Broken (50 page)

"I'm not tired, I promise."

His eyebrow arched in disbelief as I pulled
him down onto the bed, and I found myself admitting the truth.

"Ok, I might be a little tired, but it isn't
a big deal. I want to spend as much time with you as possible.
After all, it isn't like I'm going to be able to really get much
rest between now and whenever we need to leave for the
challenge."

His wonderfully expressive face froze into
the stony mask he wore so often with the rest of the world.

"You weren't planning on bringing me, were
you?"

"It's not safe, Adri. I don't want to leave
you anymore than you want to be left, but it's the only
option."

"No it isn't, just bring me along."

His fist clenched, knotting up the covers
next to my head, but I was long past worrying he'd lose control of
his beast and hurt me by accident.

"You heard Mallory. The odds are very good
that I'm not coming back. If the worst happens, the rest of the
pack may very well have to try and fight their way out of there.
They won't be able to get you out, they'll be lucky to survive even
fleeing unencumbered. I can't ask them to run that gauntlet
carrying you the whole way."

I ran my finger along his cheek, mirroring
the motion he'd done to me so many times. "Then don't ask them.
You'll either win, in which case it doesn't matter whether I'm
there or not, or else I don't care what happens."

Both fists were knotted now, and unless I was
very much mistaken, there was just the barest hint of a shake there
as well.

"Don't be ridiculous, Adri. You should know
at least a little by now what they're capable of. I can't let you
expose yourself to the kinds of things Vincent or Brandon
would...it's out of the question."

Mom had always gone on and on about how
nurturing I was. When she was less happy with me, she tended to
focus more on just how stubborn I could be. It wasn't always
obvious what would set off a bout of 'stiff neck' as she referred
to it, but the only people who'd ever successfully talked me into a
'reasonable, rational' response had been Dad and Cindi.

I could feel that same core of iron making
its presence known right now. I wasn't going to be deprived of
however much time I had left with him. I wasn't going to be losing
this argument.

"Alec, I need to be there with you tonight.
If you leave me here, I'll head out on my own and look for
you."

The shake was definitely there, and getting
more pronounced.

"I'll order Donovan to keep you here."

"You can try. He may even do it, but I don't
think so. He's far too much the gentleman to keep a lady captive
against her will. Even if he does, do you really think he can watch
over me every second?"

With a sharp tearing sound, Alec's right hand
elongated into the viscously-clawed weapon of his hybrid form. It
shredded the comforter and mattress just a few inches from my head.
I gave him my best lop-sided smile and kissed his arm.

"You're not going to scare me off with cheap
tricks. This is important."

His eyes were an intense blue, paler than
normal. They were Alec's eyes, but they were also the eyes of his
beast, and I suddenly realized the dominance stuff wasn't just a
game. There was a feral part of Alec that didn't play well with
others, that would kill or be killed in turn rather than have his
will thwarted.

A complex collage of emotions flooded through
my system as I tried to process what that meant, and whether or not
I needed to be scared. As suddenly as it'd changed before, Alec's
fist relaxed, shrinking back into its normal size and shape like
melting snow.

"All right. You can come. I don't like it.
Don't like knowing you're guaranteed not to survive my passing, but
it's your choice."

I was too busy being amazed by how quickly
he'd stopped shaking, how rapidly his eyes had gone back to normal
to really wonder whether or not it was all just an elaborate ruse
designed to lull me into a false sense of security so he could trap
me here.

"Not that I'm complaining mind you, but why
the sudden change?"

Alec gave me a lopsided smile of his own. "My
death is nearly certain, but there's always a chance I'll somehow
survive. As unlikely as that is, I don't want to survive and then
find I've poisoned you against me. I won't stop you."

I felt things I hadn't realized were knotted
up relax inside me. When my voice finally came out it was smaller
than normal.

"Thank you."

Alec shrugged and gave me another smile. "You
must have driven your parents crazy with that refusal to back
down."

"I suppose I might have frustrated them a
time or two."

"And to think Rachel
says 
I'm 
stubborn."

I started to smile, but stopped as he cocked
his head to the side in what was unmistakably a listening
posture.

"What's the matter? What do you hear?"

"Jasmin just left."

"What's wrong with that?"

"It's not safe for her to leave the estate.
Brandon's pack could be waiting for her."

He started to move, but I held onto him.

"Alec, she'll probably be ok. I know it isn't
the best idea but please don't stop her. Not tonight."

It was like I could see the thoughts dart
around as he put pieces together, and I was suddenly torn between
telling him in the hopes it would buy Jasmin her last night with
Ben, and trying to keep her secret.

My heart raced until he finally relaxed and
sunk back down with me.

"Please don't let on that you know. I wasn't
supposed to say anything. I just couldn't let you go after
her."

The immediate crisis past, I could have lost
myself looking at his features, but a slow smile suddenly reminded
me of the only other person I knew that could pack so much pain in
such a simple gesture.

"What about Rachel, Alec? Where is she?"

I hadn't thought his expression could become
anymore bittersweet. I was wrong. "Rachel doesn't have anyone
either, but she's still suffering from a deeper hurt. She's with my
mother."

My confusion must have been more than usually
self-evident as I sat up. "No, mother isn't going through a good
episode. She's asleep. Rachel crept into her room and crawled into
bed with her. It's a poor substitute for what she aches for, but
it's all mother can offer right now."

"Alec, there must be something we can
do."

He gently captured my hands, stilling their
frantic motion and shook his head. "Not right now. Rachel cherishes
her few remaining illusions. One of the most important is the
pretense that nobody knows just how hard it is sometimes for her to
be the only human in a house full of shape shifters."

I felt my lips trembling, and he freed one of
his hands to brush it lightly across my mouth. "You've been a
godsend for her Adri. As badly as it hurts each time she sneaks
away, it hasn't happened nearly as often since you got here. She's
been improving ever since you moved into town, and the rate of
change has increased over the last two weeks."

"I suppose we make quite the pair, her and I.
Two shattered little dolls trying our best to make sure the pieces
don't blow away and leave us with nothing. An imposition to
everyone around us."

He hugged me to him, as he shook his head.
"Not an imposition. Never that."

It felt wrong to try and kiss Alec right now.
I didn't want to make light of Rachel's hurt, or Jasmin's
loneliness, but his presence was too great a temptation to pass up.
My face started out in the hollow of his neck, drinking in the
ambrosia of his scent, and then moved up towards his lips without
conscious decision on my part.

Our lips met, and it felt like a warm,
pleasant surge of electricity washed from my head down to the tips
of my toes. My head started spinning almost instantly, only my hand
on his chest, and his arms around my waist kept me from losing my
balance completely. As it was, I still fell into him, overcome by
weakness as my heart stopped beating altogether.

No more than a second or two of
breathlessness could have possibly passed, but Alec pulled away,
firmly holding me at arm's length.

"You need to get some sleep. Regardless of
how the fight turns out, you'll need to be well-rested."

My best longing look didn't seem to be having
any effect on him, so I finally nodded and relaxed back onto the
bed.

"I guess I did promise to behave myself. I
don't think I'll be able to sleep, but if you'll tell me another
story I'll at least try..."

Apparently satisfied by my promise, Alec
joined me on the bed and pulled me close. I was still chilled
enough from being outside for the warmth of his arms to feel
good.

"Adjam and Inock found that the dayborn had
lost all knowledge of their loving mother, and that they reacted
poorly to Inock's plague form. Neither brother was able to maintain
their original forms for more than a few hours at a time, and
although Adjam was able to blend in with the animals found in the
area, there was nothing like Inock's feline body nearby, and he was
chased and hunted by many of the dayborn for they thought him a
demon."

Alec's breath seemed to caress the back of my
neck even as his quiet, velvety baritone reached inside my head and
smoothed away the tensions that'd been keeping me from seeking
sleep. I knew there'd been a reason for being so scared, but
somehow I just couldn't bring myself to care about it now.

"The brothers watched the dayborn for many
turnings, but although they learned many things, they found
themselves unable to learn the dayborns' language. Even worse, the
dayborn hunters were becoming ever more skilled at tracking Inock,
and they began to press him sorely."

I felt as though I was drifting. The bed no
longer mattered, or even seemed to exist. All that mattered was the
story and the warm drowsiness that increased with each breath.

"Adjam saw his brother's frustration grow,
but he never suspected just how strong it'd become until two
hunters brought Inock to bay, and he turned on them. Inock killed
the first hunter and would have done likewise to the second, but
Adjam sprang upon his brother, knocking him away before the second
man could be harmed."

Alec's fingers slowly caressed my stomach as
he spoke. It should have tickled, but instead it lulled me even
further towards oblivion.

"And thereby the full effect of the Earth's
curse was felt. Trapped as they were in their beast forms, neither
brother could talk to the other, and the resulting confrontation
quickly spun out of control. Hours later Adjam was left bleeding
and broken as his brother disappeared into the night."

Alec's soothing voice continued on, but I'd
lost the ability to listen. My mind floated off into visions of a
battered wolf who dragged himself over to a brook before collapsing
on the bank, streaked with mud. Just before the blackness carried
me completely away, a willowy girl appeared from behind a thicket
of trees and timidly approached the bleeding figure.

Chapter 30

The cool night air dimpled my skin despite
the warmth of Alec's chest. We'd been walking for quite a while
before I came fully awake.

Dominic and Jasmin had shaken me awake, and
then helped me out of my dress and into jeans and a white
shirt.

Donovan had been waiting in the hall just
outside Alec's room. He'd pressed objects into Dom and Jasmin's
hands, and then brushed his lips across the back of my hand. He
slipped away, and then we'd entered a brightly-lit room filled with
the rest of the pack.

Alec had picked me up and carried me out to a
massive SUV that I'd never seen before. Everyone piled in, and
despite the seriousness of rapidly approaching events, I fell back
asleep somewhere en route to our destination.

Apparently you couldn't drive all the way
though, because we were walking again, or at least some of us were.
I could just make out Isaac off a little ways into the darkness. He
was in hybrid form and moving with a ground devouring gait that was
deceptively smooth. Flashes of movement off to either side of us,
lower to the ground made me sure the girls were all following along
on four legs.

Alec shifted me around as he realized I was
awake. "We've still got nearly half an hour, you should get some
more sleep if you can."

I tried to argue but couldn't find the
strength. Some time later the flash of light as James and Isaac lit
flares pulled me back awake.

It took several seconds for my eyes to
adjust, and then I started being able to pick out individual shapes
in the darkness. Alec set me down as Vincent appeared, a towering,
furred figure illuminated by the light of the flares that'd been
planted on either side of the cleared space. His dark eyes drank in
the light as he surveyed us with his typical boundless
arrogance.

A hoard of shifting figures milled about just
outside of the twin circles of light. The rest of Brandon's pack
and they seemed to have grown in number since the dance.

Jasmin and Dominic crowded up against me, one
on either side, and I let my hands brush against their heads. The
feel of their fur, one short and soft, the other long and coarse,
seemed to anchor me before the surreal strangeness of the scene
could carry me away.

The tingle of shape shifter power was as
strong as I'd ever felt it, jumping from multiple sources, arcing
around me as it unsuccessfully looked for a place to ground out.
For the first time, I was able to accurately pick out the
individual signatures that made it up.

Jess was off to the left, white hot with
mixed anger and fear, stabilized only by the cool, controlled
pillar of power that was Isaac. Jasmin seemed to hum under my
fingertips like barely-leashed violence, while my other hand drank
from the still pond that was Dominic, her mere presence feeding me
comfort.