Chapter 6: Alpha Revealed

The figure of the man stepped out from the doorframe and into the light of Bruce's room. He had shaggy, cider-colored hair stuffed beneath a red knit hat, and he wore a sleeveless dark, denim vest, straight black jeans, and steel-toed boots. What Bruce had in strength this man had in agility, and his slim body let him move fast when he unfolded his arms and closed the door behind him.

Silvana went on the defensive.

The man's nostrils flared twice. "I don't like your scent," he said.

Silvana grounded her feet and raised her hand, preparing to cast a spell. She asked, "Where's Bruce? Who are you?"

"That stings," the man chuckled, walking slowly around the room and in front of Bruce's investigation wall. He added, "You seem to know my older brother so well, and yet he hasn't even mentioned me to you?"

"No, he didn't," Silvana snapped. "We must've had more important things to discuss."

The man sniggered and then it really hit Silvana how wreckless this all had been. What did she know of Bruce other than how he cared for her that one night? The two had hardly spoken, and now Bruce's younger brother knew what she and Bruce were up to. And still, no matter how little sense it made, Silvana understood that Bruce needed to be hers, and he cast a beautiful magic on her more powerful than any seal, curse, hex, or family feud.

"It seemed to me like you two weren't doing a whole lot of talking," Bruce's brother said, moving closer to Silvana and shutting an opened book on Bruce's desk.

Silvana glared into the man's amber eyes and thought back to when she first arrived at the house.

"You're the wolf with the amber streaks in its fur," she said.

The man leaned on the desk and said, "That's right. But wolves in the pack call me Kurt. Kurt Winters, second son to the last Silverclaw Alpha."

Something about the way he carried himself, so loose and arrogant, made Silvana think he was untrustworthy. But she was a stranger in a forbidden place, so she said, "I'm Silvana Sparks, first and only daughter of The Guardian Witch Solaris."

At the word "witch," Kurt visibly fought back a snarl, as if he had been trained to attack at the very sound of the word. He shook his head and said, "You can lower your hands. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm only here to talk."

He picked a long nail to his upper fang and said, "Civilly."

Hesitantly, Silvana nodded and put her hands to her side. She was in foreign territory and Kurt had all the advantages; if he wanted to attack her, he would've done so by now.

And even if he did, something told her Bruce would be back to deal with it.

"Why don't we start with you telling me where Bruce went," Silvana demanded.

"Bruce is a busy wolf, Silvana," Kurt replied. The cockiness in his voice made Silvana clench her fists. "He's only just gotten back from his training to become the new Silverclaw Alpha."

Silverclaw.

It was a word Silvana had heard before in her studies.

"That's the werewolf warrior pack," she thought to herself.

"That means you and your brother have claws and fangs made of silver so your pack can fight the evil spirits," Silvana said.

Kurt scoffed, "I'm almost impressed that you know that. But I've heard the Sparks line has always been a coven of bookworms."

"Yeah," Silvana said with distaste on her tongue, "Our families never have gotten along."

Kurt's amber eyes fixed menacingly on Silvana and he said, "We both know there's good reason for that. So you can imagine it doesn't look too good when the freshly crowned Alpha werewolf is found with some harlot witch."

Kurt massaged his knuckles, and Silvana observed a nasty set of scars on his hand, like he'd fought off the fangs of another werewolf. Everything about Kurt seemed slippery, but Silvana knew better than to let his petty insults get under her skin.

"The only intention I have," Silvana said, "is to help Bruce and ensure that he is safe."

Kurt slammed a hand down on the desk and the books shaked. "Are you saying the Alpha can't take of himself?"

What a poor display of power, but it was all Silvana needed to know that Kurt was simple-minded and quick to anger. It could be useful information later.

Silvana waved a hand towards the cups of coffee, the unfinished meals, and general mess of the room. "Well your brother could certainly use a hand tidying up."

Kurt clapped and with a laugh said, "Oh, I see. So you want to be his little maid, scurrying around on your hands and knees and scooping up his scraps?"

Cool as could be and without letting any anger pierce her voice, Silvana responded, "If I was going to take any trash out, I'd start with you."

And Kurt broke out into a warm laugh. Silvana knew werewolves were all about the presentation of strength. Keeping her calm had earned his respect.

Silvana sat on the edge of the bed and said, "Bruce told me your aunt is sick. What happened to her? Maybe I can help."

Kurt stopped laughing and got serious. "Bruce told you that?"

Silvana smiled innocently and said, "I told you Bruce and I were talking about more important things than you."

Kurt rubbed his scarred hand to his arm and while looking at his feet said, "Our aunt practically raised us."

He choked up and composed himself. "And now she's got a Spirit Scar from one of those supernatural creatures, and it looks bad."

He looked at Silvana with teary eyes and reiterated, "Really bad."

"Kurt," Silvana said, her hand over her heart, "I'm so sorry. I know firsthand how lethal those can be."

Then Silvana found herself choking on her words. "That's the exact kind of injury that claimed my mother's life."

Kurt didn't know what to say, so he bit his bottom lip and crossed his arms again, as if he were hugging himself.

Silvana stood up and approached Kurt. She set a tender hand on his shoulder and said, "There's a precious medicine in my family that might be able to help."

Through a deep breath and pushing down many harsh memories, she told Kurt, "My father lost his mind when my mother passed. He created this potion out of obsession."

Kurt turned his shoulder away from Silvana and planted his hands on the desk. It was too much for him to accept the kindness of a witch. "And you would give that medicine to werewolves? Why?"

"Kurt, my father is a Guardian. What's the purpose of having something that can cure your aunt if we're not going to use it? Besides, if the town is being haunted, we've got bigger problems than the quarrels between witches and werewolves."

With a tender and appreciative voice, Kurt asked, "You're not like the others, are you?"

"No, I am. I'm a witch, and witches help people. I don't know what you've been told, but this is how we are."

As Kurt went to respond, Silvana's phone rang. She backed to the corner of the room, lowered the phone's volume, and answered Amelia's call.

"Oh my god, Silvie!" Amelia exclaimed. "You better be in the bed of your hubby right now, because I totally just lied to your dad and told him that you were spending the night at my apartment.

"I need you to meet me at my place right now," was all Silvana said before hanging up.

"Who was that?" Kurt asked, regaining some of his arrogance.

"A friend," Silvana told him, "who will help me get this medicine."

Silvana scribbled her phone number onto a scrap piece of paper on Bruce's desk. "Make sure Bruce gets this," she said, and marched past Kurt for the door.

She was entering her car when Kurt appeared at the window and said, with the most honesty Silvana had heard him speak all night, "If you do this, Silvana Sparks, it'll change things. And I know how much it will mean to my brother."

"I'll do everything I can," Silvana said, backing out of the gravel driveway. She sped back to her house to meet Amelia.

And when she was good and gone, and after Kurt could no longer track her smell, he whistled into the woods. A coyote with a single yellow eye bolted silently towards him, and Kurt rubbed the coyote's ears. It huffed and howled in delight.

"Keep an eye on her and the other sexy witch," Kurt commanded with a mellow voice.

The coyote's tail waggled and it rushed down the gravel path and into the darkness.