Broken (33 page)

Answering growls from Jasmin and Jessica
seemed to snap something inside of Alec. His tremble became more
pronounced. There was a ripping sound, and when I looked down at
his hands, they'd been replaced by the same wickedly-sharp claws I
remembered from the night before.

I must have let out a gasp, because Rachel
tightened her grasp on me and moved closer. She may have whispered
something comforting, but I couldn't hear it past the thunder of my
own heartbeat.

All three of them were moving towards us now.
It was so inhumanly smooth and slow the motion was almost
imperceptible, but I was somehow certain they were stalking us.
Stalking me. As soon as they got close enough to cover the
remaining distance in a single bound, they'd attack, and if Alec
had been sorely pressed fighting two of his kind last night, three
were almost certain to kill him.

Rachel pulled me around behind her and spoke
with a calm that seemed too concrete to be real. "Jasmin, please
don't do this. I'm not going to move. She doesn't mean anything to
you. What about me?"

Jasmin stopped moving. She was still shaking,
and when she looked up at me, her eyes still bubbled with hate, but
they were human again instead of the pale, ice blue from a moment
before.

With a visible effort of will, Jasmin closed
her eyes, calmed her shaking body, and then turned and quickly
walked out of the room.

I was just tall enough to see over Rachel and
take in what was going on in the rest of the room. James' eyes were
still yellow, and he was still inching his way towards me,
obviously undeterred by Jasmin's defection.

The Hispanic girl carefully closed the
distance between them, and then placed her slender, perfect dark
hand on James' arm once again as she leaned in and whispered
something in his ear. For a moment it seemed he was going to shake
her off again but then he shuddered, shot Alec another dirty look,
and stormed out of the room. The tiny form following after him
looked like a fragile schooner trailing along the edge of a
hurricane.

The room seemed so calm after James
disappeared, that for a second I forgot Jessica was still
half-crouched in the center of the room. Alec hadn't forgotten, and
if the waves of tension and energy rolling off of him weren't as
strong as the combined effects coming from all four of them, it
still felt like the walls should explode outwards.

Jessica seemed to shrink in on herself, and
then she turned and ran away with a final hiss of defiance. Isaac
looked up at Alec from the corner where he'd been quietly standing.
Alec's almost imperceptible nod sent him in the same direction as
Jessica.

Whatever meager survival instincts I had left
chose that moment to finally kick in, and I felt my knees begin to
give way. Rachel let out a high-pitched sound that had all of the
surprise of a squeal, but none of the excitement. Apparently Alec
knew how to interpret it. He turned back and caught me again before
I could hit the ground.

"There isn't anything to worry about now. Go
ahead and catch your breath."

As pleasant as it was to be in his arms
again, I was starting to worry he'd get tired of it. I pushed him
away as soon as I was reasonably confident my knees would support
me. "What's going on? Why are they so scared of Brandon?"

Alec shook his head. "This isn't the time; we
need to get you back home to your mom. It would be most unfortunate
if she were to arrive and find you gone."

My mind was still a little fuzzy, but it was
working well enough for me to know he was wrong. "No. She's not
going to be home until Sunday. There isn't any reason to go back
there yet."

I looked around for Rachel, but she'd
disappeared sometime between when I'd started falling, and when I'd
thought to thank her.

"You mean she wasn't planning on coming back
until Sunday. Once Brandon gets involved in things, they tend not
to go as expected."

I wanted to ask questions, but Rachel
appeared from a hallway. "He's right, Adriana. You need to be home
in case your mom returns sooner than expected. Things are going to
get plenty weird enough over the next couple of weeks. You don't
want to start out with your mom already mad at you."

Feeling very small inside at the thought of
going back by myself, I nodded. Alec apparently read the meaning of
my sudden change in expression. "Don't worry; I'm not going to send
you back alone. We'll make sure nothing happens to you."

Too scared to even muster a "ya right, they
all hate me," I simply waited while Alec flipped open an
ultra-slender cellphone, and made two calls. He spoke too quietly
for me to make out exactly what was being said. It seemed like he
was giving orders though, and that they weren't being received very
well.

A few minutes later I found myself being
bundled into the back seat of an unfamiliar car, which rapidly
filled up as first Jasmin, Isaac and the tiny Hispanic girl
arrived. Jasmin completely ignored me as she climbed into the car;
Isaac gave me a polite, if somewhat cool nod. The Hispanic girl
gave me an honest to goodness smile as she slipped behind the
steering wheel and started the engine. In what was one of the most
thoughtful things that'd happened all night, she turned the heater
on full as she pulled out of the driveway.

The drive into town, and then back out to my
house was quiet, but luckily didn't take as long as normal.
Apparently her timidness stopped well short of observing the speed
limit. Alec, Isaac, and Jasmin all jumped out of the car as soon as
my house was in sight. The car was still doing at least twenty
miles per hour when they bailed. They faded into the darkened
landscape about the time we rolled to a stop.

I went to open the door, but a delicate,
brown hand stopped me. "I'm sorry you've had such a rough night.
James and the others will come around eventually. Till then just
continue being brave and trust Alec. He really will move the cielos
to protect you."

She had a thick, beautiful Spanish accent.
For a second I was torn between complimenting her on it and asking
her what cielos meant. I finally just settled on faking a smile and
thanking her. She smiled at me. "No need to thank me. My name is
Dominic by the way."

A few seconds later I was standing alone,
nervously facing my house. Alec suddenly appeared at my side. I
jumped a little at the surprise.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

I shrugged as my breathing started to slow
down again. "It's ok. Where were you?"

"Scouting. We had to make sure Brandon's pack
wasn't waiting for us."

"How can you be sure? They could be hidden
anywhere."

Alec shook his head, his eyes strangely
gentle. "No, if they were hanging around outside we'd be able to
smell them."

"So not only are you faster and stronger than
normal people, you've also got noses like real wolves?"

"Of a sort. That's not really important
though. Let's get you inside."

I nodded and started towards the door, only
to blink as Alec stepped in front of me. "May I have permission to
enter and make sure it's safe inside?"

I slowed down, suddenly terrified at the
thought of Brandon and his friends waiting inside for me. "I
thought you said you'd be able to smell them if they were
here."

"If they were outside, yes. Under normal
circumstances we'd be able to determine whether or not they'd been
here in the last few days, but the rainstorm last night was strong
enough to wash away all of that."

Alec waited patiently as I tried to get a
grip on myself. As soon as I nodded he disappeared through the
door. A few seconds later he was back. "It's safe; there's no trace
of them."

He held the door open for me, and then
slipped outside. "You need to erase any evidence that you weren't
here all night. Take a shower, change into some of your own
clothes, and then go to sleep. We'll keep watch outside until your
mom gets back."

I opened my mouth to ask what would happen
after that, but he was already gone, moving so quickly through the
darkness that I wasn't even sure which direction he'd headed.

I locked the door for the first time since
we'd arrived in Sanctuary, turned on all the downstairs lights, and
then slowly walked upstairs. It was crazy to be scared that Alec
had somehow missed someone, but I couldn't shake the feeling I was
being watched. Once I finally made it upstairs, I checked both
rooms, and the bathroom, before finally relaxing a little.

I showered quickly, carefully making sure the
smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke was out of my hair, and then
changed into clean clothes and collapsed onto my bed. I was
exhausted, but I couldn't fall asleep. Every time I closed my eyes,
I saw dark shapes hurtling towards me.

After looking at the clock for what seemed to
be the thousandth time, I finally got up and went downstairs. The
lights were still blazing, just as I'd left them. I debated for
several seconds before opening the door and stepping out into the
darkness. Somehow the porch light didn't seem to reach out as far
into the yard as I'd remembered.

Alec appeared on the edge of the light with
such suddenness that a startled yelp escaped me despite my best
efforts.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten
you."

Strangely enough, I believed him. He was
moving with the same, over-controlled care I'd seen him use around
Rachel. "It's ok, it must be really limiting to always have to
pretend you're slow and normal."

His expression took on an alien cast, as he
shrugged.

"Actually I've spent so much of my life
trying to hide the unusual aspects of my nature, it's usually
second nature. For some reason, I forget myself around you."

There was something to his voice, but even
after he'd hinted at having strong feelings for me, it was hard to
really believe it all. At least not without an outright admission
on his part.

Seeking to distract myself from a thoroughly
useless train of thought, I looked around, trying vainly to pierce
the curtain of black hanging around the feeble circle of light.
"Are they out there waiting now?"

Alec shook his head. "No, I'd already have
come and carried you away if any of Brandon's people were around.
Barring that, you'd hear us fighting. Mere doors and windows
wouldn't do much to muffle the sound."

"You'd be fighting, because of me."

Alec slowly crossed the distance between us,
and took one of my shoulders in each of his hands. "Please don't
try and take the blame for this. We've been on a collision course
with Brandon's pack for years."

His touch was intoxicating. I could feel warm
tingles start from my shoulders and work their way down my arms. A
full two seconds of silence passed before I realized he'd asked me
why I'd come downstairs. "I can't sleep. I've been trying, but I'm
too wound up to do anything but just lie there. I thought I'd come
downstairs and talk to you instead. I mean unless it's bothering
you. You know, keeping you from patrolling or something."

That last bit hadn't really been planned. I'd
wanted to come downstairs and talk to him, but wouldn't have dreamt
of just saying it outright. Maybe it was the natural high I got
simply from being around him.

Alec's smile was brief, but it felt like the
first one I'd seen since he'd been forced to save me. I couldn't
blame him from being worried about how this was going to further
strain already tense relations with Brandon's pack. Still, the
transforming expression made me realize just how badly I'd missed
his other face, the one that wasn't stern and serious all of the
time.

"No, you're not bothering me in the
slightest. Jasmin or Isaac either one could easily keep watch. Our
sense of smell and hearing are good enough that it's all but
impossible for even other wolves to catch us unawares. They're here
more in the role of bodyguards. If Brandon's people do show up,
it'll likely take all three of us to get you away safely."

"So you don't mind? You'll stay here and talk
to me?"

Alec paused for several seconds, which wasn't
promising. Then again, he hadn't released my shoulders yet, so
maybe there was still some hope. "I'm not sure that's the best
idea. You really need your sleep. The whole purpose of this little
exercise is to convince your mom you've been safely home this
entire time. If you crash later in the day, she's going to know you
didn't sleep tonight."

"Maybe if you stayed with me it would help me
sleep." I almost couldn't believe those words were really coming
out of my mouth. I wanted to blame it on how close he was standing,
or how tired I was, or anything else that might be remotely
believable, but based on how serious his face had just become, it
was too late to take it all back.

"That doesn't strike me as being a much
better solution."

I felt my neck and face begin to burn from
embarrassment. I took a step back, and reached for the door, hoping
to beat a quick retreat before I could humiliate myself further,
but he stopped me with a surprisingly gentle hand. "I'm sorry; that
didn't come out as intended. If it would help you sleep of course
I'll come upstairs and sit with you. It's the least I can do after
allowing you to be dragged into this mess."

Alec followed me upstairs, and then slid down
the wall to sit on the floor as I sat down on my bed. As soon as I
was comfortable he reached up and flipped off the light.

"Hey, I can't see you now."

His laugh was like silk. It reached out, and
smoothed away the last of the embarrassment. "The deal was I would
come up here so you could sleep. You aren't going to fall asleep if
the light is on and you're staring at me."

"Fine, the light can be off, but I get to ask
you questions still, and you need to start giving me real
answers."