I turned to look at Rory whose wide eyes told me this was news to her, too. Another body, I thought. Alpha Wolf Academy really was in serious trouble.
Chapter 8
“Why, Rory? Why did I punch her?” I moaned and threw my cell phone across Rory’s bed for the millionth time. I’d been checking it religiously all week but, besides texts from my besties and my parents, it had remained painfully silent.
Rory glanced over her shoulder from where she was typing away at her laptop and cocked an eyebrow at me. “Um, because she’s a trite bitch who slapped you across the face first.”
Her candor made my lips twitch and, not for the first time, I thanked the Old Ones I’d found her, or rather, she’d found me. Life at AWA was a hell of a lot better with a snarky best friend.
“True, but that doesn’t make me any less a psycho in Bash’s mind. And even if he doesn’t hate my guts, she’s his twin. He’s honor bound to take her side, isn’t he?” I nearly crossed my fingers in hope that Rory would disagree with me.
She didn’t. Rory nodded slowly. “I don’t have a twin, so I’m not sure what the rules are, but if someone punched out my sister or brother…” she blew out a breath. “I dunno. He clearly likes you a lot but…” she trailed off again. “Sorry, this isn’t helping.”
My chest tightened with the weight of loss. I regretted punching Daniella more than I’d ever regretted anything in my life, even if she’d deserved it. I’d been this close to something real with Bash and I’d screwed it up, royally.
There was nothing I could do now but wait. I’d texted him the night of the party and once after that, apologizing for hitting his sister, but he’d never responded. I had to accept his choice, as sucky as it was.
“Let’s do something,” I hopped up out of my chair and began pacing the room. “It feels like we’ve been locked up in here forever.”
“The guards make me really uncomfortable,” Rory murmured, still typing. I walked to her window and glanced out, expecting to see at least two or three of the new guards standing post on the grounds by the dorms. I counted four.
“Yeah,” I agreed, sighing at the bright sun that still warmed the mid-September air. It would have been nice to hang out on the green but the lawns had been mostly empty since the guards had arrived. No one felt comfortable with them there, despite the fact that they were supposedly there to keep us safe from whoever was killing wolves. It was a heavy topic that most of campus was talking about even though no one knew the particulars. “I’m bored.”
“You could work on your short stories” Rory got up and moved to her mini-fridge to get a bottle of water. “You’re not finished, right?”
“I’m done my first drafts but they needs a bit of cleaning up. Want to swap drafts when you finish?” I took the bottle she offered me and batted my eyelashes at her. “Will you be my beta reader, Rory?”
“Only if you’ll be mine.” She abandoned her laptop and hopped up on the bed with a chuckle. “Who needs a boyfriend when you’ve got romance like this?”
I sighed and flopped down next to her. “True love, thy name is Aurora.” She slapped me with a pillow.
“Why is my butt buzzing?” Rory asked a moment later, frowning. She shifted and pulled my cell phone out from under her and glanced at the screen. Her eyes went wide as she looked from it to me.
“What?” I shot up and reached for the phone. The screen had gone off so I had to swipe and put in my code, wasting valuable seconds, but when I saw who’d texted me, my heart fluttered.
Bash. The message was short but it was the most amazing combination of words that I’d ever read.
I can’t stop thinking about you. Meet me at the wolf gate at sunset.
“He wants to meet me tonight,” I said in a breathy voice filled with so much hope it stretched my chest.
Rory’s hand slapped me gently on the leg. “See! You’re not out of the game, yet!”
I climbed to my feet with renewed energy and checked the time. “I’ve got a little over two hours before class. I’m going to head to the cafeteria then back to my room. You hungry?”
Rory shook her head. “Nah. I want to get this story finished and I’ve still got some snacks.”
I tucked my phone in the back pocket of my jeans and grabbed my sweater from the chair. It might be warm outside, but the air conditioning units everywhere on campus made sweaters necessary. “Okay,” I said, pulling her door open. “I’ll text you after to let you know what happens.”
“Hopefully you’ll be too busy to text,” Rory said with an exaggerated eyebrow waggle that set my stomach butterflies whirling. That was my hope, too. I set out for the cafeteria, wondering if they’d have nachos today, and dreaming of reconciling with Bash. By the time I took my seat in history class with a belly full of nachos and guac, I was in a great mood.
“Today we’ll be talking about the secret society that took our world by storm last year,” Dr. Sherman announced with a wide smile. “For centuries fraternities and “old boys clubs,” she made quotations on either side of her head, “have worked behind the scenes to influence everything from politics to religion to education. But last year, a sorority of women was revealed after the murder of Pierre LaFlamme.” She swallowed audibly and glanced down at her lap.
I felt her grief just like I’d felt my mother’s and father’s. I’d been shocked by the news of the Alpha’s murder but I’d never really spent much time thinking about him. It had been scary, mostly, the worry that things would never be the same and that the coming changes would somehow threaten our way of life.
A moment passed before she continued. “The Sisterhood revealed itself to the world in the wake of that tragedy and women from around the world threw themselves into the political ring to fight the patrilineal rule of Alphaship. Right here in Canada, a woman became Alpha, the first woman to do so in pack history.”
I leaned forward, listening intently. I may not have ever given much thought to the Alpha family growing up, but I’d lamented more than once over the patriarchy that ruled our society. It wasn’t fair that women were relegated to the shadows while male children got the opportunity to follow their father’s footsteps and make history. The fact that powerful women around the world had been planning change in secret was fascinating. I wondered if there were a chapter here.
I jotted down notes as Dr. Sherman spoke, taking note of some of the major political names as a question began to buzz in my brain. I raised my hand and waited until I was called upon.
“Yes, Ms. Jensen.” Dr. Sherman smiled brightly at me.
“I was just wondering if you think the majority of Sisterhood members are public now or if most of them are still hiding their allegiance.” I tapped the eraser of my pencil against my lips and thought of how hard organizations like The Sisterhood would be to keep secret if the membership was as enormous as speculated.
Dr. Sherman’s eyebrow twitched up. “I’m a history professor, Ms. Jensen, which means we won’t really know until history shows us.” She smiled again. “But, if I were a betting woman, I’d say the majority of members are still incognito.”
I thought about that while she made her way to the computer to put up an image of Sylvie LaFlamme. After the Alpha Council had been held accountable for their role in the genocide of North American wolves, The Sisterhood had taken to the political stage in a big way. Alpha’s wives, doctors, lawyers, and women of all levels of prominence had proudly boasted their role in the sorority. Even though my home town was as small as it got, there were still a few women who’d outed themselves as Sisters and, subsequently, got bombarded with a million questions. My math teacher, Mrs. Stephenson, had walked into class, bold as can be, and told us the rumors were true. She’d been working to change society for most of her life.