Riven (9 page)

Kristin understood
now. "Right, and I saw the four of you die because you are the
four who in his mind are key to protecting the pack. I didn't see
anyone else because Dream Stealer wouldn't have known that we're
allied with Tonopah and Las Cruces."

I waited while
everyone settled back down and then started ticking off the key
points. "This means that we'll have to take all of Kristin's
precognitive warnings with a grain of salt. Even if the Coun'hij
isn't ready to attack us, they'll do this kind of thing as a way of
keeping us off balance and paralyzed, so we're going to have to be
very careful about letting another such attempt delay us from doing
stuff that we know is important."

Rebekka nodded.
"You're right. In hindsight, you were right to send that group
out earlier today, even if you haven't been willing to tell us what
it was for yet."

I checked the
clock on the wall and then sighed as I reached for the door.
"Actually, they are past due to be back. I'd better make a
call."

The sound of angry
footsteps out in the hall was unmistakable, but if any of us had been
too slow to figure that out, Jaclyn's tone would have easily made the
point.

"Don't bother
with a call, Alec. Instead tell me why you thought you could get away
with sending eight of your people down into my area unannounced with
an invitation to come here that was little more than a veiled
threat."

I pulled the door
the rest of the way open and motioned Jaclyn and Tasha inside. James
gave me a questioning look from a few feet behind them, but I waved
him off. Donovan's office was already filled to capacity. We were
going to need to go about getting a larger room ready for these kinds
of councils. I made a mental note to ask Donovan what room my father
had used and then turned back to Jaclyn.

"The group I
sent down was under instructions to extend an invitation, nothing
more than that. I would have called ahead, but Tasha isn't exactly
taking my phone calls these days. As to the size of the group, it
didn't seem fair to bring you up here and leave your pack uncovered.
I thought you'd appreciate the four who remained down there to help
protect your territory."

There was a
challenging look in her eye. "And the four who escorted me back
here?"

"Believe it
or not, they were for your protection. You don't have anything to
worry about from a normal opponent, but given the state of things
right now, it's entirely possible that we'll see a rash of werewolves
come through this little corner of the state before all is said and
done."

Jaclyn seemed a
little mollified. She dropped down into the chair next to Tasha,
who'd so far refused to meet my gaze. "Fine, your actions
weren't quite as unreasonable as I initially thought, but I'm not one
of your lackeys to just jump on a plane whenever you call."

I sighed. Things
were moving too quickly and I didn't have enough manpower to jump
through all of the hoops that tradition stipulated. I'd hoped that
our past history together, tenuous though it was, would stop Jaclyn
from being quite so offended.

"I truly am
sorry for being so high-handed, Jaclyn. I would have just flown down
to see you, but my hands are tied right now. I owe guest protection
to a number of people and while I can't magically stop a horde of
werewolves from decimating the estate, there is a very real
possibility that my presence is the only thing keeping the Coun'hij
from sending in twenty or thirty enforcers to level everything in the
area."

Jaclyn steepled
her fingers and then looked at me over the top of them. "Okay,
you're sorry and I'll overlook the offense this time. What do you
want?"

"Two things.
Firstly I want to complete the joining we discussed last month."

"I'm not sure
Tasha will take you at this point, Alec. Besides, I've heard talk of
an engagement to some human."

Jaclyn was trying
to rile me up, but she wasn't going to succeed. I held all of the
cards right now and we both knew it.

"While I have
the highest respect for Tasha, you're right that a wedding is out of
the question, but that's no longer a prerequisite for the kind of
alliance that I'm after. Frankly, I'm not overly concerned with the
form of the alliance. Within certain limits I'm game for just about
anything you're interested in proposing, but I need the Tucson pack
and you in particular."

Jaclyn shook her
head. "You absolutely care what form the alliance takes. This is
nothing like we discussed unless you're really offering to come down
off of the little throne you're building yourself and join the Tucson
pack."

My beast took
exception to that comment, but I forced the surge of power down to
something barely more than a flicker and offered Jaclyn a cold smile.

"This is
exactly what we were discussing previously. The weaker pack will join
the stronger pack in return for a greater degree of protection."

Jaclyn surged to
her feet with a flare of power and I reached for my ability, but she
hadn't changed shapes yet so I didn't take the chains off of my
pocket nuke.

"You've yet
to prove that you're more powerful than me, Alec. You go too far in
making that kind of statement. You killed Agony. So what? I could
have done that years ago."

I turned to those
who had been in the room before Jaclyn and Tasha arrived and asked
them to leave. Ash tried to protest but I shut him up with a look.
Jaclyn was an impatient buzzsaw of power off to my left as everyone
filed out of the office. Once it was just Jaclyn, Tasha and I, I
turned back to the two women.

"A wise woman
once told me that it was smart to settle the issue of dominance right
up front. I take no joy in this."

Jaclyn sprang at
me as the words left my mouth, but I'd already opened my mental fist
nearly as far as it would go. She transformed mid-leap, but I stepped
to the side and plucked her out of the air, gently bringing her to
the ground so that she wouldn't be injured.

Tasha had slid out
of her chair and looked up at me with anger in her eyes but a
complete inability to move. I looked back at Jaclyn and sighed.

"You could
still kill me if you caught me by surprise, but there can't be any
question between you and me as to who is dominant to whom. All of the
reasons that caused you originally to consider an alliance with me
are still in operation. I'm just bringing infinitely more to the
table now than I was back then."

Jaclyn wasn't
happy. She pushed against my ability, momentarily flooding it with
enough power that she was nearly able to sit back up, but I just
opened the channel up even wider. It was enough to cause her to slump
back down, but she hadn't given in yet, I could see it in her eyes.

I did the only
other thing I could. I grabbed the oversized sweater off of the back
of Donovan's chair, draped it across Jaclyn's torso for modesty's
sake, and then took the last bit of restraint off of the hungry hole
in my abdomen.

The absorption
wobbled momentarily as the void on the other end nearly reached its
capacity, and then it happened. Jaclyn shrank back down to the
smaller shape she'd worn when she'd walked into the room, only it
wasn't her choice. She'd wanted to remain a hybrid and continue to
fight me but I'd temporarily robbed her of the energy she needed to
manifest any other form but the one she'd been born with.

For the briefest
of moments Jaclyn stopped breathing and then I closed off my ability
and stepped back so that she could pull herself into a sitting
position.

"I didn't
know that was possible."

"It wasn't,
not until a little while ago when my ability finally manifested
fully."

The shock was
starting to wear off. Jaclyn was scared, but she was also as dominant
as anyone else alive.

"So this is
it? You'll just kidnap the other alphas and beat them into submission
one at a time until you've replaced the Coun'hij as our evil
overlords?"

This time my beast
wouldn't be denied. I managed to hold onto my shape by the thinnest
of margins, but I couldn't stop the arc of energy that rushed out
from me.

"I'm not
going to force anyone to swear fealty to me, Jaclyn, but you needed
to know just exactly what I'm capable of now. I want your help, but
if you refuse me then I'll put you back on a plane and that will be
that."

I could tell by
the look in her eyes that she was finally listening to me.

"You said
that you brought us here for two reasons. What was the other thing
you wanted?"

"Agony is
dead and the Coun'hij has been knocked back on their heels for the
first time in centuries. I want you to open up the southern border."

Jaclyn's beast was
starting to recover; a surge of power lashed out from her at my
words. "You don't know what you're asking, Alec. The cats will
wreak nine kinds of destruction."

Tasha was finally
meeting my gaze, but the fear that had replaced the hate I'd seen
when she'd first arrived wasn't any kind of improvement. I tore my
eyes away from her and shook my head at her mother.

"I know
exactly what I'm proposing. The Coun'hij pretend to be some kind of
benevolent dictatorship, but the truth is that they have left the
border packs more or less on their own and you're paying the price
for all of those years of neglect. I'm not going to force anyone to
my side, but I'm not going to continue propping up a system that is
grinding us away like this. The Las Cruces pack will be relocating
within a few weeks and once that happens it's only a matter of time
before the Carlsbad pack throws their lot in with me."

The horror in
Jaclyn's expression hadn't left but she was too smart to be doing
anything other than following the chain of logic I was setting out.
"The border will leak like a sieve. The humans are struggling
just to deal with the drug gangs, they'll be routed once the cats
start crossing over en masse. The second-tier packs aren't even close
to ready to deal with that kind of combat. They'll join you in droves
just to keep from being swept away."

I nodded. It
wasn't something I was looking forward to, but it was long past time
to call the Coun'hij's bluff. They would either step in and start to
limit the damage or our entire race would finally be forced to choose
sides.

"It will be
tough on the Tucson pack, but it doesn't have to be that way. You can
join me. We'll hire security guards to keep an eye on your homes and
you can relocate further north."

"You don't
have to do this, Alec. Bring your people down to the border and help
us push further south. Show everyone that you're a king in the old
tradition."

"I can't do
that, Jaclyn. I would like to see that cesspool cleaned up as much as
anyone. Dominic is proof of the fact that not every cat is a
murdering thug, but helping her people has to wait until I've put
our
house in order."

Tasha's anger
finally boiled over. "So everyone who has kept the cats from
ripping through your tender hides has to leave their homes while you
sit here in your pretty little mansion?"

I shook my head,
sincerely sorry that things had gotten so bad between Tasha and me.
"We won't be staying here either. I'm serious when I say that I
won't prop up the current system. The Sanctuary pack will move north
too. If I have my way then every single pack in North America will
either join me or they'll feel the full weight of what you've dealt
with for so many centuries."

It was Jaclyn's
turn again to try and dissuade me from my chosen path. "What if
you can't put that genie back in the bottle, Alec? Once the cats get
a taste for the U.S. you're going to have a hell of a time pushing
them back down into Mexico."

"They should
disperse as they come north. We'll have a fight on our hands, but the
real difficulty will be identifying them. Once we track one down I'll
send in kill teams. You and Grayson should be capable of taking out
nearly any cat, especially if I back you up with picked teams."

"And if
you're wrong? The only thing that has allowed us to stand against
them for the last few centuries is the fact that they spend most of
their time and energy fighting each other. If they see the weakness
at the border as their grand chance to defeat us and come up in
greater numbers than you anticipate, then you'll be looking at
another great war."

"It's a risk
that has to be run. The alternative is to allow the Coun'hij to run
us all into the ground over the next few centuries."

There was fire in
Jaclyn's eyes, but when we locked gazes she was the first one to look
away. "I understand your position. Will you answer two questions
for me?"

"Yes, if it's
in my power to do so without betraying an oath to someone else."

"What about
Tasha?"

Tasha opened her
mouth as if to protest, but her mother stared her down. I waited
until Jaclyn looked back at me and then nodded.

"I've always
understood that your primary concern is for your people, Jaclyn.
Believe it or not, I can empathize with your worries about Tasha's
future. Rachel is in a similar position in many respects. If you
throw your lot in with me then I'll put Tasha on my advisory council.
I'm already starting to enforce a slightly artificial power structure
here, one based on loyalty and intelligence in addition to who's the
best killer. I can't promise to put Tasha at the top of the food
chain, but as long as I'm alive I'll make sure that she's off limits
when it comes to the petty dominance games she'd otherwise be
subjected to."

I could see that
Jaclyn was about to protest, but I got the rest of my statement out
before she could say anything.

"More
importantly, I'll clear the way for Tasha to rise based on her
loyalty and intelligence. Ash is even weaker than Tasha, but he sits
at my right hand because he gives me good advice and I know that I
can count on him when things get rough. I'm dedicated to bringing
down the Coun'hij, but I'd like to make other changes along the way.
The moonborn are never going to be fit for human-style civilization,
but it's past time for us to take a few steps in that direction."