by Dean Murray
Chapter 10
Alec Graves
Rest Easy Hotel
Rio Rico, Arizona
Apparently I'd been injured even worse than I'd realized when I'd passed out at the compound. Judging by how relieved Jasmin had looked yesterday when I'd finally opened my eyes back at the hotel, it had very much been touch and go as to whether or not I was going to make it.
Even with my newly-accelerated healing abilities I'd still been down for nearly forty-eight hours before I finally rolled out of bed without assistance. I was feeling pretty good now—twenty-four hours later—but our medic, a tiny woman named Francesca, seemed almost as rattled by how close I'd come to death as Jasmin had been. I'd been ordered not to participate in any kind of combat operations for at least another two days.
I was pretty sure that she'd underestimated my recuperative abilities by a significant margin, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I needed every edge I could get down here on the border and if she was underestimating me then everyone else would be too. Besides, she had a point in that replacing the amount of blood that I'd apparently lost didn't happen overnight, even for one of the moonborn. The last thing I wanted right now was to end up in another fight for my life only to find out that I was a half-step slower and weaker than normal.
I'd gone to the hotel's outdoor pool yesterday out of desperation. I'd spent too much time lying around in my bed and I'd needed an activity that would get me outside but also avoid running me into the ground in case I wasn't fully recovered.
I'd expected to get some sun and take a long nap, and gotten something completely unexpected instead. I was headed to the pool even earlier today than yesterday, partially because I was feeling better than I had yesterday, but also because I was eager to see if the steady trickle of people who had come to visit me would repeat itself.
There was one hall in the hotel that for whatever reason had been built slightly narrower than the rest of the halls. Some idiot had placed a long series of decorative tables along one side, which made it so that while two normal people could walk past each other in it, if either of them happened to be very big it became a lot easier for one of them to just get out of the way and let the other pass.
Predictably it had turned into a dominance extravaganza. For the most part the moonborn down here on the border were less concerned with dominance posturing, at least outside of their own units, but there was no getting around the fact that there was still going to be some dominance issues any time you put a large number of wolves and hybrids together in one place.
Vincent and his team were the worst. Where the other teams tended to stick to themselves for the most part, Vincent's people seemed to go out of their way to strike sparks off of members of the other teams. The fact that they were the ones who most often fought alongside Brandon in the heaviest bits of fighting meant that Vincent's team overall was considered the most elite set of fighters we had. That should have been enough for them, but instead they seemed positively obsessed with rubbing everyone else's noses in the fact that they were currently the top of the food chain.
As luck would have it, I ran into Vincent in the challenge hall, as it had become known. Actually, it would have been more accurate to say that Vincent practically ran into me. Despite the fact that I was nearly to the end of the hall and he would have only had to wait for a couple of seconds for me to be out of his way, he stepped into the narrow passageway and made it clear that he wasn't planning on giving way to me.
The sheer arrogance and rudeness he was displaying was enough to set my teeth on edge and awaken a surge of anger from my beast, but I just gritted my teeth and stepped off into the tiny space between two of the tables so that he could pass by.
For a second I almost thought he looked disappointed that I didn't get in his face, but whatever emotion I was having a hard time identifying was quickly replaced by a broad smile.
"It looks like you've finally learned your place."
"I've had it rather forcibly demonstrated to me that accidents happen on battlefields. I have a feeling that I'll get plenty of fighting in against the cats without needing to go around looking for fights with other hybrids."
I was walking a very thin line and I knew it. The act of having gotten out of his way was inherently submissive, but if my words were either too aggressive or too submissive, either one, he'd never believe that my recent changes were sincere.
"Yeah, too bad about that. I'm sure glad that something worse didn't happen to you or one of your friends."
The insincerity practically dripped off of his words, but I just gave him a tight smile and waited for him to continue walking by. Given my druthers I would have just walked away from him, but that wasn't proper behavior coming from a subordinate. Several seconds passed before Vincent's grin got even broader and he turned and continued on down the hall.
"I might have some errands for you to do later, Alec."
My jaw clenched from the effort of not telling Vincent what he could do with his busy-work chores, but I managed to get out of sight without responding to that final taunt that he'd tossed over his shoulder.
Judging by the scents waiting for me on the breeze when I opened the door outside, Alison, Jasmin and Jessica were all already at the pool. I'd stopped by James' room before heading to the pool, so it wasn't a surprise that he wasn't there too. He was recovering nicely from his wounds, but although he hadn't been injured as badly as I had been, he also didn't have a metabolism that was quite as supercharged as mine. He'd probably need all of the next two days to finish healing.
I came around the corner and any thoughts of James fled from my mind as I got my first view of the three girls in their swimming suits. Alison probably already had a swimsuit before we'd arrived, but Jasmin and Jess must have borrowed one of the SUVs to go shopping at some point yesterday.
All three were wearing two-piece outfits that left long expanses of stomach and shoulder bare and I idly noticed just how good of a job they'd each done in selecting a color that suited them perfectly. Jasmin's black swimsuit went perfectly with her darkly-tanned skin, while Jess' frilly white top and bottom matched perfectly with skin so white you could be forgiven for thinking that she was some kind of alabaster doll that had never been intended on being taken outside where she might be damaged.
Alison on the other hand was wearing a bright red outfit that was perfect for her lightly tanned skin and the strand of red hair that she'd re-dyed sometime between our last operation and now. It really was too bad that I couldn't shake my obsession with the mystery blonde from my dreams. I was about to spend the day with three incredibly beautiful women, but even when faced with such breathtaking perfection I still couldn't help but think of the girl from my dreams.
"I didn't expect to find the three of you here today."
Jasmin put her hand up in a languid wave without looking my way, while Jessica turned towards me and smiled in a way that made the huge sunglasses she was wearing even cuter than they'd been a second before. It was Alison however who spoke.
"Orders. Juan saw your visitors yesterday and thought that maybe it might be smart not to have clandestine conversations out in the open without taking certain precautions."
I opened my mouth to ask her what she meant, but she seemed to read my mind. She reached over to the portable music player sitting on the table next to her and turned it up to the point where it would serve as a kind of makeshift white noise generator.
I nodded as I realized that also explained the seating that the girls had chosen for themselves. They'd arranged themselves into a half circle with two empty chairs in the center, presumably for me and any visitors I might have.
I picked the chair closest to Alison and gently lowered myself down into it as I considered whether or not to pull my shirt off. The truth was that the wounds had all turned into thin white scars already, but it would be foolish to reveal that fact to anyone who happened by, so the shirt was going to have to stay on.
I set
my book, some cookie-cutter spy thriller, down beside me and then turned to Alison. "I haven't had a chance yet to tell you thanks for pulling that jaguar off of me. I asked Juan where you were yesterday so that I could properly show my appreciation, but he told me to mind my own business. I'm glad that you're here today. Thanks."
Alison shrugged. "You would have done the same thing for any of us. In fact, I'm pretty sure that you did exactly that for James. Besides, my having put that one down wouldn't have helped much if Jasmin hadn't gotten that female who was lining up to jump you too."
"I told Jasmin thanks already."
"Okay, so it sounds like we're all square then."
It was obvious that she was trying to get me to shut up and leave her alone, but I was fascinated by the change she'd gone through. She'd survived and Chloe hadn't. Did that mean that survival here required some kind of extreme change like she'd undergone, or was that just her way of dealing with everything that had happened?
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure, you're dominant to me and everything, so it's not like I can beat you into leaving me alone or anything."
"I'm not going to use the fact that I'm bigger and stronger than you to pry, Alison. If you don't want to talk to me you can just say so and I'll leave you alone."
She let her black sunglasses droop down to the point where she could look at me over the top of them. "You're serious?"
"I'm not Kaleb. I've got my own share of issues, but I do at least try not to be a jerk to people who've saved my life."
"Fine, you get one question, but I may or may not answer it depending on what it is."
"Why do you dye your hair? It has to be a pain to re-dye it every time you shift forms."
Her fists knotted up and for a second I thought that she wouldn't answer, but after a few heartbeats she relaxed and then just shrugged.
"You do seem to have a way of seeing right to the heart of things."
I shook my head. "I don't think so. Ever since I left Sanctuary all I've done is find out just how blind I've been, just how much was going on underneath the surface of things that I never even considered might be going on."
"Yeah, but that is because you trusted people who were doing their level best to keep you in the dark. I think that you're more perceptive than you're giving yourself credit for right now."
It was my turn to shrug. "Well, thanks for the vote of confidence."
I leaned back and opened my book up, but I saw her sit up out of the corner of my eye.
"You're really just going to leave it at that? You're not going to press me for an answer to your question?"
"No. You know what I'm curious about, but it's your choice whether or not you want to fill me in. Even if it were smart to try and beat an answer out of someone who is going to be watching my back over the next few months, it still isn't something I'd do."
Alison sighed and then dropped back onto her chair. "You and I are more alike than I like to think about. We both trusted the wrong people. The dye disappears after every shift so you're right, re-dyeing it all of the time is a total pain, but I do it to remind myself that I trusted the wrong person. I do it because it's a reminder that I'm going to be paying for my mistakes for the rest of my life, however short that may turn out to be. The burden of dyeing a strand of my hair multiple times a week is a small symbolic gesture of the bigger burden that Sam and your dad left me with."
"It doesn't have to be forever."
Alison's laugh was mocking, but it somehow didn't trigger any kind of response from my beast.
"You're right. If I could figure out a way to kill Sam and Kaleb and then run away somewhere so that I didn't have to risk my life in a purposeless war that can never be won, then I could stop dyeing it."
"You think you're stuck, that you don't have any options."
"Yeah, I think that because it's true. You can be all Pollyannaish about things if you want. That doesn't have to stop us from working together, but don't let your optimism get in the way of doing your job. I'm resigned to the fact that I'm not going to make it out of here alive, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to be okay with you putting me in extra danger because you refuse to see the world as it really is."
I opened my mouth to respond but she jammed a pair of earbuds in and flipped open a magazine. I'd obviously pressed too hard, but I hadn't been able to help myself. Alison hadn't ever seemed to need my help before. She, Sam and Chloe had formed a tiny little power bloc that hadn't been very tough, but which also had taken great care to keep its head down so that nobody would have a reason to grief them. The old Alison hadn't needed me, but the new Alison did whether she realized it or not.
I forced myself to look away from Alison in the hopes that not having her in my field of vision would help me get my frustration under control. Jasmin caught my eye and turned over onto her side.
"You can't help everyone."
The words were more mouthed than actually said so as not to carry over to Alison, but they didn't make me feel any better. It seemed like everyone needed help and I wanted to help them, but I didn't even have the power to keep my closest friends safe, let alone random people who didn't want my help.
Actually, if I were to be completely honest, I couldn't even protect myself, and that rankled maybe the most of all. My beast was convinced that we should be the top dog and I desperately wanted to believe him, but every time I turned around it seemed like someone new was curb-stomping us.
I gave Jasmin my best impression of a reassuring smile and then flipped my book back open. I wasn't in the mood to read anymore, but at least it gave me an excuse to break eye contact.
Once I had the book open, habit took over and I found myself scanning down through the words. I'd been reading for less than five minutes before I heard footsteps. I looked up a second later to find that we'd been joined by one of the independents currently working with the primarily Sanctuary-staffed army.
Abram belonged to one of the packs based in Montana and before now I'd exchanged all of five words with him. He was a hybrid and one whom I suspected most other hybrids tended to underestimate on a regular basis. The muscle shirt he was wearing highlighted the arms and shoulders of a serious bodybuilder, which would have been enough to make most people back down if not for the fact that he was only five-eight.
There was often a link between the size of an individual and the size of their alternate forms, so conventional wisdom would have said that Abram would be on the small side as a hybrid, but conventional wisdom would have been wrong. I'd seen his hybrid form and it was nearly as big as Brandon's, although not as strong.
"You mind if I sit down here next to you, Alec?"
"Please do, Abram. How is your team all doing?"
He carefully sat down on the white plastic chair with the air of someone who was used to accidentally breaking things.
"We're all okay. I had one person get opened up from shoulder to flank when Vincent failed to bottle up the cats like he was supposed to. They started to flank us and it looked like things were going to be touch and go there for a second until they broke out the back door towards you guys. My wolf will be okay though, she's a tough one."
"You guys are on light duty then too?"
"Pseudo-light duty. Brandon doesn't usually send out a team that's down two or more people, but he occasionally sends one out that's only down one person, especially if it's a wolf that's missing rather than a hybrid."
I gave him a nod. "I'm glad to hear that everyone is okay, or at least will make a full recovery."
Abram looked over at Jessica and Jasmin and raised an eyebrow. It could have meant a lot of different things, everything from simple appreciation of two pretty girls to concern that they were close enough to overhear us, but I was pretty sure I knew the actual meaning based on how some of my other conversations had gone yesterday.
"Jasmin, Jess, could you please work your magic?"
Both girls reached over to the portable music players next
to them and turned them up. Alison seemed to be dead to the world, but she'd turned her player up before grabbing her iPod and sticking her earbuds in.
"This is a delicate matter, but I just wanted to stop by and let you know that I don't approve of how that last operation went down. I don't have any proof that it was intentional, but despite being a bunch of colossal jerks, Vincent's guys are actually quite good in sticky situations. I've never seen them miss the timing on an op that badly."
I nodded carefully. "My history with Vincent isn't a secret, at least not among the Sanctuary pack. I would be lying if I said that I didn't think about the possibility that he was trying to send me a message."
"That's the thing; Brandon is supposed to be above that. A good third of the people down here don't owe any kind of allegiance to him or Kaleb either one. We came here because we believe in the cause. We want to see the cats pushed back, and Brandon's ability combined with the backing of the Sanctuary pack means that this is our best chance to make a difference without running afoul of the Coun'hij."
I nodded. It made sense. Jaclyn, the leader of the Tucson pack, actually had an ability that let her put individual cats down even faster than Brandon, but her ability didn't work as well against the more powerful cats. She still could have served as the focal point for another coordinated offensive against the southerners but for the fact that she was openly disparaging of the Coun'hij. She wasn't saying anything that a lot of other people weren't thinking, but they weren't saying it out loud and she was, which meant that in her own way she had an even bigger target painted on her back than I had on mine.
Throwing your lot in with Jaclyn would be a really quick way to put yourself into a position where you might end up fighting Puppeteer instead of the cats that you'd signed on to fight.
Abram continued on, oblivious to the thoughts running through my head. "The thing is that this only works as long as we independents know that we're going to be treated at least as well as you guys from Sanctuary, and that you guys from Sanctuary are being treated okay."
"I can understand that. Nobody wants to be sent on suicide missions or used as cannon fodder."
"Right, and the stakes are even higher. There are hundreds of shape shifters north of here who could come help and make a huge difference in this fight, but they don't because they're scared. A bunch of us were hoping that putting up a big win like this last operation would help pull some of those able bodies down here to help, but it actually looks like it had the opposite effect."
This was new. Neither of the others from yesterday had mentioned this particular tidbit.
"What do you mean?"
"People aren't stupid, Alec. All of North America pretty much knows that you and Brandon have bad blood between you. When you get critically injured in the first operation you're on, despite being put in a secondary spot where you shouldn't have been in all that much danger, it's naturally going to make people worried that if they come down here they might get caught in the crossfire."
"I see your point, but I'm not sure what you're proposing."
"Eat a little crow. It seems like you've already started doing that, but keep it up. This war is too important to risk having everything blow up in our faces because Vincent is too stupid to keep the dominance games back here where they belong rather than out there in the field."
I let my face harden. "That's asking a lot. Even assuming I can bring myself not to get into things with Vincent, what's to say that he won't just then use that as an excuse to cause me even more grief?"
Abram shrugged. "You're not stupid either. You know as well as I do that the deck is stacked against you. You can either go down in a blaze of glory and screw this entire war up, or you can swallow your pride a little and hopefully live long enough to be able to go back home. If you choose the second option, then I'd be willing to let Brandon know just how thin the ice he's standing on is getting. If you get hurt under any kind of suspicious circumstances, then he could see a third of his force walk out on him with no further warning."
"What if there was another option? One that gave you a chance to fight the cats, one that gave you a hope of winning rather than just an endless round of bloodletting, one that still kept you out of trouble with the Coun'hij?"
"Unless you've developed magic powers that I haven't heard about then there isn't any other option, kid."
"You're right, there isn't any other option, right now, but what if there was?"
Abram took a deep breath. "If there was another option then you could come talk to me and I'd hear you out. If you were too crazy then it wouldn't buy you anything, but I'd at least listen."
"Thanks, Abram. That means a lot. I'll do my best not to make any more waves with Brandon or Vincent, and I'd appreciate anything you could do to help make sure that there aren't any additional…accidents while we're out on the field."
Abram gave me a tight nod and then stood and left. Jasmin watched him go and then looked over at me. "You're playing a dangerous game, Alec."
"I know, but I don't feel like I have much of a choice. Maybe you're right, maybe I can't save everyone, but if we don't do something then everything is going to keep getting worse and worse."
"Have you ever considered the possibility that maybe there isn't anything that can be done to fix the world? There are just too many people trying to ruin it."
"If I don't try, then I'm no better than the ones causing all of the problems."
I got a shrug in response, but any further response I might have offered up was preempted by Juan's arrival.
"I'm glad to see that the girls showed up to give you cover like I asked them to."
"Yes, thank you. It made my most recent conversation a little more straightforward than the first two."
"I thought it might."
I waited to see if Juan was going to pry, but he seemed happy to leave me with my secrets. It was possible that he just expected that he'd be able to pump Alison for information later, but I didn't think so. He seemed genuinely to only care about his war against the cats. He'd sent the girls to act as a screen just because I was a part of his team and he wanted to keep his team out of trouble, but he was happy to otherwise leave me to my scheming.
After a few seconds of silence Juan looked over at me again and sighed. "I've been doing some more poking around. It was definitely Vincent who was responsible for the back door."
"Yeah, I just had someone else confirm that for me as well today. That definitely means that he was out to get me."
Juan nodded. "Yeah, but I'll go you one better. Brandon doesn't always tell even the team leaders who is going to cover which role. I'm not sure why, it's one of his worst failings as a leader, but I think it's because he doesn't completely trust us. I finally ferreted out who originally had the back door assignment and it wasn't Vincent. The team leader who originally was supposed to cover the exit said that Vincent showed up partway through Brandon's briefing and demanded that the roles be swapped."
I resisted the urge to rub my temples. "So it was all Vincent's idea then, which means that Brandon may not have it in for me as bad as I thought."
"Yeah, but that's a big maybe. It could have been that Brandon just didn't see the opportunity to put us in the crosshairs until after Vincent pointed it out to him, or it could even mean that Brandon's playing a much longer, much more devious game than we're giving him credit for. It's always possible that he saw a way to put us in danger, but that he orchestrated everything so that it would look like Vincent had been behind it."
"I really hate this kind of double-and triple-think."
"Yeah, me too, but unfortunately that's the way the world works in the big leagues."
