A Decision Made

Tessa

"This is your fault," Knox says.

His hand is around my throat. He's furious. I've never seen him this angry.

"You did this. All of it."

"Let go of me!"

He doesn't. Behind him, Father is on his knees on the stone. Guards stand on both sides of him. A man in black raises a sword.

"Father!"

Nobody listens. Everything is happening too fast. I can't breathe. I can't move.

The sword comes down.

Knox's fingers crush my throat.

I wake up.

I sit straight up in bed, gasping. My hand is already reaching for the glass of water on the table beside me. I drink it all in three gulps. My hands won't stop shaking.

My neck stings where his nails cut me.

It was only a dream. But it won't stay only a dream if I don't do something.

I need to find a way to get Father out of this before the council decides. I just don't know how.

I look across the room.

Levana's bed is empty. The sheets are flat. She never came back.

The four highest ranks always get called together when something big happens. She must be with Knox, Landon and Caius.

Good. I don't want to explain anything to her right now.

I pull on my shoes and slip out of the room.

The corridor is dark and quiet. I check both ways before I move. Alaric said Knox's clan won't stay quiet, and I believe him. I keep to the walls and listen for footsteps behind me.

I'm going to the library. It has every law book in the academy. If there's a way out for him, it's in there.

I'm halfway down the east hall when I see it.

Something moves at the edge of my vision. I stop.

At the end of the hall, someone is walking away from me. A long cloak. A hood pulled low over the face.

Just like the one in my dream.

My stomach drops.

I should turn around. I should go straight to the library.

I follow them instead.

I keep my steps quiet. The figure doesn't turn. Then, all at once, it does something I don't expect. It walks faster.

They know I'm here.

"Hey!" I whisper. "Wait!"

They turn a corner. I turn after them. They cut left, then right, through a hallway I've cleaned a hundred times, and every time I get closer they speed up. I'm almost there.

I can see the edge of the cloak swinging ahead of me. I reach out my hand—

Someone grabs it.

I try to pull away. The grip doesn't loosen. I twist around.

Three gamma guards. I can tell by the grey bands on their sleeves.

"Let go of me," I say.

None of them answer.

"I said let go!"

Nothing. One of them takes my other arm. They start walking, and I'm dragged between them like I weigh nothing.

I look back over my shoulder. The hallway is empty. The figure is gone.

"Where are you taking me?" I ask. "Who sent you?"

They don't say a word.

They drag me through a door I've never seen, down a path I've never walked, past walls I've never cleaned. I've worked at this academy for three years. I thought I knew every corner of it. I was wrong.

Then we're outside.

It's a garden. A big one, hidden behind high stone walls. There are trees, and neat paths, and a stone basin in the middle filled with pale water.

The water looks wrong. It's too still, and it has a faint shine to it, like there's light underneath.

There's a wolf drinking from it.

A huge one.

I try to turn away. The guards hold me in place.

The wolf lifts its head. It turns around slowly.

Silver eyes.

‘No.’

He's bigger than I thought. He's far bigger than any wolf I've seen. Even on four legs he's tall enough that I'd have to look up at him, and he starts walking toward me and I can't move.

The closer he gets, the more his shape changes. His legs lengthen. His fur pulls back. The guards turn around and walk out without a word.

Most wolves hide when they change back. I've never understood why.

Now I understand.

My mouth falls open.

He's naked.

I look away so fast my neck cracks.

Is he sick? Is something wrong with his head? He isn't embarrassed at all. He just walks right past me, close enough that I feel the air move, and keeps going.

I don't know where he went. I'm confused, so I turn my head.

I regret it immediately.

"What is wrong with you?" I snap, and I spin back around.

"What do you think?" Knox drawls.

I hear fabric. I hear him moving around behind me. I stare at a tree and wait.

When he finally walks around to face me, he's wearing loose white trousers tied at the waist with a cord. He's not wearing a shirt.

I see the marks on his chest.

Scars. Long ones. Old ones, and some that don't look that old. I count five and then stop counting.

How is he even still alive?

I look up.

He's staring down at me.

He doesn't say anything. He just watches me, slowly, like a wolf watching something it hasn't decided to eat yet. It's creepy. I want to look away, but I know that's what he wants.

I frown. I square my shoulders.

The corner of his mouth twitches. It isn't friendly. It's mock amusement.

We aren't from the same pack, so he can't hear my thoughts. He's not laughing at something in my head. He's laughing at me.

"Why did you drag me here, Knox?"

"Time to pay your debt," Knox says.

My heart drops.

‘The moment that debt is broken, Knox will kill you.’

"Pay it how?" I manage. He isn't in danger. There's nothing I can save him from.

He smiles.

He smiles with his teeth. His fangs show, and somehow it's worse than the staring. He leans closer until I can feel his breath.

"The council has decided."