by Dean Murray
"How are you feeling, Brindi? Do we need to get you to a doctor?"
She shook her head. "No, I actually feel pretty good. My ribs are a little sore, but other than that I think I'm okay. How come?"
I closed my eyes, wishing I could clone myself. There were too many pieces in motion right then for any one person to give them all the attention they deserved.
"I have something I need to do right now, something that shouldn't wait. If you need to go to the doctor then I'll take you right now, but if you think that you can wait, then we need to go do that thing."
"I'm okay—Jess or Jasmin can wait here with me. If something starts to go wrong they can drive me to the hospital."
I shook my head. "Which will do absolutely no good. Until we figure out what's going on, you're not leaving my sight. If you're to the point where you don't start shaking before you collapse, then it's too risky to let you get more than a few feet away from me."
Jasmin finished checking Brindi's pulse, and stood. "Don't they have heart rate monitors that people can wear on their wrists? We should outfit Brindi with something like that so that you'll get an alert if she stops breathing."
"That's a good idea, Jasmin. Jess, can you please see to that? Jasmin, I'm going to need you to let Carson and Taggart both know that Brindi and I are leaving camp for a few minutes. We should be back before anything bad happens, but I don't want them relaxing their guard right now just because they heard that I'm back in camp."
The girls both started toward the door. I could tell that they were curious about what would make me drag Brindi away so soon after she had such a terrible episode, but they knew that most of what I did these days was need-to-know.
Before either of them could disembark, Adri opened the door. "Alec, can we talk? I wanted to…"
She trailed off as she saw my arm around Brindi, hand pressed up against the bare skin of Brindi's waist in an effort to both support her and make sure she didn't fall back into withdrawal so soon after having her heart stop.
I opened my mouth, unsure of how to respond to Adri, but before I could come up with the right words Carson stuck his head inside of the RV.
"Alec, I'm sorry to interrupt, but we're starting to see odd power outages along the southeast edge of the Tucson pack's territory. It's possible that the local utility is just having problems in that area, but if not it has all of the normal signs of a large werewolf pack. We've got maybe twenty minutes before they arrive here—assuming that there isn't another group ahead of the one that we're seeing."
I walked past both of them and helped Brindi into the passenger seat. "I've got to leave for a few minutes, but with any luck I'll be back here before they arrive. Pull all of our people back here. We want the biggest deterrent we can muster."
"That isn't going to work if Puppeteer is controlling this batch—they'll attack regardless of how many of us there are."
I nodded. "I know. Even if Puppeteer isn't involved, it could still backfire on us. Sensing this many wolves and hybrids together in one place could scare them off, or it could just make them hang out in the area until they feel like they have a big enough force to overwhelm us. Unfortunately, it's our only option until I get back."
Carson shook his head. "I know that you wouldn't be planning on leaving us without a good reason, but we need you here. Your presence could make all the difference in this fight, Alec."
I knew that he meant my ability could make all of the difference. He was wrong about that, but he was right in thinking that I was more valuable than most of our hybrids—even without my ability. The massive sword I'd stolen from my father had originally been created to give hybrids an advantage when they fought against werewolves and the more powerful jaguars out of South and Central America.
Carson had spent untold hours with me forging me into a fighter capable of using my weapon. I still probably wasn't quite a match for a single werewolf all by myself, but I would be close—much closer than any of the rest of my people.
"I'm sorry, Carson, but I have to do this. My ability doesn't work on werewolves. If it did we'd probably be having a different conversation altogether, but it doesn't. The help I could provide with my sword isn't as valuable as the help I'm headed off to get."
Carson hesitated, obviously full of questions, but he knew that our relationship was changing. The days when he could do more than respectfully suggest an alternative course of action had come to a close.
"I'll get everyone rallied together and have them ready for whatever is headed our way."
Adri shook her head. "We still need to talk, Alec. If Brindi is going with you then I should be able to go too."
"I'm sorry, Adri. I know that this is terrible timing, but you can't come with me. The help that I'm headed out to pick up isn't going to like Brindi being with me, but there isn't any choice—Brindi could die if I leave her here without me."
I could smell her anger starting to rise, but even without that I would have known she was unhappy—it was obvious in her stance and expression.
"No, you can't do this. If she goes, I go."
My beast was unhappy with the way that she was contradicting me, but I was having a surprisingly easy time separating my emotions from his. I was angry too, but my anger was a cold, controlled thing.
"Don't do this, Adri. If you want to talk about Brindi then we can talk about her, but not right now. I should have been on my way thirty seconds ago, and every second we're sitting here puts our friends—my people and yours—in more danger. You can go happily, or you can go pissed off, but right now you're putting your feelings ahead of the lives of everyone out there. It wouldn't matter how much I cared for you, that isn't a contest you can win."
I turned away from her and started flipping switches to bring in the pop-out sections of the RV. I could hear her shift around, torn between her anger and her common sense.
"Fine, I'll go, but we are going to have a conversation about Brindi. I'm not okay with another girl living with you like this—you're going to have to come up with another solution to keep her alive."
I didn't respond. I knew that ignoring her wasn't going to help my case when we did finally sit down to talk, but with my anger in the forefront like it was, there was too much of a chance that opening my mouth would just make matters worse.
Twenty seconds later we were on the road. I looked back in the rearview mirror just before we turned onto the main road. Adri was still standing there watching us drive away.
Chapter 13
Alec Graves
Halfway between The Caravan RV Park and The Socorro Motel
Tucson, Arizona
I called Vicki on my way to the motel where she was staying and asked her to meet us at the halfway point. I didn't say anything about Brindi, but I knew how she was going to respond when we arrived.
Saying that Vicki wasn't happy about Brindi's presence in the RV was an understatement. I think the only thing that saved me was that I'd had Brindi go back into the bathroom and lock herself in just before we arrived.
That meant that I could escort Vicki back to the bedroom without Brindi seeing her. Vicki's scent was full of barely-leashed anger, and her body language promised that there would be an accounting at some point in the near future, but apparently she could see that I wasn't in the mood to brook any kind of argument. My people were in danger and between Adri and Carson I'd already wasted too much time getting Vicki and her people back to our base of operations.
I got Vicki safely back to my bedroom, waited for her to lock the door, and then helped Brindi back up to the front of the vehicle. We got the RV back in motion in near-record time, and Vicki got her people to follow us in two of their SUVs. It meant that we were leaving more of a trail for anyone watching by satellite than I would have liked, but there wasn't anything that could be done about it.
As we pulled back into the RV park, I turned to Brindi. "Could you dig around back there for something to spray in the air to mask our visitor's presence? W
e need to make sure that nobody can figure out their identity."
"Sure thing, I grabbed some air freshener when we stopped for groceries."
I parked the RV and did a quick survey of the area as I unbuckled my seatbelt. It was still dark, but there was a hint of light off to the east. That might not save us if Puppeteer was controlling the werewolves to the north of us, but if that wasn't the case then the threat of sunrise might be sufficient to prevent the attack we were worried about. Werewolves tended to only shift forms at night.
It was one of the things that nobody understood about the earthborn. They didn't seem intelligent enough to understand the dangers inherent in humanity knowing that they were more than just a legend, but they still kept a surprisingly low profile.
I opened up the door to the RV and stepped out, leaving it open so that I would be able to hear if Brindi collapsed again. Carson materialized out of the darkness a second later.
"We're still getting reports of electrical grid issues up north, but they don't seem to be getting any closer. It's looking like it might have been a false alarm."
I rubbed my eyes. It was long past the point where I should have gone to sleep. "Okay, there are some SUVs headed this way. They'll be pulling up behind my RV and stopping there. They won't get out of their vehicles unless we're attacked, and I don't want anyone approaching closer than twenty yards of them."
"Your help?"
"Yeah, but the kind of help that is trying to keep a low profile so that the Coun'hij doesn't find out they are working with us."
Carson nodded. "I'll pass the word, but you may want to speak to Isaac and Heath directly. That kind of thing always comes best from someone inside their own chain of command."
I tried to suppress a yawn, but didn't quite succeed. "Okay, that's a fair point. I'm running on empty right now though. I'll give them a call, and then if nothing materializes in the next few minutes I'll send that part of the help home and go get some sleep."
"That part?"
"Yeah, the other part of our help is going to be staying in my RV. It's not ideal, but I don't know of another way to keep their identity a secret while still keeping them close enough that they'll be able to help if we get attacked."
There was a stubborn set to Carson's shoulders that told me I'd better let him say his piece.
"Alec, that's a very bad idea. How sure are you that you can trust whoever is back there? If they are in the RV with you, then you're going to be incredibly vulnerable while you're sleeping. Let me post some guards in there with you."
I shook my head. "I'm sorry, Carson. I understand your concerns. If I'm completely honest with you, I even share them, but this alliance is too important to risk having it go sideways because I let the wrong person figure out who I've got back there with me. Brindi will be with me, and I'll make sure that we sleep in shifts so that I at least have some forewarning if that operative tries anything. With my ability being what it is, I only need a fraction of a second to get it into play—that will just have to be enough."
Carson still didn't like it, but given all of the secrets he was still keeping, he didn't have much room to throw stones at me for keeping a few of my own.
"Okay, Alec. This is your show." He turned as the SUVs carrying the Chicago pack pulled up. "Those are the ones you want left alone?"
I looked down at my phone as it chirped with an incoming text. It was Vicki, confirming that it was her people who'd just arrived.
"Yes. I'll keep an eye on them for a few minutes while you go spread the word."
Carson nodded and then headed off to the closest RV. I waved to the SUVs, and then dialed Isaac's number. He answered on the second ring.
"You're back. That's good—you'd never believe the rumors that started flying around this place when your vehicle left."
"I can only imagine. I'm sorry about not giving you more of a heads up about that before I left."
"It's okay. Our favorite human dreamer made it back here within a few seconds of your departure and told me that you were going to pick up some help."
"Yeah, that's actually what I'm calling about. There are two SUVs parked right behind my RV, and they are full of that help, help that needs to remain anonymous if at all possible. I'll be sending them away once the sun finishes rising, but until then it would be helpful if you could ask your people to give them a wide berth."
"Sure thing. We're trying to keep our people out of sight right now for the most part so that we don't tip off the Coun'hij as to just how many people we've got here. If we're lucky it will help keep them from realizing that this is our HQ."
I nodded, even though I knew he couldn't see the gesture. "Yeah, and if we're unlucky it should still cause them to underestimate us."
"Right. That means that there isn't any reason for most of them to be over there anyway. I'll pass the word to the dreamer and the illusionist—I'm sure they'll honor your request."
"Thanks. I've got another operative in my RV right now. They'll be there for the foreseeable future, which is going to create some difficulties with regards to conferences for the next little while, but it can't be helped."
I could sense Isaac's curiosity, but he was one of the most even-keeled hybrids I'd ever met. He wouldn't let his questions push him into doing something that would cause the two of us to have a falling out.
"Right—I'll make sure that everyone knows to give your RV some space as well. Anything else?"
I hesitated. I wouldn't have said that I wanted anything else from Isaac, but his question made me realize that there was one more thing he could do for me.
"I was up late hunting down a werewolf and I haven't gotten a chance to get any sleep yet. Adri is pissed at me for leaving without talking to her first, but I'd like to get some shut-eye in before we start yelling at each other. Do you think that you can find something to keep her busy for a couple of hours?"
Isaac was quiet for so long that I checked my phone to make sure that our call hadn't dropped.
"I don't know, Alec. This feels like something that I should stay out of the middle of."
"Yeah, you're probably right. Forget I asked. I'll power through until the sun comes up and then I'll crash and just hope that I can manage to get my forty winks in before she comes over looking for a fight."
Chapter 14
Alec Graves
The Caravan RV Park
Tucson, Arizona
I stood outside the RV, exchanging texts with Vicki to confirm what my nose was already telling me. Her people had rounded up some industrial-strength air fresheners and hung them liberally inside of their vehicles. It probably wouldn't stand up to a concerted effort by someone who was willing to get right up next to the SUVs, but given the fact that they could always just drive away if someone violated the safety perimeter I'd ordered established, it would probably be enough.
I watched as the sun started up into the sky, and marveled at the contrast between what I saw in my surroundings and what I felt. To a human, the RV park and attached motel would have looked quiet. There were a couple more people wandering around than I would have expected for such an early hour, but not so many as to make me suspicious that something important was going on.
The unseen plane was another matter altogether. I could feel bursts of energy as people's beasts acted up in frustration at being trapped inside four walls when there was the possibility that we were going to be attacked before the morning was out.
I'd known that keeping so many shape shifters cooped up inside of motel rooms and RV's was going to be a challenge, but I was feeling a lot more tension than I'd been counting on. There were too many of us packed into much too small an area, and the question of dominance hadn't been settled to our beasts' satisfaction.
It was yet another problem that I didn't have a good solution for. We couldn't let everyone walk around at the same time, and we couldn't afford to have large numbers of our people trying to rip each other's heads off, but I was going to have to think of someth
ing soon.
I waited for an extra thirty minutes after the sun cleared the horizon, and then told Carson to let people relax a little unless he got new intel that indicated an attack was imminent. By then my beast was trying to wrestle control away from me, so I knew I needed to get inside and get some sleep.
Brindi was asleep when I went inside, but she woke up when I went to cover her up with a blanket.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"I was going to make sure that you didn't get too cold."
Brindi shook her head at me. "We both know that you've gone too long without sleeping, Alec. You should have just kicked me off the couch."
"You need your sleep too."
She shook her head as she yawned. "I'm not likely to rip someone's face off if I have to go another few hours without getting my sleep. Go ahead and get some rest—I'll stay up to make sure that your friend back there stays a secret."
Her words were innocuous enough, but the slight lift to her eyebrows told me that she knew I wouldn't like the idea of sleeping with someone new so close. I debated telling Brindi to go back to sleep, but she was right. If I didn't sleep soon I was going to become dangerous to everyone around me, and if that happened Brindi was going to be especially at risk. Not only was she physically close to me, she also couldn't defend herself if I did lose control.
I nodded and lowered myself down to the couch. Brindi sat down on the floor—close enough that she could touch me if she wanted to, but just far enough away that she wouldn't actually be getting another hit.
She hadn't acted this vulnerable for weeks now. It was probably just the result of nearly dying earlier, but I made a note to keep an eye on more than just her physical state over the next little while. It had been a small thing given everything else that had been going on, but I'd really appreciated Brindi's efforts to lighten my mood as I'd headed off to rescue Cindi. She hadn't had any way of knowing that I wasn't planning on coming back, but she'd still made a concerted effort to make me feel better.
