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It was a hopeless fight. Nathanial was mobile again and circling to my right at the same time that Simon was moving around to the left. Vincent was dancing just out of striking range as he waited for his companions to get into position.

  I attacked before they could get set, moving into Nathanial with every bit of speed I could muster. I caught him with the claws of my right hand and nearly managed to make it back around in time to catch Simon. The motion threw off Simon's aim. He wasn't used to lunging at targets so tall, and his fangs fastened on my arm with accompanying spikes of agony.

  Vincent was only a half-step behind, but I brought Nathanial up and used him as a club. The attack nearly succeeded in knocking Vincent over, but he barreled on in and knocked me to the ground again.

  I scrambled furiously, attempting to get out from under Vincent. My talons and claws were finding purchase on his body, but he'd fastened his fangs onto my arm, clamping down with enough force that I knew I only had a few seconds before he'd manage to rip it off.

  I redoubled my efforts, raking him with such frenzy that hot blood washed over me, but he didn't even flinch. I felt his teeth meet inside my arm, and then suddenly a loud shriek caused both of us to start.

  I lunged back to my feet as Vincent released me and spun around to meet Isaac's attack. On paper the others had the edge against us, but Isaac was fresh, and I was still more than capable of handling whichever of the wolves got too close.

  I knocked Nathanial away again as he sprang at Isaac, and then Isaac and Vincent clinched in a whirlwind of claws and blood. I spun just in time to duck Simon's attack, and then Nathanial was back again. Somehow he'd locked on my leg without me seeing the attack coming, and Simon spun around and hit me in the chest hard enough to knock me over.

  I caught a glimpse of Isaac's fight, just enough to see that he was winning, that he'd pinned Vincent and was working his way into a lethal hold, but my situation was turning serious. Simon had a hold of my good arm and was stretching me out so that I couldn't get at him or Nathanial, either one.

  It wasn't the kind of thing that would grant them a quick kill, but all they had to do was keep me stretched out between them and sooner or later I'd bleed to death even if they didn't manage to rip me in half before then.

  They chose the second option, and dug their paws in as they whipped their heads back and forth. The agony as my joints were strained nearly to the point of breaking wrung a cry out of me and suddenly Isaac was there knocking them off of me.

  Vincent was back on his feet, looking unsteady but more than ready for another round, but Jasmin's howl announced approaching reinforcements. Vincent and the others disappeared into the night as I limped home after Isaac.

  Jasmin joined us and then raced off to find the others. Everyone was waiting for us back at the house. I made it almost to the lawn before accumulated blood loss and shock brought me to my knees. The last thing I remembered before the blackness overtook me was James approaching with his ears laid back and the blood thirst in his eyes.

  Chapter 17

  Rachel was waiting next to my bed when I finally came back to full consciousness. She'd been crying, and still looked worried, but she mustered a brave smile as soon as she realized I was awake.

  "Alec, I was so worried. What happened?"

  I shook my head, wincing at the way the motion made my stomach clench. I hadn't known it was possible for one of us to get a concussion.

  "We can talk about that later. What's the status of the pack?"

  Jasmin walked into the room before Rachel could answer.

  "Pissed off and worried, or maybe worried and pissed off. It probably depends on who you ask. What in Adjam's name were you thinking running about into the neutral territory by yourself?"

  "As I recall you didn't think it was so unreasonable when it was you and James that struck out on your own."

  "That was different. There were two of us and Brandon's pack hadn't been acting quite so aggressive. By all rights you should be dead."

  I nodded my head, more gingerly this time. "You're right, Vincent and the others would have killed me if Isaac hadn't happened to be so close."

  Rachel shook her head at me. "That's not what she's talking about. James was mad, or scared. When you came back he almost challenged Isaac right then and there."

  I felt a shiver work its way up my spine as I realized what Rachel was saying. James couldn't attack me until he'd beaten Isaac, but Isaac had been injured. If he'd beaten Isaac, or if Isaac had just declined to fight, there wouldn't have been anything to stop James from killing me. He'd have inherited a pack that was only days from destruction, but he'd have finally achieved his mother's ambitions for him. Rule in hell indeed.

  "So why didn't he?"

  Rachel answered again. "Isaac refused to stand aside for him, and Jasmin told him that she'd challenge him just as soon as he finished with Isaac, and that she'd kill him if Isaac proved unable to do it."

  I looked up at Jasmin and nodded in thanks. Isaac and I enjoyed a better working relationship than most alphas and their seconds. He knew I was a slightly better fighter, but even more than that he didn't have any desire to lead the pack. In any other pack he'd have either been killed early on or forced to become something entirely different than he was now. I kept the dominance games between him and James to a minimum and in return he generally backed me far past the point where most hybrids would have been looking to increase their own status and power.

  Despite the capital I'd burned up with him lately, he'd acted essentially as I'd have expected. Jasmin was a different matter altogether. Her personality was much more aggressive than Isaac's and she very much resented being fourth in the pack. With the erratic nature of her actions lately I was almost surprised she hadn't joined in with James' attempted coup.

  Some of my thoughts must have been mirrored on my face, Jasmin looked away after only a second of meeting my eyes.

  "Don't look at me like that. I wouldn't have let him kill you."

  "I never said you would. I'm just realizing I can't predict your actions as well these days as I used to."

  "I could say the same thing about you. Going out there by yourself was seriously stupid."

  "I don't want to talk about it, Jasmin. I appreciate what you and Isaac both did for me, but the reason I was out there is off limits."

  Jasmin flipped me off and stormed out of the room. Rachel tried to make small talk, but quickly realized I wasn't in the mood and followed after Jas.

  Now that I was safely by myself I pulled the sheet back and took an inventory of my wounds. There were more than I remembered. The massive ones on my leg and each arm were about like I expected, but there were a whole host of slashes across my chest that I didn't remember receiving. Apparently Vincent had gotten in more blows than I'd realized.

  Jasmin was right; by all rights I should be dead. I'd be back up and fully mobile within another twenty-four hours at the outside, but it had been a close thing.

  I was shaken by what'd happened, but I pushed those concerns out of my mind and stumbled over to my studio, running my finger over the biometric lock. I needed to make another attempt at the painting while Adri's face and form were still fresh in my mind. Given what'd just happened it was unlikely I was going to get another chance to see her asleep.

  When I finally staggered back to my bed and collapsed into an exhausted sleep I was only slightly less frustrated than I'd been after the last attempt. It was better. I had more of her essence, most of the sweet innocence that made one think of the angelic, but it still wasn't perfect. It still lacked so many of the essentials that made her perfection.

  The distress over the painting dissolved as I floated away into a calming dream. I was at the pond on the far end of the estate. It was possibly the only natural spring in sixty miles, and was deep and wide enough to support a type of long, slender fish.

  It was another refuge I hadn't been to in more months than I cared to think about, but it was made all the more calming by the f
act that Adri was there as well. She walked up the path from the hedge maze and then smiled in delight at the sight of the pond.

  I was momentarily worried she'd smell me and bolt, but in this dream Adri didn't seem to have inherited our sense of smell. I crowded ever so slowly forward to find a better vantage point from which to watch her.

  She carefully walked up to the bench, and then as she placed one toe in the water, she was suddenly clad in a swimsuit rather than the jeans and tank top she'd been in just a second before. I felt my pulse speed up as I took in the gorgeous expanse of pale skin that the blue two-piece revealed. Fortunately her hearing was likewise human-dull.

  She suddenly dived into the pond with a bravery and zest I'd seen only hints of previously, coming up sputtering and then diving back under to pursue the darting slivers of light that were the freshwater fish.

  She moved with the smooth, sure strokes of an Olympic swimmer as she chased and then finally settled back to just float in the center of the expanse of water. I remained motionless, silently watching until my healing body finally determined it'd rested sufficiently and sent me back into the real world.

  **

  The next couple of days were a frenzy of activity. I'd chosen not to go to school, partially because I had too much to do to spend my day sitting through pointless lectures, and partially because I was hoping that Brandon would assume I was even more injured than I actually was.

  I'd just discovered that the old saw about necessity being the mother of invention had a very important corollary. While self-preservation was capable of focusing the mind to an incredible degree, sometimes inspiration required a higher cause than mere survival.

  For years we'd been hoping that we could defer the coming confrontation until I'd had time to manifest my power. I'd been hesitant as a result, often choosing to bend rather than face Brandon down over things that didn't directly relate to our survival.

  It would have been tempting to blame Donovan. Flexibility and misdirection were the usual tools of the submissives, but that wouldn't have been fair. It had been my decision, just like it was now my decision to alter our tactics.

  Donovan and I sat down, pooled our knowledge of Brandon's fiscal operations and assets, and then came up with ways to begin causing him problems in each area. It wasn't anything overly aggressive, but he was about to find his net worth declining abruptly.

  I slogged through hours and hours of homework, and then did something I hadn't tried in ages. The rest of the wolves were at school, so I couldn't spar with them, even supposing that was a good idea considering their recent frustration with me, so I went out back to my father's old workshop and strapped myself into the machine.

  Weightlifting had long been viewed as worthless among shape shifters. When you're easily able to bench-press a small car, there doesn't usually seem to be much point in becoming two or three percent stronger.

  My father hadn't shared that belief, and with the advent of science and weight machines he'd been vindicated. It'd taken several years to design and build a machine capable of stressing the strength of even a full-blown hybrid, but metal work had been one of his great loves, and he'd persevered.

  The result wasn't pretty, but it allowed me to lift massive, almost inconceivable amounts of weight in either of my two-legged forms. When I'd first manifested my wolf form I'd spent hours in the machine attempting to compensate for Jasmin's increased strength and power. I hadn't been entirely positive that my royal traits would breed true with only one moonborn parent, and it'd seemed the only hope of retaining control of the pack when faced with Jasmin's royal heritage.

  I'd even continued working out on the machine for a short time after I'd manifested my royal hybrid form. Strength led to speed, and the two were vitally important in any shape shifter fight, but all too soon Brandon had manifested his power, and it had seemed pointless to continue to train when no amount of muscle growth could hope to compete with his unnatural strength and speed.

  That no longer mattered. Even if I never manifested a power, I faced more threats than Brandon. Assuming we somehow survived the coming storm I'd still be faced with other challengers, other hybrids, and it was vitally important I be able to face them down.

  I pushed, pulled and twisted for almost two hours, long past the point where my limbs were weak and trembling, and then took a brief break to drive into town. The thought of leaving the pack's territory, especially by myself, brought a pang of fear arcing along my spine, but I pushed the feeling away.

  This was during the middle of the day, surrounded by plenty of witnesses, and if I let fear rule me now, the end would be all that much quicker.

  I called Jasmin as I crossed into town.

  "How's everything going?"

  "Just peachy. You were right, Brandon and company seem pretty positive you're completely out of commission. I expect they'll launch another major raid tonight."

  "Okay, we'll be waiting for them and see if we can't roll them up and put some fear back into them. Anything else important happen?"

  "Just a little intra-pack strife on the other side. Brandon nearly ripped Vincent's head off. Apparently he's not too happy with the fact that Vincent's the one turning in the wins lately. First Isaac and then you. He just stormed out of the cafeteria with your new girlfriend."

  I spared a moment of thanks for being out of scent range from Jasmin. If she realized how close to on target her barb was things would get even worse than they already were.

  "Right. I just wanted to check in and make sure that things were going okay. I'll see you guys after school."

  I hadn't really planned on swinging past the school but Jasmin's words were too much of a lure. I slowly rounded the last corner, and then pulled off behind the shelter of one of native juniper trees. From my position I could just make out the school and identify Brandon and Adri as they walked a slow circuit around the school.

  Seeing him with her roused protective instincts that usually only threats to Rachel or my mother brought out. I nearly lost control of my shape when he leaned in as if he were about to kiss her.

  I kept myself together enough to see him pull back before actually making contact, but it was as if the sight had somehow closed a circuit inside me. There was no longer any denying what motivated me.

  I wanted Adriana Paige, and I was going to do anything I could, short of a full-blown war between our packs, to protect her from Brandon. Even if she fought me the whole way.

  Chapter 18

  The ambush went down essentially as I'd hoped. Brandon and the others came barreling through our territory so secure in their belief we were down a hybrid that they were even running with the wind.

  We plotted their course and then hunkered down in a shallow wash. I'd taken a nap earlier in the day and was fully recovered. We waited until the other pack was parallel with us and then came up over the top of the wash and tore into the wolves closest to us.

  The strongest pack members were up at the front of the group and we did even more damage initially than on our last ambush. I didn't even slow down as I hit the first wolf. I felt my talons sink into flesh, and then felt a foreleg snap as my full weight came down on him.

  Jasmin was just to my left, and she brought down another of the submissives, latching onto his neck and whipping him around in a failed effort to snap it before she threw him in to a tree with enough force to impale him on one of the lower branches.

  Cassie apparently was counting on Vincent to distract me. She came arrowing through the darkness directly at my throat, but I dodged the attack and got a claw into her as she sailed overhead. Vincent was intercepted by Isaac before he could come to her aid, and Dom of all people pounced on Cassie before she managed to turn and spring at me again.

  Dom was normally the most submissive of our entire pack, but she latched onto Cassie's shoulder and set about ripping into her with the claws that were a cat's biggest advantage over us wolves.

  Brandon came barreling into me and I fell back o
n three years of aikido training, absorbing his momentum, converting it into a leg throw that sent him more than twenty feet behind me.

  He completed less than half a rotation before righting himself and lunging back towards me. Trading blows with him was a losing proposition, but we'd taken enough of his wolves out in the first two seconds of the fight that I didn't need to beat him.

  I dodged what I could and blocked most of the rest of the blows, the force of which nearly knocked me to the ground each time. The first exchange couldn't have lasted more than a second or two, but seemed like an eternity.

  Just as I slipped on a pile of shale, and went down into a three-point stance, I saw Jasmin dart in and rip at the back of Brandon's leg. He spun around with inconceivable speed, but he wasn't used to fighting a royal wolf, probably didn't even know it was possible for anyone to be as fast as Jasmin. She took a nasty-looking group of slashes to her flank, but avoided the majority of the force.

  The attack bought me enough time to right myself and charge in with both arms swinging. I scored several deep slashes into Brandon's back and arms before he turned, and then it was my turn to be beaten back while Jasmin circled and looked for another opportunity to attack.

  Vincent, Simon, Nathanial and a few other injured and severely dazed wolves were being handled quite handily by Isaac, James and Jess, while Dom continued to angle for a killing grip on Cassie.

  Isaac finally managed a favorable clinch with Vincent, and was rewarded with a scream of pain as his claws burrowed towards Vincent's heart. Moving almost quicker than I could follow, Brandon spun around and tore Isaac off of Vincent.

  Nathanial darted past Jess, forcing Dom off of Cassie, and then the five of them fled the scene, leaving the rest of their pack to follow as they were able.

  I called Jasmin and James back before they could outdistance the rest of us, and then turned back to Brandon's three wolves who hadn't been able to flee with the rest. Now that we were past the heat of the battle I was able to stop and see who'd been abandoned.