Part 4

I was still 17, and it was about three months after I got struck by lightning. Most people still stared at me or whispered behind my back, and I just didn’t feel up to going through all the motions again. After the second period, I ditched school and went home.

I opened the kitchen door and looked at the man leaning against the counter, clearly waiting for the kettle to boil. I had no idea who he was but he was comfortable enough in my house to help himself.

“Hello, Alex,” he said.

“Who are you?” I asked him. I could smell that he was a wolf. He was barefoot and he only wore a pair of jeans. I couldn’t quite figure out the expression on his face but it felt like he was looking right through me.

“I’m Levi, a friend of your mother’s,” he said, as we stared at each other.

“More like a friend with benefits,” I said.

“Watch your mouth, kid,” he said, and turned around as the kettle finally boiled. He had an interesting Zeta tattoo on his back with the mark of an Alpha. I didn’t recognize it from being around here, not that I was very clued up on all the packs out there, being a lone wolf.

“What pack are you with?” I asked him as he made his coffee.

“I was with the Southern Alaskan pack, originally,” he said, and sat down at the counter.

“Aren’t you a bit far from home?” I asked him, and he smiled at me. It didn’t make him look any friendlier.

“I was in the neighborhood,” he said, and I sat down as well. “Your mom talks about you a lot.”

“Funny, she’s never mentioned you,” I said, and something flashed in his eyes.

“Why aren’t you in school?” he asked me, and I sighed.

“I didn’t feel up to all the staring today,” I answered him.

“Your mom showed me that video,” Levi said. “It was quite the hit.”

“So, are you going to marry my mom and we’ll all live happily ever after?” I asked him and he chuckled.

“Eventually, yes. I have obligations in Seward and my daughter’s still in school. Your mother has her own obligations here,” he said.

“I’ll be done with school in a few months,” I said. I liked that he didn’t shirk away from my questions, but that he answered them honestly.

“You’re not the obligation, kid. She doesn’t want to start over somewhere else, but I still have a duty to fulfill before I can make that sort of commitment to her,” he said.

We sat at the kitchen counter and talked until my mom came home from work and I saw a different side of her. She was happy and Levi was nice. I liked him. I could see the darkness in his soul, but his sins weren’t evil.

The months went by and we saw Levi regularly. We became close, and eventually, he told me about his life as a human, and I was very interested in the hitman phase of his life. Levi was calculated, methodical, and I’d never met anyone like him before.

Levi became the father I never had and he always checked in. He understood things on a deeper level, and I could tell him things I couldn’t tell Thalia. He never judged, he listened, and gave advice when I asked for it.

Levi was a lifesaver and he’d changed our lives as well. Thalia was happier than I’d ever seen her, even if Levi was reserved and quiet. Just by being there, the house felt warmer, and our lives felt richer. Thalia smiled more and I loved Levi for giving that back to her.

I stood in my bedroom one afternoon and stared out of the window. The idea to kill the deserving ones had started taking root in my mind, yet I knew nothing about killing, but Levi did. Levi was a Council Zeta for his brother, afterall, and he came from an Alpha family. Killing was in his blood.“What’s up with you, Alex?” Levi asked me, as he leaned against the doorframe.

“I want you to teach me to be like you,” I said. Levi shook his head at me but I was determined. I had seven months of school left before I could do anything. I had time to learn.

“Why?” he asked me, and folded his arms across his chest. I’d grown used to Levi’s deadpan expressions and I’d learned how to read the emotions in his eyes when he allowed you to see them.

“Because I don’t want to be caught when I go look for them,” I said. I already knew that I would have to tell him everything. Levi was a bastard when you lied to him.

“Go look for who exactly? You know me by now, Alex. Be honest and I’ll help you; lie to me, and I’ll shut you down,” he said, and I huffed out a nervous laugh.

“I want to find everyone responsible for my father’s death,” I said to him.

Levi was quiet for a while and I really needed him to understand why I had to do this. My father had been the Alpha of the Northern Montana pack and he was ousted before I was even born. His Beta had turned against him and his pack had voted for his execution.

I was going to find them all. I needed to right the wrong that had been committed. Levi was big on doing the right thing so I was sure that he would understand. We shared a bond and I knew that if he found me worthy, he would help me.

The only problem with my whole plan was that my mother never talked about it. She refused to talk about those days; she had left Scobey with her medical degree and the clothes on her back. She moved to Boulder and started a new life. She had worked very hard to get to where she was now and to provide for me.

“Do you have a plan?” Levi finally asked me.

“Somehow, I’ll find their names, and once I have their names, I’ll go look for them and kill them,” I said, and he shook his head again.

“I’ll start training you when I’m here, Alex. I’ll send you stuff you can do by yourself when I’m not here. If you succeed at that and can keep up, then I’ll give you that list on your eighteenth birthday,” Levi said.

“How are you going to find out who they are?” I asked him.

“I have a friend,” he said and I smiled at him.

“You have friends?”

“Piss off,” Levi said and walked out of my room as I chuckled.