The Pack's Hacker (by Cooper) novel Chapter 28

Wendy

Thankfully, these last few days away from Jude have gone quickly. When I wasn’t working with Tracker or running ideas by Jude, I was shopping with my mom and Yana for a graduation dress. Now, tonight is my graduation.

I wouldn’t care, except Jude will be there. Well, my entire family will be here, too, which is important to me. But my boyfriend, the man I hope is my mate, will be here watching me walk across the stage and get my diploma.

Before that though, I’ve been asked to sit on stage with four other students. Apparently, gaining early acceptance to the Warrior Academy is important enough that the school wants to acknowledge me as one of their top graduates.

Honestly, in my family, it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but the school seems to think it is.

So, here I am, in my cap and gown, sitting on the stage. I should probably be paying attention to the speaker who is saying something that sounds important. But honestly, I can’t stop looking at Jude who is grinning at me. He’s coming home to Connor’s pack tonight and tomorrow we’re leaving to go visit his family across the country.

I’ve never been to the west coast. I’ve never been farther from Connor’s pack than the Academy, so this will be huge for me. I’ve also never been on a plane. I’m nervous, but Jude told me that everything will be fine.

I glance my family and have to fight a smile when Wade makes a dopey face at me, trying to get me to smile. When I don’t respond, he nudges Yvonne, his twin, and she joins in, making my lips twitch.

‘You two are terrible,’ I say in the mind link.

‘Just trying to alleviate the boredom. Geez, could this guy BE any more boring,’ Wade asks. 1

He and Yvonne are more like my father. They need to be active and moving, not sitting. It’s why I know they’ll never be interested in being part of the Tech Team. Even Kennedy has her head on Quirin’s shoulder. Of course, that might be because she’s pregnant again with twin girls which will bring their brood up to twelve.

I smile as I look at my family who are taking up two entire rows of seating. I doubt anyone else has this many people here to see them graduate. But my family always shows up.

As I watch them, I realize that my life is going to change significantly very soon. I’m used to being under their protection, being in a pack run my one of my brothers, or my brother-in-law. When I go to the Academy, it will just be me. Yes, I’ll have the Tech Team supporting me, but I’ll have to stand on my own two feet.

As I tune into the speaker, I realize that this is what he’s saying, that we’re going out into the world and it can be scary, but we should also take this as an opportunity. The world is our oyster. I’m not exactly sure what that means, but it sounds like the world is open for us to do whatever we want to do, to become whatever we want to become.

I want to become an elite member of the Tech Team, employed by the Council to fight against the bad guys of the world. I want to do my part to make this world a better place. I know from my family that there are a lot of bad Alphas out there. I know from working with the Tech Team that there are a lot of bad people, in general, out there. If I can do something to make this world a better place, I want to do it. Even if it is so scary that I feel nauseous.

I look back at Jude. He hasn’t looked away from me. One of the many things that I love about him is that he sees me, he sees the person that I am, and he makes me a better person. He pushes me to be better, pushes me to get past the weaknesses that I might let hold me back, and the entire time he’s doing it, he’s there, supporting me, making sure that I don’t fail.

I wonder what I give him in return. He does so much for me, but what do I give back to him? He obviously likes me a lot, he said he hopes that we’re mates. But what does he get out of this relationship?

I need to ask him that.

Almost as if he can read my mind, I watch his eyes narrow and his head tilts to the side. Damn that man is too perceptive. Everyone begins clapping and I belated join in, pulling my gaze from Jude’s to focus on our high school principal.

One by one, he announces the five of us here on the stage and the ‘amazing achievements’ we’ve made and how we’ve made our school proud.

When he calls my name, you can’t hear him for a moment as my entire family howls and claps for me. It’s impossible not to smile at how enthusiastic and supportive my family is.

I blow a kiss at my family as our principal turns to look at me, obviously overwhelmed with the power of my family’s love for

me.

I step up to the podium and accept my award for ‘Academic Excellence’ and then return to my seat.

Then, it’s time to get our diplomas. Thankfully, being a werewolf school, there aren’t a lot of us. I’ve heard some graduations take hours. But our area has a lot of vacant packs from the days when my father was Alpha, so we’re not as populated as some

areas.

When my name is called, my family once again howls and claps loudly, making the entire room shake. I smile at my family, winking at Jude as I make my way across the stage to get my diploma.

About thirty minutes later, the ceremony is finished and when our principal congratulates our class, we all take our caps and toss them into the air. I thought it would seem silly when I heard that this is what our class was going to do. I’d seen Connor’s and Yorick’s classes doing the same and it seemed ridiculous at the time.

However, now, it feels like a goodbye, an end of an era in my life that I’m glad to be leaving behind.

I make my way off stage to my family, and I’m immediately pulled into a hug by Jude. It’s almost as if my family knew that I’d want to hug him first.

“Hey, beautiful. Congratulations,” he says in my ear.

“Thank you and thank you for being here.”

“I wouldn’t have missed it,” he says before I’m passed around by my family, hugging everyone.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify