Broken (38 page)

I nodded, and then buried my face against his
chest as I cried myself out. It was several minutes before I was
able to speak again.

"You're so ready to send me away it's hard to
believe sometimes that you really want me here."

Alec stroked the side of my face, ending by
tucking a strand of hair back in place behind my ear. "I really
want nothing as badly as I want you here. If I were to be
completely selfish I'd never have even made the offer, but that
wouldn't have been fair to you."

I snuggled closer to him. "Well I just want
to log my vote for you to be more selfish."

Alec's dry chuckle hinted at old hurts.
"According to my father, we shape shifters were created
specifically for the purpose of not being selfish, of watching out
for the dayborn even at the expense of our own desires."

"You miss your dad. I can tell it in your
voice."

His shrug would've been imperceptible except
for the fact his arms were still wrapped around me. "I do. I don't
really remember him, but I've read through his journals dozens of
times. It seems crazy to miss what you never really knew, but there
are days when I really wish he were still around to give me advice.
I think that's what I missed the most. That and his stories."

I smiled. "That sounds nice. We never really
got stories at my house. Dad played with us plenty, but bedtime was
bedtime."

"Donovan said he used to tell me stories
every night. After he died Donovan took over telling them to both
Rachel and I. It wasn't until after I grew up that I found out they
were legends about where we came from. That we weren't normal like
everyone else."

"Like the..dayborn? What did you mean
earlier?"

Alec was quiet for so long that I thought
maybe he wasn't going to answer. "That touches on the things you
shouldn't know."

"Please. It will help me go to sleep. I need
something else to think about." It was a bit of a white lie. As
soon as he'd touched me everything else ceased to matter.

"Once upon a time the Sun and the Earth loved
each other. So much so that the Sun sent her children down to live
upon the Earth's face."

I was relaxing so quickly that I wasn't sure
how much longer I would be able to stay awake, but his story was
already different than any other I'd heard, and I resolved I wasn't
going to miss any of it. As long as he was willing to talk I was
going to fight off sleep.

"Something happened though to break the bonds
between the Sun and the Earth. Some say the Earth insulted the Sun,
who is incredibly vain. Others believe the Sun's children somehow
marred the face of the Earth, and that when she refused to
discipline her wayward family, the Earth swore in his wrath to
destroy them."

Alec adjusted his pillow and continued.
"Whatever the cause, it's commonly held that this was the point at
which the Earth ceased to be a paradise. Bountiful gardens were
replaced by weeds and thorns. Hurt and betrayed, the Sun distanced
herself from the Earth, lessening the number of life-giving rays
warming his surface. Possibly that was his plan. If she'd totally
abandoned him then her children would've all died."

I felt my eyelids begin to flutter, as my
breathing slowed to match Alec's

"Whether that was his intent or not, the Sun
didn't completely abandon him, either out of respect for what
they'd shared, or possibly out of concern for her children. Once it
became apparent that the Earth and Sun were through with each
other, the Moon began to court her. Doomed to touch only briefly
during the rare solar eclipses, they nevertheless became beloved,
one to the other. The greatest sign of the Moon's devotion to the
Sun came about when he sent his children down to the Earth to watch
over and protect the sunborn, or dayborn as they are most often
called."

Alec's pause was long enough that I think I
nodded off, but the sound of his voice once he resumed talking
pulled me back awake.

"Originally there were just two of the
moonborn, a pair of brothers called Adjam and Inock. Unbeknown to
the Moon, the Earth had anticipated his great gesture of love, and
sent forth a plague upon the land. As Adjam, the elder of the
brothers, descended from the heavens and touched down upon the
Earth, he collapsed to the ground in pain. Despite his agony as the
very bones of his body rearranged themselves, he managed to call
out a warning to Inock, to flee back to the Moon. The love of Inock
for Adjam was so great that he rushed to his brother's side, where
he too fell victim to the Earth's plague."

I wanted so very badly to remain awake, but
wrapped comfortably in the warmth of Alec's arms, I couldn't fight
off exhaustion any longer, and I felt myself drift off into dreams
of two brothers who survived the plague, rising from the ground
after seven days, one a wolf, the other a jaguar.

Chapter 24

I'd been awake for several minutes before I
finally remembered where I was. I rolled over, opened my eyes,
groaning when I saw that the other side of the bed was empty.

Who knows what Alec thought. He'd obviously
fled his own room to avoid talking to me when I finally woke
up.

Donovan's gentle knock, and appearance at the
door pulled me up short before I could really get going on the
self-loathing. "Good morning Mistress Paige, I hope you slept
well."

He limped into the room with his odd, somehow
graceful lurch, and then set down a tray filled with eggs, French
toast, orange juice and everything else you'd expect if you were to
go to IHOP and order their 'everything but the kitchen sink'
special.

While I was still trying to catalog
everything on the tray, Donovan laid out a full set of clothes,
everything either in unopened manufacturer's plastic bags, or with
price tags still attached.

"Mistress Rachel thought you might desire a
change of clothes seeing as how Master Alec carried you off without
providing proper time for you to pack your things. I pray though
that you not think too harshly of him. It was he that prepared your
breakfast. A small act of atonement, but still a start
nonetheless."

It was all so surprising that it took me a
moment to find my voice. "Thank you, Donovan. Have I slept in too
long?"

A gentle smile met my inquiry. "Those of us
who don't require normal amounts of sleep have all been up for
quite some time, with the exception of Master Alec, who remained
abed for an uncharacteristic length of time, but the rest of the
house is just now waking. In fact I rather suspect you have just
enough time to shower and eat before Mistress Rachel will be
pounding on the door as it were, in excitement for your upcoming
trip into town."

A groan escaped me despite
my best efforts. Donovan was too polite to ask outright, but I had
to respond to his raised eyebrow or he might think I didn't want to
talk to Rachel. "I'm sorry Donovan, it's just that
I 
really
 hate shopping."

"Ah, yes. Might I suggest that possibly is
due to the fact you've never pursued the activity in the right
company?"

**

Right company indeed. I'd expected it would
just be Rachel and I, and that we'd make a quick run in to
Sanctuary, which seemed silly seeing as how my house was just as
close as town was. I was wrong on both accounts.

The 'company' as Donovan had dubbed it, also
included Dominic and Jasmin. Dominic had smiled shyly in my
direction as we'd climbed into an ostentatious black Mercedes.
Jasmin just looked like she'd rather be anywhere than on
babysitting duty.

Rachel had explained that Alec didn't want us
delicate, fragile girls traveling alone, so he'd assigned us
bodyguards, who happened to also be female and delicate looking,
but who weren't nearly as fragile.

Also, it turned out we weren't going to
Sanctuary, or St. George, or even anywhere in Utah, a fact I didn't
realize until we'd been on the road for twenty minutes.

"Oh, Adri, don't be silly. You can't do real
shopping in Sanctuary. Besides, Alec wouldn't have let the four of
us go alone if we'd been planning on staying so close to Brandon's
territory. Vegas was definitely the best option given the time
restrictions we're under."

I'd settled in for a long trip, only to
realize as we crossed the state line that Jasmin was positively
shattering the speed limit. I managed to limit myself to a single
gulp, when I saw just how fast she was going, but everyone else was
so relaxed that I finally managed to unclench my fists and join
back in the conversation. It helped that the Mercedes was so
smooth, and that I knew Jasmin had reflexes and reaction time that
would've made any Indy racer insanely jealous.

Apparently there wasn't a single cop on duty,
because we made it into downtown Vegas in what I was sure was
record time. It had to be. Jasmin hadn't dropped below triple
digits until we were less then fifteen minutes from exiting the
interstate.

It wasn't until we hit the first store that I
started to get an idea of what Donovan had been hinting at. The
shyness Rachel normally exhibited at school was replaced by supreme
confidence the moment we crossed the threshold of the first store.
Armani, Versatchi, Prada, we conducted a tour de force of them all
along with others whose names I didn't even recognize.

The shopping trip was ostensibly for me, but
Rachel cajoled both Jasmin and Dominic into dressing rooms on more
than one occasion. Amazingly enough, everything she picked out for
them fit so perfectly, that I began to agree with them that there
wasn't much point in even trying anything on.

The first store we stopped at didn't seem to
take us seriously until Rachel pulled out a black American Express,
after which every sales person in the entire place lined up to
assist us.

Once we each sported a bag or two from some
ridiculously over-priced store, things went much more smoothly. I
tried on a variety of jeans, blouses, shirts, skirts, dresses, and
just about every other article of clothing imaginable. I drew the
line at a swimsuit, since there was no way on earth I'd ever wear
one, and then felt so bad at how crushed Rachel was, that I let her
drag me into a store full of formals. It was a mistake because I
soon found myself being zipped into a delicate, green dress that I
was absolutely positive wasn't going to survive the experience of
trying to wrap itself around me.

"Oh, it's perfect, Adri. We have to get
it."

I avoided looking at the mirror. It seemed
like a crime to defile such a pretty dress, and I wanted to
remember it like it had looked on the hanger, all shimmery and
wispy. I did risk a look down at the price tag. My heart actually
skipped a beat. That was more than some people spent on their first
car."

"Rachel, you've already bought me way too
much. I can't let you get this. Not only will I never wear it, you
could literally feed small countries with what you'd have to pay
for all this."

She started to pout, but I'd already been
taken by that tactic once today, and caving in had just landed me
in deeper trouble. "I'm serious Rachel; we are not walking out of
the store with this dress. You can throw a temper tantrum if you
want, but I'm not giving in."

Rachel glared at me for several seconds, and
then suddenly smiled. "Ok, Adri. I mean I was just trying to do
something nice for you, but if you're going to be like that, we'll
leave it here."

Her grin didn't engender trust, but when I
opened my mouth to call her on it, she forestalled me with an
upraised hand. "I swear. We'll go home and leave the dress
here."

The pout came back out for a moment. "But, if
you're not going to let me buy this for you, I'm going to need to
compensate by buying something for Jasmin."

Rachel flounced off, followed by a frowning
Jasmin, leaving Dominic to help me out of the straitjacket I was
currently using as a dress.

Chapter 25

I slowly stretched, and then turned over and
smiled when I found Alec lying on top of the covers.

"Good morning, beautiful." As always his
voice sent shivers down my spine.

By the time we'd arrived home, it was
ridiculously late, and I'd barely managed to stay awake long enough
to bolt down a little dinner after Donovan had helped us unload our
haul. I'd then done the single most gutsy thing of my entire
existence. I'd quietly followed Alec back to his room and then
asked if I could sleep there again.

He'd given me another of those long looks
that seemed to say he thought it was a bad idea, but that he
couldn't bring himself to deny my request. Not with everything else
he couldn't do for me.

"Please, I must look horrid. If you'd known I
could look this bad, you'd never have bothered saving me from Simon
and Nathanial."

Alec cocked his head to the side, as if
trying to decide how to respond to my half-serious jest.

"Actually I was completely serious. You are
beautiful."

I waited for the inevitable joke, or
backhanded compliment to follow, but he seemed happy to just stop
there. For once in my life I managed to be smart and do the
same.

"So what's the agenda for today?"

Alec stretched and then shrugged. "School,
just like every Monday."

My groan brought a smile to his face. "I can
ship pesky parents out of the country, but if you start a wholesale
program of cutting class your mom will find out when she gets
back."

"So I just go about my day like normal,
pretending like I don't know Brandon's a psychopath who just
happens to be able to change shape at will and rip big holes in
brick walls?"

I finally rolled out of bed, and started
picking through the pile of bags from our shopping trip, hoping to
find something that wouldn't make it look like I'd just won the
lottery or robbed a bank.