Riven (15 page)

"How long
will it take for us to get there? You know how much I hate not
knowing a secret."

"We can be
there in fifteen minutes."

Mom gestured for
me to lead the way. "Okay, but once we get there just come right
out and tell me, no beating around the bush."

The trip out to
the park was uneventful despite all of the security. Alec's plan
seemed to be working. Jaclyn and Louis' packs hadn't moved yet but
they'd started letting shape shifters from south of the border
through their territories and it was starting to put more pressure on
some of the other packs.

I suspected that
some of the people being impacted had already decided that Alec was
the devil, but the Flagstaff and Scottsdale packs had just sworn
allegiance to him over the last few days. That brought us up to a
total strength of six packs, seven if you counted the Chicago pack.
It meant that things had gotten even busier around the estate and
Alec had continued to increase my traveling security detachment as
more bodies had become available.

Mom and I rode in
the back of a golf cart this time around. Enough progress had been
made on the cobblestone driveway between the house and the park that
we didn't have to take the noisy ATV's anymore.

My breath caught a
little as we came up over the hill and I saw the park again. I hadn't
been out to see it in more than a week and an incredible amount of
progress had been made in the intervening time.

The sod had all
been put down and the decorative streams were being given their
finishing touches. Even more amazing was how gorgeous the decorative
arches were looking. Mom grabbed my hand and squeezed it in
amazement.

"Adri, is
this what you've been working on since you got here? It's
breathtaking."

I chuckled despite
myself. "If you call spending an obscene amount of Alec's money
to hire professionals 'working,' then yes, I've been working on this
for weeks now. It's...well, it's going to be where Alec and I
get married."

Mom took a deep
breath and then mustered up a smile. "I wondered how long it
would be before he asked you. I don't see as deeply as Russ does, but
even I could see how much he loved you when we were here last. Have
you set a date?"

"Yes, but
you're not going to be happy...it's really, really soon."

"How come I'm
not surprised?"

"Maybe
because you're used to your daughter doing stupid things?"

She frowned at
that. "Do you think marrying Alec is stupid?"

"No. I don't
think marrying Alec is stupid, I don't even think that marrying Alec
this quickly is stupid. I do think it's stupid to try and put
together such a massive ceremony this quickly though."

I got another of
those knowing mother looks and then she looked back out over the park
and nodded. "It's gorgeous, but you're right, this isn't you,
Adri, not really. Have you told Alec?"

I shook my head.
"He's got a lot on his mind right now. Besides, he warned me in
advance that our wedding would be completely over the top."

"You may be
right that nothing can be done about the situation, Adri, but you owe
it to Alec to at least tell him what you're feeling. If you're not
careful the two of you will grow apart without even realizing it's
happening."

"Okay, you're
probably right, Mom. I'll talk to Alec and tell him that the lavish
amounts of money he's spending on the wedding aren't my cup of tea."

She shook her head
at my half joke and then sighed and leaned in close enough she could
whisper. "Is Alec involved in something illegal, dear?"

It was the
absolute last thing I'd expected out of my mom, but I managed to keep
my voice level as I responded. "Why would you even ask that?"

"I'm fairly
oblivious to most things, sweetie, but even I can tell that all of
these buff young men are bodyguards. The group that picked us up from
the airport last time wasn't nearly this big. What's happened?"

"Alec pissed
off some really powerful people by doing the right thing a little
while ago. It's just a precaution really, but it makes him happy to
know that I'm safe. Alec isn't into anything he shouldn't be, trust
me on that one."

I got another
considering look and then she finally nodded her acceptance of my
answer. "Are you happy, sweetie? Are you really sure that this
is what
you
want to do? Not something that you feel like you
should be doing, but really something that you want with all of your
heart?"

That question was
easier to answer. "Yes, Mom. I'm not keen on how swanky the
wedding is going to be and I don't love having a bodyguard within
shouting distance twenty-four hours a day, but I love Alec and I want
to marry him more than anything else."

"Okay. I
won't get in the way then. I'll sign whatever papers you need me to
sign since you're a minor, but only on one condition."

My chest tightened
up but I took a deep breath to steel myself against whatever it was
and then nodded. I almost fell out of the cart when she pulled an
engagement ring out of her pocket and slid it onto her finger.

"Russ asked
me to marry him. Our ceremony won't be for months still, but I want
you there when it takes place."

I felt tears
making their way down my face. It was so soon after Dad had died, but
somehow that wasn't as important anymore. I was gone, which meant
that Mom was all alone. If Russ made her happy then I wasn't going to
stand in her way. Besides, despite my best efforts Russ had grown on
me.

"Of course
I'll be there, Mom. Wild horses couldn't keep me away."

We spent nearly an
hour walking through the park. I showed her all of the little bells
and whistles that Rachel and Kami had added to the area. The
conversation was less strained than I remembered it being from
before. Even more amazingly, Mom talked less about work than she used
to. Instead she told me about dates with Russ, romantic dinners and
fun day trips that they'd taken over the last few weeks.

Once I got over my
amazement that anything had managed to tear Mom away from work, I
found myself smiling more than I had in a long time. If Russ had been
able to remind my mom that there was more to life than photography
then he really was the right guy for her.

We'd just finished
looking at the hedges around the lip of the amphitheater when Carson
and James hurried over.

"We need to
get back to the mansion right now."

I didn't resist as
Carson grabbed my arm and guided me back to the cart. "What
happened?"

"The main
power feed to the house from the city just went down but the houses
in Sanctuary still have power."

"So the first
move in some kind of attack?"

"It's hard to
say. The backup generator kicked on without any problems so there
hasn't been any kind of breach in our security yet, but we should get
you both back to the house now just in case."

Instead of getting
in the cart Carson led me over to one of the ATV's that were parked
nearby and then brought his hand up so that he could talk into his
radio.

"Snowflake is
returning from the oasis. Support would be appreciated."

A few seconds
later we were tearing cross-country back towards the house. The ride
was the kind of hair-raising trip that you could only manage with
superhuman reflexes, but it made sense that Carson wouldn't want to
bring me back via the normal route.

I risked a look
back to verify that James and Mom weren't too far back and nearly
lost my grip on Carson when he took us around a particularly tight
corner. After that I paid more attention to where we were going.
Halfway to the estate Isaac and Dominic came into view driving
matched ATVs and I caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of
my eye that I was pretty sure was Peter and Jane shadowing us on four
legs.

Mom had probably
forgotten that we'd started out with four bodyguards, but I hadn't.
Knowing that the two wolves from the Tucson pack were out there using
their superior noses to make sure that we weren't ambushed was an
even greater reassurance than I'd expected it to be.

Less than five
minutes after the alarm sounded, Mom and I were being ushered into
the house. Mom was taking the whole thing more calmly than I'd
expected her to, but I knew I was going to have to answer some
difficult questions once she was convinced that we were safe again. I
was busy trying to come up with reassurances that weren't outright
lies when the lights suddenly went out.

There was enough
light from nearby windows to prevent total darkness, but Mom grabbed
my hand with fear-born strength at a second sign that we were
probably under attack. I gasped in pain and collapsed into the wall.
As Carson started to pull me back to my feet I realized that I could
hear someone through the wall.

"...no,
I haven't changed my mind. I'm not going to go talk to her, but that
doesn't mean that you shouldn't still be keeping tabs on her. Then
find her, damn it! She's more important than you know. If I don't
know
that
she's okay then it's going to be that much harder to stop myself from going to her. No,
you don't have any idea what the fallout would be like if that
happened."

The power went
back on, drowning the voice out in a storm of white noise as Carson
finally lost patience with me and bodily picked me up. The trip down
to the secure vault under the mansion took another five minutes, but
I spent every second of it wondering who Shawn had been talking to.

Alec Graves
Graves Estate
Sanctuary, Utah

I hadn't spent
nearly enough time with Adri lately, but the craziness of our second
phantom alarm nearly caused me to put off our date for a second time.
Our loss of power hadn't ended up being an attack, but it had still
been concerning. If it had been any other day I might have let
circumstances get in the way, but I couldn't do that, not for this
particular date.

It wasn't supposed
to be possible for the entire house to lose power like that. Donovan
and I had rushed down to the backup generator only moments after the
lights had gone out. I'd been expecting sabotage. I hadn't expected
for it to be Rachel.

She'd given me a
cheery smile and then looked up at the ceiling for several seconds
before absently restarting the generator and then skipping over to me
without a word. Once we were back in her room I tried for several
seconds to get an answer out of her as to why she'd killed the power,
but she'd just pointed out the window she'd used to escape her room
and mumbled something about a storm.

Dominic had been
mortified that Rachel had slipped away during Dom's shift, but none
of us had expected Rachel to sneak out like that. It was one more
thing to worry about, but at least Vivian's return and her
willingness to swear fealty meant that we had enough females in the
house to keep a constant watch on Rachel now without using Jess, who
was less and less reliable with each day that passed.

Once Rachel was
safely tucked away again, I'd then had to spend nearly two hours
reassuring various guests that it all hadn't been some kind of attack
by the Coun'hij. That in turn made me late for dinner with Adri and
her mom which proved to be a pleasant, if occasionally tense, affair.

Dinner ran long,
partly because I wanted to spend extra time with my future
mother-in-law, and partly because I just couldn't bear to tear myself
away from Adri once I was actually with her. Once I did finally
excuse myself from the table, I stole two hours with Donovan to
review finances and then I crammed in a session lifting weights on
the machine.

The next day
arrived too soon. I only needed a few hours of sleep each night, but
I still felt like I'd come up half an hour short. Given all of the
other demands on my time, the last thing I wanted to be doing was to
spend an hour running, but I wasn't a human-style CEO. My ability was
currently providing me a pass when it came to physical
confrontations, but I knew it would be foolish to let my conditioning
slide. My ability probably wouldn't work on a werewolf, and even if
it did, it was only a matter of time before I ran into some other
situation that could only be dealt with using claws and talons.

Jasmin and Dominic
accompanied me on my run since they were the only two who could keep
up with me. We shifted to four legs and ran along an arc that toured the very
edge of our territory. Despite my begrudging the time involved, there
was no arguing with the fact that I enjoyed the act of running.

Being in the dark,
on four legs, with the soft light of trees and bushes flickering past
me, was an almost Zen-like experience. Taking a motorcycle or a car
right up to its limits came close, but still didn't touch this. There
was nothing between my paws and the ground and I relished the instant
feedback as I threw myself over fallen trees and around large rocks.

By the end of the
run, Jasmin and I were panting and all three of us were exhausted.
Dominic fell into formation on my left side as we entered the garden
and I suddenly realized that she'd put on another inch through the
shoulder. I found myself smiling inside as I realized that someone
was going to get a surprise today during our sparring session. If Dom
was putting on a growth spurt then she was going to be
correspondingly stronger and faster.

By the time I'd
had breakfast, sat through the longest formal reception yet, and then
had lunch, I was more than ready for the sparring session that
followed. Unfortunately the sparring session wasn't as satisfying as
I'd expected it to be. Shawn's presence at the estate, but not his
purpose, had leaked, so he joined us and then I proceeded to run him
all around the circle of sand.