Torn (23 page)

My phone vibrated as
Jasmin texted to warn me that Adri's mother had just turned onto
their lane. I stood and walked back over to Adri's bed.

"Adriana, it's
time to wake up now."

She made a tired,
satisfied sound, but obviously wasn't ready to awake yet. I sat down
on the edge of the bed and tucked a stray hair behind her ear and
tried again.

"Adriana Paige,
your mother's on her way."

I was on my fourth
iteration when she abruptly sat up, nearly knocking me off of the
bed.

"You're still
here."

I'd hoped that her
racing pulse had been excitement, or at least adrenaline from being
woken before she'd fully rested. I hadn't realized it was
unhappiness. I forced lightness into my words as I responded to her.

"You sound
disappointed. Do you want me to leave?"

"No, not
disappointed, just surprised. I figured I'd wake up and find
everything had just been one amazing, crazy dream."

I wasn't going to get
a better opening than that. I took a deep breath and forced the
words out.

"Would you
prefer things to take that course?"

She looked too
crestfallen for it to be an act, and I felt another selfish ray of
hope that she might come to reciprocate some of what I felt for her.

"No, how could
you think that? Why would I possibly want to have you vanish when
I've just now finally found out it's you that's been watching over my
mom and I since we got here?"

It was nothing more
than gratitude. I looked away to hide my disappointment. When I
still wasn't able to control my expression I stood and walked over to
the window.

"It would be for
the best you know. I could arrange for you both to leave the state,
and never have to come back to Sanctuary again. You'd be safer."

I heard her breath
catch at my words, but couldn't bring myself to turn around and look
at her face.

"Is that what
you want? Not what's best for me, or what you think is best for me,
but what you really want?"

Everything good and
wholesome inside me demanded that I nod, that I drive her away to
safety regardless of the price, but I couldn't do it if her hating me
was the cost of the bargain. I stood motionless for several seconds
and then finally shook my head.

"Good, because I
don't want to leave. You said last night that your life felt
meaningless before I came here, well mine was even worse. The only
thing that's kept me sane has been your behind the scenes help. I
want to stay with you. I want to be with you."

I felt like I was
sealing her death warrant, but I told myself I'd convince her to
leave in a couple of days. I just needed a chance to spend more time
with her.

"Very well then.
It's just after ten o'clock. Your mom is about to pull up in the
driveway. Do your best to convince her you spent the night safely at
home. We'll stay here and watch over the two of you. Also, if you
can convince her it's safe to leave on an extended trip, that would
be very helpful. Once she's gone, I'll come back for you."

The Jeep had pulled up
to the house now. I had only seconds in which to leave. I looked
back at Adri one more time.

"You're sure
this is what you want?"

Her nod freed me to
act, and I sprang from her window, easily landing down on the ground,
nearly twenty feet below. I sprinted directly away from the house,
aiming for a stand of scrubby trees that should be more than
sufficient to hide me from Adri's mother.

"Nice of you to
rejoin us plebes down among the bugs and dirt."

"Can it Jasmin,
I've only got a few minutes to do this."

I pulled my phone out
as I was speaking and dialed Isabel's number.

" Buongiorno,
Alec. Is it time?"

"Yes, did
Donovan get you the number?"

"Of course he
did. He's a wonderfully productive man that one. Alec, are you sure
there isn't anything else I can do to help from over here?"

"Thanks, Isabel.
You're already doing more than enough."

Donovan picked up on
the first ring.

"It's time.
Please set everything in motion, Donovan."

"Yes, Master
Alec. Mrs. Paige should get the call from the bank only minutes
after she finishes with Isabel."

"Thank you,
Donovan. Everything's still ok there at the house?"

"Yes, sir.
James hasn't reported any kind of activity along the perimeter yet."

After finishing with
Donovan I slipped over to Isaac's position. He patted his backpack
as soon as I came within sight.

"I've taken care
of everything I can without physically touching the hardware. As
soon as her mom leaves the house I can have a redirect up and
running. Shouldn't be anything more than just plug and play."

I nodded my thanks and
then settled back to wait out Adri's mother while Jasmin kept up a
running commentary on just how stupid she thought the entire exercise
was.

"You realize
that none of us have had any sleep yet? If Brandon's pack does
happen to come strolling around the bend we're going to be
outnumbered and fighting like drunks. Not to mention the fact we've
got two noncombatants, one of which doesn't know anything about the
moon born."

The monologue quickly
turned into something that I could tune out completely. I was so far
gone into my own thoughts that I almost didn't hear her expletive.

"What happened?"

"I just saw
movement up on the ridge. I'm pretty sure it was one of Brandon's
wolves."

I could hear her
dropping down to shift, but even as fast as she was, there was no way
she could catch another wolf who had that kind of a head start.

"Hold your
position, Jas, it could be an ambush."

"We can't just
let him go or we'll be neck deep in wolves inside ten minutes,
fifteen at the outside."

"I know that,
but you running off and getting killed won't help matters any. We've
got ten minutes, hopefully that will be enough."

I pulled my phone back
out and dialed James' number.

"What do you
want?"

"I need you here
right now. Jasmin thinks she just saw one of Brandon's pack and we're
going to need an extraction."

James was already
moving towards his car by the time I hung up. He hadn't protested
the order, but we both knew even on his best day the odds of him
getting here before Brandon's people were slim.

Isaac remained calm to
all outward appearances, but Jasmin was bouncing around so much that
I could clearly hear her even with the house between us.

"We need to go,
Alec. We need to go."

Her mantra mirrored
almost exactly the one inside my head, but there wasn't anything we
could do but hope Adri was able to hurry her mother along.

I watched our ten
minutes slip away all too quickly, and was nearly ready to try
something crazy when Adri's mother finally came outside with an
impressive amount of luggage and photography equipment. We moved
forward to the extreme edge of our various bits of cover and crouched
impatiently while the gear was loaded up and Adri's mother hugged her
goodbye two or three times.

By the time the Jeep
was finally headed down the lane eleven minutes had passed from
Jasmin's sighting. There wasn't time to wait and make sure Mrs.
Paige hadn't forgotten anything. I sprang from my cover as soon as
she was out of sight and sprinted up to Adri.

"We need to go.
One of Brandon's people just got close enough to smell us. They left
before we could tell for sure who it was, but the odds of them coming
back with lots of help just went through the roof. If we're still
around when they do, things will get ugly."

I expected Adri to
freeze, or maybe collapse, but instead she nodded calmly and turned
as if to head back up to her room as Isaac ran into the house,
already unzipping his backpack. I gently grabbed her shoulder and
pulled her back around.

"There isn't
time. We have to go now."

There wasn't time to
wait for James to arrive, we were going to have to try and meet up
with him on the road. I got Adri situated on my back and then took
off at a pace that was only slightly reduced by my passenger.

I could hear and smell
Jasmin off to the left, playing free agent in an effort to cover both
me and Isaac, but as I turned off of the lane and began paralleling
the road, I heard Isaac exit the house. Things were starting to look
up. I'd even begun wondering if Brandon hadn't sent anyone back to
investigate, when the first howl sounded behind us.

Isaac had caught up to
us. He and Jasmin paced me on either side in an effort to provide
some security, but we could already hear our pursuit and there were
at least five of them. Depending on whether or not Brandon or
Vincent were with them we might have had a chance of taking five in a
stand up fight, but we couldn't risk any kind of confrontation with
Adri present.

All it would take
would be one wolf slipping past us for her to become nothing more
than a lifeless corpse.

My human body was too
close of a copy to the real thing. Parts of me were capable of
greater speed, but it wasn't a form truly designed for covering
distances. They were gaining on us, but as we rounded the first
corner I heard the whine of a twin-turbo engine under hard
acceleration. It was going to be close. Jasmin and Isaac had fallen
back slightly, I veered up onto the road, dodging branches and roots
with a speed the human mind simply wasn't capable of processing.

James saw me and
brought his heavily modded Accord screaming around in a blue and
white one-eighty skid. There wasn't going to be time for all of us
to pile into the car while it sat motionless, so I continued to
sprint down the road. James correctly read my intentions and was
already in motion towards us, overtaking with a speed that nothing
living could have matched.

As the Accord pulled
up even with us I reached over and pried the passenger door open.
Buffeting winds tried to slam it shut, but I held it firm and then
reached back with my left arm and pulled Adri off of my back. She
yelped a little as I slid her into the car, but the handoff was so
quick there almost wasn't time for her to get scared before it was
over.

I looked back at Isaac
and Jasmin and found that the latter was halfway to us already, but
that Isaac had hung back far enough to serve as bait. Even as I
turned back to call him forward one of Brandon's wolves appeared
behind him and lunged.

Demonstrating the
grace and skill that had made him the pack's second most dominant
member, Isaac reached out with his bare hands, plucked the wolf out
of the air, and then spun around like a discus thrower and hurled it
back into the rest of the wolves that had just come into view.

I held the door open
for Jasmin and then piled into the car as Isaac caught up and jumped
into the other side. As soon as both doors clicked shut James wound
the car up into triple digits before braking just enough to sling it
around the first curve in the road. Adri went pale as she looked
into the passenger mirror and saw the darting shapes of Brandon's
wolves falling steadily behind.

She looked back at me
and I tried to reassure her with my expression, but found the truth
slipping out despite my intentions.

"They were
pretty close. There weren't that many of them, but they might have
decided to push the issue regardless."

It wasn't until we
were almost home that the adrenaline finally flushed its way
completely out of my system. It had been a lot closer even than she
realized. If Isaac had been one bit less graceful they would have
ripped him apart and there wouldn't have been anything the rest of us
could have done about it.

We returned and I
introduced Adri to Donovan. He was just as charming as always, which
freed me for a moment to worry about all of the other things that
could potentially be crumbling right now. Rachel's arrival heralded
another duty.

"Mother's been
asking for you Alec. I told her you'd be back soon, but she's
worried."

"I suppose this is a good opportunity to
introduce Adriana."

Rachel suddenly looked
torn, apparently she hadn't realized I would have to present Adri to
mother.

"Are you sure,
Alec? I could go help her get settled into the Lilac Room."

My heart went out to
Rachel but sooner or later Adri was going to meet mother and if we
didn't take care of it, Donovan was more than capable of making it
happen when we weren't around.

It was always best to
control those types of things rather than let them develop in ways
you weren't prepared for. It seemed inconceivable that Adri would
hold our mother against Rachel, but as with so many things of the
heart, her fear wasn't something mere logic could overcome.

"No, mother's
still the mistress of this house. We've waited too long as it is.
If we don't take care of it now it may be another week or two before
we have a chance, and Donovan will be severely disappointed in both
of us."

Rachel grinned at the
reminder of the way Donovan managed us despite supposedly being 'mere
hired help' and I found myself returning her smile. Still, it was
with a measure of apprehension that I knocked on mother's door once
we arrived.

"Come in."

I looked at Rachel but
she obviously wasn't going to join us. It was a tough call. Be
completely ignored or listen to mother disparage her.

Mother's rooms were
spotless as always. Much as I might hate what James' mother did to
him, I couldn't fault her care of my mother. Most of the pack hadn't
particularly approved of father marrying a human, but Addison had
been one of my mother's two, surprisingly-vocal supporters. Everyone
in the pack had duties, Addison's revolved principally around caring
for my mother.