“Release the accursed creature at once!” the Shadow Walker demanded, still in the canal. Alex wondered why he didn’t transport himself out of there, but then she realised his shadowing ability must only work on dry land where he could actively step through the darkness.
“You said you had a job to do,” Alex said, nodding down at the puppy squirming happily in her arms and trying to lick more of her face. “What were you planning on doing to her?”
“That mutt is touched by the light,” the Shadow Walker hissed, indicating the puppy’s white paw. “Shadow and light, she’ll never fit in to either world. I was doing her a favour and saving her from a slow, neglectful death.”
Alex’s face scrunched with disgust. “You were going to drown her, weren’t you?”
“I was showing pity, you human fool. No one would take that mongrel in.”
Shaking her head with revulsion, Alex said, “Wrong. I would.” Not caring about the repercussions, she finished, “And I am.”
A bark of laughter. “You? A human with a Shadow Wolf?” He laughed again, a coarse, hacking sound that rippled the water around him.
Shadow Wolf? The first stirrings of uncertainty hit Alex at the ‘wolf’ part. But then the puppy gave a cute little snuffle sound and lolled her tongue out the side of her mouth, like a big doggie smile. When she looked up with all the trust in the world, Alex’s resolve hardened into surety.
“If the options are either you drown her or I take her, then I’m taking her,” she said firmly.
“Just as long as she’s out of my hair, you can do what you want,” came the Shadow Walker’s surprisingly quick reply, but he was still too amused for Alex’s liking. “My job will be considered complete once the taint of her dark-forsaken light is gone from our city.”
The man was all kinds of awful. And it only became worse when he finished, “I strongly advise you to drown her yourself. Once an outcast, always an outcast.”
Alex didn’t deign to respond since technically she, too, was an outcast—in so many ways. Instead, she just held the puppy tighter, the fluffy softness snuggling into her neck as she manoeuvred the vessel towards the side of the canal and hoisted herself back up into the alley.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” came the laughing words of the Shadow Walker still floating in the water. “A Shadow Wolf and a human—I’ve never heard of anything so ridiculous!”
Again, Alex didn’t respond. She just turned on her heel and strode purposefully back to her prearranged meeting place, cooing soft words to the puppy as she did so.
Twenty-Three
Caspar Lennox arrived in the alley about three seconds after Alex, and the moment he saw her—or rather, what was in her arms—his jaw dropped. It would have been a comical expression on his normally stoic face if it weren’t so telling as to what he was going to say next.
“Absolutely not.”
“I haven’t even asked yet,” Alex said.
“You want to keep it. The answer is a resounding and unyielding ‘no’.”
“She was going to be drowned, sir,” Alex said, holding the puppy out for inspection. “Something about her having light and not being able to live here.”
Caspar Lennox recoiled as he took in the white paw of the creature. But still, his reply was resolute. “You cannot take her, Alexandra. Shadow Wolves are not pets. They are weapons.”
He reached for the puppy, but before Alex could change his mind, the puppy growled low in her throat. Shadows sprung up around Alex along with flashes of lightning as the little creature bared her teeth at the teacher.
Caspar Lennox froze. “It cannot be,” he said, his eyes wide and staring at the angry little wolf.
“What’s going on?” Alex asked, concerned by what she read in his features but also distracted by the miniature electrical storm encircling her body.
Caspar Lennox swallowed. “The wolf is protective of you.”
Alex looked down at the still growling puppy and back up again. “And that’s a problem because…?”
“It is not in their nature,” he said. At her questioning look, he explained, “They hunt. They kill. They destroy.” He paused, then finished meaningfully, “They do not protect. Ever.”
“Guess I got a good one then, huh?” Alex said lightly, trying to calm her teacher, her puppy and herself.
Caspar Lennox’s reply was slow in coming, and when it did, it was a single word. “Indeed.”
Alex decided to ignore the now-dissolving storm and pressed, “So, I can keep her, right?”
“I do not believe you have a choice, Alexandra,” her teacher said, his dark gaze pensive as he watched the gradually calming wolf. “For I believe it is she who has chosen to keep you.”
Goose bumps arose on Alex’s flesh because, looking down at the impossibly intelligent eyes staring trustingly up at her, she had a feeling her teacher was right.
“We should go,” Caspar Lennox said. “Did you have any success with the Dayriders?”
Tearing her eyes from the now relaxed and yawning puppy, Alex said, “They’re willing to help, but only if your race is as well. There has to be a balance, they said. All or none.”
Caspar Lennox nodded, unsurprised. “Then let us hope Shirez Ganare can convince the elders to give you another chance, even if I do not believe you will prevail.”
“You’re a real glass-half-full person, aren’t you?” Alex said dryly. “You’d be a blast at parties.”
Caspar Lennox’s only response was to reach out and shadow her and the puppy back to the academy. He left her outside the Med Ward, saying he would brief the headmaster and the other teachers on the day’s events—and warn them about her new canine companion—while she sought treatment for her wounds.
Alex nodded, but as soon as he disappeared again, she turned and headed for her dorm and the laendra she knew would heal her instantly. Better to not bring Fletcher more distress than was necessary.
Fully aware that it was mid-afternoon and students were freely wandering the snowy campus, Alex was careful to keep the now dozing puppy hidden in the folds of her coat. She was also careful to angle her bruised cheek away from view, since the relentless throbbing indicated that the sucker punch she’d received must have left quite the mark.
Thankfully, no one interrupted her journey as she crunched her way along the icy paths and finally made it up to her room.
With D.C. still in detention, it was a shock when Alex closed the door behind her and realised she wasn’t alone.
“Stars, Aeylia, please tell me that’s not what I think it is.”
Alex jumped and turned to the figure seated on her bed. “Niyx! You scared the crap out of me!”
He kept his eyes locked on the black ball of fuzz in her arms. “Do you have any idea what you’re holding?”
“Hello to you, too,” Alex said back, her voice sour. “I’m okay, thanks for asking. A bit sore, but still alive despite being almost burned alive. But enough about me, how’s your day been?”
“By the light, kitten,” he said, unfolding from her bed and walking threateningly over to her. “It’s a Shadow Wolf. Do you know how big they grow? How quickly? And what they do when they’re fully developed?”