Riven (7 page)

"I...I
guess I understand why you haven't told me any of that before, but
why now?"

"Like I said,
Alec. You're more powerful than your father. It's possible that
something about the way your gift works requires much more power to
produce even a slight impact to the world around you, but I'm not
convinced that your gift has revealed everything that it can do. It
would be hard to really explain just how much power went into
increasing the fertility of the pack back in your father's day."

I took a deep
breath and then pushed all of the things that Mallory had just told
me to one side. "I'll need to think about all of that some more
later, but that's not the only reason that I came by this morning.
I'd like to invite you to come live at the house with us again."

Mallory couldn't
have been more floored if I'd knocked her into a wall. She considered
my invitation and then pulled her legs up onto her chair so that she
was huddled into a ball. "Have you mentioned this to Donovan?"

"Not yet, but
he's no idiot. Once he really gets his mind around the fact that
we've pissed the Coun'hij off as much as we're going to, it logically
follows that there isn't any reason to keep you hidden anymore."

"You're
right, but he may suffer from some of the same blind spots as me. I'm
not sure I would have ever thought of leaving here. It's been my home
for so long now that I'd stopped even imagining a day when I might be
free to come and go as I please."

"Well, now
that I've brought it up, what do you think?"

"I'd like to,
Alec, I really would. It might be best though to leave me as a hidden
asset for now. You can always bring me out at a later point, but once
it becomes general knowledge that I'm still alive, that isn't
something that we can take back."

I pursed my lips
and nodded, but I wasn't convinced. "You're right that this
isn't a step we can undo, but you'd be a much greater asset back at
the estate than you are here. Your analysis of events will be much
better if you're witnessing them firsthand."

"I know I
seem like a scared old woman, Alec, but I need some time to think it
over. It's a big change. My head says that you're right, that I may
as well be there with you and Donovan, but my heart isn't so sure.
The last time my world changed in such a fundamental way was when
Agony came through town the first time. Can I have a few days before
you mention the possibility to Donovan?"

"Of course
you can have some time. I'm anxious to bring you in out of the cold
though. We've got a lot more moonborn running around the mansion
these days now than we used to. If we leave you here long enough
someone is going to get adventurous and stumble onto this place."

Adriana Paige
Graves Estate
Sanctuary, Utah

"What do you
think, Adri? I think this shade of blue would be perfect."

Rachel was a
wedding planning machine. We'd spent the morning trying about fifty
different cake samples and then she'd jumped right into colors. I
appreciated her help, I just hadn't realized things were going to get
quite this crazy. Every time I felt like I had a handle on everything
that was going to be involved, Rachel came up with another set of
decisions that hadn't even crossed my mind.

It was like being
washed away in a tsunami of flowers and fabric swatches. Rachel was
dead set on me needing a big-name designer for my dress, but I didn't
even recognize any of the names she was throwing around. Rach was
more than happy to pull together pictures, lots and lots of pictures,
of each of their work, but I suspected that deciding on a designer
was still going to take up most of tomorrow.

I wanted to marry
Alec more than anything, but more and more I wished that we could
just be two normal people who didn't have to worry about anything
more than keeping our families from fighting with each other at the
practice dinner.

I was looking for
an excuse to take a break from all of the wedding planning when Ash
stuck his head in Rachel's room.

"Can I
disturb the two of you for a few minutes?"

Rach bounced up
off of her bed and spun through a pirouette with multicolored
swatches of fabric in each hand.

"Sure, Ash.
What do you need?"

It was amazing how
much different Rachel was now from the exhausted, barely functioning
girl that Dom had described to me while I'd been in New York. If
anything Rachel was actually more energetic and exuberant than I
remembered her being from before. It was like she was making up for
lost time. Ash shook his head, not in disapproval necessarily, more
like he was just as astonished as I was at Rachel's excitement.

"Actually,
Alec asked me to steal Adri for a couple of hours."

Rachel sighed, but
perked up again only a moment later. "That's okay. I need to
catch up on some homework anyways. Alec agreeing to homeschool me for
two months while we prep for the wedding was a stroke of genius, but
I still have to spend some time doing homework. Besides, this will
give me a chance to start pulling together some of those portfolios
we talked about."

I followed Ash
down the hall in silence. I still didn't know Ash very well. He'd
joined the pack while I'd been away so I didn't have the same kind of
bond with him that I had with the others. Alec seemed to trust him
completely though, so I figured that he was both dependable and
incredibly deadly with the weapons he routinely wore.

"Did Alec say
what he wanted, Ash?"

"Not exactly.
I get the feeling that I'm not supposed to know what's going on. Alec
implied a bunch of things but didn't confirm anything."

"Does that
bother you?"

"A little,
but not as much as you might think. Not as much as I expected it to.
I didn't press him on it at least, so it must not be too big of a
problem for me. I guess I trust that Alec is smart enough not to keep
anything from me that I'll need to do my job. Beyond that, I
understand the concept of need-to-know."

I chewed on that
for several seconds as Ash led me through the house. He slowed
momentarily as we turned a corner. "Truth be told, Adri, there's
only one thing that is bothering me and that is the way that
Alec is refusing to be pinned down on when he's going to help me resolve things
with my old pack."

It took me a
second to fit all of the memories together. "Weren't those the
ones Alec put in cages on the day that...well, the day that he
proposed to me?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah,
those four were from my old pack, but I need help if I'm going to go
in and get my sister out from under Onyx's thumb. Just mention to
Alec that we talked about it when you have a few minutes."

"Okay, I can
do that. I don't know that it will do any good, but I can let him
know."

Ash gave me a
tired smile. "You're going to get a lot more of that now that
you are engaged to Alec. It's proof that he trusts you and values
your opinion. More and more of the shape shifters that we've got
arriving every day are going to try and use you as a way to get
Alec's ear."

It had never even
crossed my mind, but it made sense. "Thanks for the warning,
Ash. I'll definitely keep my guard up, after I help you out of
course."

The grin I got
this time was surprisingly boyish and unrestrained. I could see why
Kristin found him so irresistible.

Ash came to a stop
and pointed at a door. "This is it. I dropped off a certain VIP
here a few minutes ago. They'll be waiting for you inside."

I nodded and
opened the door as Ash turned and walked away. This wasn't a part of
the house that I'd been to before, so I had no idea what to expect,
but I still somehow ended up being taken off guard when I found
myself inside a tiny little room with no windows. The only other
features were a heavy door on the far wall and a video camera and a
speaker up close to the ceiling.

I tried the far
door, but it was locked. I was about to turn around and leave when
the speaker hummed to life.

"Try the door
again, Adri. I think I found the release button."

I'd been starting
to get worried until I heard the voice, which was unmistakably
Shawn's. A few seconds later I was inside a slightly larger room that
had several monitors and a pair of chairs. Shawn looked up at me from
one of the chairs as he waved me over to the other one.

"I hear that
this little exercise was your idea. It's the logical solution to your
problem, but it means that I'm going to be commuting from Chicago
every couple of days so I thought it only fair that you be the one to
help me out."

"With what?"

Shawn gestured at
the monitors and then pushed a button and the tiny room was full of
noise. It took me a second to realize that the monitors were showing
Alec and a slew of other people from several different angles and the
'noise' was the audio from the room.

"We get to
watch the first royal court in centuries. Alec is going to parade
everyone who's come to town so far through that room, which
incidentally is only a dozen or so feet away from this room. Each of
your guests will then either provide Alec with an oath of fealty or
at the very least a promise that they'll behave and live up to the
traditional duties of a guest. You and I get to watch it all so that
I can tell Alec which ones are really planning on living up to their
oaths."

"Why me?"

"Nobody is
supposed to know that I'm here. Ash knows now, but even he doesn't
know about my power. You're here because I need a pretext for being
here that doesn't involve being the world's first living lie
detector. Alec gave Ash the impression that I'm educating you on the
various shape shifters who will be coming through the room over the
next couple of hours."

I nodded. It was
kind of a threadbare pretext, but Ash didn't seem inclined to pick at
it so it should be enough. Shawn waited to see if I had any questions
and then handed me a radio.

"Ash is
wearing an earpiece so if we have any questions you can ask him, just
push that button and you're live. Everyone is going to be announced
though so hopefully we won't have to bug him too much."

Shawn and I
quickly settled into a division of duties. He did a screen capture of
each of the shape shifters who came before Alec and printed it out
while the small talk occurred. I wrote the name of the shape shifters
at the bottom of the picture and then flipped the page over and took
notes on Shawn's impression of our visitors.

Alec seemed to
generally be working from least trustworthy to more dependable. The
first few were uneventful but disgusting. The pack leaders
practically tied themselves in knots trying to avoid giving Alec a
straight answer while their daughters all but threw themselves at
Alec.

I could tell that
Alec was starting to lose patience by the time the fifth delegation
was led away. He kept having to pointedly remind the girls that he
was engaged to me and even without Shawn's power it would have been
apparent that none of these alphas were planning on throwing their
lot in with Alec unless they thought they could come out on top in
the negotiations.

A capable-looking
woman named Rebekka was the first real surprise. She entered the room
looking resigned, but not necessarily unhappy. Alec, Ash at his
shoulder, watched her approach to within five feet of him and then
welcomed her and thanked her for making time in her schedule for a
formal reception.

The room was large
enough to hold everyone who had come before and most of them had
stayed after being presented to Alec. I saw boredom on more than one
face right up until Rebekka dropped to one knee.

"It's not in
me to play games, Alec. The Tonopah pack has fallen on rough times
and everyone here knows it. I came here hoping that my Vivian would
catch your eye, but I'm not going to try and come between two people
who love each other, not when there are other options. If you'll have
me, I'll swear fealty to you. Your father was an honorable man and
you seem to be cut from the same cloth."

Alec took a deep
breath and nodded. "I welcome you into my service, Rebekka. You
may proceed."

"I swear my
claws and fangs to your service, both those of this body and those
sworn to me. In return for your protection I will obey your command
and never betray your trust as long as you're true to your oath."

Alec stood and
walked forward so that he could place a hand on Rebekka's shoulder.
"I accept your oath and place myself as a shield between your
pack and those who would harm it. I promise justice tempered with
mercy and for as long as you are true to your oath I promise to treat
you as one of my pack with all of the rights and privileges of
family."

Alec pulled
Rebekka to her feet and pointed at a spot behind the chair where he'd
been sitting. "I understand if you have other business to attend
to, but if you're planning on staying for the rest of the reception
you're welcome to stand with Ash at my back."

Even I could see
that Alec was making a powerful statement with that invitation. Those
who had refused to swear fealty to him were exiled to the edges of
the room while those who bound themselves to him would stand close
enough to advise him.

Shawn shook
himself and took a deep breath, almost like he hadn't breathed for
several seconds while the oath had been said.

"Complete
conviction on both sides. Alec meant every word, as did Rebekka. This
was the break that Alec was looking for."

I wrote Shawn's
words down verbatim on the back of the paper and then looked up in
time to catch the very end of what Alec was telling Rebekka.

"...appreciate
the gesture, but Vivian is welcome here."