Splintered (4 page)

Britney stared at me for a moment and then the
hate melted away into something else. It was like she was five
again and I'd just taken away her brand new kitten.

"I'm not pining. I'll have you know I've
started dating a guy from Reno. He's varsity football and his
parents are as rich as Alec's mom."

The words were too practiced. She wrapped her
arms around herself even as she said them.

I opened my mouth to respond but she opened her
book and turned away from me.

I spent the rest of the class pretending to
read The Count of Monte Cristo. It was actually a pretty
interesting story so far, but my mind was too full of thoughts of
Alec and Britney, strife and Ja'tell bonds.

When the bell finally released us, it was a
relief to go to Algebra. Mrs. Campbell ran us through a new concept
in record time and then released us to work on our assignment.
Jasmin hadn't ever changed out of the class after Brandon's pack
had been eliminated. We still weren't as close as Rachel and I, or
even Dom and I, but it'd been a definite peace offering.

When one of the aides brought a note
from the office and Mrs. Campbell left, Jasmin scooted her desk
right over so we could whisper.

"Was that a crazy fight last night or
what?"

"I guess. I mean I still don't really know
what's normal."

Jasmin seemed to consider what she
could get away with telling me and then shrugged. "It varies from
pack to pack, but Jack must have a death wish or something. Isaac
could rip him in half without breaking a sweat. Once we got back to
the house, Alec had to all but sit on Isaac to keep Jack and Sam
both alive for another day."

"Things were still tense after the fight
then?"

"Yeah. Alec and James forced Isaac out of the
house to keep him out of Donovan's way. Then while Donovan was
trying to sew Jess up, her dad showed up."

"Oh, poor Andrew."

I'd always liked Jess' dad. I hadn't
had much to do with him, but every time our paths had crossed he'd
been the epitome of good breeding.

Jasmin snorted. "Poor Andrew
nothing. It's us you should be feeling sorry for. He completely
freaked out."

Confined as Andrew was to the wheelchair that
provided his only source of mobility, it seemed hard to believe
he'd been able to cause Jasmin much in the way of problems. Some of
my disbelief must have shown through.

"He's all messed up from what Agony did to him,
but if he's angry enough not to notice the pain when the scar
tissue pulls, he's still dangerous. He took one look at Jess
bleeding away on the operating table and shifted. I barely had time
to knock him out of the way. I tried to back him down with a
display of power, but I'm not in Alec's class so it got
ugly."

That last sentence had just the barest trace of
resentment. Jasmin hated not having control of her destiny, hated
that she had to take second place not just to Alec but also
occasionally to Isaac and James too.

I waited expectantly. I could generally draw
more information out of Jasmin if I was patient. It was probably
another form of peace offering.

"You have no idea how hard it is to
restrain someone when we're…furry. I had to just grab a hold of his
neck and hope I could hold on tight enough to control him without
going too far and killing him."

The picture of Andrew lying on the floor
bleeding while his daughter was doing the same above him on the
table sent chills through me.

"Everyone's okay now
though?"

"More or less. Jess is going to make
a full recovery and Dom got Alec to us pretty quickly. Alec was
able to force Andrew back down into his normal shape. Good thing
too. When Donovan checked the old man he found all kinds of
internal bleeding. Apparently the scar tissue pulls on his organs
when he gets out of control like that. He could actually bleed
himself out internally if he kept ignoring the pain."

It all fit with the kind of
craziness I'd seen out of the pack before, but it just didn't make
sense. "Why would he attack you guys when you were busy helping
save Jess? It doesn't make any sense!"

Jasmin shrugged again. "You have to
remember that our beasts don't think the way you and I do. To us
it's ludicrous, but it's the same kind of thing that made Isaac
attack James while Alec was helping calm Andrew down. By the time
all was said and done last night everyone but Dom and Donovan were
bleeding."

Jasmin slid her desk back to its normal place a
split second before Mrs. Campbell came back through the
door.

If there was one teacher you couldn't get away
with talking during their class, it was her. I was halfway through
another problem when Jasmin passed me her cellphone. There was a
text from Alec on the screen.

Please let Adri know her mom is on a flight back to the U.S.
She'll be home tomorrow.

Chapter 4

Isaac had left Mom's flight information when he
came over that night to disconnect the nifty equipment that
forwarded our land line to the cellphone Alec had given me. I tried
to get Isaac to take the phone with him but he'd politely
refused.

I'd made a mental note to keep the stupid thing
hidden, finished up my homework, and gone to bed.

School the next day had been depressingly
lonely. Rachel was the only member of the pack who hadn't skipped
school and I didn't have any classes with her. We'd visited a
little during lunch but with all of the people around I couldn't
ask her any of the questions I really wanted to know.

She'd told me that everyone was
okay, and moved on to the kind of meaningless small talk neither of
us really enjoyed.

After lunch, I'd absently gone from class to
class with my stomach getting steadily more and more queasy. I'd
never really kept this kind of big secret from my mom, and I was a
terrible liar. Under normal circumstances that would be bad enough,
but if I couldn't keep her ignorant of everything that had happened
over the last few weeks then I'd lose even what little bit of
access I'd otherwise have to Alec.

I knew for a fact Alec loved me, but
given the way he was closing me out, I was more than slightly
worried that he'd talk himself into deciding that I'd be better off
without him.

By the time school finally ended and I met up
with Rachel in front of her yellow VW Bug, I was pretty
subdued.

"Adri, it's not the end of the world, it's just
your mom."

"Right, except that it's going to mean I'm even
more disconnected from the pack. I've only been gone for two days
and I'm already completely out of the loop."

"Yeah. Well, you're really not missing out on
that much, just more posturing and dominance games."

"Is Alec okay?"

"Yeah, he's had something on his mind for a
couple of days now, but I'm sure it will blow over soon. Alec's
spent so many years freaking out about Brandon's pack it's like a
reflex now. He probably feels odd if he's not worried about
something."

"I guess. I just wish he'd talk to me. I feel
like it's been forever since we just talked."

Rachel shrugged as she zipped around
another curve. "Don't let it bother you too much; he really is
crazy about you. Speaking of people being crazy about people, did
Jasmin talk to you about Ben yesterday?"

"No. The only time we were alone together was
Algebra and we only had a couple of minutes while Mrs. Campbell was
gone."

"What a coward. She's still busted up about
having to leave the dance before he showed up. If he showed up.
He's been avoiding her again, which probably means he's back to
using."

"Wait, Ben's an addict?"

"Whoops, I thought you knew. Don't judge him
too harshly. He's had a rougher life than just about anyone else
you'll ever meet. Abusive dad, suicidal mom, crap relatives, you
name it."

I nodded. Maybe a year ago I would have been
all snotty and said it shouldn't matter where you came from, you
should still be able to stay clean, but lately I was a lot more
conscious of just how little it could take to bring someone's world
crashing down on them. I still mostly figured that kind of stuff
was a choice, but it was hard to throw stones considering how much
a wreck I'd been less than a month ago, and how far I still had to
go.

"He's a good guy. He hates the crap
but always falls back into it eventually." Rachel looked away from
the road just long enough to make sure I was paying attention and
then shrugged. "Anyways, you need to meet him so you can see for
yourself. Not only that, I think Jasmin could use some help
convincing him that she's for real."

"Really, she's told him she likes
him and he's not falling all over her?"

"Not in so many words, but near enough. Like I
said, he's had a rough life. He's not the most trusting guy you'll
ever meet."

It was intriguing. I'd had a hard time
believing it when Brandon had told me Ben wasn't interested in
Jasmin. Once I realized what a jerk Brandon was I'd just kind of
assumed he'd lied to me about that too. The concept of any guy not
wanting gorgeous, perfect Jasmin strained the limits of
reality.

"Okay, I'll keep an eye out for an
opportunity to talk to him, but don't hold your breath. These days
nobody besides you guys talks to me."

"I guess. I just had a feeling like you needed
to be in the loop. Since Jasmin was too bashful to do it
yesterday."

Her voice had taken on an odd tone, one that
sounded strangely familiar. We pulled onto my dusty lane and I felt
my heart race when I saw the Jeep parked on the concrete pad.
Rachel pulled up behind Mom's car and shifted into park while I was
still trying to decide where I'd heard that tone before.

Mom raced out of the house a split second
later, opening the passenger's side door and hugging me before I'd
even managed to get my seatbelt off.

"Adriana! I kept telling myself that
you still had an hour and a half of tutoring left but I was just
about ready to come get you anyways."

"Hi, Mom. This is my friend Rachel."

Mom and Rachel really hit it off. It was
probably just because Mom was relieved that I had an actual,
honest-to-goodness friend. They exchanged small talk about Mom's
trip and the weather and then Rachel excused herself to go home and
finish up some schoolwork.

I followed Mom into the house and helped make
dinner while she told me all about the trip to Italy for the
original job. They'd been shooting in a little town south of Rome
that still had narrow, cobblestone streets. The way she described
the restaurants, people and hills almost made me
jealous.

As we finished eating, Mom's stories finally
wound down. She described the last of the 'miracle' jobs that
arrived in succession as each prior engagement came to an end, and
then shrugged.

"So that about sums it up. What's been going on
here while I've been gone?"

"The same old stuff. School, homework and more
school."

"Come on, sweetie. You had to have
done something besides that. What about that boy you liked?
Brandon, was it?"

I'd spent the occasional hour or so
since Alec had told me Mom was coming back wondering if she'd even
remember that Brandon and I had broken up.

"He…he was a lot like you warned me
he would be. When I wouldn't do the things he wanted, he broke up
with me."

Mom leaned over and wrapped her arms
around me. "Oh, sweetie. Are you…I mean did he hurt
you?"

"No, I'm fine. He's old news."

"Are you sure?"

I mustered up a convincing smile. "I'm fine,
really. He's ancient history, which is more than I can say for my
homework, which is unfortunately due all too soon."

"Okay, Adri. You go up and work on
that and I'll clean up down here."

I headed upstairs and even managed to keep my
tears under control until I made it safely to my room.

It was stupid to cry and I knew it, but I
couldn't stop myself. The kegger had happened weeks ago and Brandon
hadn't even done anything to me. I didn't know if that was even it.
It was more reasonable to think I was crying over the fact that
Alec was keeping me at arm's length. I was tired of being so alone.
Ever since Cindi and Dad had died I'd had no one.

I heard Mom coming up the stairs and pulled
myself together enough to wish her good night and then it was just
me.

I cried into my pillow for a little while
before remembering the phone Alec had given me. Trembling fingers
input a text.

I missed you today.

It felt like such a lame thing to say,
simultaneously too revealing and not enough. I only had to wait a
second before my phone vibrated in response.

I missed you too. What are you
doing?

Wishing I could talk to
you.

That's good news. Check your
window.

I ran to the window and felt a smile
break out when I saw Alec, in hybrid form, climbing up our light
pole. He carefully reached over, sank his claws into the roof and
then swung into my room. He shifted back so smoothly that his bare
feet landed on my floor rather than the wicked talons that would
have otherwise ruined my hardwood floor.