Torn (12 page)

The pack turned almost
as one to shoot me a look of unhappiness, but I paid no attention,
instead focusing on the rest of Mr. Gossil's speech.

"We'll be
holding a drawing for five free tickets. All those wishing to be
entered into the drawing should stop by the office between today and
noon tomorrow."

The cafeteria at large
seemed completely dis-interested in the announcement, but there was a
high-pitched sound of delight immediately heard from the direction of
Brandon's accustomed table. I somehow knew it originated from
Adriana Paige.

The pack as a whole
still wasn't happy but I allowed my beast to bubble up to the
surface, just a sliver away from transforming, silencing them all
with a hurricane of power. My point made for now, I stood and left,
my food uneaten on the table.

Since I shared most of
my classes with Jasmin, the departure bought me only a temporary
reprieve. All too soon I was sitting next to her in Chemistry and
wishing there was a way to permanently shut her up.

Her sub-vocalized
monologue wasn't entirely without merit. I
was
endangering
the pack, and I hadn't really given them good reason. It was a good
thing she didn't know the next step I was considering.

If Adri really was
from the Coun'hij; then returning her note, especially with my sigil
on it, would give her exactly the opportunity to execute me she'd
been looking for. Considering the fact that she very much appeared
to be dating Brandon these days, even if she wasn't moon born, there
was still an element of risk to it all.

I tuned Jasmin out for
the rest of the hour and tried to decide whether or not to go through
with it all. I'd essentially decided against it by the time the bell
rang; but when I made it to Physics, she looked up at me with the
barest trace of a smile and almost without conscious thought I turned
around and left the building.

The fact that we had a
sub was convenient, but it wasn't the full reason. It was as if
something compelled me to act in opposition to my best judgment.

I left my car a
quarter mile from her house and ran the rest of the way in just over
a minute. There wasn't a vehicle out front, which was pretty good
reason to believe the house was empty, but I still felt exposed as I
walked up to the door and pulled out the heavy stock I'd brought just
in case.

The pen felt good in
my hand as I wrote. Not as good as a paintbrush, but still right and
proper. A minute later I pulled back and looked at what I'd written.

Adriana,

Your words of thanks
were altogether unexpected, but decidedly appreciated. You're most
welcome for whatever small part I might have played in helping events
to unfold as they would have in a perfect world.

My actions were not
such as to merit any large boon from you, but still I must ask one.
Please never show this note to anyone. I ask not for myself, but for
the others such knowledge could affect.

I hope your
circumstances continue on much as they are now, but on the chance
they do not, I can be reached by leaving a note in the hollow of the
lighting-struck tree half a mile to the east of your house.

--@

I signed it with my
personal sigil, the symbol of my family altered ever so slightly to
make it mine and walked away without looking back.

I hadn't intended on
returning to school, but James called as he headed into his last
class. Apparently Dom's drama teacher was being a jerk again and she
needed help finishing up the props for the school's production of a
Midsummer Night's Dream. I agreed to come relieve him from guard
duty at the tutor lab, and then turned around and headed back into
town.

Once I arrived, I sent
James a text letting him know he could leave, and then waited outside
the tutor lab and listened to everyone inside. Rachel was muttering
to herself about whatever problem she was working on, and the sound
brought a grin to my face.

A few minutes later I
heard books rustling and then Rachel's cheery voice filtered through
the window.

"Are you ready?
James had to leave early, but don't worry, we've still got a ride
home."

Adri responded after
just a short pause.

"Great.
Britney's been avoiding me like the plague. I didn't even see her
leave today."

I didn't hear Rachel
laugh very much anymore. It happened so infrequently I'd forgotten
just how much I missed it. It was one more thing to put on the
ledger. A plus if Adri was a human, a negative if she was about to
disillusion my sister even more than life already had.

"She left about
five minutes before James did."

"Was she still
chatting up her prime candidate for the big dance?"

"Yep, she's
definitely settled on Tim Parsons, who is perfect if you like your
men fairly handsome, moderately popular, and built like an ox."

I wondered for just a
moment if Rachel was quite that feisty with anyone else, and then the
door was opening and both girls were blinking in the blinding Utah
sun.

"Alec!"

Rachel ran over and
gave me a hug. She knew better than to tie my arms up around a
potential hostile shape shifter, I moved slightly to the side and
wrapped one arm around her for a second.

"You didn't
think I'd forget did you?"

"Not forget no,
just maybe be a little late."

It was a slightly
painful reminder of just how little I'd been around lately.

The three of us walked
over to my Porsche and Rachel slipped into the back seat, leaving the
passenger seat open for Adri. The last place I wanted a potentially
hostile hybrid was behind me.

"Did you enter
the drawing for Les Miserables tickets?"

There was a slightly
knowing quality to Rachel's voice as she leaned up between our seats
and looked at Adri. No telling whether the rest of the pack had
filled her in on our argument, or if it was pure intuition.

"Yes, but so did
everyone else. My chances are so dismal they're not even worth
mentioning."

I heard a slight
movement off to my right and Adri's voice came out pitched higher and
more breathless than normal.

"Rachel, you
should be wearing your seatbelt."

"Why? It isn't
like anyone is going to pull us over and give us a ticket."

The sudden spike in
Adri's pulse reminded me of the rumor we'd manufactured. The rumor
which had been partially based on Adri's reaction to people talking
about car wrecks. Without intending to, I found my mouth opening.

"She's right,
Rachel. You should be buckled in."

A quiet click attested
to the fact that Rachel was buckled in, but as soon as Adri's pulse
had settled back down, she turned back to me.

"Isn't that a
bit hypocritical? I mean you tell her to buckle up, but you're not
buckled up yourself."

I wanted to laugh. It
would take one heck of a car wreck to put me down. In fact, even
without a seatbelt on my odds of walking away from an accident were
better than Rachel's with one. I managed a shrug.

"Yes, I suppose
it does look hypocritical at that. Let's just say that Rachel would
be missed if we hit another car, but nobody would need to miss me."

I reached the lane
back to her house and turned into it, filing away the fact that she'd
reached for the door as if expecting to have to walk.

Rachel jumped out of
the car as soon as it slowed down and opened Adri's door for her.
"Enjoy the rest of your night, and don't lose hope on Les
Miserables. You never know when you're going to beat the odds."

That was a bit too
obvious. Rachel needed to learn to play things closer to her chest.
Adri looked for a moment like she was going to say something else,
but then just thanked me and exited the car.

I pulled out of the
driveway before Rachel could see Adri find the note.

That night was another
hellish experience. Brandon and his wolves pushed into our territory
and then just waited for us to come to him. It was an out and out
bid to destroy us, but we couldn't ignore him or we'd be admitting we
couldn't control our own territory. It was only a short step from
there until the carrion birds would be circling us.

We crept towards his
pack, paying special effort to keeping downwind of them. He should
have had scouts out, but was probably worried about having them cut
off from the rest of the pack. That or maybe his wolves were more
scared of what we'd do to them than his threats.

It's hard to truly get
close enough to surprise another wolf. By the time you're into what
humans would think of as unarmed combat range they can hear your
heartbeat. We did the next best thing by approaching as close as we
thought we could get away with and then springing towards them with
all of the inhuman speed of our kind.

James, Isaac and I
were in the van, and we rolled up the three closest wolves while
everyone was still trying to figure out what was going on. I'd
tangled with Nathanial of all people, and took great pleasure in
sinking my claws deep into his guts.

Before I could go for
the kill Brandon hit me with roughly the kinetic energy of an SUV. I
was completely outmatched and only Isaac's abandoning the bloody mess
that had been his opponent saved me from being maimed.

I dodged roughly half
of Brandon's attacks but the ones that landed were deep. I caught
glimpses of the rest of the fight in between blows. Jess and Dom
seemed to have locked up with their opponents. It was hard to tell
who was winning, but the sheer amount of motion indicated that
neither fight was close to over yet.

Jasmin had clinched
with her first opponent, torn their throat out and already moved on
to another. Isaac and I launched a flurry of blows at Brandon but he
dodged most of them and blocked the rest with enough force to knock
us back a step. A flicker of motion brought me partway around and
reflexes that I'd spent the last two years training whipped my left
hand up just in time to rip Simon out of the air.

Brandon used the
distraction to attack, raking long furrows down my back, and then I
was back around and his blows were raining down on Simon. Seemingly
overcome by blood lust, Brandon struck again and again until his
claws finally caught on Simon's ribcage and ripped him from my grasp.

The sight of their
leader shredding one of their own caused two of the remaining wolves
to break, which further eroded the morale of both Dom and Jess'
opponents.

We had the edge in
numbers now, but James had definitely come out for the worse in his
fight with Vincent, and none of the rest of us were much less marked.
It was anyone's guess as to whether or not we could take them, but
Cassie and Vincent seemed to have lost their stomach for the fight.
They began backing away, and not even Brandon was capable of taking
all five of us.

Brandon and Vincent
each picked up two of their fallen comrades and then backed away from
us. I expected an argument when I ordered everyone back to the
house, but apparently we weren't any more desirous of continued
bloodshed than they were.

I was feeling
strangely weak by the time we made it back to the estate. The last
thing I remember before collapsing was Donovan limping out from the
house in an effort to catch me.

It would have been
nice for them to have picked a weekend for their attack so that
everyone at least had a chance to heal up before having to go back to
school. We'd all come through without any visible wounds, but
underneath our clothes everyone was a mess of gauze and bruises, and
I was still a little shaky on my feet from having lost so much blood.

All four of the wolves
we'd hurt the worst were absent from school and I had a few moments
to wonder whether or not we'd killed them. Vincent passed me in the
hall; much of his normal arrogance restored, and informed me that all
four would be back for another round within a couple of days.

The wounds across my
back were especially tender. They combined with the healing itch
across most of the rest of my body to make it extremely difficult to
concentrate on anything. Still, the closer it got to fifth hour the
more my mind kept returning to the drawing. I'd specifically told
him to run it during Physics, but now I worried that the instruction
hadn't been explicit enough.

The end result would
be the same, but I wanted to see her expression when her name was
read. I left Jasmin after fourth hour and went directly to Physics
without even stopping at my locker. Once I found my seat I tried to
distract myself, but anyone that knew me well would have seen just
how anxious I was.

Adriana arrived a few
seconds later and it was all I could do not to stare at her. Despite
my best efforts my gaze wandered over to her several times and it
wasn't until I saw her glaring at me that I finally got myself under
control.

The loud speaker
kicked on and Principal Gossil cleared his throat before proceeding.
"It's my pleasure to read off the names of the five winners in
our drawing for tickets to Les Miserables."

There was a pause, and
I heard a rustle of paper as a name was drawn, unfolded, and smoothed
out.

"The first
winner is Pam White."

The resulting
explosion of noise a few classes down was loud enough that I was
pretty sure even the humans could hear it from here. Thankfully Mrs.
Alexander pulled the door shut as Principal Gossil drew another slip
out of the box.

"Also winning a
ticket to Les Miserables next weekend, Mr. Andrew Webbs."

I was starting to get
a headache as another round of screaming broke out. Thankfully the
two from our class that cheered gave up quickly so as to better hear
whether or not their names were next.