The Pack's Alpha (by Cooper) novel Chapter 38

Cyra

After Sparring class I went straight to Yorick’s room, our friends were right behind me. When we got there, he was busy searching his computer.

“What are doing Shakespeare?” Zach asks him. Yorick pulls me into his lap, barely looking up from his computer.

“Hacker paid me a visit after I got back to my room,” he says.

“How did he know you weren’t in class?” Landon asks.

Yorick points to his phone. “I was talking to Wendy and apparently our resident hacker has alerts when any of us say certain names, such as Alpha Leo or Hacker. He’s probably listening to us now that I just said both names. Anyway, he gave the names of five individuals who were admitted to the Academy, one a year for the last five years, the most recent being Jory. None of these individuals met the admission criteria for the Academy.”

“What?” Piper asks, walking over. “Then how did they get in?”

“That is the million-dollar question,” Yorick says. “Hacker says that Alpha Leo has the final say on admission, so he’s digging deeper into him. But I looked these five individuals up, four men, one woman, some Alphas who were lazy goof offs and did nothing for their packs or they were warriors who weren’t strong enough to take on Lead Warrior positions,” he says.

“I didn’t have a Lead Warrior position,” Landon says.

“Did you apply for it?” I ask him.

“No, but if that’s your criteria, then I didn’t meet it either,” he says.

“They didn’t qualify for it. The two who were admitted had not been selected as Lead Warriors. They HAD applied for the position in their packs,” Yorick says.

“How did you figure all of that out?” I ask him, watching as types a few more keys and sits back.

“Wendy is helping me. She’s damn good and it would really piss me off if she didn’t get in next year and someone like Jory took her spot. I’m guessing a lot of packs will be unhappy if they find out about this,” he says.

“Come on, let’s go get lunch. We need to eat so we can get to our afternoon classes,” I say to him.

That night, rather than working on strategy for battle, we focus our attention on the five names that Hacker gave Yorick, none of us finding anything that proved that they should have been admitted to the Academy.

The next day in Sparring class was exactly the same, only this time, Alpha Leo paired Yorick with Megan who took every opportunity to grab him and touch him in every way possible. I was ready to kick her ass when Alpha Leo once again shouted at Yorick that he wasn’t following the directions of the class. This time, Warrior Callie stepped in and told Megan that she’d better start using the skills that she’d learned or she too would get kicked out.

It was obvious now that Alpha Leo was targeting Yorick. Yorick might have been able to deal with it, but when Megan grabbed his dick, he threw her off of him.

“That’s it! You’re out!” Alpha Leo yelled at Yorick.

“She’s fucking groping him!” I yell. “Is sexual assault allowed in this Academy?” I snarled.

“Watch yourself or you’ll find yourself kicked out of class just like your boyfriend,” Alpha Leo says. He’s about to get in my face when Yorick puts himself between us.

“I think we both know it’s me you want. Because, let’s be honest, someone paid you right,” Yorick says quietly enough that only the two of us can hear him.

I thought Alpha Leo was going to punch him, but Alpha Nevaeh stepped in at that moment and barked at Yorick to go. The only positive was that she turned to Megan and barked at her that she was out too.

Alpha Leo started to argue with her, but the look that Alpha Nevaeh gave him was so blazing hot with anger that it could have melted steel. She’s obviously as angry with Alpha Leo as I am.

When she turned back to me, she nodded her head. “Get back to your partner.” Her tone with me was much more moderated, but I noticed that she didn’t step away until Alpha Leo went back to watching others in the class.

Wednesday, it happened again and this time, I noticed that the instructors who are warriors looked at Alpha Nevaeh as if waiting for her to step in.

“Alpha Leo, this is the third day in a row that you’ve switched up our pairing schedule. You want to put Yorick and Talek together again and I don’t see the purpose. They’ve already sparred this week. Aren’t we supposed to be providing alternate fighting partners so our students learn new and different ways to fight?” she asks, obviously challenging him.

The two had a very uncomfortable stare-off but in the end, Alpha Nevaeh won and Yorick was finally able to spar with someone who was willing to practice what we’d learned.

Each day the tensions in class are getting higher and it seems like everyone can tell that something is up with Alpha Leo, but either no one is going against him, or he is pulling rank.

“I’m going to talk to Alpha Nevaeh, see if she can give me any insights into what’s going on,” Yorick says that night at dinner. “It’s bullshit, that’s what it is. He’s obviously trying to push you out of the Academy,” Zach says.

“Has Hacker said any more about it?” I ask him.

“He said he’s still working on it. But I’ll tell you this, I don’t give a fuck how much pressure Alpha Leo puts on me, I’m not quitting.”

We’re just finishing dinner when Piper’s phone pings.

She looks at the message then looks back at us.

“Tracker has something. She wants to meet at our spot in an hour.”

“Who’s Tracker?” Katelynn asks. She sort of joined our group in the beginning, but she comes and goes and she hasn’t earned her place in our inner circle like Chase has.

“A friend,” Piper says cryptically.

“Can I come with your guys?” Katelynn asks.

I glance at Yorick. With everything that’s going on lately, I’m not inclined to trust anyone we don’t already know is on our side.

“She won’t talk to us if we bring someone new,” Zach says.

I turn and look at her, then at Tracker. “Yeah, I know.”

“Well, I don’t. What does it mean?” Zach asks.

“She’s a warrior, Zach. Stellan has no intention of making her his Luna. Ever. He’s going to lead her on and keep her on the side while he breeds Cyra,” she says, causing Thad to snarl loudly. I slap my hand over his mouth, moving to sit on his lap and wrapping my arms around his neck.

“I’m right here,” I whisper. Yorick’s arms wrap tightly around me and he buries his face in my neck.

Piper looks at Yorick, making sure he’s relatively calm before continuing.

“If I had to guess, I’d say that even if he were to somehow kill Cyra,” she says, stopping while cover Yorick’s mouth with mine, keeping the snarl from escaping again. “I’d say no matter what, Stellan never intends to take her as his mate. He’s probably dangling a carrot in front of her, making all sorts of promises to her right now. I’m guessing he is sleeping with her and holding her in his arms while he lies to her, but he has no intention of ever taking a warrior as his Luna.”

She and I both look at Tracker.

“I would agree. Hacker has called a meeting between him, me, and Hijack. It’s not uncommon, but things are moving very quickly right now. A lot is happening and while it involves you two, it also extends far beyond you and this Academy. I wanted to give you the information but be prepared. Things are going to start happening quickly and not all of them are going to be good or easy.”

“Nothing cryptic about that. Maybe they should call you Labyrinth,” Zach says.

Tracker turns her steely gaze on him.

“Just a suggestion,” he murmurs.

She turns back to Yorick. “I understand you’ve been targeted.”

“Yes,” he says.

“Be ready for anything. And I do mean anything.”

“Thank you for the head’s up.”

With that, she closes her computer and tucks it into her bag before standing.

“We’ll be in touch,” she says, before walking away.

Well, there was nothing ominous about that.