Riven

by Dean Murray

  The only saving grace to anything about the planning process was the fact that it was Alec that I was going to be marrying. Actually it wasn't entirely fair to blame my current condition completely on the wedding planning, at least not directly. I was also plenty worried about the fact that my mom had flown into town and was currently less than five minutes away from the estate.

  I checked my watch again and then realized that the ETA had been wrong as three vehicles pulled into the massive circular driveway in front of Alec and Rachel's house. I didn't know how they'd managed it around everything else, but James and Ash had been working with some of the world's best bodyguards over the last few weeks and everything they'd been learning had resulted in security arrangements that were even more paranoid than what they'd been able to think of on their own.

  Today the 'principal' was in the second vehicle in the convoy but I already knew that Mom was probably going to be in the middle car. They sometimes put us in the first car, but they seemed to prefer the middle SUV and they never put us in the back vehicle.

  James escorted my mom into the house while Grayson and the others kept watch. I met Mom at the door and gave her a hug. "Hi, Mom. I hope your flight was okay."

  "It was absolutely lovely, dear. I have to say I could really get used to the idea of never flying commercial again. Just bypassing airport security would be more than enough to hook me. When you throw in the gourmet meals it pretty much outclasses everything else."

  I found myself smiling. Mom didn't seem to be holding a grudge over the way that Alec and I had pressured her into letting me stay here. I honestly hadn't been sure either way, but this would make the conversation we were about to have much easier than it otherwise would have been.

  "I'm glad that Alec was able to spare one of the jets for you. Do you want to swing by your room to freshen up?"

  We were passing one of the sitting rooms. I couldn't remember the proper name for it, so I always thought of it as the white leather room. Mom looked over as if she were about to respond and then missed a step.

  "Adriana Paige. I raised you from a baby. What secret are you getting ready to ambush me with? You're not pregnant, are you?"

  I felt myself blush and looked back at James and Carson who were walking several paces back to give us the faintest illusion of privacy. I knew they'd still be able to hear everything we said, but I couldn't tell my mom that, not without tipping her off to the fact that our bodyguards were more than just human.

  "I'm not pregnant, Mom. That would be...well, it would be impossible."

  She gave me a look that said she wasn't so sure, but I knew I wasn't pregnant. Alec was holding resolutely to his decision to wait until after we got married. He was right and I agreed with him, but that didn't mean that there weren't occasional times when the temptation made me want to scream.

  "Okay, out with it then."

  "Can I take you someplace first?"

  "How long will it take for us to get there? You know how much I hate not knowing a secret."

  "We can be there in fifteen minutes."

  Mom gestured for me to lead the way. "Okay, but once we get there just come right out and tell me, no beating around the bush."

  The trip out to the park was uneventful despite all of the security. Alec's plan seemed to be working. Jaclyn and Louis' packs hadn't moved yet but they'd started letting shape shifters from south of the border through their territories and it was starting to put more pressure on some of the other packs.

  I suspected that some of the people being impacted had already decided that Alec was the devil, but the Flagstaff and Scottsdale packs had just sworn allegiance to him over the last few days. That brought us up to a total strength of six packs, seven if you counted the Chicago pack. It meant that things had gotten even busier around the estate and Alec had continued to increase my traveling security detachment as more bodies had become available.

  Mom and I rode in the back of a golf cart this time around. Enough progress had been made on the cobblestone driveway between the house and the park that we didn't have to take the noisy ATV's anymore.

  My breath caught a little as we came up over the hill and I saw the park again. I hadn't been out to see it in more than a week and an incredible amount of progress had been made in the intervening time.

  The sod had all been put down and the decorative streams were being given their finishing touches. Even more amazing was how gorgeous the decorative arches were looking. Mom grabbed my hand and squeezed it in amazement.

  "Adri, is this what you've been working on since you got here? It's breathtaking."

  I chuckled despite myself. "If you call spending an obscene amount of Alec's money to hire professionals 'working,' then yes, I've been working on this for weeks now. It's...well, it's going to be where Alec and I get married."

  Mom took a deep breath and then mustered up a smile. "I wondered how long it would be before he asked you. I don't see as deeply as Russ does, but even I could see how much he loved you when we were here last. Have you set a date?"

  "Yes, but you're not going to be happy...it's really, really soon."

  "How come I'm not surprised?"

  "Maybe because you're used to your daughter doing stupid things?"

  She frowned at that. "Do you think marrying Alec is stupid?"

  "No. I don't think marrying Alec is stupid, I don't even think that marrying Alec this quickly is stupid. I do think it's stupid to try and put together such a massive ceremony this quickly though."

  I got another of those knowing mother looks and then she looked back out over the park and nodded. "It's gorgeous, but you're right, this isn't you, Adri, not really. Have you told Alec?"

  I shook my head. "He's got a lot on his mind right now. Besides, he warned me in advance that our wedding would be completely over the top."

  "You may be right that nothing can be done about the situation, Adri, but you owe it to Alec to at least tell him what you're feeling. If you're not careful the two of you will grow apart without even realizing it's happening."

  "Okay, you're probably right, Mom. I'll talk to Alec and tell him that the lavish amounts of money he's spending on the wedding aren't my cup of tea."

  She shook her head at my half joke and then sighed and leaned in close enough she could whisper. "Is Alec involved in something illegal, dear?"

  It was the absolute last thing I'd expected out of my mom, but I managed to keep my voice level as I responded. "Why would you even ask that?"

  "I'm fairly oblivious to most things, sweetie, but even I can tell that all of these buff young men are bodyguards. The group that picked us up from the airport last time wasn't nearly this big. What's happened?"

  "Alec pissed off some really powerful people by doing the right thing a little while ago. It's just a precaution really, but it makes him happy to know that I'm safe. Alec isn't into anything he shouldn't be, trust me on that one."

  I got another considering look and then she finally nodded her acceptance of my answer. "Are you happy, sweetie? Are you really sure that this is what you want to do? Not something that you feel like you should be doing, but really something that you want with all of your heart?"

  That question was easier to answer. "Yes, Mom. I'm not keen on how swanky the wedding is going to be and I don't love having a bodyguard within shouting distance twenty-four hours a day, but I love Alec and I want to marry him more than anything else."

  "Okay. I won't get in the way then. I'll sign whatever papers you need me to sign since you're a minor, but only on one condition."

  My chest tightened up but I took a deep breath to steel myself against whatever it was and then nodded. I almost fell out of the cart when she pulled an engagement ring out of her pocket and slid it onto her finger.

  "Russ asked me to marry him. Our ceremony won't be for months still, but I want you there when it takes place."

  I felt tears making their way down my face. It was so soon after Dad had died, but somehow that w
asn't as important anymore. I was gone, which meant that Mom was all alone. If Russ made her happy then I wasn't going to stand in her way. Besides, despite my best efforts Russ had grown on me.

  "Of course I'll be there, Mom. Wild horses couldn't keep me away."

  We spent nearly an hour walking through the park. I showed her all of the little bells and whistles that Rachel and Kami had added to the area. The conversation was less strained than I remembered it being from before. Even more amazingly, Mom talked less about work than she used to. Instead she told me about dates with Russ, romantic dinners and fun day trips that they'd taken over the last few weeks.

  Once I got over my amazement that anything had managed to tear Mom away from work, I found myself smiling more than I had in a long time. If Russ had been able to remind my mom that there was more to life than photography then he really was the right guy for her.

  We'd just finished looking at the hedges around the lip of the amphitheater when Carson and James hurried over.

  "We need to get back to the mansion right now."

  I didn't resist as Carson grabbed my arm and guided me back to the cart. "What happened?"

  "The main power feed to the house from the city just went down but the houses in Sanctuary still have power."

  "So the first move in some kind of attack?"

  "It's hard to say. The backup generator kicked on without any problems so there hasn't been any kind of breach in our security yet, but we should get you both back to the house now just in case."

  Instead of getting in the cart Carson led me over to one of the ATV's that were parked nearby and then brought his hand up so that he could talk into his radio.

  "Snowflake is returning from the oasis. Support would be appreciated."

  A few seconds later we were tearing cross-country back towards the house. The ride was the kind of hair-raising trip that you could only manage with superhuman reflexes, but it made sense that Carson wouldn't want to bring me back via the normal route.

  I risked a look back to verify that James and Mom weren't too far back and nearly lost my grip on Carson when he took us around a particularly tight corner. After that I paid more attention to where we were going. Halfway to the estate Isaac and Dominic came into view driving matched ATVs and I caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye that I was pretty sure was Peter and Jane shadowing us on four legs.

  Mom had probably forgotten that we'd started out with four bodyguards, but I hadn't. Knowing that the two wolves from the Tucson pack were out there using their superior noses to make sure that we weren't ambushed was an even greater reassurance than I'd expected it to be.

  Less than five minutes after the alarm sounded, Mom and I were being ushered into the house. Mom was taking the whole thing more calmly than I'd expected her to, but I knew I was going to have to answer some difficult questions once she was convinced that we were safe again. I was busy trying to come up with reassurances that weren't outright lies when the lights suddenly went out.

  There was enough light from nearby windows to prevent total darkness, but Mom grabbed my hand with fear-born strength at a second sign that we were probably under attack. I gasped in pain and collapsed into the wall. As Carson started to pull me back to my feet I realized that I could hear someone through the wall.

  "...no, I haven't changed my mind. I'm not going to go talk to her, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't still be keeping tabs on her. Then find her, damn it! She's more important than you know. If I don't know that she's okay then it's going to be that much harder to stop myself from going to her. No, you don't have any idea what the fallout would be like if that happened."

  The power went back on, drowning the voice out in a storm of white noise as Carson finally lost patience with me and bodily picked me up. The trip down to the secure vault under the mansion took another five minutes, but I spent every second of it wondering who Shawn had been talking to.

  Chapter 13

  Alec Graves

  Graves Estate

  Sanctuary, Utah

  I hadn't spent nearly enough time with Adri lately, but the craziness of our second phantom alarm nearly caused me to put off our date for a second time. Our loss of power hadn't ended up being an attack, but it had still been concerning. If it had been any other day I might have let circumstances get in the way, but I couldn't do that, not for this particular date.

  It wasn't supposed to be possible for the entire house to lose power like that. Donovan and I had rushed down to the backup generator only moments after the lights had gone out. I'd been expecting sabotage. I hadn't expected for it to be Rachel.

  She'd given me a cheery smile and then looked up at the ceiling for several seconds before absently restarting the generator and then skipping over to me without a word. Once we were back in her room I tried for several seconds to get an answer out of her as to why she'd killed the power, but she'd just pointed out the window she'd used to escape her room and mumbled something about a storm.

  Dominic had been mortified that Rachel had slipped away during Dom's shift, but none of us had expected Rachel to sneak out like that. It was one more thing to worry about, but at least Vivian's return and her willingness to swear fealty meant that we had enough females in the house to keep a constant watch on Rachel now without using Jess, who was less and less reliable with each day that passed.

  Once Rachel was safely tucked away again, I'd then had to spend nearly two hours reassuring various guests that it all hadn't been some kind of attack by the Coun'hij. That in turn made me late for dinner with Adri and her mom which proved to be a pleasant, if occasionally tense, affair.

  Dinner ran long, partly because I wanted to spend extra time with my future mother-in-law, and partly because I just couldn't bear to tear myself away from Adri once I was actually with her. Once I did finally excuse myself from the table, I stole two hours with Donovan to review finances and then I crammed in a session lifting weights on the machine.

  The next day arrived too soon. I only needed a few hours of sleep each night, but I still felt like I'd come up half an hour short. Given all of the other demands on my time, the last thing I wanted to be doing was to spend an hour running, but I wasn't a human-style CEO. My ability was currently providing me a pass when it came to physical confrontations, but I knew it would be foolish to let my conditioning slide. My ability probably wouldn't work on a werewolf, and even if it did, it was only a matter of time before I ran into some other situation that could only be dealt with using claws and talons.

  Jasmin and Dominic accompanied me on my run since they were the only two who could keep up with me. We shifted to four legs and ran along an arc that toured the very edge of our territory. Despite my begrudging the time involved, there was no arguing with the fact that I enjoyed the act of running.

  Being in the dark, on four legs, with the soft light of trees and bushes flickering past me, was an almost Zen-like experience. Taking a motorcycle or a car right up to its limits came close, but still didn't touch this. There was nothing between my paws and the ground and I relished the instant feedback as I threw myself over fallen trees and around large rocks.

  By the end of the run, Jasmin and I were panting and all three of us were exhausted. Dominic fell into formation on my left side as we entered the garden and I suddenly realized that she'd put on another inch through the shoulder. I found myself smiling inside as I realized that someone was going to get a surprise today during our sparring session. If Dom was putting on a growth spurt then she was going to be correspondingly stronger and faster.

  By the time I'd had breakfast, sat through the longest formal reception yet, and then had lunch, I was more than ready for the sparring session that followed. Unfortunately the sparring session wasn't as satisfying as I'd expected it to be. Shawn's presence at the estate, but not his purpose, had leaked, so he joined us and then I proceeded to run him all around the circle of sand.

  I'd expected as much given that Shawn hadn't spen
t the last few years in a state of near-constant skirmish with Brandon's pack like I had, but I didn't expect for Grayson to do much the same to me.

  At first I thought I was just losing my edge, but that wasn't it. I hit Grayson with some of my best moves and he countered them with combinations that I'd never seen. He was aggressive, but there was something missing there, maybe a lack of commitment that would have otherwise allowed him to take me down in the first few seconds of the fight. As it was I managed to stretch things out for nearly a full minute before he finally managed a clinch and took me to the ground.

  He demonstrated greater than usual control of his beast and rolled away without having to be pulled off of me, but even after he was several feet away I stayed on the ground reconstructing the last few seconds of the fight. It was like the difference between a street fighter and a classically trained martial artist. I had experience and pure aggression on my side, but he'd stayed a step ahead of me nearly the entire fight. It could have gone the other way with a little luck on my side, but it was one more piece of evidence that there was more to Grayson than met the eye. No dispossessed would have such a complete breadth of training. There were only a few packs that had maintained their integrity for long enough to be able to muster the knowledge base required to produce someone like Grayson.

  Ulrich's pack topped the list, but I knew Grayson hadn't ever belonged to the Chicago pack, just like I knew he hadn't been part of any of the others that were possibilities. He was still holding out on me and I was running out of time to convince him that I was one of the good guys.

  For all that I'd received the most thorough trouncing I'd suffered through in months, the sparring session was over all too soon. I cleaned up and then jumped on an encrypted conference call with Ash, Donovan, and the pack leaders who'd sworn to me. Just because they'd promised obedience didn't mean that they were all completely ready to give up jockeying for position, and I nearly lost my temper more than once during the course of the call. The only thing that got me through the call was the knowledge that Adri would be waiting for me as soon as we were done.