Rise of the Underdogs: VALIK

IX

Meeting Lorne was hilarious. He looked at me point blank and said he "guessed" he could share my own brother with me. He was so on point for an eight-year-old that I half expected someone to step in and correct him.

His timing and delivery made it feel like he had practiced the line, but he hadn't. That was just Lorne. Straightforward, no filter, and somehow wiser than he had any right to be.

When he threw his arms around me after Logan explained what adoption meant, I felt his warmth. His innocence, untouched by the same darkness that had clawed through mine and Logan's lives, wrapped around me like a blanket. It filled the space Mama had left behind. Not replacing her but softening the edges.

I hugged him back, arms slow at first, then tighter. He smelled like crayons and sunshine. Like someone who hadn't seen the worst of the world yet, and maybe never would. I knew right then that my life depended on how well I could fit into this new family. Not just on paper. Not just in name. But in heart.

Jacob, after laughing about the fight he got into at school with his siblings, became a constant in my new living arrangement. He was always around, always talking, always moving. Everything about him was happy and bright, like he was some kind of lantern meant to bring light to others.

It was actually enjoyable, though. His energy didn’t feel forced or fake. It was just who he was. And being around that kind of light made it easier to forget the shadows I was still carrying.

Then came the day that I started school.

Under Logan’s strict orders, the Howlers flanked me at every turn. The ones he called Triple Trouble were a constant source of stress for him, but Jake and I thought they were the funniest trio ever.

Well, right up until they turned on us, that is.

“What are you doing?”

I jumped, heart hammering as I whirled around to see Jacob standing in my bedroom doorway. I was still getting used to the packhouse, still figuring out how to relax and get out of survival mode, as the councillor Logan set me up with called it.

“N-nothing,” I stammered. “I was thinking about everything leading up to this point in my life.”

“Anything I can help with?” he asked, plopping down on my bed like we’d known each other for years instead of just the few months I’d been awake.

The room smelled faintly of pine and laundry detergent. My desk was cluttered with textbooks, loose papers, and a half-empty water bottle that had been sitting there since yesterday. A hoodie was draped over the back of my chair, and my backpack was half unzipped on the floor, one of my notebooks poking out like it was trying to escape.

Running a hand through my hair, I shook my head. “I’m stuck. In something called survival mode.”

“And?”

That one word had me staring at him like he’d grown a third head. “What do you mean by that?”

Jacob smiled, eyes never losing their warmth. “I mean everyone’s got issues, and friends exist for a reason. Survival mode doesn’t go away after what you went through, Valik. You, like Logan, will eventually learn to live with it, and turn it into something that works for you.”

My hands twitched over the homework I was doing, my eyes reading and re-reading the same lines over and over. The worksheet was about history, something I used to love, but the words weren’t sticking. My pencil was dull, and I’d already erased the same sentence three times. An unexpected memory of my mom helping me hit out of the blue. I sobbed, trying not to cry as the memory tore at me.

He was at my side then. Not saying anything. Not doing anything. Just… there. Just giving me the one thing I didn’t know I needed more than my sanity: presence.

“Hit’s harder when you’re trying to focus on other stuff, huh? I lost my dad, too. It’s… scary when I look into the mirror and think about why and how my mother can still look at me when I take after him so much.”

“Mama was my constant. My voice of reason,” I told him. I didn’t even know why I said it, but it felt right. “And now I have a new family, new school, new everything. I’m terrified that this is some kind of dream. That this is nothing but an illusion.”

“It sucks donkey balls, man, but I get it. Nothing hurts more than losing a parent. Unless you’re a parent that loses a child,” Jake said, his voice quiet. “So, why are you doing homework on a Friday?”

Blinking down at the pages, I shrugged my left shoulder. “I don’t want to disappoint my brother. He put everything on the line for me, and I… I don’t… I guess I just don’t want to lose the only family I have left.”

Jake scowled at me. “One, as long as you’re trying, he won’t care. It’s when we’re not trying at all that he goes Alpha mode on our asses. Two, the Howlers are your family now. All of us consider each other brothers and sisters even if we aren’t related. Three, you’re missing out on quality time with the rest of us by staying in your room all the time. I mean, there’s a study hour every day for our pack and it’s supposed to be mandatory, but he’s been giving you a chance to acclimate to pack life.”

I hadn’t known that. "When?"

“When, what?”

“When is study hour and what happens after that?” I asked, suddenly interested in pack politics.

Another dazzling smile graced Jacob’s face. “Every day after school we meet in the Academy basement where no one can bug us to study and work through anything we don’t understand. After that, we head to training. Interested?”

The room was quiet except for the soft hum of the ceiling fan and the occasional creak of the floorboards under Jacob’s shifting weight. My desk was still a mess, papers scattered like they’d been dropped from a height, pencil marks smudged across the page from where I’d erased the same sentence three times. A half-eaten granola bar sat next to my water bottle, forgotten hours ago. The light from the window was fading, casting long shadows across the floor and making the corners of the room feel colder than they were.

For the first time in a while, I felt accepted. “Yeah. Yeah, I am.”