Protected

Inquiry

We were all in Lucas's living room. Lucas was sitting on the couch next to me, my face partially buried in his chest, his arm around me. Farkle and Riley sat exactly the same way on the opposite side of the couch. Josh was sitting in an armchair, muttering to himself, with his face buried in his hands. Zay was pacing back and forth.

"Okay, one more time, what exactly happened?" Lucas asked.

"After IHOP, Charlie, Josh and I went to the Pack House," Zay said, "I left to grab something from my room. Josh was yelling at Charlie about the Morphing. He was yelling 'do you have any idea what you've done?' at him. Then Alpha walked in, the Pack Leader. He wanted to know what all the noise was about. Josh and Charlie, obviously, said nothing. Alpha knew something was up. He Inquired Josh, got all the info. Found out about the Morphing. Then, simple as day and night, Alpha turned and killed Charlie. Ripped his throat out, so it was quick. Dragged his body into the woods. Came back an hour later, acted like nothing had happened."

"It was my fault!" Josh cried, jumping up, "I could've fought harder against the Inquiry. Could've saved Charlie!" 

Zay crossed the room and grabbed the front of Josh's shirt.

"Shut up, man. Just shut up. It wasn't your fault. We all know that. You can't fight an Alpha's Inquiry any more than you can fight a Morphing." Zay bellowed. He let Josh go, and Josh stumbled into the wall.

The room lapsed back into the grieving silence.

"What's an Inquiry?" I breathed to Lucas, barely making a sound.

He answered back, equally as quiet, "It's when the Alpha burrow into your mind for a specific piece of information. You can't fight it, you can't stop it. If you have a piece of information Alpha wants, Alpha gets it."

I froze, "So he can easily find out about us?"

"If he wanted to, yes," Lucas answered, "But an Inquiry only gives you one specific piece of info. He has to have some reason to Inquire if I've Morphed. So, as long as he stays blissfully unaware and we stay very, very careful, we'll be safe."

I didn't feel safe. It felt like an iron band had been fixed around my heart. I thought we could keep our secret. But if the Alpha became suspicious, even a little bit, we were screwed. Absolutely, completely screwed.

"I'm sorry about Charlie," Riley said, "I didn't get to know him very well, but I know how important your Pack is to you."

Riley grabbed Josh and Zay, forcing them into a hug. Then she let go, and Farkle and Riley left.

Josh and Zay looked stunned.

"Riley's a really great hugger," I said.

They nodded.

I looked up at Lucas, "Are you okay?"

He nodded, "Charlie was the newest wolf, but I still loved him like a brother."

Zay and Josh walked to the door.

"Lucas, come on, we have to have the Death Ceremony. We can't do it with Alpha, or August, but we have to do it. We owe it to Charlie," Zay said.

I nodded, "I'll leave out your window, Lucas."

Lucas nodded, and kissed my forehead before leaving with Zay and Josh.

I went back upstairs, out the window, and back to my bedroom.

A few minutes later, I heard anguished howling.