Marked

by Dean Murray

  You expected there to be problems with your fiancé's mother, but I'd thought I'd sidestepped that particular concern due to the fact that Samantha Graves had spent most of the last two decades barely aware of the outside world. Speaking solely for myself, I could have been perfectly happy if she'd remained the way she was, but I knew this was what Alec and Rachel had been wanting for years.

  I was willing to sacrifice anything for Alec, I'd just been hoping this wasn't a sacrifice that I would end up having to make.

  "I'm sorry, Mrs. Graves, but I really am exactly as I've presented myself to Alec and the others. I'm a normal human girl who happens to have the ability to touch people's dreams, an ability which I just used to save Alec."

  I never even should have seen the blow coming. I'm no martial artist, but Samantha didn't do anything to signal the fact that she was about to hit me. One second she was standing there in front of me with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face, and then in the next she'd thrown a punch directly at my throat.

  It was all the more surprising given the fact that Alec's mom looked like a stiff wind would blow her halfway across the state, but then again she apparently knew enough to pick a target that didn't require a lot of force to put someone down.

  I wanted to panic and scream, but her fist seemed to be moving in slow motion and I found that I had plenty of time to dodge to the left as I raised my one good hand up to knock her arm to the side. It was surreal because I seemed to be moving just as slowly as she was, but even with the air dragging at me I was still able to move quickly enough to save myself.

  I bounced off of the wall next to me and threw myself hard to the right in an effort to avoid Samantha's next attack. Seeing everything happening in slow motion was a huge advantage over the normal state of affairs for me, but it wasn't a magic bullet. I was faster than I normally was, but that wasn't enough to compensate completely for the fact that Samantha was some kind of hand-to-hand ninja and I could only use my right arm.

  In my effort to get out of the way, I went too far and would have fallen if James hadn't grabbed me from behind. Samantha's second punch whipped past my ear, but James easily blocked her follow-up kick with his shin as he moved me around behind him, safely out of her reach.

  "I don't know what's going on, but Alec isn't going to be happy if you hurt Adri."

  "My son is being tricked by this thing. You saw how quickly she moved—there's no way she's what she claims to be."

  "James, don't you dare lay a hand on Samantha! Come away from there."

  James shook his head in response to his mom's order, that or maybe in response to Samantha's accusation. We never got a chance to find out which, because at that instant Samantha threw herself forward in an attempt to get past James so that she could take me down.

  Alec and Ash were the only members of the pack who seemed to have spent any real amount of time learning to fight in their human form, which wasn't necessarily a black mark against James. In a fight against almost any normal human, James' superior speed and strength would see him through without too much problem and any fight against another shape shifter would always end up escalating to claws and fangs.

  James would have been fine in a normal fight, but he was handicapped by the fact that he didn't want to seriously injure Alec's mom. Samantha apparently wasn't operating under the same kind of concern.

  She raked him across the cheek with her fingernails a split second before she threw a knee at his groin. Whatever had sped up my time sense was apparently still in effect because I was able to follow not only Samantha's attacks but also James' responses to them.

  It was obvious that James hadn't actually been expecting Samantha to attack him. He pulled back enough that she missed his eyes, but then had to check his reflexive slap that probably would have snapped Samantha's neck.

  That slowed him down so much that Samantha was easily able to duck underneath his blow. The knee she threw at his crotch was as perfectly executed as anything I'd ever seen before. Even now, I couldn't have hoped to get out of the way in time, but James simply punched her in the leg, stopping her strike with enough force that I knew Samantha was going to have bruises all of the way down to the bone.

  Against another shape shifter James would have followed up with something designed to put Samantha down for the count, but rather than doing that he backed up half a step as though trying to give her a chance to reconsider what she was doing.

  That was a much bigger mistake than I would have expected it to be. I heard the door to the bedroom thrown open at the precise instant that Samantha reached back and pulled out the hair sticks that had been holding her bun in place. A split second later she shoved the one in her left hand into James' leg.

  I was close enough to James that I could feel him start to sway forward as his leg began buckling. As Addison screamed, I stepped forward, trying to get around James so that I could intercept the chopstick in Samantha's right hand. I didn't actually expect to be able to successfully stop Samantha—I was probably going to end up being stabbed instead of James—but I wasn't going to just sit there and do nothing.

  My world had narrowed down to the shiny silver stake in Samantha's hand, so much so that it took me a second to realize what had happened. As Samantha dropped bonelessly to the ground I looked up to find Donovan stepping through the bedroom doorway and Alec looking at his mother with his hand outstretched. Alec couldn't rush to my side, but that didn't mean that he couldn't use his power.

  "Enough, Mother! That is the last time that you will attack Adri, James, or anyone else currently in this vehicle. I want your word on it."

  "You don't know what you're facing, Alec. I can't make that kind of promise!"

  Alec was obviously still weak, but he pushed himself into a sitting position with a grimace. Donovan looked back and forth between James and Alec.

  "Master Alec, it's not wise…"

  "Be still, Donovan. I'm realizing that we don't have time for you all to baby me along. Please see to James."

  Alec looked back down at his mother and sighed. "I will have a promise out of you, Mother, or I will have you locked up in a cell somewhere safe. I'm grateful that you gave me life and took care of me during those first few years before Father was killed, but your knowledge is woefully out of date at this point. I need Adri and James for what I suspect is coming, but more importantly, they are my friends—more than friends really. They've stood by me for long enough for me to know their hearts and they aren't guilty of what you seem to think they are."

  Alec's gift was still going strong, still potent enough that his mother couldn't pull herself to her feet, but he apparently toned it down at least slightly because she pulled herself up into a sitting position.

  "You don't know what's out there. You're too young to know what you're up against."

  "Then tell me, Mother. What is it that I'm up against? I killed Agony. My people and I drove off Puppeteer's werewolves, and I've spent the last several days fighting Dream Stealer. During that time I've always known where James and Adri stood. Even when they couldn't support me they still at least gave me the courtesy of telling me they were leaving before they left. What's more, I've stood next to Adri as she promised to do everything she could to support me in my war against the Coun'hij. I heard the truth in her voice when she promised to help me, but even beyond that, I had her intent confirmed by someone whose ability is such that they know the intent behind such promises."

  To everyone else Alec probably looked stern and resolute despite being confined to a bed, but I knew him better than that. He was only a hair's breadth from breaking down and telling his mother just how much betrayal he felt from all of her years of neglect. He was nearly to the point of telling her that Donovan, Mallory, Jasmin, Isaac and even James had all been a much better family to him than she had.

  It was an understandable urge, one I could relate to because of how absent my own mother had been for various parts of my life, but it was the wrong thing to do.
I wasn't even sure that the woman who'd offered me a distracted welcome into her home was the same person as the one who'd just stabbed James. Either way, if Alec said what he wanted to say right now, in front of all of these witnesses, he would destroy any chance of having a meaningful relationship with his mother.

  I shook my head slightly, praying that Alec would understand, but he was so focused on his mother that I wasn't even sure that he saw me.

  "I'm not a child, Mother. You've been gone a very long time and I grew up. If you're going to continue traveling with us then you're going to do it under the same terms as everyone else here. You'll do it having sworn fealty to me."

  I would have said that nothing could shock this new, ultra-confident Samantha Graves. She'd listened to everything up until then without even blinking, but the mention of swearing fealty drew a gasp out of her.

  "That hasn't happened since the monarchy."

  Alec nodded. "I've declared myself to be the third king. I will restore the monarchy or die trying."

  As I'd scooted forward and to the side to make room for Donovan to see to James, I'd accidentally brushed up against the very edge of what Alec was doing to his mother. It wasn't the first time that I'd been exposed to his power in action, but it had been a long time since I'd had it focused, even indirectly, on me.

  Even back when Alec had used his ability to defeat Brandon his absorption ability had been incredible, but he'd apparently gotten more powerful since then. Just brushing up against the edges of the field that was draining the strength from Alec's mom left my feet feeling like a couple of blocks of wood. It was nothing more than pride and determination that kept me on my feet after that. I was impressed that Samantha was sitting up and carrying on a conversation. If there had been any question about just how determined this new version of her was, then it had just been settled.

  I was even more impressed by what happened after Alec said that he was going to restore the monarchy or die trying. Samantha looked like she'd just had an electrical current sent through her. She went from slouched against the wall to sitting straight up and even looked for a second like she was going to make it up onto her knees.

  "…Restore the…oh, Kaleb. What have you done? All those memories hidden away for all of this time… We've been operating blind…such a tremendous risk that you took and I never even…"

  Samantha collapsed mid-sentence and I somehow knew that the ripples from what had just happened were going to be far-reaching indeed.

  Chapter 14

  Adriana Paige

  Interstate 70

  Just west of St. Louis, Missouri

  Apparently I still hadn't completely assumed the tough-as-nails persona that I'd been projecting since Alec had been shot. Despite everything Samantha had done to me since she…woke up, I still reached for her as she collapsed. In the heat of the moment I'd completely forgotten about Alec's ability, but he must have already shut it off by then because I got only the faintest shadow of a tingle as I reached for Alec's mom.

  Her breathing was fine and I was checking her pulse when I looked up to find Alec kneeling just across from me.

  "Is she okay?"

  "Her vitals seem normal as far as I can tell, but I'm not the expert…"

  Donovan called out from the sofa where he was tending James. "Master Alec, do you want me there or can I finish up on James first?"

  Alec wasn't any less conflicted about his mother than he'd been a second ago, but he took a deep breath and then shook his head. "Make sure that James is out of any danger first. Mother was the aggressor, it wouldn't be right to take care of her first."

  In all the confusion I'd forgotten about Dom, but in that second she stepped out of one of the tiny rooms that contained the sets of bunk beds and shook her head. "She's your mother, Alec. I'll go finish up with James. Donovan can see to her."

  Just saying that Dom looked bad wasn't enough. She looked like she'd aged at least two or three decades since she'd tried to heal Alec. Her hair was still the same color, but it had lost its luster and her skin had age spots that should have been an impossibility on someone her age.

  "I'm sorry; I should have gotten up and helped before now…I've just been so tired lately."

  Alec shook his head as he stood and grabbed hold of Dom's arm to steady her. "You shouldn't even be up right now, Dom. Go back to bed. My mother can wait."

  Dom's smile was a thing of beauty. It transformed a face that had felt ancient and alien just a second ago into something that belonged to the girl we all knew and loved. "You're one to talk, Alec. Neither of us is supposed to be out of bed yet, but here we both are. Really, I'll be okay—it will probably be good for me. I don't feel as bad now that I'm up and moving around."

  Alec hesitated for a second, hand still on Dom's arm, before finally nodding. "Thank you, Dom. Not just for this either. I appreciate what you did for me earlier too. I'm not sure I would have lasted this long without your help. If it gets to be too much for you let us know and Donovan will jump back over and help finish up with James."

  "Sí, Alec. Things will be fine."

  "No healing him, Dom. We can't risk it right now. Take care of him the old-fashioned way."

  There was a heartbeat there where I thought that Dom was going to argue with Alec, but in the end she nodded her agreement and hobbled past us. Actually, hobbled wasn't the right word—she started out moving with obvious difficulty, but Alec steadied her for the first few steps, after which she seemed fine.

  Alec looked at me with misery written large across his face. "This is my fault."

  "Don't say that. You can't control your mother any more than you can force any of the rest of us to behave. Besides, James is going to be fine and your mother didn't manage to actually lay a hand on me."

  "No, you're right about the rest, but that wasn't actually what I was talking about. My mom being unconscious is my fault. I was trying to keep her from getting back up and attacking anyone; I had my gift open just a crack, just enough to keep her down, but then there at the end there was such a surge of power out of her that I had to increase the amount of energy I was pulling in or she would have been able to get up."

  "I don't understand, Alec."

  "I drained away the surge of energy to wherever it is that I send stuff with my ability, but then her power level dropped so quickly that I wasn't ready and didn't rein in my absorption fast enough. I took too much from her, Adri. I tried to stop, but it's hard when it's wide open like that. There at the end I could feel her life force guttering. I almost killed my own mother."

  "But you didn't, Alec, she's going to be just fine."

  "Is she? I may not have killed her, but I did send her back into a coma. Who knows when—or even if—she'll wake up again."

  "Don't talk like that, Alec. This isn't your fault—you don't even know that she's in a coma yet."

  "She is…I can feel it, Adri. Maybe I'm the one who put her into a coma the first time around. I'm not safe to be around, not even for my own mother."

  I put my hand on the side of Alec's face and pulled his head around so that he had to look at me. "You're right, you are very dangerous to be around—that's exactly the reason that we're all here. If you'd been even a smidgen less dangerous we'd all be dead. You're dangerous, but you're infinitely better than the rest of what's out there. We need you to be dangerous, but right now you need to be back in bed."

  Alec looked at me uncomprehendingly for several seconds before shaking himself as though waking from a dream as Donovan knelt down next to us. "There isn't time for that, Adri. Donovan, please see to my mother—I'm afraid that I'm going to be unable to wait at her bedside as protocol might demand."

  Alec stood up and started walking back towards his bedroom, but he was still moving as though in a daze, so I was easily able to jump over his mother's legs and catch up to him.

  "Alec, you have to lie back down. If we lose you then we lose everything."

  "There isn't time, Adri. If I don't take this
opportunity to circulate among our people then we're still going to lose everything. You said that we lost the communications equipment—how are we keeping in contact with Mallory and the rest of our people?"

  "We're using burner phones, but you should really…"

  While I'd been talking Alec had stripped off his shirt and I got my first good look at his chest since before we'd fought Dream Stealer together. He wasn't fully healed, but the angry red scars that had persisted for so much longer than they should have were almost completely gone. His shoulder looked like it had never been injured, and all that was left of the gunshot that had nearly destroyed his heart was a mass of white scar tissue that looked like it was years old.

  "How did that happen? I thought you were still weak when you woke up—you couldn't even make it out of the bed."

  "I was weak—I could feel a flutter in my heart and it was all I could do to move my arm, but sometime between now and then all of that went away. There's still no guarantee that I don't have some kind of critical damage to my heart, but if so the simple passage of time probably isn't going to make any kind of difference."

  "You're telling me that your chest healed during the course of less than five minutes? That's impossible, even for a hybrid."

  "I know it's hard to believe, Adri. I don't have an explanation, but the thing I keep thinking about is that this was how my father used to be before he died. It doesn't make any sense, but we don't have time to stop and question it—I need to talk to Mallory and the others and then I need to make about a dozen calls. There are things that need to be set into motion if you…if we are going to have any chance of winning this war."

  I wanted to run over to him and wrap my good arm around his bare chest. I'd only just barely gotten Alec back and it didn't seem fair to lose him to the demands of his duty already, but he was right. I'd already neglected our people to a dangerous degree and there was no telling how much work he had ahead of him repairing the damage I'd done.