Tracking and Treason
Автор
Suze Wilde
Прочтений
1,1M
Глав
29
Chapter 1
REBECCA
The wind roared through the towering pines that lined the school’s vast grounds, sending branches swaying in all directions.
Gusts whipped against the buildings. A sharp breeze caught my hair, tangling it across my face and blurring my vision. I swept it aside impatiently. I didn’t have time for distractions. Today’s Open Day trials were my only chance to prove myself.
Once a grand manor, this estate now served as a sanctuary and school for orphans—the Lunar School of Excellence, or LSOE.
I’d lived at LSOE since I was two, so I’d seen my fair share of Open Days. This year, finally, it was my turn to participate. There would be various trials, but I was only participating in one—tracking.
If I did well, I could earn a spot with a pack that would pay off my sixteen years of living expenses and offer me a new life. If not…I might be stuck here forever.
My stomach churned, the wind continuing to batter me as I made my way to the testing grounds to meet my fellow trackers and best friends, Dane and Ivor.
Then I paused for a moment, spotting a newspaper that someone must’ve abandoned at one of the fighting trials earlier in the day. I scooped it up. LSOE students never got access to stuff like this.
Four Alphas Fight Allegations of Financial Impropriety, blared the headline. Huh. Really? I wasn’t looking to get recruited by a pack that was having money issues. To afford me, an alpha would need a healthy cash flow.
I read on. Alphas Ace Higgins of Orion Pack, Trent Fowler of Phoenix Pack, Jim Hughes of Maverick Pack, and Ryder Paxton of Titan Pack spoke yesterday before High Inquisitor Colton Readlinger to defend recent irregularities in their bookkeeping.
Many details of this meeting remain confidential. However, when questioned afterward, the alphas maintained that there had been no malfeasance and that they looked forward to participating in today’s Open Day festivities as usual…
Blah blah blah. Okay, so that was three alphas I should be wary of. Not great news. Orion, Phoenix, and Maverick were big, powerful packs.
At least I didn’t need any new reasons to avoid getting recruited to Titan. I’d made a promise to myself about that when I was six, right after the most humiliating day of my life. I always kept my promises.
“Are you ready for this?” Ivor asked when I got to the testing ground. He bounced on the balls of his feet, eyes eagerly scanning the crowd.
“I was born ready,” I replied.
Dane gave me a once-over, eyes narrowing in mock disapproval. “Please. All you’ve got is a smart mouth.”
“That’s because my brain fires on all cylinders—yours, not so much,” I shot back with a grin, making Ivor chuckle.
Rolling his eyes, Dane shifted gears. “I know you hate Titan Pack, Rebecca, but I’d love an offer from them. Alpha Ryder was the first one to show up at our arena, so he’s clearly eager to find a tracker.”
I huffed. “If you don’t care at all about how he ruined my life when I was a pup—”
“He was just a pup too,” Dane interrupted.
“—Or that he killed his own father in cold blood—” I continued stubbornly.
“He was acquitted for that. It was self-defense,” said Dane.
“—Maybe you’ll care that he’s under investigation for some kind of money laundering or something. I was just reading about it. Chances are, he can’t even afford a new tracker,” I finished triumphantly.
“Money laundering?” Dane repeated, nonplussed. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know all the details,” I admitted. “Apparently, he and three other alphas had a big hush-hush meeting at the palace yesterday. He’s denying everything, of course, as usual.”
“Come on, Rebecca,” Ivor jumped in. “Just because you have a grudge against the guy doesn’t mean he’s some big villain. And why would he be here if he couldn’t afford to make a bid?”
“To be seen and to make my life miserable,” I said darkly, deliberately avoiding looking in that direction. I needed to focus. The trial would begin any minute, and I couldn’t let old grudges distract me.
“I think our mate is in the crowd somewhere!” said my wolf, Setara, sudden and excited in my head.
Ugh. Talk about a distraction. I couldn’t afford to find my fated mate yet. As soon as I found a mate, I would have to join the same pack as him, even if it was one of the tiny ones that couldn’t afford me.
And what if my mate didn’t approve of me trying to track down what had happened to my parents? I wanted those answers so badly.
“Really?” I said to Setara carefully. “I don’t smell anything.”
Before Setara could push more, Principal Dempsey called out, “Trackers, if you please.” He waved his hand, signaling us to the starting point—a cordoned-off area next to the registration table.
Only four trackers were competing: in addition to Dane, Ivor, and me, there was Kelly, a sixteen-year-old who was doing a trial run but wouldn’t be accepting any offers yet.
“First task: You have fifteen minutes to locate the other half of this swatch. Take one whiff each, and then wait for my signal,” he announced loudly, though the wind whipped his instructions away.
We each took a sniff of the swatch and got ready to shift. The other half was buried somewhere in the forest, and the first tracker to reach it would receive fifty points.
“Walk in the park,” said Setara with a giggle. “We’ll rock this, and then we’ll go show off to our mate.”
Principal Dempsey held up his hand, clicked his stopwatch, and shouted, “GO!”
Ripping out of my clothes, Setara surged forward, racing toward the forest. A teacher, coated in a special gel that masked their scent, stood guard where the swatch was buried to confirm the winner.
We’d done this many times, and Setara knew the drill. She shot ahead, subtly changing our direction to throw off Ivor and Dane, but they would miss the swatch by a mile.
“Easy to fool,” Tara smirked as she changed direction again.
Realizing what we had done, Ivor and Dane turned back, but Setara was already loping at top speed. She crisscrossed through the trees before skidding into the clearing, pawing the ground where the swatch was buried.
Mrs. Halbert raised her hand in acknowledgment. “Well done, Rebecca and Setara—eight minutes and forty-one seconds,” she said with a smile, immediately linking the principal to let him know the results.
“And just like that, we win again,” Tara cheered.
“Yeah,” I agreed, “but the next task won’t be so easy…”
“Meh, we’ll rock it! You’ll see; all the packs will want us…” Tara was always more optimistic than I was. Sometimes it was nice having her cheerful little voice in my head, but today was too important. I couldn’t let her get cocky.
We trotted back to the quad, and I was glad to be in wolf form. It meant nobody could see me blush at the round of applause from the assembled alphas. “Rebecca earns fifty points for the first trial,” Dempsey said loudly.
“I wonder which one of the alphas is our mate,” Tara mused. “I can’t tell from here, but he smells delicious.”
“I don’t know. It seems unlikely that I’m an alpha’s mate,” I responded.
“Rubbish! Any alpha would be delighted to have us,” she retorted indignantly.
“Get dressed, and we’ll see you in five minutes,” Principal Dempsey instructed. For the next task, we’d stay in human form.
I went to my dorm and quickly pulled on clothes. Anxiety pooled in my gut as I headed back out. I needed these next points more than Ivor or Dane, and they were both better than me at visual tracking.
I knew what was coming—we all did—and that meant finding Mr. Davidson. Like Mrs. Halbert, his scent was masked, making it crucial to read the tracks he left behind. But he was sneaky, and in our practice sessions, he’d left barely a trace.
Raising his hand, Principal Dempsey shouted, “Trackers, you have fifteen minutes to find Mr. Davidson—on my mark—GO!”
This time, we didn’t rush into the forest; instead, we carefully scanned the vegetation and bushes. This was Ivor’s specialty, and I watched him closely as he stopped in various places before slowly disappearing into the trees.
I followed him at a measured pace.
There was no way Setara and I would win this trial, and I despaired when I saw Dane and Kelly both move off in different directions altogether.
“Let’s take a chance,” I told Tara.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I’m going south,” I explained. “For the last three practices, Mr. Davidson hid to the north and west.”
I could feel Tara’s uncertainty. “Are you sure?”
“Make or break. There’s no doubt I’ll come last if I rely on my visual skills, so I may as well take a risk on intuition.” As soon as I was out of sight, I jogged south, remaining alert to my surroundings.
Tara was the first to notice a sign that our gamble had paid off—a broken twig among the spice bushes that grew thickly in this part of the forest.
“There!” she shouted.
I slowed my pace, scanning the dense foliage. The ground was firm, making footprints nearly impossible to spot, but as I looked closer, I found a tuft of hair snagged on a branch just above eye level.
My pulse quickened—we were getting close.
Ivor was closing in behind me, which only pushed me to move faster. I had to find Mr. Davidson first. A perfect score here would make me the top candidate, and that had to be enough to earn me a spot with a pack.
I picked up speed and nearly missed the snapped twigs between two shrubs. I quickly changed direction, my heart beating faster as I walked into a small clearing, anxiously scanning for another clue.
I paused, glancing around, checking the moss on the trees—and then I saw it: footprints, faint but unmistakable, pressed into the mossy ground surrounding a pine tree.
I looked up at Mr. Davidson, who was barely visible, sitting in the tree. “As I live and breathe, well done! You’ve finally come into your own,” he praised.
Ivor came in just behind us, his expression furious.
“Phew,” Tara exhaled.
“Well, off you go, back to the quad,” Mr. Davidson instructed, jumping agilely to the ground.
I started walking, Ivor close behind. “How the hell did you do that?” he asked, his tone incredulous. “You skipped over sections that had clues…”
“I took a chance, and I guess I got lucky,” I replied.
“Hurry up; I want to see who our mate is!” Tara urged.
The minute we got back to the quad, Principal Dempsey called out, “Another fifty points for Rebecca, our top tracker.”
I was sure it killed him to have to award me the top spot. He’d had it out for me ever since I was little, branding me a troublemaker. All Alpha Ryder’s fault, of course.
At least that meant he was just as eager to get rid of me as I was to leave.
He strode quickly toward me, a professional smile plastered on his face. “Rebecca, I’m happy to introduce you to Alpha Ryder from Titan Pack. He was very impressed by your performance and would like to make an offer.”
It took a moment for the words to sink in, because I was too busy sucking in the suddenly strong, incredible aroma coming off the man standing beside Dempsey. Then I realized. Oh. Oh, no.
Alpha Ryder, the man I’d hated all my life, apparently wanted me in his pack, and ten minutes ago, I wouldn’t have hesitated before screaming hell, no.
But somehow, by some cruel twist of fate, this man was my mate.
