by Murray, Dean
Dom and the other submissives were milling around the outside of the circle while James and Jasmin were obviously trying to keep Isaac from interfering. I opened my mouth, maybe to ask everyone to calm down, and Jack sprang at Jess.
Scraps of cloth went flying as both fighters shifted and clinched. Their coloration was too similar. For a second it looked like Jess was on top and then the pair shifted around again and I lost track of who was who.
Big splashes of crimson stained the sand now and the growls were interspersed with whines of pain. The rest of the pack wasn't hindered by my merely human eyes. I watched them out of a corner of my eye for some clue of who was winning.
Isaac crouched forward as a particularly loud yelp signaled trouble for Jess. On the other side of the circle Alison had shrunk down on all four paws. Jack had been her friend for years but she mostly just seemed like she wanted the fighting to stop.
The whirling bundle of fangs and blood wasn't moving as quickly now. It looked like Jack was on top now, his fangs fastened on Jess's throat. She unsuccessfully tried to shake him off and then stopped moving with a final whine.
Isaac knocked James and Jasmin back and crossed over to Jack, ripping him off of Jess. The movements were so fast I had to intuit them based off of their effects. The rest of the pack seemed to spring into action at the same time. There was a flurry of motion, but the only thing I registered was Isaac following Jack's flying form, intent on finishing the smaller wolf.
Alec had been standing next to me, but somehow he arrived at Jack first. Alec's hulking hybrid form knocked Isaac to one side and then spun around just in time to catch Jack mid-spring. James arrived a split second later to help restrain Isaac. I'd expected to see Jasmin accompanying him, but she'd joined Dom in facing down Sam and Alison, who looked like they wanted to help their friend.
Jack was thrashing in Alec's grip now, and Isaac had turned on James with a killing fury. Even I could see there wasn't time for Alec to be gentle, not with the growing pool of blood around Jess. Alec threw Jack up against a tree and then turned and tackled Isaac.
"You're stopping us from helping Jess!"
The words came out deep and harsh from Alec's shifted throat, but they got through to Isaac. He stopped struggling instantly and James and Alec rolled off him a few seconds later. I half expected Jack to rush Isaac again. Instead as Isaac melted back down into his normal human form, Jack limped over to Alec and dropped down so his belly was in the sand.
Dom had already shifted back and was applying pressure to the worst of Jess' injuries. Alec took in Jess' wounds and then turned back to Jack. "Stay out of Isaac's way."
Alec waved James and Jasmin after Isaac and Dom and then hurried back to me. "I've got to go with them. James will need help if…well, if things go badly. It's not safe for you back at the house right now. Are you okay here for half an hour or so? Then you can have Alison bring you back."
My mind shied away from the implications of what he'd just avoided saying. Jess dead, Isaac losing control and having to be restrained. Alec was right. There were too many people back at the house already who couldn't protect themselves. Rachel, Donovan, Alec's mom. Plus James' mom and Jess' dad.
Alison's welcoming presence notwithstanding, I probably would have just headed back up the mountain by myself so as to avoid being around Jack. Alec was right though. If Vincent really hadn't cleared out of the area I'd be much safer with Alison and Sam around than off by myself.
Alec waited for my nod of acceptance and then turned back to Jack and the others. "If anything happens to Adri that you could have stopped, I'll hunt you all down."
It could have been an idle threat, but the words were accompanied by a flash of power. I'd never felt anything like it before, but it sounded like Alec had just bound both him and his beast. If they let me get hurt, then his beast would essentially take over and run the three of them to the ground. It wasn't a thing to do lightly but it was exactly the kind of thing I'd come to expect out of Alec. He always did his absolute best to take care of those who depended on him.
As soon as the three submissive wolves nodded understanding, Alec took off in a blur. The fact that he was moving so quickly and didn't bother changing back to his human form was a testament to just how badly he was needed back at the house.
As Jack melted back into his normal form Alison and Sam hurried over to his side.
"Stay back a little please, Adri. Until we know for sure how bad his injuries are, he isn't safe."
Alison's pleasant alto voice was distorted slightly with worry, worry for Jack, worry for me, worry for herself if something happened to me.
Sam looked up just enough to confirm that I was keeping my distance and then nodded. "She's right. When one of us is injured past a certain point our beasts can sometimes take over. It doesn't happen often, but when it does the injured wolf goes berserk."
Alison used a length of cloth off of her discarded shirt to stem some of the bleeding, placing Sam's hands on the area to apply pressure before she moved on to the next injury while he continued explaining.
"If there's a powerful, dominant hybrid around they can compel the injured beast into submission, but if there isn't, your best bet is to just beat on the injured wolf until it collapses into a coma and then try and keep it alive once it's not trying to rip your head off."
I was pretty sure Alec wouldn't have been overjoyed to know that his newest wolves were letting so much slip, but I wasn't about to tell him. I'd spent entirely too much time wishing I knew exactly this kind of stuff. He claimed my ignorance would help protect me but I was less and less convinced he was right the more I found out about his world.
I shifted around so I could see Jack's face. He looked unconscious, which probably meant he was safe, at least until he woke up, but I didn't get any closer.
"What happened? I mean I know dominance challenges are kind of a fact of life in a shape shifter pack, but this seemed crazy. I mean I don't think I've ever seen Isaac lose his cool like that."
Sam looked at Alison for a second and I was momentarily struck by just how odd their pairing was. She was one of the kindest people I knew. I mean like Rachel or Dominic kind. He was much more edgy, not Jack or James edgy, but edgy enough I wouldn't have expected him to fall in love with Alison or for her to return the sentiment. Then again, it seemed like everyone in the pack had some kind of odd love interest. James and Dom, Isaac and Jess. Heck, when you got right down to it, those were normal compared to the thought of rich, gorgeous, perfect Alec liking me.
Sam cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Actually, I think that was my fault. I was trying to calm Jack down, you know how he gets. Anyways I was trying to point out the stupidity of going after Jess when she was with Isaac. It sort of came out wrong and I think I pissed him off."
Things had been pretty tense before. The night Alec had rescued me from two of Brandon's wolves, Jasmin, Jess and James had nearly staged a coup d'état. Still there had always been the sense that the bonds the pack had forged while standing up to Brandon's pack were ultimately too strong to allow that kind of catastrophe to take place.
I was starting to wonder though how much of the unity had been shared closeness and how much of it had simply been an understanding that they had to all hang together or Brandon would hang them individually.
"I always thought things would get better after we beat Brandon. I never imagined that they could actually get worse. At least we helped get the three of you out from under his thumb. Every day must have been terrifying with him, Cassie and Vincent around."
Sam shrugged but didn't look up from Jack's still-bleeding form. "It's all about the same. The life of a submissive pretty much sucks wherever you are. At least there we…"
I saw Alison look up out of the corner of my eye, the movement inhumanly fast, an expression that almost looked like terror on her face before it settled into the expressionless mask I was realizing all of the submissives developed.
"Sam!"
&
nbsp; "Sorry." He looked up at me as he said it, leaving me with the impression he hadn't been sorry, that there was more he'd have told me if Alison wasn't there.
It was one of the more disturbing conversations I'd had recently. I'd been through more with Alec's pack in the last couple of months than I like to think about. They'd primarily been backing up Alec, but by doing so they'd also supported me when it would have been easier to give me to Brandon and just hope for the best.
I didn't really like all of them, but I'd thought I could trust them. If someone was going around abusing the three new members of the pack then they weren't the person I'd thought they were.
Chapter 3
I was sleeping alone these days. Not that Alec and I had ever done anything more than just sleep. Frankly I was still a little freaked out about the idea of crossing that line. Most girls my age seemed to do that kind of stuff without a second thought, but it wasn't something I was eager to jump into. Still, I really did miss waking up next to Alec every morning.
Alison and Sam had stabilized Jack and then we'd headed back to the house. The three of them actually lived in one of the smaller dwellings scattered around the grounds, but Alison had been uncharacteristically firm and demanded that I let her accompany me all the way to my room.
It'd been looking like she was going to camp out on my floor until Alec showed back up to release her from the assignment to protect me. Luckily Rachel had shown up and shooed her off. A normal human like me, Rachel shouldn't have really had any standing in the pack. If it wasn't for the fact that Alec had invested her with a hefty chunk of his authority as alpha, she would have been a second-class citizen.
From what little bit I'd been able to tease out of the various members of the pack it was an unheard of measure for an alpha to take. It was a sign of both just how much Alec trusted her and how much he loved her. Not every brother would put himself that much in harm's way just to make his sister's life a little more bearable.
When Rachel had told Alison that she'd accept responsibility with Alec if something happened to me, it was enough to reassure Alison she could leave.
Rachel hadn't had much in the way of news. Apparently Jess's wounds were a lot worse even than I'd realized, and the rest of the pack was busy dealing with the fallout.
I'd thought about calling Alec for an update. I'd really wanted to hear his voice at least, but given the fact that he had been forced to shift without stripping down to the stretchy ha'bit they all wore, his phone was probably still up at the training ground. I should have thought to grab it before I left.
Rachel had tried to reassure me that everything would be okay, but she was too worn around the edges for it to be very believable. The tip-toeing, waiting-for-the-other-shoe-to-drop feeling hadn't just been impacting the shape shifters. It didn't help that she seemed to have caught some kind of bug. Nothing serious, just enough to deplete her energy levels.
It was actually a relief when she finally left. Pretending that we weren't worried, that everything was bound to be okay was surprisingly exhausting. I'd nibbled on some of the dry food Alec had packed for the picnic, finished up some of the homework I'd been procrastinating and then finally turned in a good three hours early.
With a solid night's sleep behind me, lonely though it had been, I felt quite a bit better. I hurried through my morning routine and sighed in relief when I found Alec waiting for me at the breakfast table.
He poured me a bowl of my favorite cold cereal and a tall glass of orange juice and then held my chair as I sat down. He'd been on a real 'Adri needs to eat' kick ever since I'd been injured.
"Is Jess going to be okay?"
"It looks that way. We'll have to keep her home for a day or two to avoid all kinds of questions at school, but she seems stable. Past the point of us having to worry she's going to lose control and attack Dom or Donovan."
I nodded in relief and then started in on my cereal. Alec would either tell me more or not. I'd pretty much learned that there was no point pestering him for more information.
"It's going to play havoc with everyone's schedule though. Isaac was scheduled for a couple of business trips over the next little bit. We're trying to sweep up as much of Brandon's financial empire as we can before the vultures start circling. A lot of his factors aren't particularly trustworthy. Once they stop getting instructions from the top we can probably convince them to sell off pieces at huge discounts. He's always relied mostly on fear to keep his people in line."
The sudden concern with cash was the last thing I'd expected out of Alec. "I thought we, I mean you, were pretty much set for life."
Alec nodded. "Donovan's got more assets under management than any eight people could conceivably spend in a lifetime as long as they exercised a modicum of restraint. It's not about that though. Half of the reason we were able to hold Brandon off as long as we did was the fact that we had considerably more economic clout than he did."
Alec finished peeling his orange and shrugged. "Standing off a more powerful opponent is all about making them understand that although they could kill you, they'd get hurt too badly in the process to make it worthwhile. If we can't do that physically, there's always the chance we can do it economically."
"So we're not really out of the woods yet then?"
"I'm afraid not."
After news like that I really didn't want to eat. We'd barely scraped through our last near-death situation, and we'd been a relatively tight-knit group then. How could we possibly survive another if we were eating at each other like this?
"I got confirmation last night. Your mom will be flying back into town soon."
"Great. It's like knowing I've got to go back to prison."
Alec's expression solidified into the mask he'd always used when dealing with Brandon. "Actually I think it would be a good idea for you to go home today after school. Given how things have been recently it would be safer for you there."
It was like being dunked in ice water. He continued on while I was still trying to come up with the right protest.
"Donovan had your house cleaned last week so you won't need to worry about that, but it'd probably be best if you were there for a couple of days to give it a more lived-in feel. I know that Rachel will want to spend some time over there if you'll have her. She's been chomping at the bit to exercise some of the freedom available her now that the threat of Brandon's pack isn't continually hanging over us."
I nodded, not because I was convinced, but because I knew fighting with him over something like this wasn't the way to go. Whoever had said that bit about picking your battles had probably been thinking of Alec when they'd said it.
"Will you come over too? Maybe stay the night?"
A trace of longing flashed across his face before the mask mostly settled back into place. "I'm not sure that's a good idea. Things are still too unsettled around here. I'd thought maybe they were cooling down a bit, but you saw what happened when we left on that picnic."
It was probably even true, but it wasn't the only reason. He was still fixated on that Ja'tell bond, still trying to do what he thought was the right thing.
**
The drive into school was more subdued than normal. Rachel even forwent her usual plea for Alec to put a better stereo system in her car. When our motorcade rolled into school it was to more of the furtive looks and hushed conversations I'd come to expect.
I kept telling myself that nobody our age was going to be able to keep the disappearance of nearly all of Brandon's pack at the forefront of their minds forever. It was hard to believe that with the police in the school every day though.
I'd been pulled in for questioning twice already. I'd stuck to the story Alec had outlined. We'd all been together roasting marshmallows around a campfire to finish out our Ashure Day celebration. I hated lying to the cops, to anyone really, but the police especially. Alec was right though, it wasn't like we could tell them the truth. Nobody would ever believe that Brandon had been an evil shape shifter ou
t to kill Alec and enslave the rest of us.
The well-known rivalry between Alec and Brandon made us immediate suspects. If not for the fact that apparently the local judge and chief of police both owed Alec some pretty huge favors things probably would have gotten worse.
I'd expected Alison, Sam and Jack being with us to take some of the pressure off, but so far it hadn't helped. Still, Jasmin was right. As long as we all stuck to the same story eventually the police would have to close the case. Alec apparently had a whole team of very high-powered lawyers on his payroll and they'd already started making noises about police harassment.
Some of the pack members had swapped their classes around now that Rachel and I didn't need constant babysitting, but I still shared Biology with Alec. Mrs. Sorenson had seriously mellowed out in the last few weeks, so as long as we kept it down we pretty much had carte blanche.
Normally Alec used the time to tease more details out of me regarding my life before Sanctuary. He was just as attentive as ever, but I could tell there was something bothering him. My mom coming back? The escalating tension among the rest of the pack? I discarded a dozen different ideas on how to pull him out of his shell, and then class was over.
Alec gingerly hugged me, no skin on skin contact, as he dropped me off at English and then it was time to face Britney again. Actually it was all much less dramatic than that, but outside of the pack, Britney was my biggest concern.
She'd taken Brandon's disappearance incredibly hard. Not only had she liked him, apparently he or one of his pack had let slip that they were headed over to kick the crap out of us. Given the way her father had been poking at some of the inevitable anomalies that had surfaced lately, it seemed only a matter of time before he started believing her. Her history of lying to manipulate him had so far been working against her, but she showed no sign of backing down over her claims that Alec's friends had to be involved in Brandon's disappearance, and the uncharacteristic determination was bound to eventually convince him. He wasn't in law enforcement or anything, but he was pretty well-respected. So if he really started pushing, it was bound to cause more problems.