Broken (44 page)

"We're very nearly there. The maze serves as
a final barrier against unwelcome eyes."

I was lost within seconds, before we'd made
more than four or five turns. "No wonder Alec laughed when I
threatened to try and follow him. I'd starve to death before anyone
found me."

Donovan's laugh was surprisingly relaxed. I'd
only ever seen him with a serious, if respectful expression. Even
Rachel's frequent teasing hadn't ever managed to crack his 'working
face'.

"I hardly think that would be the case. While
you may very well have lost your way, it would have been a small
matter for one of the others to track you down. You have, if I may
say so, a very distinctive smell. It reminds me of a type of sage
brush that hasn't grown here in quite some time."

His sigh was more felt than heard, and it put
me in mind of mountains, redwoods, and other ancient things.

"Donovan, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, mistress. I'm afraid there are
many which I won't be able to answer, but it would be a delight to
share those things which haven't been forbidden me."

"You're really old aren't you?"

His hesitation was brief, so much so I almost
thought I'd imagined it. "Yes, Mistress Paige, I'm quite old."

"Older than Sanctuary?"

This time there wasn't any doubt. He'd
definitely hesitated. It stretched out long enough that for a
moment I didn't think he was going to answer, but then he nodded, a
long deliberate motion that left no question but that it was a
confirmation.

I wanted to ask more, but didn't want to
venture into the kinds of things that would get him in trouble with
Alec. We walked for another minute or so before I was struck with
the silliness of someone who was old enough to be my great
grandfather calling me 'Mistress Paige.'

"Donovan, you could just call me Adri if you
want."

"That would hardly be appropriate
mistress."

"It just seems silly. I mean, I'm not really
part of the family or anything, so there isn't really a need is
there?"

Donovan's smile was incredibly gentle as he
shook his head in disagreement. "You're very much a part of the
family, and if I may be so bold, I'm quite delighted by your
inclusion. I've not seen Mistress Rachel or Master Alec this
content in more years than I like to think about. For my part, I
hope to have the continued pleasure of your company for a very long
time."

I felt myself blushing. I hated how easily my
face heated up, but a little thing like my imminent death was
hardly going to change that.

"Thanks, Donovan. Not just for that either. I
haven't properly thanked you for how nice you've been to me."

Donovan waved away my thanks, "That is no
more or less than my duty to a member of the family, and with that,
we've arrived."

The Graves estate was cradled between two
spurs, and we'd finally traversed the length of the estate to
arrive where the spurs joined the mountain. The north end of the
valley was a terraced masterpiece that was remarkably green despite
the complete lack of visible water. Large trees of a type I didn't
recognize towered on each side, shooting up dozens of feet before
branching out into an interlocking canopy that cut the harsh
sunlight down to greenish haze that swayed with the gentle motion
of a breeze too slight for me to feel.

A gravel pathway cut its winding way between
real, live grass before terminating in a sandy courtyard that my
eyes had been avoiding, almost as though my mind wasn't ready to
deal with what it knew it would see there.

The pack had turned at our appearance and six
sets of unblinking, inhuman eyes stared up at me.

A low growl sounded from one of the throats,
and Donovan edged in front of me as the largest of the figures
turned and struck out at another of the shape shifters with
blurring speed.

A startled yelp bounced off of the valley
walls, and then Donovan relaxed slightly and started forward. "We
should be safe now. Master Alec seems to have things well in
hand."

His word choice didn't inspire an
overabundance of confidence, but I could hardly turn and run away
after begging to be allowed to come watch.

The path seemed to shrink as we were walking,
and almost too quickly sand replaced the crunch of gravel under our
feet.

I recognized Alec's humanoid form from
before, a massive, black, heavily furred tower of muscle, claws and
fangs. I might have pulled back at his approach, but the eyes, even
with their vertical pupils were still undeniably his. A paler, more
icy blue than I was used to, but it was still him looking out at me
from the other side.

Everyone else was harder to pick out, but I
gave it my best shot. Isaac was probably the bluish-black hybrid
that was nearly as big as Alec. His utter stillness in comparison
to the constant motion of the rest of the pack was too much like
his normal self-mastery for it to be anyone else.

The other hybrid, the gray one with his teeth
showing, and just the barest hint of a growl had to be James.
Jessica was obviously the smallest of the wolves. She paced back
and forth, her eyes never leaving me as she made it entirely
evident she'd like nothing more than to give into countless
millennium of instincts, and just rip my throat out in a single
lightning-fast bound.

It wasn't until I tried to decide which of
the two remaining wolves was Dominic, that I realized the next
smallest figure wasn't a wolf at all. The pitch-black shadow that
padded towards me was some kind of cross between a leopard and a
jaguar.

A low growl rippled up out of Alec's throat
as the large cat got closer, but she dropped to the ground and
rolled onto her back. I started forward, but Donovan's hand closed
around my arm, pulling me up short.

Alec's gaze never left the prostrate shape
shifter. He let her remain on the ground for several seconds, and
then his chin dropped in an unmistakable nod.

Moving with what had to be exaggerated care
for someone capable of such speed, she rolled back onto her paws
and crossed the remaining distance between us. Donovan released my
arm as she reared up and placed her front paws on my shoulders. The
colorless eyes didn't match any of the pack's human form, but they
had Dominic's gentleness.

She dropped back down and butted her head
against my hand. I started petting her out of reflex, but when I
slowed down out of embarrassment, she butted my hand again. After a
few seconds she turned and slipped away, disappearing into the
trees in a matter of seconds.

The rest of the pack seemed to be waiting
expectantly, milling about partially hidden by Alec's towering
figure. I turned to ask Donovan what to do next, only to have the
words torn away from me as a surge of power washed over me from
where Dominic had disappeared. A momentary ripple of stillness
swept through the pack, and then Dominic reappeared, this time
walking on two legs.

I'd been too overwhelmed by everything else
to really register the fact that everyone was wearing some form of
stretchy clothing. I'd never thought about how changing shapes must
make for difficulty when it came to clothing choices, but it
appeared someone had solved the problem.

Dom's black outfit had perfectly matched her
fur, and whatever it was, it had shrunk down to fit her four-legged
form, while still having enough elasticity to expand out to cover
her person shape. The girl's clothes seemed to have an elastic band
of some kind at their necks, legs and arms, while the boys were
wearing a pants-like number which cinched down over their waist, as
well as just above the knees.

My preoccupation over what everyone was
wearing gave Dom a chance to cover the distance between us. Donovan
smiled as Dom reached us. "I'll leave her in your care then,
Mistress Sanchez?"

Alec watched Donovan leave, and then turned
back to the pack and chivvied them back into motion. I grabbed onto
Dom's hand with enough force to bruise a normal person as Isaac and
James turned on each other with a sudden ferocity that left me
breathless.

"It's ok. They're training, sparring if you
will."

It was hard to believe what I was watching
was anything less than an all-out bid to kill each other. Isaac
ducked a vicious swipe from James, and then knocked the smaller
hybrid over with a backhand blow I was pretty sure would've crushed
rock.

Dominic winced a little as the blow landed
and her boyfriend hit with earth-shattering force.

"Are you sure? I mean it looks pretty real to
me."

"They're definitely being careful not to kill
each other. Isaac could've connected with his claws instead of his
fist."

Jasmin and Jessica were circling each other
now. It reminded me of a fight I'd seen between two feral dogs
while I was still in grade school. The dogs had circled for five or
ten seconds, and then one had thrown himself at the other. A
neighbor had broken the fight up with a few thrown stones before
it'd come to a grizzly end, but it'd been obvious once the first
dog had latched onto his opponent's throat that it was only a
matter of time before the smaller dog would've died.

This was exactly the same, only it happened
faster as Jasmin blurred into motion. One moment she was growling
at Jess from a distance of more than five feet, the next instance
she was on top of Jess, and her teeth were latched around the
smaller wolf's throat.

Dominic's hand tightened on mine as Jess
began to whine, but Alec took a menacing step forward and Jasmin
released Jessica with another growl.

"She didn't want to let go did she?"

Dom looked for a second like she wasn't going
to answer, but she finally shook her head. "It's harder to control
the instincts, the beast inside us, if you will, while we're in an
alternate form. Hybrid, wolf, cat, to one extent or another, we
become the beast, and if there's one thing animals have figured
out, it's that you don't survive by letting a beaten opponent live
to learn from their mistakes."

I felt a shudder go through me at what she
was saying. "So Alec wasn't kidding when he said it wasn't safe for
me to be here?"

"You're probably not in any more danger today
than you were that first night. Jessica isn't any fonder of you now
than she was then. I've been working with James every day since
then, but he hasn't really come around yet, so he is still a bit of
a problem. Luckily, with Alec and Isaac both firmly on your side,
and Jasmin starting to develop a liking for you, there isn't a
thing those two can really do about it. As long as Alec is very
careful to stay between the two of them and you, you really don't
have a reason to worry."

"He let you get close to me."

Dom's smile was incredibly winning. "Ah, but
Donovan was still with you, and not only do I like you more than
any of the others, I'm also a cat, so in this case my instincts
aren't quite as worrisome."

"You're different from the others then? I
mean they can't change into cat's can they?"

She shook her head, attention still mostly on
the fighting taking place on the far end of the sand court.

"We're from different bloodlines. If you
believe the legends, Adjam became the first wolf, and Inock the
first of the big cats. Alec and the others descended from Adjam,
and I'm a descendant of Inock."

It all seemed so impossible, legends brought
to life and paraded before my incredulous eyes, and yet there was
no arguing with the truth. It was starting to sink in that I needed
to come to terms with all of the natural implications. Things like
the fact that some or all of my attraction to Alec was based on his
ability to addict humans to him, intentionally or not.

James and Jessica were squared off against
Alec now while Isaac and Jasmin watched. I'd thought everyone else
moved fast, but Alec was even faster. He actually dodged Jess'
jump, causing her to latch onto nothing more than thin air, while
he spun around and hit James with a blow to the chest that had to
have broken ribs.

"Alec's a good leader. Maybe the best. This
kind of exercise would be impossible in nearly any other pack, but
it's the only thing that's kept us alive in the face of Brandon's
larger pack."

I didn't want her to say anything she wasn't
supposed to, especially not if Alec was having as hard of a time
controlling the anger that seemed to be part and parcel of the new
shapes everyone was wearing, but I was desperate to start
understanding some of what was going on.

Dominic must've looked away from the fight
long enough to see the questions on my face. "It's hard to
understand just how important the pack structure is. The question
of who is dominate to who, and who is subordinate drives so much of
what we do. Even so, it's not nearly as bad as other packs, other
places. Alec's established clear dominance to everyone else here,
but he still probably couldn't make his gentler rules stick if it
weren't for the fact that Isaac backs him almost without
question."

The object of our discussions was currently
backing away from James while trying to keep Jessica from circling
around behind him. I finally realized what I'd always thought of as
grace was really an economy of motion. It was like he was saving
every possible bit of energy because he never knew when he'd find
it necessary to burn up his reserves in a blaze of violence.

Even as I watched, he spun around, plucking
Jessica out of the air, grabbing her by the head mid-leap as she
sought to find purchase on this throat. He tried to spin back
around to meet James' rush, but the smaller hybrid knocked him down
with a crash. Isaac and Jasmin were there in a blink, tearing the
other two wolves off of Alec before the conflict could turn
deadly.

I couldn't breath until the dust settled, and
Alec rolled back up to his feet, dripping blood from a large gash
in his side. Dominic heard my sudden gasp and reached over to
reassure me.