Torn (24 page)

The suite was part of
an addition my father had ordered constructed just after marrying
mother. The main room was principally encased in glass, providing
excellent lighting and an incredibly open space.

Mother loved caring
for plants nearly as much as she loved her music. She'd quickly
covered every shelf and stand with some plant or another. Donovan
said my father had just chuckled and created more stands.

I gently guided Adri
over to the alcove that contained mother's piano. As always she was
seated at it, humming to herself in preparation for the next attempt
at whatever piece she was working on.

"Alec. I'm so
glad you're safe. Rachel was going on and on about some kind of
problem with the pack. She's so excitable. I told her everything
would be fine, but she worries so. Your dad was the same way.
Always going on and on about some crisis or another, but nothing ever
really materialized."

She'd lost weight
again. There was only so much Addison could do there. I needed to
find a way to spend more time with her and see what I could do to
remedy the situation.

I smiled at the cheery
sun dress she was wearing and then nodded.

"We're
experiencing a time of more than usual difficulty, mother, but that
isn't why I've come by. I wanted to present my friend Adriana to
you. She'll be staying with us for the next few weeks."

She was already
somewhere else. The smile she managed was extremely distracted.
"That's nice dear. You remind me so much of your father. So
serious and worried all the time. Oh how I miss him."

"I know you do,
mother. Rachel and I miss him too."

I winced even as the
statement came out. It was one guaranteed to cause problems.

"You barely
remember him. Rachel's a good girl, but she was so young when he
died. She can't really miss him. Not like I miss him."

I wanted to argue, for
Rachel's sake if nothing else, but there wasn't any point.

"Will you play
something for us, mother? Adriana hasn't had the pleasure of
listening to your songs."

"No. You know
it's not ready. I'll tell you when I've perfected it. Yes, you can
bring Rachel, but I can't let anyone listen to it before it's ready."

The demands of
propriety fulfilled I bowed my head and then turned to leave. Mother
grabbed my arm, attempting to stop me.

"Don't be angry
with me Alec. You're all I have left."

"I'm not angry,
mother, but you're wrong. You have much more left than just me."

She shook her head
with a youthful smile. "Such a good boy."

I pulled Adri along
behind me. Rachel was already crying by the time we exited the
suite. She ran off as soon as she saw us. Adri started to follow,
but I recaptured her hand and shook my head.

"She just needs
a little time. Donovan will alert Jasmin."

Adri obviously wasn't
convinced. It wasn't necessarily my business, and Jasmin had been
nearly ready to send her back to Brandon, but I didn't want her to
continue to think of Jasmin as some kind of loose warhead.

"There's still a
lot you don't know about all of the others. There's much I could
tell you about Jasmin, but it isn't my story to share. Suffice it to
say, only Dominic has a greater capacity for empathy."

We walked in silence
to the Lilac Room, which was really a suite of rooms, and found
Donovan finishing preparations for Adri's stay.

"I trust your
mother was well, sir?"

My response was cut
off by the sound of a cell phone. Knowing Isaac's usual efficiency
there was no question but that the phone located on the bedside table
was the one used to forward their land line. I handed it to Adri.

"It's for you,
probably your mom. Pretend you're home, I'll explain once you're
finished."

A split second later
my phone started vibrating. I picked it up and stepped far enough
away that I wouldn't disturb Adri.

"Yeah?"

"Alec, we need
you over in my father's suite right now. He's reverted to his wolf
shape and it's all Isaac can do to stop him from hurting himself."

Jessica's normal
dislike of me had been replaced by fear for her father.

"I'll be there
as soon as I can."

"Please hurry."

Adri was just
finishing up her conversation as I hung up. She looked up from her
phone with surprise.

"You redirected
our calls?"

"Correct.
That's what Isaac was doing in the kitchen after your mom left. I
thought it might come to this, so I had him bring along some of his
toys. You'll want to change the message sometime tonight, so you can
let it roll to the voice mail if she calls while you're at school."

"You really do
think of everything don't you?"

It was hard not to
smile as her praise warmed me from the center out. "I don't
think you can go that far, but I try to anticipate most
eventualities."

Even as I made the
statement I was reminded of all the times I hadn't seen problems
coming and suddenly I felt every single hour since I'd last been
asleep nearly thirty-six hours ago.

"For most of my
life, there's been quite a bit riding on my ability to do so."

She again displayed
her uncanny ability to read me, and chose not to pursue a painful
line of questioning. I was already realizing just how hard it was to
deny her anything she really wanted to know.

"You got a call
too?"

I felt a spark of
guilt as I realized I'd nearly forgotten about Jess already.

"Yes. I'm
afraid something has come up. Will you be ok here for a few hours?"

Her shrug was
perfectly nonchalant, but her heart and breathing didn't match it.

"I rather
suspect whatever 'came up' is important enough I'll just have to be
ok."

I flinched as I
realized she'd already begun figuring out just how many demands there
were on me, just how many different ways there were for me to
disappoint her. I opened my mouth to try and make things better, but
my phone started buzzing. I nodded regretfully and hurried out of
the room.

I was almost at a full
run, but even so it took me five minutes to get to Andrew's suite. I
burst into the central room and found furniture scattered everywhere.
Jess was curled up in one corner crying while Isaac and Andrew were
a rolling, writhing ball on the floor.

Andrew was indeed in
his wolf form, attempting to break away from Isaac despite the
mangled back legs that were Agony's legacy. In a straight up fight,
even in his prime, Andrew wouldn't have been a match for Isaac, but
the latter had remained in his human form with all of its inherent
limitations to avoid hurting his adopted father.

Andrew looked up at me
with hatred in his yellow eyes and almost broke free of Isaac as he
threw himself in my direction. Isaac had flooded the room with power,
but in the age-old manner of parents, Andrew was refusing to heed the
imperative.

I took a deep breath
and then unleashed my beast. My hybrid form roared out with even
greater than usual violence, shredding my clothes and blasting all
three of the others with a torrent of power that washed away everyone
else's metaphysical presence.

I didn't plan on
hurting Andrew, but his beast was more likely to respect my hybrid
form than my other two.

"BOW, ANDREW!"

The imperative roared
out from me with all of the authority of Andrew's alpha, and his
struggles suddenly ceased. The hatred was still there, but it was
bridled by fear once again.

As Isaac carefully
released Andrew, I picked up a blanket from the back of the couch and
threw it over Jess' father."

"Change back to
your normal form."

He wasn't cushioned by
his rage anymore and the transformation pulled at ancient wounds with
such force that he screamed as his body folded in on itself. I
expected him to take a few minutes to regain his composure after the
change, but he started yelling at me as soon as he'd reformed his
vocal cords.

"You could have
gotten him killed, Alec."

"I'm aware of
that, Andrew. Nobody is more relieved than me that we all made it
through."

The hatred was
bubbling back to primacy so I sent out another pulse of power. It
helped. Andrew didn't really want to throw his life away by
attacking me, but he was an angry parent.

"It's bad enough
the risks you make them run on a daily basis, but things are getting
worse and this was all because of this new girl. It's not right for
you to place her above your pack mates."

He'd said too much,
and suddenly it was me that was trying to keep my furious beast in
check. Jess had no business running back to her father and
complaining that I'd stopped her from killing Adri.

"She didn't do
anything to deserve to die, and everyone seems to be quickly
forgetting that part of our reason for existence is to protect
innocent humans. Did Jess tell you she was ready to kill Adri
herself?"

He flinched. She'd
told him, but he'd made excuses for her.

"I'm not
courting danger casually, but I'm through sitting back and letting
Brandon's people slaughter innocents."

Andrew shook his head,
"We all know that's not why you did it, Alec. Of all the
things to breed true from your father, why did his unnatural
fascination with the humans have to be the one trait he passed on?"

I left before I could
lose control and kill him, but even after I'd put distance between
us, it was all I could do not to turn around and head back to his
suite. I wanted to go find Adri, but feared she'd pull back in
horror. I was too angry to shift out of my hybrid form and she'd
fainted the last time I'd approached her looking like this.

I angrily made my way
out to my father's shop and strapped myself into the machine.
Donovan found me near the planned end of my sets. He entered the
shop and then stopped well beyond striking range, once again
displaying his usual ability to sense the mood of those around him.

"What is it,
Donovan? Something wrong?"

He shook his head
slowly, but a slight uptick in his pulse gave lie to the calmness.

"No, sir. There
was an item I'd planned on discussing with you, but I think it best I
wait for a few days. The business side of things is going as
planned, and there isn't anything I can't handle for a day or two."

The beast inside of me
wanted an answer now, wanted to be faced with whatever Donovan didn't
want to talk about, but I knew better. I was trembling with
exhaustion but still entirely too dangerous. I'd take even the most
gentle of criticism poorly in my current state and Donovan was
correct to want to avoid me until that changed.

Rachel appeared as
Donovan was leaving.

"Alec, can I
take Adri shopping tomorrow? Not in Sanctuary, some place further
away, like Vegas. She needs clothes and stuff since she didn't get a
chance to pack before you guys left."

Rachel was normally
able to calm my beast, but it was all I could do not to snap at her.
I took a deep breath and then nodded. "You have my permission
as long as you can convince Dom and Jasmin to go with you. Even all
the way down there I want you to have some protection."

"Thanks, Alec.
I'll pick you up some new stuff too. Lately you've been tearing
through clothes even more often than normal."

Her impish grin
brought a smile to my face, but it still wasn't enough to truly make
me safe to be around. As she left I attacked the weight stack with
renewed determination, forcing my muscles further and harder than I'd
ever done before. Even past the clang of iron striking iron I was
able to hear the house slowly quiet down as everyone went to bed.

Finally it was only
Donovan who remained, working away in his office. I was long past
the point of exhaustion, so I headed back to my room, relieved to
have been able to avoid terrorizing Adri with my inability to control
my rage.

The lights were all
off, but it may as well have been high noon to my hybrid eyes. I
easily navigated the familiar halls of the house, silently slipping
into my room and then pulling up short as I found Adri sound asleep
on my bed.

The sight of her
peaceful slumber did what even multiple hours of weight lifting
hadn't managed. My anger evaporated and my form shrank back down to
the one I presented to the outside world.

The sudden exhaustion
of the last forty-eight hours struck with such force I nearly fell to
the floor. I was just able to make it to the bed, where I lay down
next to Adri. I needed a few seconds rest or I'd drop her before
making it even halfway to the Lilac Room.

Adri's violent
thrashing pulled me out of unintended slumber. She was breathing
heavily and trying to push herself into the wall with such force I
was afraid she'd hurt herself.

Without thinking I
reached out and clamped my arms around her, restraining her as I
called her name in an effort to wake her up.

The struggles abruptly
cut off as she finally came awake. She looked nearly as terrified of
me as she'd been of whatever she'd been dreaming about.

"Are you ok?
I'm sorry about that, I was afraid you were going to hurt yourself."

Adri blushed as she
finally realized she'd been dreaming

"I'm sorry. It
was a nightmare."

She seemed at the
point of telling me about the dream, but suddenly gasped as she took
in her surroundings.

"I'm so sorry
Alec. Donovan and Rachel told me you had copies of our textbooks in
here. I was studying and must have fallen asleep. Please don't
think..."

She looked as if she
might cry. I wondered how her parents ever had the heart to
discipline her. One look at those tear-filled eyes made me want to
give her anything she asked for. My words almost tripped over each
other as I hastened to reassure her. I reached out and hugged her
against me.