Authors: Dean Murray
"Are you here
to swear allegiance to me, Raynor?"
The smile was
back. I was very much getting the feeling that Raynor wouldn't ever
make a very restful ally. "I think it's too soon for us to talk
of such things. Let's say that I've come to explore the possibilities
of an alliance. In the meantime, surely someone as powerful as you
are doesn't have anything to fear from someone like me."
Fat chance of
that. My intel on most of the other packs was still substandard, but
Ash and Donovan were working hard to correct that situation. Raynor
was an alpha cast from the same mold as Ulrich Bishop. He'd never
manifested a power, but he had a larger than average pack which he
controlled with a completeness that was nothing less than amazing.
Raynor was tough
enough that he could take down most of the rest of his dominants. The
few who were tougher than him were controlled via his vast financial
resources. If Raynor decided to actively work against me he was
capable of causing me no end of headaches.
"Very well, I
offer you guest right here in Sanctuary. As long as you aren't
working against my interests I'll see to it that you're taken care of
and protected to the best of my ability."
I got another nod
from Raynor and then he motioned his companions forward. "These
are my daughters, Nadine and Bridget. I hope that the three of you
will have a chance to get acquainted while we are here."
I should have seen
it coming, especially after the situation with Tasha, but he caught
me off guard enough that my pulse flickered. The last thing I wanted
at this point was a political marriage, but now wasn't the time to
tell him that I'd have his alliance without marrying one of his
daughters or I wouldn't have his alliance at all.
"I'm sure
they are both lovely individuals."
Raynor opened his
mouth, probably to press for a firmer commitment out of me, but I
turned to the two who'd arrived just after him, preempting whatever
he'd been about to say. The older of the two stepped forward and gave
me a nod.
"I am Rebekka
Jansen from the Tonopah pack. My daughter Vivian and I likewise have
come to ask for guest right."
Interesting. Not
that the Tonopah Nevada pack had also sent a representative. They
were in even worse shape than Jaclyn and Tasha's pack so it actually
made a lot of sense for them to play for an alliance with us. No, the
interesting thing was that Rebekka didn't want to be offering her
daughter up to me as a prospective wife. There was something there I
could work with. If I could get past her distrust then there was a
chance that I could bind the Tonopah pack very closely to me indeed.
"I welcome
you to Sanctuary, Rebekka, Vivian. I extend the same promise to you
that I just extended to Raynor. As long as the two of you behave as
guests then you'll have the protection of my house to the full extent
that I'm able to offer it."
"Thank you,
Alec. Will you need help with those other cars?"
I looked up at the
road as the third and fourth vehicles came into sight and then
shrugged. "None of our visitors today bothered announcing
themselves beforehand. I expect that none of them will be a threat,
but I would welcome your help until such a time as we've confirmed
that none of the other four vehicles are planning on attacking."
Rebekka nodded and
then motioned for her daughter to take a place next to Jasmin. Raynor
couldn't let her upstage him so he took up a position on the other
end of our arc, next to Ash and Kristin.
The next set of
arrivals was a quartet of guys who made my beast try to force a
transformation. The leader was as big as Brandon had been and he
moved like Abaddon. Physical size in human form didn't
always
correlate to size as a hybrid, but it usually did and something told
me that this guy was extremely dangerous.
The four of them
shook out into a loose diamond formation and then approached me. The
leader was scanning through the group that stood next to me as he
walked forward. He started with Rebekka and Jasmin and was nearly to
the other end before he missed a step.
For a split second
I thought that it had been Raynor's presence that had unnerved him,
but I was wrong.
"I came here
to discuss an alliance with you, Graves, but I see that it's
fortunate that I came for more reasons than just that. You have made
a mistake in accepting that man into your pack."
He was pointing at
Ash, who looked like he was a heartbeat away from drawing a weapon
and trying to gun down our new arrivals.
"You haven't
yet introduced yourself to me. You can either do so and ask for
permission to be here, or you can leave. I'm not interested in
hearing allegations from people who have no regard for tradition."
The flare of power
that came off of the leader of the other group was impressive, so
much so that some of those around me took a step backwards. An
answering surge of energy flashed out from my beast and it was all
that I could do to stop a transformation from ripping through me.
"You would be
wise to show some respect, Graves. I represent Onyx from the
Louisiana pack. If you know what's good for you, you'll hand Hunt
over now and avoid the beating you've got coming to you for
sheltering him."
I cocked my head
at him. Only a complete fool would threaten me like that—a complete
fool, or someone who was absolutely confident that he had a bigger
stick than I did. I made a note to pump Ash for more information
about the New Orleans pack and then I held a hand up and pointed at
the nameless leader.
"Leave my
territory now and don't return or I'll kill you on sight. Nobody
threatens me or my pack with impunity."
"I'll leave,
but I'm taking Hunt with me."
He said it as he
took a step towards Ash, but I wasn't about to let him take anyone.
My beast was in full agreement. On a primal, instinctive level Ash
was ours, but more importantly, I wasn't about to let anyone else
come in and bleed us the way that Agony had.
I reached for my
power. For a split second nothing happened and then it answered in a
spectacular manner. All four of the new arrivals dropped bonelessly
to the ground between one instant and the next.
I nearly gasped at
the sheer amount of power I was pulling from the four of them, but
the tiny singularity in my stomach greedily sucked it down and
reached for more. I kept my mental fist clenched tight enough to
avoid pulling power from anyone else, but it was a battle, much more
so than I remembered it being in Chicago.
I absently noticed
that this time I could almost feel where the power was being sent
after it reached me, but I kept most of my attention on the four
crumpled forms on the ground in front of me.
"I warned
you. Twice. Neither you, nor anyone else gets to dictate those kinds
of terms to me."
I debated between
two courses of action for an instant and then turned back to Donovan.
"Donovan, can
you please oversee the task of bringing four cages up here? James,
Dom and Jess will help you."
I watched as
Donovan and the others disappeared into the house and then turned
back to the four wolves from Ash's old pack. The leader's gaze was
full of hate and I momentarily felt the power coming from him
increase as he tried to force himself up onto his feet.
"You won't
get away with this. It's only a matter of time until you lose control
of your ability and then I'll kill you."
The words were
labored but still understandable. It was probably an attempt to get
under my skin enough to make me lose my concentration, but if so he
failed. I gave him a cold smile as I walked closer to him.
"If you're
right then you'd better hope that Donovan returns quickly. If I
started to lose control of my power then I'd be forced to just kill
you right away."
That shut him up
until the first cage arrived. He was the most dangerous so I picked
him up and dragged him over to the cage. A second later he was inside
and the cage was locked. These cages had been designed with our
kind's superior strength in mind, so even the strongest hybrid
wouldn't be able to break free once they were locked inside.
James, towering
over the rest of us in his hybrid form, dropped the second cage off
and then headed back for another one. The two guys we'd caged up
started running their mouths as soon as I refocused my ability to
exclude them, so I simply dropped them again and ordered Ash to go
grab tranquilizers.
I was still amazed
at the amount of energy that I was siphoning away from them. It was
nearly as much as the entire group of Coun'hij bruisers that I'd
incapacitated in Chicago. A few seconds before Jess and Dominic
returned with the third cage I felt my absorption field start to
wobble.
It had happened
before in Chicago, but this time I got a sense that it was wobbling
because wherever the power was being sent had started to fill up. I
narrowed the focus back down to just the two shape shifters who
hadn't been caged and then breathed a sigh of relief when Ash showed
back up with a full tranq kit.
"Shut those
two idiots up and then inject the two on the ground."
I didn't get to
see Ash smile very often, but there was a casual enjoyment to the way
that he put darts into all four of the Louisiana wolves. The amount
of power coming off of the two who hadn't been caged yet dropped
within seconds of their being drugged, but the wobble was back
already.
I wanted to just
turn off my ability, but instead I played it safe and kept it going
until the last of our unwelcome visitors was safely locked up. As I
turned back towards the rest of the pack Adri started to collapse.
Rachel got an arm around her and lowered her to the ground about the
same time that I arrived.
"Are you
okay, Adri?"
She looked up at
me and nodded. "Yes, sorry. I...I'm feeling a little
flushed. I wouldn't have thought that it was enough hotter here to
cause me problems."
Rachel was fanning
Adri as Donovan came out of the house and headed our way. "I
think it's just heat stroke, Alec. If Donovan and I can get her back
inside and get some fluids in her she'll be okay."
Adri tried to wave
them away. "Alec isn't getting out of dinner with me that
easily."
I fought down a
smile as I shook my head at her. I'd promised her dinner with just
the two of us once everything was settled with her mom. I hadn't
expected her mom and Russ to leave so quickly, but she was right, I
owed her dinner.
"We can do
dinner tomorrow night once you're feeling better, Adri."
She looked up at
me with such an expression of disappointment that I relented. "Go
with Donovan and Rachel now, and if you're feeling better in an hour
or two then we can still do dinner."
I got a nod of
acceptance and then watched as the three of them disappeared into the
house. Our last three cars were still on their way and it was past
time to put a little bit of thought into avoiding another
confrontation like we'd just had with Ash's old pack.
James was still
standing next to the cages only now he was looking like he wasn't
excited about the prospect of carrying them around to the back of the
house with an extra few hundred pounds of shape shifter in each
of them.
"Where do you
want these, Alec? In the garage until we can arrange for a truck?"
"Actually I
think maybe it would be best if we just leave them here until after
we've greeted the last few visitors. Grab some tarps, please, so we
can cover them up until we confirm that our visitors are more of the
moonborn, but if they are indeed more of our kind then go ahead and
drop the tarps so it's obvious that I'm serious when I give an
order."
I motioned for
Isaac to help me move the cages around. We positioned them just in
front of the arc of the pack and our guests such that it would be
easy for the girls to pull the tarps off. My mind wasn't really on
the work though. With the eight of us from the pack, assuming you
counted Kristin, and the five guests who owed us help if the pack got
jumped, we were in pretty good shape. Even if my power only served to
keep a group of attackers down for a few seconds it would be enough
to allow us to defeat several times our number.
Given that we were
relatively safe again, my thoughts instead turned to the dinner that
Adri and I would be having either tonight or tomorrow night. I'd
planned on making it a special occasion but in light of everything
that had just happened I suddenly realized that a change of plans was
in order.
This was going to be the most important dinner of my life.
Adriana Paige
Graves Estate
Sanctuary, Utah
I felt incredibly
stupid for having nearly fainted out on the front step while Alec had
been dealing with Ash's old pack members. Rachel and Donovan did
their best to reassure me that it hadn't been a big deal, but I knew
they weren't being completely honest.
Alec needed a pack
that could stand at his back without flinching no matter what
happened. I'd thought I was prepared for any kind of violence but in
the end it had turned out that the heat was too much for me. It had
just kind of snuck up on me. One minute I'd been fine and then
suddenly I'd just more or less collapsed.
I was resting in
the sitting room closest to the kitchen with a protein shake in one
hand and a pad and pencil in the other when Alec found me an hour
later.
"How are you
feeling?"
"I'm okay,
sorry for making an idiot out of myself, but okay. I'd really like to
have dinner with you still if possible."
Alec put a hand on
my forehead and then nodded. "Let's go."