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  Dad looked at her. “Cassandra, he has put us all through a world of pain when he left. I can’t welcome him back with open arms.” He turned his attention back to Michael.

  For the first time, I noticed that Michael was taller than him, wider across the shoulders. He wasn’t the scrawny teenager anymore. The one who fell into trouble like a drop of a hat.

  “Where have you been?”

  My brother sighed. “It’s complicated, but I got caught up with some bad people and they talked me into leaving home and making some stupid decisions. At the time, all I could think of was myself.”

  He frowned, dubious. “What changed?”

  “I did. I met some better people who wanted to help me, and they did. I didn’t come back because I thought that too much time had passed. That it was better for you that I didn’t come back. Then Rachel found me.” He glanced down at me and smiled. “She convinced me that not coming back to let you know I was okay was bad idea.”

  “Also, I needed proof to show you that I was right.”

  My dad looked down at me, a slight frown on his face. He wasn’t going to be an easy sell like Mum had been, but that didn’t surprise me.

  “Isn’t it a good thing that Michael is alive?”

  Dad sighed. “Of course, it is but you could have waited. You didn’t need to travel halfway across the country to find him. What if you’d been wrong?”

  This time I stood up, balling my hands into fists “Because you didn’t believe me. I know that I haven’t been the perfect daughter, but I’ve never lied to you.” My chest went tight as my eyes went hot. All the nerves hit me again. I couldn’t loss my temper. It wouldn’t help. I needed for him to listen to me, to understand that I didn’t have a choice. “I had no idea how long you planned on keeping me in that place. By the time I got out again, Michael could have been gone.” The truth was if I hadn’t been there Michael would have ended up killed by Jonas’s, the mad Alpha’s pack, and we would have been none the wiser, but I couldn’t tell him that. “If I had the chance to make the decision again, I would make it again.”

  I looked at Mum and Michael, she had a tight grip on his hand. My brother watched me with a small smile on his lips. A lot of time had passed since we’d all been in the same room together, but I wasn’t a little kid anymore. Sure, I was sixteen. I’d made some stupid decision, but I could have died during the last few days. There had been a chance that I would have been a wolf and brainwashed into fighting a war. It was frustrating that I couldn’t tell him any of that.

  My dad sat down on his chair and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb. He looked old. For the longest time, he’d been a man who I loved and feared in equal measure. He’d never hurt me, but he was stubborn, I got that trait from him. A little scary and unapproachable. I’d never seen him as anything but that. Why was it even a surprise that I’d gone and looked for my brother by myself? I’d wanted them to help me, but they hadn’t believed me.

  Mum let go of my brother’s hand and knelt next to Dad who glanced at her. “Sweetheart, I know there’s a lot going on, but this could have ended so very differently. Rachel might never have come back home. Michael could have died, and we wouldn’t have known. We’ve been given a second chance to get this right and I don’t want to waste it. Our family has been broken and we have a chance to fix it. How many people can say that?”

  “It isn’t as easy as that.”

  “It’s going to be as easy as we make it.”

  Michael coughed. “I’m leaving tonight, but I’ve got an address and number where I can be contacted.”

  The thought that he was leaving again made my heart clench painfully. We hadn’t had much time to catch up. I was sure that there were parts of his life when he left that he didn’t want to talk about, but more distance? It would be like I’d never found him again. “But not now?”

  Michael smiled. “Not right now. I think we better let Mum and Dad talk. Want to go for a walk?”

  I nodded. There was a lot running through my mind and I knew that neither of our parents would understand what we’d gone through. Even if Mum was an Alpha, I didn’t think she would understand and I wasn’t ready to talk to her about it. I glanced over to Mum and she nodded, silently giving her permission.

  “We won’t go far,” I said as we headed for the door. I was glad that we were getting out, besides all the arguments my parents probably had about Michael, arguments I’d heard but never witness, I didn’t want to be in the same room as them as they ‘discussed’ their son’s return, however temporary it was.

  ***

  We ended up at the park. Since it was Friday, and everyone was at school it was deserted. Michael smiled as he sat down on one of the swings. Before everything got complicated we spent a lot of time at the park, well Michael was sent to keep an eye on me when I was sure he’d rather have been spending time with his friends, but it didn’t matter to me at the time. For a few minutes, he’d grumble and then he would push me on the swing. It seemed like a lifetime ago. I sat down next to him and held onto the metal chains.

  “I can’t believe that this is still here.”

  “They added in a few things,” I said. I didn’t want to talk about the park. I wanted to talk about my future. What the hell was I supposed to do now? A whole world existed out there and it was one I was supposed to be a part of. How was I supposed to talk my parents into letting me be a part of that when I couldn’t tell my dad the truth and my mum wanted to keep him in the dark?

  “What’s on your mind, Rachel?”

  “Can’t you tell?” Wolves shared a bond and there had been a point when Michael had been able to talk to me through my mind. That had been a strange sensation.

  “I know that you’re confused, but it’s rude to just poke into someone’s mind. Especially when they can’t shield themselves yet. So, tell me, Rachel, what’s up?”

  I sighed and sank against the swing seat. “I don’t know what to do. How am I supposed to stay here knowing that that world exists?”

  “That world is dangerous.”

  “All the time?”

  Michael shook his head. “There’s a place where people go, Alphas and those bitten. They learn about the world and get taught the skills that they need to survive it.”

  “Like a pack?”

  He laughed. “Not really. Think of it like a school for those who become furry or who will eventually become that way. Arturo is one of the teachers. I didn’t spend any time there because I skipped the training part when Jonas turned me. I didn’t even know any of this existed until I met Henry.” He must have caught the excited look on my face since I didn’t bother to try and hide it. “There are rules for those that enlist so don’t get your hopes up that they’ll accept you.”

  “I don’t think I’d be able to attend anyway. Since running off to find you I think Mum and Dad will end up putting me in a boarding school with bars on the windows.”

  “I don’t think that would stop you for long.” He smiled at me. “I can’t believe that you escaped an island to find me. Who does that?”

  I kicked the ground with the tip of my shoe. “Someone who’d been told her brother was dead and who saw proof that he wasn’t.”

  This time Michael sighed. “I’m sorry I put all of you through that. I kept away to keep all of you safe and at the time, all I believed was the story Jonas spun for me.”

  He hadn’t told me any of that. “What did he tell you?”

  “I was out with friends one night and as I was walking back I was attacked. Jonas rescued and took me in. At the time, I didn’t know he’d been behind all of it. That he’d gotten one of his underlings to attack me. He told me everything, well everything that he wanted me to know. He told me that he was based in London and he was only in the area for business. Nobody would understand what I was going through. Only him.”

  “You could have told me. I would have believed you.”

  He knocked his swing against mine and I smiled. “You w
ere ten. You might have believed me, but there was nothing you could do.”

  “I would have gone with you.”

  “And Mum and Dad wouldn’t have let me leave with you. I was scared. In my mind, I was monster and if I took you with me? Rachel, you wouldn’t have been safe. Jonas would have ended up using you and I couldn’t live with that knowledge. Especially when I found out the truth. That he was using me.”

  “And now?”

  Michael sighed. “You’re sure about this?”

  I hadn’t been able to think about anything else. The thought that my brother would leave again and how it would be next to impossible to visit him or see Henry until I was eighteen wasn’t something I wanted to wait to do. A school that accepted Alphas? To learn about a past and future that our mum had denied us? The prospect was more than a little tempting. “It doesn’t matter what I want. I doubt I could talk Dad into letting me attend a school like that.”

  “Well you wouldn’t tell him that it’s a school like that. He might not work for the government anymore, but Mum is right, there are rules and I doubt that he would believe us anyway.”

  Unless he had physical proof. The thought had barely passed through my head when I heard my brother scoff.

  “I’m not going to shift in front of him. Nobody breaks the rules, Rachel; the consequences aren’t worth it. We’re going to have to figure out something else.”

  “And if we can’t?”

  “Then there isn’t anything we can do. I could talk to Arturo; he might talk to our parents about you attending the school.”

  “Or maybe we could just talk to Mum and she could talk Dad into it. There’s not many schools out there that are going to take me on with my track record and I’m not going back to the nunnery.”

  “You really kept yourself busy.”

  There really wasn’t any point in arguing that point. I had gone off the rails a little when Michael had run away. The therapists had said that I’d been acting out and they had a point. I hadn’t been okay with my brother disappearing and I’d been frustrated that nobody had gone looking for him. I’d learnt a lot of different skills, ones that hadn’t impressed my dad.

  I’d been the perfect daughter for the first ten years of my life, but I’d grown up and nobody’s opinion had mattered but mine. They still didn’t. I was different and a part of me had always known that even if I hadn’t been sure about how I was different. An Alpha, unbitten. A wolf. “Then we need to talk to Mum because I don’t think I can go back to be a normal human when I know that it isn’t true.”

  Chapter Three

  When we got back to the house Dad wasn’t there and Mum was in the kitchen standing at the sink looking out of the window. I looked around, but there was no sign of him. Michael pulled out a chair and sat down. I knew that I should have joined him, but I couldn’t settle. My stomach was tied up in knots. I didn’t know how much I wanted to go to this school until I knew that it existed. Sure, I wanted to learn about my future, but a part of me had thought I would just go and join the pack. My mum couldn’t argue that I wanted to go to a school. Could she?

  “Where’s Dad?”

  She rested her hands on either side of the sink. “He went out.”

  “He’s pretty angry, isn’t he?”

  She paused slightly, and I could see the tension in her shoulders. “He just went out, Rachel, don’t worry about it. We need to talk about what happens next anyway and it’s probably not a conversation we can have around him.” She took a deep breath and turned around. “We need to figure out a school which you can go to.”

  “Maybe I shouldn’t.”

  Mum glanced up sharply. “You need to finish school, Rachel, that hasn’t changed just because you’re an Alpha. If anything, it’s more important.”

  “We were talking about that,” Michael spoke up from his seat. “There’s an academy run by the Elders.”

  “That’s new.”

  Michael nodded. “It was started a couple of years ago, they renovated an abandoned mansion on the outskirts of London. They figured it would be better for those who had been bitten or were born as wolves to have a haven. Some of their parents who might be passing themselves off as human.” He shrugged, and I couldn’t help but think that was a little dig at her. “There were a lot of reasons why they thought it would be a good idea.”

  “So, you think that’s it’s a good idea to send her to a school like that?”

  “I’m standing right here. Don’t I get a say in this?”

  “No, you probably want to go, but it’s not as simple as that. How will I explain it to your father and is it even safe? It can’t be.” She pulled out a chair and sat opposite Michael. “I didn’t want either of this for you, but you know.” She pointed at Michael. “You know it isn’t safe. It must be very exciting for you, Rachel, but I left that world for a reason.”

  “Don’t you miss it?” We all ended up sitting around the table. There was so much I wanted to know about my life. The parts that she’d kept secret from me.

  She paused. “Sometimes. I haven’t shifted in a long time and it hasn’t been easy keeping this a secret from you, but it’s a decision I made. One that I made for my family and if I had to make it again, I would. It wouldn’t even be a question.”

  “Why did you leave?”

  For a second, I didn’t think that she would answer. “That isn’t something I want to talk about just yet. Do you have a number for this Arturo? I’ll not promising that you can go, but at least I can talk to him.”

  Excitement swelled in the pit of my stomach, but I tried not to linger on it. She hadn’t said yes yet, but at least it was a step in the right direction. Michael scribbled a number on a piece of paper and handed it to her. “They are good people, Mum, and Rachel needs to know what to expect from now on. She learnt about all of this and it isn’t fair for you to deny it to her because of your own experiences. What happens when she turns eighteen and leaves? Eighteen is too old for her to be accepted at the school. You’ll be dropping her off into the deep end and that isn’t fair on her, especially when this option is here, now.”

  His words made me smile and Mum smiled as well. “It’s good to have you back, Michael, you look good.”

  “Good?”

  She walked around the table and took the scrap of paper from him. “Happy and healthy. I won’t pretend to understand what you’ve gone through and maybe one day you’ll tell me, but it’s nice to see you like this.”

  “It’s a shame that Dad doesn’t feel the same way.”

  “Well that’s the thing about your dad.” She said squeezing his upper arm. “He’s stubborn, but he does care about you, both of you. He just has trouble showing it.” She glanced at me. “I’ll give Arturo a call now.”

  ***

  Michael went outside to call Henry and tell him that we got there okay. I wanted to talk to Henry as well, but the butterflies in my stomach where currently at war with each other. Instead I went upstairs, and half collapsed onto my bed. I rolled onto my back and closed my eyes. This was the first time I’d had any chance of actual peace.

  All it would have taken was for Jonas to kill my brother and my world would have been different, unrecognizable. I would have become another foot solider for a man who wanted to become the pack leader of London.

  Now I had a chance to become something more. To go to a place where I belonged. What would the school be like? What would I take? I tried to not think about it. If I got too excited by it, too caught up in the possible future laid out for me and then Mum said no? I would be crushed. There would be no point in staying. I couldn’t just leave either. Mum knew where I wanted to go, and I was still only sixteen. They could come looking for me.

  I sat up and glanced at the door. Michael had walked back in. A part of me wanted to go back downstairs but figured that it would be a nice move to let Mum and Michael spend some alone time together. Instead I took the opportunity to look around my room. My parents hadn’t done anything to
it since I saw it last. It did look tidier though. Mum had probably been in with a vacuum cleaner. A few birthdays ago they brought me a Polaroid camera. It was one of the things I’d missed when Dad had left me in Scotland. I picked up the camera and pressed the button that flicked it open taking time to look through the viewfinder. I’d managed to stockpile film because that stuff’s expensive.

  “Rachel?”

  My mum’s voice made my heart take a leap to my throat before it finally settled in my feet. “Coming.” I carefully put my camera down and went back down the stairs. Michael was sitting in the kitchen, his mobile phone in his hand. I couldn’t read him at all. Damn she was going to say no, Arturo had told her something that had sealed my fate. I was going to be trapped here probably home schooled by my parents and I would never see the light of day again…okay that one was probably a tad dramatic, but I couldn’t help it.

  “Where are you?”

  “Living room, better grab your brother as well.”

  Michael stood. “Did you hear anything?” I whispered at him, but he shook his head. I didn’t know if it had been a deliberate choice by him not to listen or he had, and he didn’t want to be the one to tell me. I bit my bottom lip and looked at the floor.

  “It’ll be okay. You’re an Alpha, Rachel, not every Alpha went to the school remember it’s only been in effect for the last few years. I managed to survive without it.”

  Just. My eyes started to burn. Oh crap, I didn’t want to cry. I took a deep breath and walked into the living room. Mum stood by the window, Dad had been gone for a few hours and she was probably looking out for him. I cleaned my throat and she looked at us.

  “You can go.”

  Damn, Michael must have got his ability for sudden outbursts from her. I ran across the room and enveloped her in a hug. There was the briefest resistance before she hugged me back. After a moment, she pulled away and looked at me. I could read the worry in her eyes, but I knew there wasn’t much I could do to alleviate her fears. I couldn’t promise her anything.