Broken (32 page)

It was too much to process so quickly. When
Alec took a careful step towards me, all I could think of was that
I'd just seen those same eyes hovering above bloodstained fangs. I
shrank back away from him, and saw his face go from calm to
expressionless in a barely detectable flicker.

I'd opened my mouth, maybe to apologize, or
possibly to scream for help, but it snapped shut at Alec's
response. Moving faster than I would have believed possible, he'd
spun around and fled through the door. Between one heartbeat and
the next he disappeared into the darkness letting the door slam
shut with enough force that the glass in the ceilings should have
come down in a rain of razor edged shards.

The flowers closest to me swayed slightly
from the force of the vibrations, pulling my gaze towards them. I
felt my heart skip a couple of times and tears start to flood my
eyes as I took in beautiful white petals edged in an amazing shade
of purple.

Lagrimas del Angel. The whole greenhouse was
filled with them, and suddenly I couldn't ignore the significance
of the circular signature on the paintings anymore. I hurried
outside, looked desperately from side to side for some hint of
which way he'd gone, and then headed off to the right towards the
sound of shattering pottery.

Just before I was about to give up hope of
finding him, I heard another crash and turned into a small grotto.
The sight of rock walls nearly covered by a swath of greenery
caused me to pull up with a suddenness that only barely saved me
from tumbling into the small reflecting pool off to one side. Alec
froze at my appearance, a large planter that easily weighed as much
as I did, dangling from one hand. The shards of pottery strewn
about the grotto answered any questions I might have had regarding
its imminent fate.

Neither of us moved for several seconds, and
then he turned towards me with a glare.

"Go away!"

The command was so forceful it was almost
more than I could do to stop myself from turning and running away
in terror, but I held my ground.

"Leave. Leave now and I won't follow
you."

The anger was still there, but now there were
other emotions, one of which I could identify, one of which I knew
how to handle.

"It was you the whole time wasn't it? The
bank. The mayor. Were you responsible for the Les Misérables
tickets too?"

"Why? What possible difference does it make
one way or the other?"

The words had lost most of their force, but
none of the feeling behind them. "Because I want to understand. Why
me? Why would you do all of that for me?"

"You really don't understand? You saved
Rachel from a beating. If for no other reason, then for that."

I took a careful step forward and placed a
hand on his arm. He absently let the huge flower pot drop, but
didn't step away from me.

"That isn't why you did it though. Is
it?"

Alec finally shook his head. "No, I just did
it for you. Maybe not so much at first, but I couldn't get you out
of my mind. You were everywhere I looked. In my class, at lunch,
even in my dreams. I couldn't get away from you."

I felt my heart skip another beat. Everything
good that I'd attributed to Brandon had been Alec all along. I
didn't understand what I'd seen a few hours ago, but he wasn't a
monster. The amount of hurt in his voice, took him out of the
category of frightening. I moved a little closer. "Do you still
want me to leave?"

"Do you want to leave? I won't stop you if
you do. If you can convince your mom to leave town there's even a
chance you'll be safe from Brandon."

I felt shivers work their way down my spine
as some of the pieces clicked into place. "He's like you isn't
he?"

Alec's laugh was a bitter, humorless thing.
"You mean a monster? Yes, we both feel the call of the moon. Does
that scare you?"

I shook my head. "No. I guess a little, but
not like it should. You wouldn't hurt me after everything you've
done for us."

"I could kill you without even meaning too.
You're so fragile. All it would take is an accident, a momentary
loss of control. I really am a monster"

"No you're not. I don't understand what you
are, but you aren't a monster. Brandon is. Vincent, Cassie. They're
all monsters, but you aren't."

Alec finally let his eyes fully meet mine.
"How can you know that when sometimes I'm not sure myself?"

Almost without realizing it, I moved my hand
from his arm to his stomach, and then wrapped both arms around him
and pressed my face into his rock hard chest.

"Thank you for saving my life. Were those
wolves some of Brandon's friends?"

I felt him nod. "Simon and Nathanial."

"I didn't know them that well, they mostly
ignored me, but I didn't think they'd kill me."

Alec finally put his arms around me. He
hugged me like I was made out of fine china, but it was a start.
The tingling sensation I'd always felt around Brandon was back,
stronger than ever. Despite the incredibly grave nature of
everything that'd happened in the last few hours, I felt mildly
euphoric. Maybe this is what people were talking about when they
said they were buzzed.

"Maybe they weren't going to kill you. I
can't say for sure, but they've both killed people before. I
couldn't take the chance that they weren't just playing around. I
had to stop them."

I thought for a moment that my knees were
going to collapse on me. I carefully reached up and brushed the
bandage on his shoulder. "They could've killed you?"

Alec shrugged, "I came out ok all things
considered."

He was going to have to rethink this
deflection thing, but now didn't seem like the time to get pushy. I
forced a measure of gaiety into my voice and smiled up at him.
"Well, I'm glad things turned out the way they did. Otherwise we'd
both be dead."

Alec flinched slightly, and then looked at
the grotto. "I supposed I'd better clean this up or Donovan is
going to be very unhappy with me."

"Who's Don...." I felt my mouth drop as I
finally recognized my surroundings. "I've been here before. In my
dream. Then I drew it, which I didn't understand because I only
ever draw real places, and this was imaginary. Only it wasn't, but
there wasn't any way for me to know..."

I turned around, expecting to have to field a
barrage of questions, but Alec was calmly watching me. "Isn't that
odd? Doesn't that make you want to know what's going on?"

He was debating whether or not to lie to me.
I could see it in his eyes. Funny how I'd never realized how
expressive they were.

"Don't lie to me."

Alec sighed, and then shrugged. "I'm not sure
what to tell you. There's so much you don't know, and most of it I
can't tell you. More importantly, you're better off not
knowing."

I waited for several seconds, expecting him
to go on, and then finally realized the matter was closed as far as
he was concerned. "Hold on there. You can't just leave me in the
dark about all of this. I'm in up to my neck; you have to at least
let me know what I've fallen into."

He was shaking his head again. "I'm sorry, I
know this has to be hard, but you don't belong in this world. You
admitted yourself that you don't know anything about us. It was a
mistake for me to let you get involved. I'm going to remedy that
right now. We'll get you home, and then your mom is going to get an
offer that's too good to pass up. With any luck you'll both be out
of town within a couple days. I think I can arrange it so neither
of you will be back for a year or two. That should be more than
enough time for this all to resolve itself one way or another."

I felt my eyes go wide with panic as I
realized what he was proposing. "Wait. No. You can't do that." I
tried to grab a hold of his arm, but he'd already taken several
steps away. The pleasant tingly feeling was gone, but that loss was
nothing against the sense of cold abandonment rushing through
me.

I tried to step forward, tried to follow him,
but my vision was dimming and my heart felt like it was about to
explode. I managed a single step before my knees collapsed and the
ground jumped up to meet me.

Consciousness was slow returning. When my
eyes finally fluttered open, I was surprised to find myself in
Alec's arms once again.

"Are you ok?"

He tried to set me down, to stand me up on my
feet, but I grabbed onto him as tightly as my shaking arms were
able. "Don't leave me. Please don't make me go."

I didn't realize I was crying until I tried
to talk. It was embarrassing, but was I too worried about being
sent away to care. Any amount of ridicule would be worthwhile if it
meant being able to stay with Alec. He obviously still wasn't
convinced though.

"Adri, you don't understand. This is the only
way to keep you safe. I can't protect you here. I can't even
protect my own family."

He was still trying to disengage my arms from
around his neck, but it was obvious he didn't want to hurt me, and
I was holding on with everything I had.

"No, 
you
 don't understand. This whole time I thought I was in
love with Brandon, I didn't even know him. You did so much for us
and didn't even hate me when I was so rude. I've been so stupid,
please don't send me away."

I was halfway to another attack before Alec
finally put a finger to my lips and nodded. "Very well. I should
send you away for your own protection, but I'm too selfish to do
what's best for you. Maybe later I'll be able to do what's right,
but not right now, not so soon."

Chapter 22

Rachel met us at the door with a shy smile
that let me know any hard feelings would evaporate instantly if I
wanted to be friends again.

Alec put me down with a slight start as soon
as he saw his sister. I reluctantly let go of him, and covered the
last few feet under my own power. I gave Rachel a hug as soon as
she was within arm's reach.

"I'm so sorry. I've been incredibly
dumb."

She waved the explanation away. "Brandon's
fooled people smarter than both of us put together. The hardest
part was not being able to tell you anything."

Alec started to open the door, but Rachel put
a hand on his arm. "The rest of the pack is back. Jasmin already
told them what happened. It doesn't look good."

I had my mouth open, and was halfway to
asking what was going on when I saw Alec's expression, and
swallowed my words. He didn't look any different than normal, in
fact if I'd been standing forty or fifty feet away from him I'd
probably have still thought he was just as calm and in control as
always. This close, I could feel the anger radiating off of
him.

I almost took a step back when he turned
towards me. "I realize it's unreasonable to ask you to trust me
right now, but I'm going to need you to do so. Can you remain quiet
for the next few minutes?"

I wanted to ask why, but it was obvious we
didn't have the time for a lengthy explanation. I nodded, "I trust
you. After everything you've done, I know you wouldn't hurt
me."

Alec turned towards Rachel, but she shook her
head before he could even open his mouth. "You don't even need to
ask. I'll follow your lead, and try to look brave."

He threw the door open and stalked into the
house. Rachel grabbed my hand and pulled me along behind her.

A group of familiar faces were waiting for us
in the largest living room I'd ever seen. It took me several
seconds to match identities to the rain-soaked group staring at me
with such hostility.

Jasmin was standing in the center, and didn't
even wait for me to get fully in the room before she started
talking.

"She goes back to Brandon tonight. It's a
long shot, but it's better than nothing. She brought it on herself
so there isn't any reason to cry over what might happen."

Alec shook his head. "Unacceptable. She
wasn't properly his. There was no bond of Ja'tell, and consequently
we have no obligation to return her to him."

Jasmin opened her mouth to say something
else, but a tiny brunette, probably Jessica, interrupted her.
"Alec, we have to do this. None of us are stupid; we know what's
going to happen. You killed two members of his pack."

There was steel in Alec's voice that I'd
never heard before. "Still unacceptable. You've all aired your
opinions; you can retire to your beds now."

James looked up from where he'd been
slouching against the wall, and I suddenly realized that he wasn't
shaking from cold. He was so furious it looked like he was
literally seconds away from exploding.

A very pretty Hispanic girl placed a gentle
hand on his arm, but he shook her hand off and let out a sound that
was uncomfortably close to a growl. "You selfish jerk. You've been
mooning over her for weeks. You've got her now, but at what cost?
This isn't open to discussion. We're taking her back to Brandon and
asking for leniency."

In an effort to see better, Rachel and I had
moved slightly to the side. Alec reached back without looking and
moved us directly behind him. It wasn't until his arm brushed me
that I realized he was shaking ever so slightly himself.

"There's only one way you're going to touch
her, James. Are you really ready to take that step?"

I felt shivers run down me as I realized just
how easily everything could boil over into deadly violence. The
tension in the room pulsed out in waves, skittering many-legged
across my skin like something that belonged under a rock
somewhere.

The feeling intensified even more as first
Jessica and then Jasmin picked up the same strange, near epileptic
quiver. James let out a low, grating growl, and my stomach dropped
as he looked up with eyes that weren't the unremarkable brown
they'd been just a second before. The hot yellow eyes of a predator
were looking out of James' familiar face, somehow changing it into
something threatening and inhuman.