Broken: A YA Paranormal Romance Novel (Volume 1 of the Reflections Books)

by Dean Murray

  Chapter 22

  Rachel met us at the door with a shy smile that let me know any hard feelings would evaporate instantly if I wanted to be friends again.

  Alec put me down with a slight start as soon as he saw his sister. I reluctantly let go of him, and covered the last few feet under my own power. I gave Rachel a hug as soon as she was within arm's reach.

  "I'm so sorry. I've been incredibly dumb."

  She waved the explanation away. "Brandon's fooled people smarter than both of us put together. The hardest part was not being able to tell you anything."

  Alec started to open the door, but Rachel put a hand on his arm. "The rest of the pack is back. Jasmin already told them what happened. It doesn't look good."

  I had my mouth open and was halfway to asking what was going on when I saw Alec's expression, and swallowed my words. He didn't look any different than normal, in fact if I'd been standing forty or fifty feet away from him I'd probably have still thought he was just as calm and in control as always. This close, I could feel the anger radiating off of him.

  I almost took a step back when he turned towards me. "I realize it's unreasonable to ask you to trust me right now, but I'm going to need you to do so. Can you remain quiet for the next few minutes?"

  I wanted to ask why, but it was obvious we didn't have the time for a lengthy explanation. I nodded. "I trust you. After everything you've done, I know you wouldn't hurt me."

  Alec turned towards Rachel, but she shook her head before he could even open his mouth. "You don't even need to ask. I'll follow your lead, and try to look brave."

  He threw the door open and stalked into the house. Rachel grabbed my hand and pulled me along behind her.

  A group of familiar faces was waiting for us in the largest living room I'd ever seen. It took me several seconds to match identities to the rain-soaked group staring at me with such hostility.

  Jasmin was standing in the center, and didn't even wait for me to get fully in the room before she started talking.

  "She goes back to Brandon tonight. It's a long shot, but it's better than nothing. She brought it on herself so there isn't any reason to cry over what might happen."

  Alec shook his head. "Unacceptable. She wasn't properly his. There was no bond of Ja'tell, and consequently we have no obligation to return her to him."

  Jasmin opened her mouth to say something else, but a tiny brunette, probably Jessica, interrupted her. "Alec, we have to do this. None of us are stupid; we know what's going to happen. You killed two members of his pack."

  There was steel in Alec's voice that I'd never heard before. "Still unacceptable. You've all aired your opinions; you can retire to your beds now."

  James looked up from where he'd been slouching against the wall, and I suddenly realized that he wasn't shaking from cold. He was so furious it looked like he was only seconds away from exploding.

  A very pretty Hispanic girl placed a gentle hand on his arm, but he shook her hand off and let out a sound that was uncomfortably close to a growl. "You selfish jerk. You've been mooning over her for weeks. You've got her now, but at what cost? This isn't open to discussion. We're taking her back to Brandon and asking for leniency."

  In an effort to see better, Rachel and I had moved slightly to the side. Alec reached back without looking and moved us directly behind him. It wasn't until his arm brushed me that I realized he was shaking ever so slightly himself.

  "There's only one way you're going to touch her, James. Are you really ready to take that step?"

  I felt shivers run down me as I realized just how easily everything could boil over into deadly violence. The tension in the room pulsed out in waves, skittering many-legged across my skin like something that belonged under a rock somewhere.

  The feeling intensified even more as first Jessica and then Jasmin picked up the same strange, near epileptic quiver. James let out a low, grating growl, and my stomach dropped as he looked up with eyes that weren't the unremarkable brown they'd been just a second before. The hot yellow eyes of a predator were looking out of James' familiar face, changing it into something threatening and inhuman.

  Answering growls from Jasmin and Jessica seemed to snap something inside of Alec. His tremble became more pronounced. There was a ripping sound, and when I looked down at his hands, they'd been replaced by the same wickedly-sharp claws I remembered from the night before.

  I must have let out a gasp, because Rachel tightened her grasp on me and moved closer. She might have whispered something comforting, but I couldn't hear it past the thunder of my own heartbeat.

  All three of them were moving towards us now. It was so inhumanly smooth and slow the motion was almost imperceptible, but I was certain they were stalking us. Stalking me. As soon as they got close enough to cover the remaining distance in a single bound, they'd attack, and if Alec had been sorely pressed fighting two of his kind last night, three were almost certain to kill him.

  Rachel pulled me around behind her and spoke with a calm that seemed too concrete to be real. "Jasmin, please don't do this. I'm not going to move. She doesn't mean anything to you. What about me?"

  Jasmin stopped moving. She was still shaking, and when she looked up at me, her eyes still bubbled with hate, but they were human again instead of the pale, ice blue from a moment before.

  With a visible effort of will, Jasmin closed her eyes, calmed her shaking body, and then turned and quickly walked out of the room.

  I was just tall enough to see over Rachel and take in what was going on in the rest of the room. James' eyes were still yellow, and he was still inching his way towards me, obviously undeterred by Jasmin's defection.

  The Hispanic girl carefully closed the distance between them, and then placed her slender, perfect dark hand on James' arm once again as she leaned in and whispered something in his ear. For a moment it seemed he was going to shake her off again but then he shuddered, shot Alec another dirty look, and stormed out of the room. The tiny form following after him looked like a fragile schooner trailing along the edge of a hurricane.

  The room seemed so calm after James disappeared that for a second I forgot Jessica was still half-crouched in the center of the room. Alec hadn't forgotten, and if the waves of tension and energy rolling off of him weren't as strong as the combined effects coming from all four of them, it still felt like the walls should explode outwards.

  Jessica seemed to shrink in on herself, and then she turned and ran away with a final hiss of defiance. Isaac looked up at Alec from the corner where he'd been quietly standing. Alec's almost imperceptible nod sent him in the same direction as Jessica.

  Whatever meager survival instincts I had left chose that moment to finally kick in, and I felt my knees begin to give way. Rachel let out a high-pitched sound that had all of the surprise of a squeal, but none of the excitement. Apparently Alec knew how to interpret it. He turned back and caught me again before I could hit the ground.

  "There isn't anything to worry about now. Go ahead and catch your breath."

  As pleasant as it was to be in his arms again, I was starting to worry he'd get tired of it. I pushed him away as soon as I was reasonably confident my knees would support me. "What's going on? Why are they so scared of Brandon?"

  Alec shook his head. "This isn't the time; we need to get you back home to your mom. It would be most unfortunate if she were to arrive and find you gone."

  My mind was still a little fuzzy, but it was working well enough for me to know he was wrong. "No. She's not going to be home until Sunday. There isn't any reason to go back there yet."

  I looked around for Rachel, but she'd disappeared sometime between when I'd started falling, and when I'd thought to thank her.

  "You mean she wasn't planning on coming back until Sunday. Once Brandon gets involved in things, they tend not to go as expected."

  I wanted to ask questions, but Rachel appeared from a hallway. "He's right, Adriana. You need to be home in case your mom returns sooner than expec
ted. Things are going to get plenty weird enough over the next couple of weeks. You don't want to start out with your mom already mad at you."

  Feeling very small inside at the thought of going back by myself, I nodded. Alec apparently read the meaning of my sudden change in expression. "Don't worry; I'm not going to send you back alone. We'll make sure nothing happens to you."

  Too scared to even muster a "yeah right, they all hate me," I simply waited while Alec flipped open an ultra-slender cellphone, and made two calls. He spoke too quietly for me to make out exactly what was being said. It seemed like he was giving orders though, and that they weren't being received very well.

  A few minutes later Alec bundled me into the back seat of an unfamiliar car, which rapidly filled up as first Jasmin, Isaac and the tiny Hispanic girl arrived. Jasmin completely ignored me as she climbed into the car; Isaac gave me a polite, if somewhat cool nod. The Hispanic girl gave me an honest-to-goodness smile as she slipped behind the steering wheel and started the engine. In what was one of the most thoughtful things that'd happened all night, she turned the heater on full as she pulled out of the driveway.

  The drive into town, and then back out to my house was quiet, but luckily didn't take as long as normal. Apparently her timidness stopped well short of observing the speed limit. Alec, Isaac, and Jasmin all jumped out of the car as soon as my house was in sight. The car was still doing at least twenty miles per hour when they bailed. They faded into the darkened landscape about the time we rolled to a stop.

  I went to open the door, but a delicate brown hand stopped me. "I'm sorry you've had such a rough night. James and the others will come around eventually. Till then just continue being brave and trust Alec. He really will move the cielos to protect you."

  She had a thick, beautiful Spanish accent. For a second I was torn between complimenting her on it and asking her what cielos meant. I finally just settled on faking a smile and thanking her. She smiled at me. "No need to thank me. My name is Dominic by the way."

  A few seconds later I was standing alone, nervously facing my house. Alec suddenly appeared at my side. I jumped a little at the surprise.

  "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

  I shrugged as my breathing started to slow down again. "It's okay. Where were you?"

  "Scouting. We had to make sure Brandon's pack wasn't waiting for us."

  "How can you be sure? They could be hidden anywhere."

  Alec shook his head, his eyes strangely gentle. "No, if they were hanging around outside we'd be able to smell them."

  "So not only are you faster and stronger than normal people, you've also got noses like real wolves?"

  "Of a sort. That's not really important though. Let's get you inside."

  I nodded and started towards the door, only to blink as Alec stepped in front of me. "May I have permission to enter and make sure it's safe inside?"

  I slowed down, suddenly terrified at the thought of Brandon and his friends waiting inside for me. "I thought you said you'd be able to smell them if they were here."

  "If they were outside, yes. Under normal circumstances we'd be able to determine whether or not they'd been here in the last few days, but the rainstorm last night was strong enough to wash away all of that."

  Alec waited patiently as I tried to get a grip on myself. As soon as I nodded he disappeared through the door. A few seconds later he was back. "It's safe; there's no trace of them."

  He held the door open for me, and then slipped outside. "You need to erase any evidence that you weren't here all night. Take a shower, change into some of your own clothes, and then go to sleep. We'll keep watch outside until your mom gets back."

  I opened my mouth to ask what would happen after that, but he was already gone, moving so quickly through the darkness that I wasn't even sure which direction he'd headed.

  I locked the door for the first time since we'd arrived in Sanctuary, turned on all the downstairs lights, and then slowly walked upstairs. It was crazy to be scared that Alec had somehow missed someone, but I couldn't shake the feeling I was being watched. Once I finally made it upstairs, I checked both rooms, and the bathroom, before finally relaxing a little.

  I showered quickly, carefully making sure the smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke was out of my hair, and then changed into clean clothes and collapsed onto my bed. I was exhausted, but I couldn't fall asleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw dark shapes hurtling towards me.

  After looking at the clock for the thousandth time, I finally got up and went downstairs. The lights were still blazing, just as I'd left them. I debated for several seconds before opening the door and stepping out into the darkness. Somehow the porch light didn't reach out as far into the yard as I'd remembered.

  Alec appeared on the edge of the light with such suddenness that a startled yelp escaped me despite my best efforts.

  "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you."

  Strangely enough, I believed him. He was moving with the same, over-controlled care I'd seen him use around Rachel. "It's okay, it must be really limiting to always have to pretend you're slow and normal."

  His expression took on an alien cast, as he shrugged.

  "Actually I've spent so much of my life trying to hide the unusual aspects of my nature, it's usually effortless. For some reason, I forget myself around you."

  There was something to his voice, but even after he'd hinted at having strong feelings for me, it was hard to really believe it all. At least not without an outright admission on his part.

  Seeking to distract myself from a thoroughly useless train of thought, I looked around, trying vainly to pierce the curtain of black hanging around the feeble circle of light. "Are they out there waiting now?"

  Alec shook his head. "No, I'd already have come and carried you away if any of Brandon's people were around. Barring that, you'd hear us fighting. Mere doors and windows wouldn't do much to muffle the sound."

  "You'd be fighting, because of me."

  Alec slowly crossed the distance between us, and took my shoulders in his hands. "Please don't try and take the blame for this. We've been on a collision course with Brandon's pack for years."

  His touch was intoxicating. I could feel warm tingles start from my shoulders and work their way down my arms. A full two seconds of silence passed before I realized he'd asked me why I'd come downstairs. "I can't sleep. I've been trying, but I'm too wound up to do anything but just lie there. I thought I'd come downstairs and talk to you instead. I mean, unless it's bothering you. You know, keeping you from patrolling or something."

  That last bit hadn't really been planned. I'd wanted to come downstairs and talk to him, but wouldn't have dreamt of just saying it outright. Maybe it was the natural high I got simply from being around him.

  Alec's smile was brief, but it felt like the first one I'd seen since he'd been forced to save me. I couldn't blame him for being worried about how this was going to further strain already tense relations with Brandon's pack. Still, the transforming expression made me realize just how badly I'd missed his other face, the one that wasn't stern and serious all of the time.

  "No, you're not bothering me in the slightest. Jasmin or Isaac either one could easily keep watch. Our sense of smell and hearing are good enough that it's all but impossible for even other wolves to catch us unawares. They're here more in the role of bodyguards. If Brandon's people do show up, it'll likely take all three of us to get you away safely."

  "So you don't mind? You'll stay here and talk to me?"

  Alec paused for several seconds, which wasn't promising. Then again, he hadn't released my shoulders yet, so maybe there was still some hope. "I'm not sure that's the best idea. You really need your sleep. The whole purpose of this little exercise is to convince your mom you've been safely home this entire time. If you crash later in the day, she's going to know you didn't sleep tonight."

  "Maybe if you stayed with me it would help me sleep." I almost couldn't believe those words we
re really coming out of my mouth. I wanted to blame it on how close he was standing, or how tired I was, or anything else that might be remotely believable, but based on how serious his face had just become, it was too late to take it all back.

  "That doesn't strike me as being a much better solution."

  I felt my neck and face begin to burn from embarrassment. I took a step back, and reached for the door, hoping to beat a quick retreat before I could humiliate myself further, but he stopped me with a surprisingly gentle hand. "I'm sorry; that didn't come out as intended. If it would help you sleep, of course I'll come upstairs and sit with you. It's the least I can do after allowing you to be dragged into this mess."

  Alec followed me upstairs, and then slid down the wall to sit on the floor as I sat down on my bed. As soon as I was comfortable he reached up and flipped off the light.

  "Hey, I can't see you now."

  His laugh was like silk. It reached out, and smoothed away the last of the embarrassment. "The deal was I would come up here so you could sleep. You aren't going to fall asleep if the light is on and you're staring at me."

  "Fine, the light can be off, but I get to ask you questions still, and you need to start giving me real answers."

  The chuckle was a little more resigned, but he didn't argue, so I launched into my first question before I'd really thought it through. "What...I mean, you're all so different..." I trailed off into silence worried he was going to be mad.

  "I think you meant to ask what I am." Alec sighed, but it wasn't an angry sigh, so I nodded, forgetting for a moment that he couldn't see me in the darkness.

  "We share a little in common with a bunch of different legends, but none get it quite right. In short, we're shape shifters, people who can take the form of animals."

  I'd already seen that for myself, but it was strangely exhilarating to hear him admit it. "You mean like werewolves?"

  There was a hiss of sound, as if I'd just hit him. For a second I worried I'd made him angry. "No, not like werewolves."

  I waited for him to elaborate. When the silence grew too uncomfortable I was the first to crack, just like always. "Did I say something wrong?"

  Alec's voice was surprisingly gentle. "No, you've nothing to feel sorry about. I should tell you though that calling a shape shifter a werewolf is the kind of insult that nearly always results in a fight, and often even a death."

  I felt momentarily like I'd been hit. Alec was waiting for me to respond, but I couldn't bring myself to say anything.

  "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to scare you. I forget sometimes how much more violent my world is."

  I wasn't any less shocked, but his tone was so apologetic I couldn't help but smile.

  "That's better; I much prefer the happy Adri face to the scared Adri."

  "Wait, you could see me smile? I guess that all follows, better hearing, better sense of smell. Of course you'd have better vision too."

  It wasn't until I heard the note of longing in my voice that I realized what I was missing. Alec didn't have that same advantage, and I could feel him waiting expectantly.

  "Sorry, it's just that this all makes me think of these amazing dreams I've been having since I arrived. I'm transported to various places, but in every case I can hear and smell better than I can in real life. Not only that, everything is glowing. Only that isn't the right word for it. Mostly there's just light coming out of the people and the plants and animals. It's so beautiful. Funny your having more acute senses would make me think of that."

  Alec sighed. "It's bordering on stuff I shouldn't tell you, but you deserve to know. You've just described exactly how we perceive the world. The colors are all more vibrant, the breeze is more alive with scents than anyone could ever know."

  I felt my heart speed up a little as things started falling into place. "Your paintings. That explains them. You were superimposing what you see over top of what someone like me would see. Only how would you know what things look like to us?"

  Alec's chuckle held more than a little resignation in its timbre. "You are amazing. Anyone else waking up in a strange place would've run away as soon as they regained consciousness. At the very least, you should have started screaming. Instead you wander around, take in some rather feeble attempts at art, and then sneak out without saying a word."

  Secure in the knowledge he could see me, I stuck my tongue out at him. "Hey, my survival instincts, or lack thereof aren't the point. Stop trying to distract me."

  "I suppose I deserved that. It's just more than a little unsettling how quickly you're putting pieces together. There really are things that aren't safe for you to know. Among them, the reason why it isn't safe for you to know them."

  I waited expectantly, and he finally resumed. "To answer your question, I wasn't always like this. When I was younger I saw exactly the way that you do. Even now, my vision is more like yours when I'm in this form. I still see incredibly well, and there's just the slightest hint of light from living things, but nothing like what you saw in the dreams."

  "So you work from memory mostly then? That and trying to make what you see when you're in human form even more drab than what you really see?"

  "That about sums it up, although I didn't really expect you to pick up on that last part so quickly. You're remarkably perceptive."

  I felt my face heat at the compliment. I quickly looked for something worthy of a chuckle to change the subject. "So what does a seventeen-year-old shape shifter spend his time doing?"

  I succeeded with my goal of making him laugh. "Well, I spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to keep my friends away from each other's throats. We've got some pretty strong personalities, and it's nearly a full-time job stopping minor disagreements from boiling over into something bigger. Apart from that, I spend an hour or two every day vetting Donovan's management of the family assets. He does an incredible job with everything, but even so, there are certain things I have to approve myself."

  "Who's Donovan?"

  Another chuckle. "That's one of the most difficult questions you've asked so far. He likes to call himself our butler, but that doesn't even begin to describe him. He does take care of most of the duties a typical butler would assume, but he's also our financial manager and long-time family friend. I'm excited for you to meet him tomorrow. I think you'll like him."

  "Yeah, but will he like me?" I sat up in bed, excited to finally be getting real details about Alec's life.

  "Please lie back down. You have to at least be trying to sleep. Otherwise I'm heading back downstairs. And don't pout. It won't influence me in the slightest."

  "It's just sooo hard for my merely human ears to hear you from so far away. Maybe if you were to move over here I wouldn't have to strain to catch every word."

  It was so blatantly coy, I almost couldn't believe I was saying it. It had been said though. All there was left to do was hope he didn't decide I was the biggest loser to ever walk the earth. The extended silence was almost enough to make me decide he was going to get up and leave.

  "All right, I'll come over and lean against your bed, but you really need to try and sleep. You've got to be nearly exhausted."

  "What about you, mister superhero shape shifter? You've been up longer than I have. I'm not the only one who needs to sleep." I tried not to let my voice get too sing-song, but I felt a completely irrational thrill as he quietly crossed over to my side of the room.

  "That's actually one of the benefits of my condition. I don't actually need normal amounts of sleep. An hour or two per night is usually more than enough."

  Having him so close to me was somehow both exhilarating and soothing at the same time. I could feel the tense, knotty parts of me start to relax for the first time since Simon and Nathanial tried to kill me. As exhaustion started to finally eat through all of the nervous energy that'd been fueling me, it was all I could do to follow what Alec was saying. Still, I wasn't ready to go to sleep. It felt like he'd disappear if I closed my eyes.

  "So you d
on't need to sleep. What do you do with all the rest of your time?"

  Alec was close enough now that I could see his smile. It reached out and wrapped itself around me like a warm blanket. "Well, I do spend a fairly significant amount of time each day sitting in class. Kind of like someone else I know."

  "Unacceptable. I've added that up in my head, and you've still got several hours each day that you haven't accounted for." Despite my best efforts, I was mumbling so badly I wasn't sure anything I'd said was comprehensible.

  Somewhere in there I'd closed my eyes, so I felt a sluggish, tired kind of surprise when he gently brushed his fingers across the side of my face. The sensation was so feathery I almost opened my eyes to verify that he'd really touched me. It was too much effort. Besides, I didn't really want to know if he hadn't touched me, it was better to just go on pretending he had.

  "I'm afraid that really is the balance of my time. I spend time with Rachel of course. Then there are a few odd minutes where I squeeze in some reading, or a bit of painting."

  "They're beautiful. Best I've seen. Ever."

  I imagined I could hear him smile. "Thank you. I'm afraid mostly all I see is the flaws. Even with the most perfect subjects, I still generally fail to capture their true essence."

  "But not all?"

  "No, not all of them."

  It was getting harder and harder to string thoughts together in a comprehensible manner. "Sounds fulfilling. Busy, but fulfilling."

  Alec waited so long to respond that I nearly drifted off. "It's always seemed fulfilling. At least until recently."

  I wanted to know what he meant, but couldn't muster the willpower. I already felt myself starting to drift away. Even the feeling of him caressing my check again wasn't enough to bring me all the way back to full alertness.

  "Somehow that all changed after you arrived. Little by little I started to realize just how empty my life really was. I wish I could come right out and say it while you're awake. I don't want that life anymore. I don't really want any life that doesn't involve you."

  Part of me wanted to scream for joy, to jump up out of my bed and wrap myself around Alec as tightly as I could, but I was just too far gone. I half thought I was dreaming it all. As I finally let sleep pull me down into darkness, I almost thought I heard Alec say one last thing. The tone was so vulnerable and hesitant he almost sounded like another person.

  "The truth is, I've fallen well and truly in love with you."