Chapter Thirty-Eight

Axel

"Where is Tibbs?" Coach Bear shouted.

Axel continued his stretch, avoiding eye contact as Coach stopped in front of the players, hands on his hips, anger written all over his face. "No one?" he asked. "No one knows where our running back is? How about we run laps until someone confesses?"

Jaxton kicked Axel's ankle nonchalantly and gave him a look.

Axel didn't care where Tibbs was, not after he interrogated him about Cash, but he didn't want to run any extra laps. One of the seniors mumbled beneath his breath. "I think he was in the group of kids that went hunting that thing last night."

Coach Bear swore underneath his breath. "You've got to be kidding me? When is the last time anyone saw him?"

One of the freshmen raised his hand.

"This isn't first grade, son!" Coach Bear shouted.

"He came back to the dorm room really late the night before, saying he was hearing stuff. He went to his dorm, and I haven't seen him since."

Coach Bear glanced over at his assistant, Coach Johnson, and motioned for him to continue practice. Axel figured he went to search for Tibbs, which wasn't surprising since he was one of his star players.

When practice was over, Axel headed to the showers, and grabbed his duffle bag. Claire was at the coffee shop, and he needed to meet them over there to relieve Kerry from his babysitting duties.

Axel made his way across campus, dodging between two alleys to get to the library when someone jumped out and pressed him against the brick wall. It wasn't as if he couldn’t shake the guy off, but it surprised him.

Tibbs' wide eyes were red-rimmed, his body language shaky, both hands clutched around Axel's biceps. The fear in his eyes told Axel he'd encountered something that he shouldn't have.

"What the—"

"I saw it," he said. "I saw the beast. It was … a wolf. A big wolf that stood on two legs. He … I got away."

Axel pressed his palms against his shoulders and forced him to take a step backward. "Coach has been looking for you. Why are you here? Why are you talking to me about … whatever this is?"

Axel knew before Tibbs said it that he suspected him of something, but he didn't know how. "The wolf—" Axel fought the urge to correct him and incriminate himself. "He spoke to me. Or he is speaking to me. In my head—"

That meant he linked him somehow. Normally, it came from a bite or a mark of some kind. Axel lowered his gaze to Tibbs' neck, seeing the dried blood against his neck, and carefully, he pulled the hem of his shirt back and noticed three claw marks.

He hadn't bit him, which meant Tibbs escaped in time, but he marked him. He was speaking to him through a mind link. "Why did you go to that hunt, Tibbs?"

Tibbs looked around, his hands shaking, his gaze bounced around as if he expected the lycan to appear. "What does the lycan say to you?"

Tibbs' gaze shifted toward Axel, and he became still. "He told me you were a wolf and to let you know that he would get Claire whether you marked her or not."

Axel's wolf howled inside of him, raging a war that Axel couldn't fight at the moment. He needed to get to Claire but didn't know what to do with Tibbs. He looked strung out on drugs, and if Coach Bear caught him, he'd be kicked off the team. He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed his father's number.

He answered on the first ring, frustration in his voice. "Hello?"

"Dad. The lycan marked one of the kids from the hunt. He's mind-linked to him. I don't know what to do. He's scared and roaming around campus."

His dad cursed beneath his breath. "Can you bring him to the pack house?"

"Maybe," Axel said. "I just finished practice, and I'm on my way to meet Claire and Kerry at the coffee shop."

"Keep him hidden. We need him, especially if he can speak to the lycan."

"Okay."

Axel hung up the phone and tugged Tibbs across campus, slinking against buildings to stay hidden. When they made it to the coffee shop, he stalled in the doorway. "Is Claire working tonight?" he asked the guy behind the counter.

He tossed him a dirty look. "She was until we had that mandatory meeting in the courtyard. She never came back after that. If you see her, tell her I said thanks a lot."

Axel glanced around the library and called both of their phones with no luck. His nerves began to take over, and he prayed the lycan hadn't attacked them. The note on the front of the door said curfew had been moved up to sunset, which wasn't very long.

Since he'd marked her, he could sense her better than before. He went to the courtyard and caught her scent, following it all the way toward the photography building. He knew she didn't have any classes there, and it sent chills down his spine.

He turned to Tibbs, who still looked around nervously, and said, "Stay with me. Okay?"

Tibbs nodded, suddenly not as repulsed by Axel as he had been the times before. He walked into the front room, being hit by Kerry and Claire's scent, following it down the hallway toward a dark room where shadows stirred against the wall.

"Claire!" Axel said, when he noticed her backed into the corner, staring at someone on the other side of the room.

The little girl Delia had Kerry against the wall, a bow-and-arrow pointed directly at his chest. She didn't have time to stop before Axel barreled forward, grabbed the weapon, and snapped it into two pieces against his knee.

Delia backed up against the wall, regardless he could smell her fear, her face never showed it. "What in the hell is going on in here?" he asked.

Kerry chuckled and cracked his knuckles. "Little Miss. Delia freaked out when she saw Claire's mark and tried to end me. That's what."

Delia lifted her chin in a defiant way. "I can't believe you bit her. Now she's linked to a pack of dogs—"

Axel took one end of the bow and pressed it against her shoulder, barricading her against the wall. "How do you know about wolves, and where did you get this bow?"

Delia spit on the ground and hissed when Axel pressed it harder into her shoulder.

"Are you a witch?"

Her mouth opened in horror at the accusation. "Hell no!" she barked.

"She's a hunter," Kerry said from behind Axel. He examined the end of the arrow and winced when he touched it. "This arrow, if aimed correctly, would easily kill one of us."

Axel ground his teeth together and looked back over his shoulder at Claire. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," she said in a breathy tone. "A little freaked out, but yeah, I'm good. What's up with Tibbs over there?"

Axel dropped the arrow and glared at Delia, a clear warning not to try anything. "He was clawed by the lycan, and now he's hearing him through a mind-link. He told him he didn't care that I'd marked Claire."

"The lycan wants Claire?" Delia asked. "Why is she still alive?"

Axel's wolf growled, and he pressed his forearm against her chest. "If you so much as touch a hair on her head, I will decapitate you, understand? She's my mate."

"Innocent kids are getting killed and turned into monsters because of her—"

"Claire's innocent," Axel snapped. "She has no idea what's going on, or why the lycan wants her."

Delia huffed, like a pissed off bull, and curled her fingers into fists. "Dad wants us to take Tibbs to the pack house. It'll be to our advantage that he has the mind link."

Kerry nodded. "He can ride with me. How about Claire drive you home, and we bring the hunter with us."

If Delia was scared, she didn't show.

Axel turned his head and whispered, "What if she has a family? Someone that will come looking for her?"

Kerry pulled out his phone. "I'll call Demetria; ask if she could put up a barrier for us at the pack house."

Axel looked around the room, knowing he wouldn't find anything useful to tie someone up in the dark room. So he tugged her along, keeping her hands behind her back with his hands.

He gestured for Claire to walk outside, behind Kerry and Tibbs. "If you so much as touch Claire, I will end you myself," he said.

Delia chuckled. "You're in way over your head, Axel. You have no idea."