My Hockey Alpha novel Chapter 109

Nina

The infirmary was dimly lit and quiet when I woke up. It took a few long moments for my eyes to adjust before I finally realized where I was and what had happened. My mind felt foggy, although not nearly as foggy as it did when Edward gave me my medicine.

“Nina,” Enzo said softly, squeezing my hand. I looked up at him, a smile twitching at my lips, but as I opened my mouth to speak I quickly realized that my voice was too hoarse to get a word out.

“It’s okay,” he said. “You don’t have to talk. Tiffany is here and she’ll take care of you.”

I nodded weakly before looking up to see Tiffany approaching from behind Enzo. Her eyebrows were knit together with worry.

“Hey there,” she said softly. “I’m sorry this happened to you. I promise we’ll find Edward and bring him to justice… Enzo was just filling me in on everything.”

I looked over at Enzo once more, my own brows knit together now as I wondered if he had told her about werewolves. Realizing this, Enzo nodded. “Tiffany knows about werewolves. She has all along, apparently.”

“I’ll tell you all about it when you’re feeling a bit better. For now, just get some rest, okay? Your body is healing at an accelerated rate, so you’ll be right as rain in no time.”

I wasn’t sure exactly what Tiffany meant; I knew I had a wolf now, but she still hadn’t emerged completely, and I wasn’t sure if she ever would after all of the poison Edward gave me. But Tiffany was right -- now was not the time for questions. I had to rest.

…

Later, as the sun began to come up, I eventually felt strong enough to sit up. Tiffany gave me a t-shirt and sweatpants to wear, then checked my wounds, relieved to see that even the gashes in my stomach were making a rapid recovery. Soon I was able to stand and walk around in brief spurts with Tiffany and Enzo’s help.

Finally, once I was able to talk, Tiffany told me the story of how she knew about werewolves.

“When I was your age, in college, we had a hockey club here,” she said, holding my elbow as the three of us slowly walked back and forth across the empty infirmary. “The club consisted of myself, as well as several others. Those others were your mother, Nina, and Enzo’s father. Edward, as well as Ronan’s father, were also part of the club, as well as our current dean -- Cynthia -- and James’ mother.”

I was a bit taken aback to hear that almost all of our parents were part of this hockey club, but I chose not to ask about it just yet so that Tiffany could keep telling the story.

“Except… The club wasn’t really a hockey club. It started out as one, but eventually developed into something else when there was an outbreak of ‘rabies’ on campus.”

“It wasn’t rabies, was it?” I asked, remembering that Tiffany had mentioned this before when she showed me the picture of the club.

Tiffany shook her head. “No. There were a few werewolves -- sent by the leaders of the Crescent faction -- who were going around campus and turning people into rogues. The dean at the time covered it up by claiming it was a rabies outbreak, but we knew better -- because we already knew about werewolves, since several of our club members were werewolves themselves.”

“Who were the werewolves that the Crescents sent to turn people?” Enzo chimed in. “And why?”

She looked down at her hands and shook her head. “I don’t know. I was afraid, I guess. I didn’t know how much your mother had told you about her past, and I didn’t want to scare you away.”

Enzo, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke up. “What about Edward?” he asked. “What role did he play in all of this?”

Tiffany shrugged. “He stayed with Cynthia and I. All these years, he led us to believe that he was still a Peacekeeper. Cynthia became the new dean, vowing to make the campus a neutral zone. I became the school doctor, so that I could always be here if there was another war. So I could protect the students. And Edward…”

“He was supposed to keep the humans from discovering too much,” Enzo said. “To protect them.”

“Yes.” Tiffany looked up then, and I saw that her eyes were full of tears. “Edward was always a little distant, aloof. But… I loved him. I never stopped loving him. I guess I let that cloud my judgment.”

“It’s okay,” I whispered. I reached across the table and squeezed Tiffany’s hand. She squeezed back.

After another silence, Tiffany wiped a tear away from her cheek with the back of her hand and stood. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s take another look at your wounds. I’ll bet they’re almost healed by now.”