Trapped (18 page)

"I've
tried everything I can think of. He tore through a squad of
experienced mercs a few days ago and only sheer, dumb luck kept him
from killing the two of us as well. We're down to two options.
We can either run until he gets around to killing us, or we can
fight. He needs to be put down."

Alec
was trembling slightly now. I'd never seen anyone do anything
like it, but now Ash and Alec both were doing it. It was obviously a
wolf thing and I was very much reminded of a pair of dogs circling, a
heartbeat away from leaping at each other.

"So
drop an anonymous tip to the Coun'hij. Run him smack-dab
through the middle of one of the larger border packs. There are any
number of options you could have picked to bring him down. Why us?"

"You
know that the Coun'hij is as unreliable as it gets. Odds are
that they'd refuse to take him out directly. Instead they'd
arrange to chase him or lead him into some small pack like yours.
The last thing we need is for them to sic him on a pack that is
large enough to rip him up a bit, but not large enough to really have
a shot at taking him down.

You
know the kind of pack, one that's been acting up lately but
which the Coun'hij hasn't yet found a pretext for wiping
out themselves. Generally, those kinds of packs are pretty much
destined for destruction sooner or later. Honestly, that's what
I thought was going to happen to you guys, but instead you managed to
bring down a much larger pack without a single casualty. All of the
rumors are pretty garbled, but they are still definitive. You
manifested a real doozy of a power, didn't you, Alec?"

I
never even saw Alec move. One instance he was still half a dozen feet
away from us, the next he had Ash up against the wall with his hand
transformed into something with claws that looked like they could
take Ash's head off without even trying.

I
had my gun halfway out when the larger of the bodyguards grabbed my
arm and squeezed hard enough that I dropped it.

"You
came to my territory knowing you had that kind of monster following
you? Almost everyone I value in the world is here and they are now
all at risk because of your actions. Tell me why I shouldn't
just kill you now. He won't be able to track you if you're
dead."

"It
wouldn't make any difference if you killed me, Alec. If you're
really as powerful as everyone is saying, then you're the best
bet for putting him down without a bunch of collateral damage. Let me
help. Then you can get your pound of flesh."

Alec
dropped Ash, his hand slipping back to its normal size and shape as I
watched. I looked up to see that I was the object of his attention.

"You're
not one of us."

I
shook my head. "No. I'm just a normal human."

"How
long have you been together?"

"I'm
not sure, a few weeks, I think."

I
looked over at Ash, silently apologizing for opening my mouth, but
unsure how I was supposed to avoid a direct question from Alec. I
looked back in time to see Alec cock his head to one side as his
nostrils flared.

"If
we do this thing for you, Ash, there will be consequences."

"I
always assumed as much. What are your terms?"

"I
haven't instigated a tithe in my pack, but you will be subject
to one, and if I suspect for one moment that you're not giving
me a full ten percent of everything you earn, things will go bad very
quickly."

"I'm
a man of my word. I have no issues with that. I can see to it that
you are sent the proper amount in whatever form you desire on a
yearly basis."

Alec
seemed fascinated with me, but he looked away long enough to shake
his head at Ash.

"No,
you won't be roaming around. You'll become a full member
of this pack, subject to my orders. I'll want you close at
hand. Trustworthy or not, I can't afford for anyone to know who
you are, or that I helped you out."

Ash
shook his head. "I'm not getting sucked into the same
type of petty dominance games. I left for a reason and I refuse to
live like that again."

Alec
was looking at me again.

"You
being a member of my pack is key to the agreement. If that's
off the table then you can turn around and drive back the way you
came while I debate whether or not to call the Coun'hij and
tell them that the heir apparent to the Hunt line is currently
running around the nation stirring up who knows what kind of
trouble."

Ash's
fists went white. Considering all of the non-visual cues that
everyone but me had to go off of it was a needless indication of just
how pissed he was, but to me it was a very good indicator of just how
much he was struggling to maintain his trademark calm.

"There
is no call for blackmail. If you want to get right down to it I can
create a degree of problem for you. Let's keep this more or
less civilized."

Alec
shrugged. "You know that I'm telling you the truth. You
can choose to take it as a threat, but I'm simply warning you
that I'm not entirely positive, given some of the pressures we
are currently under, that I'd be able to continue to keep your
existence a secret."

"What's
to stop you from just trading me in later? Those pressures aren't
going away and I'll always be more valuable to you as a
bargaining chip than as a soldier."

The
shake had vanished, at least on Alec's part, as they began
negotiating and it had become evident that Alec had the upper hand.
It was back but it was a lot worse. The end of his hands had started
to slowly transform into the same wicked claws that I'd
glimpsed earlier. As Alec turned back to Ash once again, I also
noticed that his eyes had gone an unnaturally pale shade of blue.

"I
don't trade my people in. Even the ones who aren't loyal
don't get bartered away for nothing."

Ash
looked at the furious pack leader, claws quivering with the need to
rend, and never even batted an eye.

"Looks
like I struck a nerve."

The
two bodyguards looked like they were about to intercede, but Alec
brought himself under control with what even I could tell was a
supreme act of will.

"You
could say that I'm not entirely at peace with what happened the
last time Agony swung by for a 'friendly' visit."

Ash
shrugged. "I'm sorry. That really does suck. I get it
though, you have to protect the pack at large, not necessarily any
one individual in the pack. That's part of what it means to be
a leader."

Alec
stared off into space for several seconds, unwilling to meet anyone's
gaze while he reviewed some chain of events.

"Not
everyone would agree with that line of reasoning. Even for those that
agree, at what point do the ongoing, acceptable losses become
unacceptable? You're right to point out that I can't
predict what will come, but I can promise that I won't throw
you away for no value. You'll be just as much a part of the
pack as any other member. I'll sacrifice whoever it makes the
most sense to sacrifice rather than just defaulting to sacrificing
you."

The
two bruisers didn't seem happy about that, not that I
necessarily blamed them. Nobody liked to hear that they were little
more than a chess piece. Ash, on the other hand, seemed to find the
open acknowledgement of the possibility refreshing.

"Fine,
I can live with that. I don't want to be sucked into all of the
dominance crap though."

Alec
shook his head. "That is a fundamental part of who we are as
wolves, and I'm not going to put my neck on the line so you can
shoot your mouth off to Isaac or James. What I will say though is
that I'm willing to let all dominance fights include whatever
weapons the combatants want to use."

The
bruisers, Isaac and James presumably, really didn't like that,
but Ash was nodding again.

"Fine.
So they don't screw with me over unimportant crap because I
just might get lucky and put one into their heads. I'm not one
for dominance fights generally, but even if I were, I'm
unlikely to give them unnecessary attitude because odds are better
than even that they'd rip my head off."

"Exactly.
It introduces one more level of complexity to the pack dynamic, but I
rather suspect that you're worth the bother."

Ash
held out his hand. "OK, if you help put this guy down we've
got a deal."

Alec
shook his head. "There's one more thing. The girl, who
you still haven't introduced, stays here and becomes a
permanent member of the pack as well."

**

Ash
got pissed. I'd just thought he was pissed when Alec had
threatened to bring the Coun'hij into the picture. He was
really pissed when Alec said that I had to become a permanent
addition to the pack in order to get their help.

Alec
calmly watched Ash pace back and forth, fists clenching and
unclenching, and then finally suggested that maybe Ash should see
what I wanted to do.

I'd
nodded, not necessarily because I wanted to partake of the constant
posturing and violence that pack life seemed to consist of. No, I
agreed for two reasons and two reasons only. First, Ash seemed to
think it best for us to help make sure Anton didn't continue to
cause problems for the rest of the world and was willing to bargain
pretty much anything to make sure that happened. Second, Ash had just
agreed to stay with them and I was starting to get to the point where
I had a hard time envisioning my life without him. It was irrational,
silly even, but it was the way I felt.

Alec
pulled a phone from one of his pockets and summoned 'Rachel'
and 'Dominic.' They turned out to be two girls roughly my
age, although Rachel seemed like she might be a year or two younger.

They
were instructed to take care of me while Alec, Ash and the others
went about planning Anton's demise. I felt myself bristling
slightly at being dismissed so casually, but Ash shook his head
slightly, cautioning me not to make waves, so I allowed myself to be
led away.

Dominic
and Rachel both seemed nice. Dominic seemed content to let Rachel do
most of the talking. The one or two words she did say were wrapped in
a beautiful Spanish accent. Rachel kept up non-stop chatter the
entire way to whichever wing of the house Alec had told them to take
me to.

It
was the kind of non-threatening small talk that you answer without
even thinking about, and it wasn't until we made it to our
destination that I realized just how much more I'd said than
I'd meant to say.

I
paused mid-reply and Rachel smiled. "Sorry,
I don't mean to grill you. Sometimes it just helps to talk
about the craziness. Dom's a shape shifter, but I'm a
normal human. I understand just how hard it can be to deal."

I
wasn't sure her questions had been quite as harmless as she
wanted me to think they were, but calling her out on it didn't
seem like the smart thing to do. Besides, I couldn't really
blame her. Ash and I had put all of them in danger by coming here and
it was only reasonable for her to try and find out anything she could
about us.

I
looked around the bedroom and was struck by just how rich the
furnishings were. It wasn't overdone, but everything about the
room screamed refinement. It was the kind of room you'd expect
from really old money. I'd known the pack was rich, the size of
the house we were in would have told me that, but I hadn't
realized that they were this kind of rich. It threw Ash's roots
into focus for me. If
his pack hadn't been decimated by the vampire attack he would
have been living in circumstances very much like this.

Rachel
opened the closet and pointed to a section of clothes. "These
are all Dom's old stuff. It won't be an exact fit, but
it's the closest that we have. Where you've been on the
run for days, I expect you'll want to take a shower and then
change into something else."

I
nodded a bit numbly, and then watched as they both left the room.
Rachel paused for just a second before disappearing down the hallway.

"I'm
glad you're here, Kristin. It's going to make a big
difference. Not just for you, for Alec, for Ash, even for Adri."

"Who's
Adri?"

Rachel
looked at me oddly, as if I wasn't supposed to be asking about
this 'Adri' person, but it was more than that. I almost
got the feeling that she was trying to figure out how I'd heard
Adri's name, but that was stupid. She'd just finished telling me my
being here was going to help Adri. Rachel finally just shrugged.
"Doesn't really matter who she is, she's gone now.
Best you just don't talk about her. I don't think she's
ever coming back."

Ash
knocked on my door a couple of minutes after I finished dressing. I
was still toweling my hair dry as I answered the door.

"I'm
so glad it's you!"

Ash's
smile was tired, like he'd had to give up things today that he
hadn't anticipated he'd have to give up.

"Sorry,
a bit more wheeling and dealing still had to take place. Things are
more or less settled now, but they aren't great still."

He
pulled my door shut and then walked around the room, head tracking
back and forth, until he found a small electronic device on the desk
and turned it on.

"White
noise generator. Most packs have them in pretty much every room these
days. It's the only way to have even half a chance at privacy.
As long as we talk fairly quietly we should be OK."

I
nodded, somehow more relieved than I'd expected to be at the
thought of even a little privacy, a short time to be truly alone with
Ash.

"All
of the fighters in the pack are headed out into the desert. Alec
wants to make sure that the non-combatants are safely out of the way
when Anton makes his appearance."

"He
can't really guarantee that though, right? Anton's not
stupid, he'll think of circling back here and killing Rachel
and the others first thing when he realizes that Alec's taken
us in."