Chapter 2 Chapter 2
Jolene
“Werewolf Orientation?” I ask with a short, sharp laugh that sounds a little unhinged. “Are you having us on, mate?”
He fixes me with a glare that could peel paint. “No,” he answers curtly. “And you may address me as Alpha. Not mate.”
“Yes, but-”
“If you’d shut up and let me talk, maybe you’ll find out what’s going on.” His voice is dangerously low now.
“Excuse me all the way to hell and back, mate,” I emphasise the last word, planting my hands on my hips. This is my vlog personality taking over, apparently. “But we’re the ones that woke up in a locked room without a stitch of clothes on our bodies, covered in gunk that smells like a dumpster. I think we’re entitled to some answers before the mandatory sitting and listening.”
“Yeah!” the man next to me growls, sounding less like a person and more like a feral animal.
“That’s right!” another calls out.
“What she said.”
A tiny, satisfying wave of rebellion ripples through the group. Success!
“Nope,” Lexington says, pinching the bridge of his nose. He looks utterly defeated and starts to walk off, towards the shadows. “I’m not doing it. If the king wants new werewolves, he can bloody well come here and-”
“Do you really want the king to come here and do it himself?” the mysterious shadow voice asks, sounding amused.
I peer into the darkness in an attempt to see who is talking, but the light is directly in my eyes, and I can’t see much more than an impressive silhouette.
Lexington’s shoulders sag a little. He clearly knows when he’s been defeated. He turns around and walks back to his post in front of the table, looking utterly miserable. “At some point before the full moon, you were bitten by a werewolf,” he says, waving his hands around dismissively. “I mean a proper werewolf… not whatever the hell kind of mutt you lot are.”
Unable to stop myself, I start to giggle. This has to be a joke. Some kind of hidden camera thing. It’s too ridiculous to be real.
“Apparently,” the Alpha goes on in a perfectly sarcastic, eye-roll-worthy tone, “we are running out of werewolves, and the king unleashed his Ultima. A wolf whose bite turns humans into werewolves.” He makes air quotes around the word "Ultima."
“I think the king is full of shit, but here we all are. You were turned on my territory, so you are my problem. Do we have any questions so far?”
I immediately raise my hand. I can’t help it. It’s an impulse. “Yeah. I have several.”
He stares at me like I’m a particularly annoying insect. “Why don’t we give someone else a chance to speak, hm?”
I look around the room. Everyone’s staring at the man in shock, mouths hanging open. No one is asking any questions. They’re all too shell-shocked. Amateurs.
“Okay,” Lexington says, sighing dramatically. “What’s your name?”
“Dora,” I say without missing a beat. I always use a fake name when I’m filming.
“That’s cute. What’s your real name?”
“Jolene… but you can call me Jo.”
“I’m not going to call you anything. What’s your question?”
“Where are you hiding the cameras? This is some kind of television prank, right… or are you a VidHubber? Oooooh,” I gasp, the realization hitting me. “Are you part of Tobias Dink’s crew?” Tobias Dink is the king of viral pranks. This would be exactly his style.
Which means I have to get as much airtime as possible.
“Oh, fuck me,” Lexington groans, dragging both hands down his face. “Anyway. The first month is a delicate time. Most new… turnlings don’t survive. I’m really sorry about that. Sixty percent of you will reject your wolf and die before the next full moon.”
Die? Okay, this is starting to feel a little too real.
“If you wanna live-”
I shove my hand back in the air, a burning question on my lips. “Yeah, hi, excuse me… but we’re gonna die? Just like that? No tips on how to stay alive? Like, should I do yoga? Give up sugar? Eat more kale?”
I’m still clinging to the idea that this is a prank. If I can keep the camera on me, maybe I can get a few new followers out of this ordeal.
Lexington sighs again, a noise so profound it could be mistaken for an earthquake. He scrubs his face. “Oh Goddess, fuck,” he moans in a muffled voice. Then he drops his hands and says, with the resignation of a man who’s had a very, very long day. “Well, there’s not much we can do. I suggest you eat a lot of raw, red meat. I’m told hearts work well.”
“What kind of hearts?” I ask, because details matter.
“I am going to kill myself!” Lexington exclaims, then calms down, forcing himself to be patient. “Preferably bovine. I suggest you try to steer clear of humans. You won’t be able to shift again until the next full-”
“Yeah, okay. Let’s assume all you’re saying is true,” I interrupt. I can’t help it. I'm a naturally antagonistic person when faced with authority.
“It is.”
“If you say so, big boy. Why can’t I remember getting bitten or turning?” I swivel my head around, completely forgetting that just ten minutes ago, I felt like I just woke up with the world’s worst hangover. “Can any of you remember?”
The small crowd, some of them still only partially dressed, chorus an uneven, “No.”
“Yeaaaah,” Lexington says, nodding like a long-suffering professor. “That’s kind of how it works.”
“Why?” I ask.
“I don’t know. That’s just how it is.”
“Yes, but why?” I insist. I hate vague answers.
He glares at me. A vein pops in his temple and starts to pulsate. Honestly, he’s kind of hot when he’s angry. “I’m over this.” I open my mouth to keep goading him, but he holds up a hand to silence me. “You will go straight home. You are covered in… I don’t even know what the fuck that is, but that’s not normal.” He clears his throat. “I’ve been told a turned wolf’s first shift is rather… brutal, and half of you died already.” Half of us? Yikes.
“On the next full moon, go to a safe place far away from humans, and if you survive the second shift, you will be allowed to join my pack.” Lexington’s eyes shoot back to my hand that’s up in the air again. “What is it?” he asks in a tired, resigned tone.
“What happens if we don’t shift?”
He looks at me for a long, long time, his expression unreadable. “Then… it didn’t take, and you’ll die or revert back to human.”
“Right. Crikey. So all or nothing kind of deal, huh?”
“Uh-huh.”
“What if we don’t want to join your pack?”
“You will be branded rogue and hunted.”
“Why?”
He ignores my question completely, which is rude. “After the next full moon, I’ll find the survivors. I have all your details here-” he drops his hand on the stack of files -“the Ultima likes to… keep score.” His eyes immediately shoot back to me, the ultimate threat in his voice. “If you try to run, I’ll find you and kill you. Do not test me on this.
“It goes without saying that you are not to disclose this information to any humans. At all. What the fuck, Jolene?” he asks as my hand shoots into the air.
“I thought you wouldn’t use my name,” I say and cock my head at him, trying to hide the fact that I’m actually, finally, a little scared.
“What do you want?”
“Uh… my stuff. So I can go.”
