine. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“What do you mean?” I blinked, anxiety expanding inside my chest. “This isn’t normal?”
“No, it isn’t.” He stepped back as if he got burnt. “How exactly did you get marked?”
“Luca,” I said. “I was at school doing, well, what you’re supposed to do at a school when he grabbed me and bit me in the neck, and that’s how it happened.”
“Luca?” Elijah frowned. “I don’t recall any of the recruiters going by that name.” He shook his head. “And what weirdo bites you in the neck? That is, unless he’s your boyfriend?”
“Hell no.” My eyes widened. “And wait—does this mean I’m not like you? Maybe it’s some kind of prank?”
“No, you’re definitely one of us.” He gave me a sideways look. “I can sense the wolf in you. Quite strongly for a pup, if I must say so.”
I stared down at my feet, frowning. “Maybe something went wrong when he marked me? You said we use magic. Does this marking process involve magic? And why is your mark on your arm?”
“Sort of. We siphon energy from the huntress. She’s the only one who can grant us the gift to mark. Actually, we only mark when she demands us to.” He pulled a face. “The marking process does involve biting, but normally the one who does the marking bites the arm, in some cases, the leg. If this Luca isn’t dating you, then he’s a creep for biting you in the neck. It’s too…personal, there.”
“Great…” So Luca was unstable, then. “The huntress? What do you mean?”
“Diana.”
“As in from mythology?”
“Yes, but she’s not mythic,” he answered, stepping back. “Either she favors you, a lot, or you’ve ticked her off.”
I swallowed, not sure what to make of the situation.
Elijah conjured a life-size mirror out of nowhere. Literally. It floated mid-air in front of us, reflecting Elijah’s somber expression and my distress.
“What the actual crap?” I murmured, my voice barely audible. “Why do we need a mirror?”
“That, Hailey, isn’t a mirror. It’s a portal that will take us straight to the Academia of the Moon.”
“Why do we need to go through that?” I waved a hand toward it. “Why can’t we just take a car? Or a bus, or plane, or anything...normal?”
The apprehension I felt blossoming inside my belly had exploded into full-blown panic. The moment I stepped through that thing, every last bit of ordinary I’ve had would be nothing but a memory.
I peered at Elijah, sizing him up. He was without a doubt good-looking, and on a better day, I might even flirt with him. He had that innocent boyish charm to him—the kind that always had the girl home before curfew, who held open doors for people and helped elderly ladies cross the street.
The question was, was it all a facade, or could I trust him? What was really behind that portal?
It wasn’t as if I had many options to pick from. Everyone I knew abandoned me, and if I didn’t go, I could resort to slaughtering the entire town. That is if I don’t end up dead first.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, a small red light flickered wildly, but I couldn’t pinpoint out what on earth the reason behind it was.
“Unfortunately, it’s the fastest way to get to the academy, and we don’t have much time to get back.”
“Time for what?”
“Before they send the hounds. Remember I’m the alpha’s son. If I’m out too long, they assume something went wrong and backups come running. Trust me, we don’t want that to happen.”
“Oh?” My brows rose, my eyes not moving from the portal.
“The hounds are vicious.” Elijah’s breath brushed my cheek, and I shivered.
“I don’t like this.” I turned to face him. “What if I decide I don’t want to go?”
“I could leave you here. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d have to do that,” he shrugged. “But, you’re a wild card, and I can get in a lot of trouble if I leave you here, knowing what I know.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Which part?”
I rolled my eyes. “Wild card. How am I one?”
“That interesting mark you’ve got. We need to figure out why yours look like that, and we will need your neck to track down the guy who marked you. Luca, you said?”
I stepped back. “My neck?”
“Yeah, how else are we supposed to track the guy and ask him why yours look like that?”
“You're going to take my neck?” My voice echoed, and I took a few more steps back, sheltering my neck with a hand. “You’re not touching my neck.”
Elijah frowned before his face contorted in surprise. “Oh, no. That’s not what I mean. We’re not going to harm you—”
“I don’t believe you.” The calmness slipped from my body like a veil getting ripped off of me and unleashing every ounce of panic I knew was missing since the moment he showed up. “You did something to me.”
His shoulders dropped. “I needed to calm you somehow.”
“You used magic to calm me.”
“I had to. I could tell you were going to put up a fight,” he sighed. “I swear, we’re not planning to do anything remotely harmful to you. We’re here to help you. If you run free, you could die.”
“How do I know it isn’t a story your people spun to lure us in?”
Hysteria wasn’t pretty. I’ve never experienced it before, but it was debilitating. My mind couldn’t think clearly or process reality. I felt myself slipping into an abyss of mind-numbing fear, my legs weighing tons and my body shaking.
The only thing I could comprehend was that I needed to run.
“No, Hailey—”
Elijah cursed as I turned and made a beeline across the street into oncoming traffic, right in front of a speeding truck.
I barely managed to process my situation when large fangs sunk into the collar of my jacket and jerked me back in time before I got run over.
When I glanced up, I stared straight up at a gigantic wolf. I screamed.
“Let go of me!” my voice bounced off the walls of the cavernous hallway. We were inside a cathedral-like building, where we appeared after wolf Elijah dragged me through the portal. When I turned to punch him, he was human again. Before my fist could land in his face, he grabbed hold of it. “You need to calm down.” “I told you I didn’t want to come here,” I shouted. “Take me back, now!” “So you could run in front of another truck?” “Anything is better than being here,” I cried out. “Please, just send me back. I won’t be a problem, just—” There was a long whistle and then laughter. “Another pup, Eli?” I turned to pin a mean glare at the boy who said it. Holy, living crap. He was a giant of a person. He towered double my size over me, peering down at us with an amused expression. “Let me guess, you got this one from the suburbs?” the boy asked. “A motel,” Elijah sighed. “It’s not what you think.” “Forgot to use your enchantment?” the boy smirked. “I did use it on her. She someh
“I still don’t understand how she could favor me.” I sat down on a comfy chair across from Mrs. Humphrey. “There’s literally nothing special about me. I suck at school. I never had friends...Luca marked me and now everyone thinks—” I paused, remembering where I was and in whose company I was in. I doubt they’d appreciate me referring to them as freaks. I peered at Elijah before my gaze settled back on Mrs. Humphrey. Elijah seemed decent. I have yet to decide how I felt about the high priestess. “People back home aren’t exactly fond of werewolves. Everyone used to tell me scary stories about your people.” Mrs. Humphrey sat forward in her seat. “Your people?” She arched her brow. “You mean, our people? You’re one of us, now, dear.” I breathed out a long sigh. “It all feels so surreal.” “I understand. I’ve been there myself.” She waved a hand toward Elijah. “Unlike him, who was born into this world, I was just like you. I grew up in a nice little neighborhood with very religious paren
“This is your room.” June turned her back to the cherry-red door decorated with postcards from across the world. A few faux sunflowers were stuck haphazardly in between. “You’ll be sharing it with another girl. Ariah Winter. I think you should get along quite well. She’s a bit shy, but a sweet girl, non-the-less.” I nodded, stepping toward the door. “I see you only brought this.” June pointed at my two duffel bags. “We have a store room filled with second-hand goodies for those who come over empty handed. You know, not everyone’s parent’s, especially those coming from human ones, are exactly keen on helping their young ones settle in and make their stay as comfortable as possible.” “Yeah, well…” What could I say? I was still having a hard time processing the fact that my mom did this to me. I wondered how Dad was going to react. I shook the thought from my head—not that he cared, anyway. “The point is.” June rested a hand on my arm. “You’re welcome to visit me and take a few things
“You’ve never been to the moon festival before?” Ariah’s eyes bulged. “I’m not from a werewolf family,” I explained, placing my neatly folded clothes into our shared closet. Ariah had moved her clothes to her side to make space for mine, but it was a tight fit. Where her side was overflooded, mine was mostly empty. I wasn’t sure how werewolves worked for money, but it was at the top of my list of things to do. “Like I said, humans don’t go out of their way to take part of anything out of the human norm.” “Hmm,” Ariah responded. “I’ve seen a lot of humans partake in our festivities.” “My parents are anti-werewolf.” “Oh, you’ve got one of those.” Ariah remained silent for what could be a minute. “I’m sorry, Hailey. That must really suck.” “Things happen, I guess.” “Hey, you can always join mine during the holidays,” she perked. “Then you don’t have to be stuck here in old people’s company.” I offered her a smile. “You barely know me.” Ariah tapped the tip of her nose with a fore
The dining hall carried a happy vibe interwoven with color and the aroma of baked goodies. Ariah grabbed me by the wrist, practically dragging me across the room. Slowly, heads turned and took notice of me. Few nudged their friends, while others pointed shamelessly. I think it might be because I had my neck fully exposed, with my hair tied in a high ponytail, and everyone could see my mark. It became painfully clear that I was an anomaly. Not a single other student had a mark like mine. Theirs were all a smaller version of the one Elijah had, minus the paw-like print. And, minus the hideous veins—which Elijah claimed went away eventually. “I’m introducing you to our friends. I just know you’re going to love them,” Ariah exclaimed, steering me to the left side of the room toward a table where two other students waited. There was confetti scattered across the table, with two large bowls; one filled with candy and the other with potato chips. In the center of the table was a plate sta
“How do you talk to the huntress?” I asked, trailing after Ariah. She was showing me around and getting me acquainted with everyone. People were mostly friendly, but no one passed an opportunity to ask about my mark. Hopefully, by next week people would have grown used to it and forgotten about it. It was getting tiresome to explain the same thing, over and over again. No one seemed to come to grips with the fact that I had no clue why mine was the way it was. If anything, I’d like some answers too. “You tap into the spiritual realm. It’s quite a process, so I can’t just explain it to you. In separate lessons, you will be taught how to, most likely, since we already covered it at the beginning of the year. They always do that with new pups. Catch them up on the essentials in separate lessons, most of the time, with the headmistress.” “I see.” I didn’t know how I felt about extra classes since, from what I’ve seen, my schedule was going to be packed as it is. “This is the girl’s c
Ariah parted ways with me before lunchtime, informing me she promised one of the teachers she’d help him with something. I agreed to meet up later with her, Nate and Celeste, making my way up a flight of stairs toward the library. I wanted to find the book of the divine, among things, to see if I could learn anything about my mark or the meaning of it. I scarcely rounded the corner where the library was, spotting a sign that said: Be back in an hour. I sighed, falling back against a wall, contemplating what I could do next. I didn’t know how long an hour would be, considering there wasn’t a time stating when it was written. I didn’t want to go back to my room because I have virtually nothing there to keep me occupied. Maybe this would be a good time for me to drop in by June and see what there was that I could use for my side of the room? As I stretched out my arms, yawning and turning back the way I came when low voices behind me drew my attention. “I told you to leave me alone,
Katie’s big silver eyes sparkled as she peered around our table with anticipation. “Elijah says one of you is new here as well?” I offered her a small wave. “That would be me.” She stuck out her hand to me. “Hi, I’m so glad I’m not the only one.” I awkwardly shook it, noticing Nate hiding a smirk behind his palm. “Honestly, I’m glad too. But unfortunately, because of my mark, I stick out like a sore thumb.” “Worse than a sore thumb,” Nate supplied. I sputtered a laugh. “Yeah, thanks.” “Are you born into the club or specially hand-picked from the planet of norm?” Celeste asked. Katie smiled. “Born and bred.” “Born and bred?” Nate wiggled his brows. “No offense to you, but why do they always say born and bred? Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?” Celeste choked on her milkshake. “Nate, bred, as in raised, not the other bred you're thinking of.” “You mean produced? Made? Formed—” “Good gracious, Nate, you need to get laid. Your mind is in the gutter,” Ariah snorted.