Burned (14 page)

I'd considered
sending Alison and her mother out to set up an alternate set of
contingency plans, but she just wasn't as good at it as Jack was.
Maybe in a few months she'd be up to it, but right now there was too
much chance that she would get caught on camera somewhere and end up
squarely in the Coun'hij's crosshairs.

Taggart and his
group had met up with Isaac's people about the time we'd arrived in
Arizona and had finally made it here to Tucson less than an hour ago.
We'd already planned out our next course of action using a series of
coded texts, so there wasn't any reason for me to linger around our
base of operations hoping for a chance to see Adri.

Instead, Carson
and I had set out within minutes of Taggart's arrival. We weren't
leaving unaccompanied though—Heath was coming along with us.
I'd met Heath briefly in Minnesota and been very impressed by the
sheer power of his ability. Invisibility was a huge force equalizer,
and it was useful in a much broader set of circumstances than
Grayson's power.

Unlike Grayson,
who was only marginally useful in one-on-one situations, Heath was
more than capable of taking out most other hybrids without them even
realizing what had hit them. The jury was out on who was the most
deadly in a bigger engagement. Heath was limited by the number of
people he could keep in his field of view at any one time, and he
couldn't do anything about the sound of them moving around or even
the sound of their hearts beating, but Grayson was likewise limited
with regards to just how many people he could immobilize at one time.

If I'd had to
choose between them though, I would have picked Heath. Grayson had
proven oddly undependable for someone with the potential to be so
lethal. Heath on the other hand was very nearly the perfect
second-in-command. He was honest, dependable, and seemed to have no
real desire for the top spot.

Even better
where I was concerned, I was pretty sure that my absorption field
would nullify his ability, which meant that even a change of heart
down the road wouldn't be enough to allow him to best me in single
combat. Isaac had been incredibly lucky to find Heath. I was
eventually going to have to take control of that group—the only
question was whether that was going to cause hard feelings on Isaac's
part.

It was becoming
apparent to me that I was going to need Isaac's counsel if I was
going to have any hope of defeating the Coun'hij without getting all
of my people killed. I was going to need all the help I could get.

I shoved the
latest round of worries to the back of my mind and focused on the
task at hand. The three of us were in wolf form, covering ground on
four legs at a prodigious rate with Heath at the back of the
formation so that he could keep all three of us hidden from
observation—satellite or otherwise.

It was a unique
experience. Carson and I had to be careful not to make any sudden
changes in direction that would result in Heath losing track of us,
but after a few problems early on where one of us suddenly
materialized back into view, we figured it out and quickly crossed
the ten miles between our base of operations and the Annikov estate.

I was more than
a little nervous as we approached the house—not that we
wouldn't be able to fight our way out if it came to that, but that in
doing so we'd ruin the entire operation and end up forced to exercise
the extraction protocols that Jack was still trying to get into
place. If that happened some of us probably weren't going to be able
to fall off of the Coun'hij's radar, but I couldn't continue to
wait—not when the Coun'hij might be attacking the Tucson pack
at any time.

I probably
would have screwed up the infiltration into the house, but luckily
Carson stepped up and took point, effortlessly leading us around all
of the security. I spared a moment to wonder if his ability extended
to more than just manipulating emotions. If he was actually capable
of sensing emotions from a distance, then he had an even bigger
advantage over most hybrids than I'd realized.

We found an
empty room and shifted back to human form, momentarily flickering
back into existence as Heath lost his concentration, and then it was
time to go invisible again and resume looking for Jaclyn. We found
her in a windowless study at the very center of the house. She was
talking to a blonde girl who looked like she was in her early
twenties.

Jaclyn looked
up as we entered the room and then lunged to her feet. I reacted
without thinking and opened up the rift inside of me wide enough to
drop both of them to the ground as Carson stepped back and closed the
door.

I gave Heath a
nod, and then we were fully visible. I looked down at Jaclyn and
realized that she wasn't just on the ground, she was panting for
breath. I'd been so concerned about her response that I'd used almost
the full strength of my ability on just the two of them.

"I'm sorry
about the circumstances, Jaclyn, but we had to talk to you in a way
that wouldn't leave any evidence behind. I'm going to release you
now, but if you call out things will go very badly for all of us."

Jaclyn didn't
respond until I bottled my ability back up, and even then she pulled
herself back to her feet before saying anything.

"Are you
really coming here to my territory—my house—and
threatening my people? You're no better than your father."

"I don't
have to come here and threaten you, Jaclyn. Kaleb and the rest of the
Coun'hij already do that just by existing. Will we fight, and even
kill, if it comes to it in order to leave here when we're done
talking to you? Yes, absolutely, but I'm not the real threat. The
Coun'hij is organizing an operation to wipe your pack off of the face
of the map. We're here to
help
you."

She stepped
toward me and I held up a hand. "That's close enough. I'm not
going to let you close enough to use your ability on me. You can talk
from where you are, or you can talk to me from the floor. Your
choice."

She shot me a
look so full of venom that I half expected her to throw herself at
me, but she stopped.

"Fine,
let's talk. You're right, you don't have to verbalize any threats
because just your presence is enough to bring Kaleb and his murderers
down on my people and me. Do you have any idea how hard I've worked
over the last hundred and fifty years to stop that from happening?
Coming here was beyond reckless, it was an act of war."

She lashed out
with surges of energy, flailing me with a hot, prickly wind as her
beast punctuated each word with a tangible manifestation of its
anger. I wanted to respond in kind, wanted to slam a hurricane of
power into her, but that would just result in things continuing to
escalate.

Carson had
agreed to use his power to get us out of the house without having to
kill anyone if it came to that, but he'd steadfastly refused to
interfere with the actual negotiations—they were strictly up to
me. I had to find a way not to lose my cool.

"Listen to
yourself, Jaclyn. You and I believe the same things—we want the
same things. We shouldn't be a hairsbreadth away from killing each
other, we should be working together to stop Kaleb and the rest.
You're one of the single most deadly hybrids in the entire world, but
you're forced to bow your head to a bunch of ruthless thugs. We can
change that."

She looked me
over as the other girl—presumably her daughter Natasha—stepped
to her side. "I've never felt anything like that, Mother, he—"

Jaclyn stopped
her daughter with a gesture. "He didn't just mistakenly use his
ability on us, Tasha. That was a demonstration—something he
planned on doing. That is why he's here."

I shook my
head. "I didn't mean for things to happen like that. I was
hoping to find you by yourself and then just talk to you."

She laughed, a
mocking, bitter sound. "You're either stupid or a liar. If you
didn't want to come here and make a pointed demonstration of just how
powerful your ability is then you would have used other channels to
communicate with me. You're here because you want to try to establish
the fact that you are dominant to me."

My beast didn't
like her tone, and I was losing my grip on him. The power level
inside of the room spiked for a moment before I could rein him back
in.

"I came
here because your pack is under an order of execution. We have only a
matter of days—maybe even just hours—before the Coun'hij
descends on your territory with a force that you can't hope to
match."

"That's a
likely story, except that I've heard nothing about any buildup of
forces. Let's be honest, once you manifested your power it was only a
matter of time before you were going to come here under whatever
pretext you could manage. That's how petty dictators always work.
Sooner or later you are going to work your way through every pack in
North America just so that you can make sure that everyone knows not
to cross you."

I shook my
head. "Maybe you're right about the necessity of visiting every
single pack, but if so it's only because there wouldn't be any other
way to actually
talk
to the other alphas. I know exactly how
conversations via the normal channels go. They take forever and
nothing gets said because neither side is willing to cross any lines
that will get them killed if the other person takes the conversation
to the Coun'hij."

Jaclyn looked
deep into my eyes, almost as though trying to see into my soul.
Despite all of the advantages we had when it came to hearing
heartbeats and a myriad of other tells, there was still no guarantee
that you weren't working with a particularly skilled liar.

"Are you
trying to tell me that you aren't planning on setting yourself up as
the undisputed leader of the rebellion, Alec? Do you really expect me
to believe that you aren't setting yourself up as the next king?"

There it
was—the same issue I'd just finished resolving with Jack, the
same issue that I was going to have to settle with every single alpha
of any pack I wanted to bring over to my forces.

"None of
us like to give up our power voluntarily, Jaclyn. For the best of us
that's because we're honestly concerned about protecting our people.
For the worst of us it's because we enjoy having the power of life
and death over our pack. I'm no different than you, I have people who
depend on me, people who've risked everything to support me. I'm not
going to hand responsibility for them over to someone else lightly."

I could see her
response coming, but got the rest of my words out before she managed
to interrupt.

"If I meet
someone else who's better able to protect my people, someone whose
beliefs I respect and who has the integrity to live those beliefs,
then I will turn the leadership of my pack over to them, but
otherwise I will do everything in my power—every moral thing—to
maintain my position, to protect my people, and grow my pack to the
point where we don't have to worry about any conceivable external
threat."

"That's an
easy promise to make for someone who's apparently manifested an
unbeatable power."

I gave her a
wry smile. "Nothing is unbeatable—as I'm sure you know.
I'm very aware of the fact that you're busily brainstorming ways to
get around my ability. Your point stands though. I'm unlikely to have
to turn over my position any time soon."

"I guess
that leaves us at an impasse then, Alec. You're not willing to hand
the reins of power over to me, and I'm not willing to turn the lives
of my daughter and the rest of my pack over to you…unless you
came here to force me to bend my knee to you."

My beast's
response would have been a tsunami of power, an unmistakable,
resounding yes, but I was more than just the beast that was angrily
pacing back and forth inside my mind. It would be so easy to unleash
my power once again, to force her back onto the ground, but that
wouldn't buy me her allegiance. It wouldn't even buy me control over
her pack. It might grant me a temporary illusion of control, but I
needed more than that.

"I'm not
going to force you, Jaclyn, but it was only weeks ago that I looked
you in the eye and told you that I wasn't my father, that I wasn't a
monster. You gave me a time and a place and sent me off to a
situation that could have gotten me killed. I trusted you enough to
go there, and that decision has shaped everything that has happened
since in my life. I trusted you, why can't you do the same for me?"

"I'll
admit that you surprised me, Alec. I never expected you to go there,
and even if I had, it would have been too much to hope that it would
cause you to break with your father. Your actions the last time you
were down here have bought you some leniency. I'll let you leave
here—the way you came—and not report your presence to the
Coun'hij, but that's all I can do for you."

"That's
worth nothing!"

Tasha grabbed
at her mom's arm—a dangerous thing to do considering the energy
I could feel humming off of the other woman—but Jaclyn refused
to acknowledge her daughter.

"Be
careful, Alec, or I'll revoke that indulgence and you'll find out
just how much it's actually worth. You went to Naco as a boy with
nothing to lose but your own life. Very little has changed. You're
still just a boy—now with a shiny new toy—a boy who has
nothing to lose. I have everything at stake. Be glad that I'm not
willing to turn you over to your father in the hopes of buying myself
a few more months of safety."

I stepped
towards her, putting myself in range of her claws if she chose to
transform, and I cracked open the rift inside of me, bleeding off
some of the electricity dancing in the air between us.

"That's
where you're wrong. I have everything to lose. My sister, friends who
have been my family since even before I first transformed, new
friends who have stood beside me in the fires of hell, they are all
at stake here. I came down here to offer you a way out, a way to save
your people. I suggest you think about that. You've got a limited
amount of time before that offer expires."