Torn (19 page)

Simon's efforts to
transform his attack into something lethal left me bleeding and
savaged, but I largely ignored him as I pulled and ripped until an
abrupt snap caused Nathanial's jaws to loosen.

Even through the
pandemonium of the fight I still heard Adri's pulse peak and then
abruptly stop.

My sudden worries Adri
had somehow died were unfounded. After a short pause her heart
resumed a thready, irregular cadence.

As Nathanial had
dropped to the ground I'd absently grabbed Simon and held him at
arm's length as I surgically ended his life as well. Most of my
attention was on Adri, and once I was sure both wolves were dead I
hurried over just in time to catch her as she came out of the attack.

In my haste I'd
forgotten to switch forms, and her eyes had no sooner fluttered open
than plain, old fashioned shock took her away again.

I knew the results of
my actions would come crashing back down on me later, but all I could
think of in that moment was getting Adri away to safety. Mindful of
the slashing claws on the end of my fingers, I picked her up and
began running back to the Hummer.

I wasn't nearly as
fast carrying her in my hybrid form as I would have been on four
legs, but I pushed myself nearly to the point of collapse. My wounds
were opening back up and my lungs were burning, but I had to get her
to the Hummer with enough of a lead for us to get out before
Brandon's wolves found the bodies and pursued.

When I finally
stumbled into the wash containing the Hummer I wanted to lie down and
sleep but instead I shifted back to human form, buckled her into the
passenger seat, flipped the vehicle around and started back out the
way I'd come.

With each second that
passed I expected Brandon to come bounding out of the darkness and
tear the Hummer open like a coconut, but after what seemed like an
eternity we finally reached the road and I was soon throwing the
vehicle around curves at the top speed it could handle.

I breathed a sigh of
relief as we finally pulled up to the estate. Adri was still
breathing and her heartbeat had steadied slightly. I yelled for
Donovan as I unbuckled her and hauled her into the house.

Donovan and Rachel
both met me at the examination room, and Rachel's surprised gasp was
mirrored in Donovan's wide eyes and suddenly-graceless movements.

"It wasn't me.
She was at the party with Brandon and the rest. They kicked her out
and sent her off in the dark. This was all from falling down, except
maybe the leg. Nathanial and Simon were after her. I killed them
and ran."

His shock finally
starting to give way, Donovan moved to check my wounds but I shrugged
him off. "Make sure she's ok first."

Rachel calmed me down
somewhat while Donovan cleaned and bandaged Adri's scrapes, and then
disappeared to grab Adri some new clothes.

"They were going
to be for Jasmin's birthday, but they should do for Adri until we can
get her something better."

Donovan helped Rachel
dress Adri and then came back around and started on my wounds.
They'd already started healing with my transformation back to a
human, but the shoulder especially was deep enough it was going to
need taped up in order to heal.

"I'm sorry,
Donovan. I've ruined everything. Brandon will demand satisfaction,
and he'll be within his rights because of the Ja'tell bond. It was a stupid move,
but I couldn't sit there and let them kill her."

Donovan shook his head
as he worked.

"Master Alec,
the only action worthy of you was the one you took. You could no
more have watched her die than your father could have let Agony kill
me. As for the Ja'tell bond that's yet to be established. Perhaps
she really is his, but even still, the old rules never would have
condoned casting her off and setting his pack upon her like that.
We'll weather the storm as it arrives. Doing less wouldn't allow us
to remain true to ourselves."

Donovan clasped me on
the arm and then limped out of the room. Rachel looked up from where
she was folding Adri's old clothes. "I'm glad you saved Adri,
Alec. Whatever happens as a result I think it was the right choice."

I nodded, and then
looked down at Adri for the first time since Rachel had returned with
the change of clothes. She was wearing a tank top and shorts, and I
was struck by just how much she looked like my incomplete painting of
her. The sight pulled at my chest, and left me feeling like a small
boy suddenly arriving in a strange new world with no idea how
anything functioned.

Rachel smiled sadly at
my expression and then walked over and hugged me. "Take her to
your room and lay her down on your bed. You need to be somewhere
that you can keep an eye on her, and reassure her when she wakes up.
She's going to be really freaked out by everything that's happened."

I nodded and then
gingerly picked Adri up. She was so light it was no burden to carry
her to my room. I set her down and once again was struck by her
sheer beauty. Almost without conscious effort on my part I found
myself back in my studio.

Somewhere along the
way I changed into a new set of clothes, jeans with a shirt although
I never bothered buttoning it up. The painting was too consuming to
allow for such mundane things.

I painted with small,
delicate strokes, stepping out into my room from time to time to
study my subject once again. There was no logical reason the
painting had to be finished tonight, but somehow I knew it did.

The terrible events
she'd just experienced, the things she'd witnessed couldn't leave her
unchanged. They hadn't had a chance to process through her mind yet,
but they would; and when that happened the girl I was painting right
now would in some ways cease to exist. This level of innocence, of
gentle goodness couldn't possibly be sustained in the world our pack
lived in.

I worked with a
furious energy that pushed me for hours, but never quite succeeded in
capturing her true essence. I collapsed against the wall as I
realized it was time to abandon this painting. It wasn't truly
complete but I didn't have the ability to complete it. I absently
inscribed a simplified form of my sigil into the bottom corner and
began cleaning up my paints.

I was nearly done when
I heard Jasmin return to the house. The events of the last few hours
came crashing back from the un-land where I'd shoved them. Moving
with a quickness that threatened to tear my wounds back open, I ran
to the bedroom door and pulled it closed behind me.

Even with my efforts
at speed I still only managed to intercept Jasmin in the East Drawing
Room. It was too close to my bedroom, and there was too much chance
we'd wake Adri, but Jasmin wasn't in the mood to be maneuvered
anywhere else.

"Did you wreck
your bike or tangle with Vincent or what?"

"Neither.
Nathanial and Simon tried to kill me."

Jasmin wasn't stupid.
She started fitting the information into place very quickly and came
up with the pertinent question almost immediately.

"Those two
wouldn't leave a kegger for anything short of a chance to murder
someone. What were you doing at the party, Alec?"

"I was worried
about Adri. I was careful to make sure that nobody knew I was in the
area, but then Cassie kicked Adri out of the party and the next thing
I knew Nathanial and Simon were after her. I had to protect her."

Jasmin was pacing now.
It wasn't a good sign. Her internal state was usually mirrored by
her external being.

"You felt the
need to protect Brandon's girlfriend? Do you realize you've just
given Brandon the perfect pretext to come after all of us?"

I opened my mouth to
respond, but Jasmin bulled right past my efforts.

"When exactly
were you planning on telling the rest of us that you'd just declared
war on Brandon and the others? Did it ever even cross your mind we
might be in danger running about on our own after something like
that?"

"Brandon isn't
going to launch an attack right now, Jas, and you know it. He's got
the golden chance he's been looking for to finally make the law work
for him against us."

Jasmin was trembling
just the slightest bit now, a preliminary sign she was starting to
lose control of her beast.

"That's not the
point, Alec. You never even thought about the rest of us."

Our voices had risen
high enough to wake Rachel. She appeared on the other side of the
drawing room still in the fuzzy pajama's Jasmin had given her last
Christmas.

"Jasmin, he had
to help her. He couldn't let them kill her. She's important to him.
You know exactly how he feels, how..."

Whatever Rachel was
about to say was cut off as Jasmin spun around and took a threatening
step towards her.

Protecting Rachel had
been reflex for as long as I could remember. I picked Jasmin up and
slammed her onto a table, shattering a piece that had been in my
family since before my father had been born.

Jasmin started to
thrash about in an effort to fight me, but accessing a skill
possessed by only a few moon born, I shifted the hand holding her
into my hybrid form. She calmed down almost instantly as she felt
the razor-sharp claws pierce the skin of her throat.

"Don't do
anything else to threaten Rachel, or you'll be very sorry..."

The rest of what I was
going to say was interrupted by the sound of the garden door slamming
shut.

The wash of power I'd
let loose as I'd pinned Jasmin hadn't tapered off yet. I added one
more command to the imperative I'd just finished issuing. "Don't
leave the house, and don't call the rest of the pack here."

As soon as she nodded
her acceptance of the order I spun around and headed for the same
door Adri had just used to exit the house. My hand lapsed back into
its human form as I skidded on newly soaked flagstones. Sometime
between when I'd left the East drawing room and when I'd hit the
door, the sky had cut loose with the kind of torrential downpour that
wasn't usually found this far from the ocean.

The rain was so
intense I could feel the scent trail washing away even as I tried to
follow it. The sudden fear she'd leave without ever giving me a
chance to explain all of the insanity she'd just been through pushed
me to new speeds. I was just barely close enough when lightning
struck to see her dart into the greenhouse.

The thunder rolled
over me almost concurrent with the blast, almost as if something were
riding the storm, egging it on to greater fury as the strikes got
closer and closer.

I slipped into the
glass-walled refuge just in time to catch Adri in the act of putting
shoes onto her doubtlessly-battered feet. She was entirely soaked
through. She should have looked terrible, but still somehow managed
to take my breath away.

The perfect symmetry
of her form pulled me towards her without any conscious thought on my
part, only my step was met with horror as she stumbled back away from
me. It was as if someone had reached out and slipped a knife into my
chest.

I knew I hadn't been
injured, that there was no physical explanation for the sudden pain,
but it was there nonetheless. She'd seen the side of me never
presented to the outside world and she'd been repulsed by it.

She opened her mouth,
to scream in terror, or possibly to curse me, but I couldn't bear to
hear it. I spun around and left at a full run. Deprived of its
target when I'd entered the greenhouse, the storms furry had abated,
leaving me with nothing in which to hide from the prying eyes of men
or gods.

Deprived of all other
sanctuaries, I headed towards the grotto that'd served me so well in
times past. Mere distance couldn't offer respite though. Somewhere
along the way my interest in Adri had turned to something more
substantial. Without really realizing what I was doing, I'd
sacrificed everything I held dear on behalf of someone who was never
going to return my feelings.

Full knowledge of what
I'd done roared through me with a fury that ate away my reason.
There was only hatred, loss and despair left to cushion the anger,
and it wasn't enough to control the beast raging through me.

The heavy, pottery
planters holding cuttings from our original Lagrimas del Angel plant
caught my attention, and I stalked over and picked the closest one up
in my right hand. I threw it into the unyielding stone of the grotto
walls, and not even the softness of the moss and climbing ivy managed
to cushion the impact enough to stop the planter from shattering into
thousands of pieces.

I was on my third
planter when Adri stumbled into the grotto and almost fell into the
reflecting pool. I'd been so engrossed in the destruction of the
roses I hadn't heard her approach. Her appearance startled me so
much I froze with the heavy planter dangling from my grasp.

Faced with the very
thing I'd just had denied me, I found myself unable to meet her gaze
for several seconds. When I finally managed to muster the courage to
fully turn and face her, my voice came out low and rough.

"Go away!"

Without meaning to I'd
imbued the command with the same whip of power I'd used to give
Jasmin the imperative earlier. I saw Adri's eyes go wide for a
moment, heard her heartbeat spike as she struggled not to obey, but
she somehow stopped herself from leaving.

I couldn't help but
feel a renewed spark of respect at the strength of will required for
her to do that. My next words weren't tinged with anything but my
sense of loss.

"Leave. Leave
now and I won't follow you."

Adri took a trembling
breath and then stepped ever so slowly in my direction.