Marked (9 page)

"I'm
sorry, but Alec isn't available to talk to you right now, Tasha.
Perhaps I can help you in some way or another."

"Adri
Paige. It will be a cold day in hell when that's the case. Put Alec
on the phone."

"This
may surprise you, but I'm not in the habit of repeating myself. Alec
isn't available right now. If you legitimately need something then
tell me and I'll make sure it gets taken care of. Otherwise get off
of the phone line so I can get back to helping people who aren't so
poisoned by jealousy that they can't even see straight."

I
thought for a second that Tasha was going to choke on her own spit,
but after a couple of seconds of strained near-silence she got to the
point. "I don't know what Alec was thinking leaving everything
up to a voicemail like that, but Grayson and I managed to get to
Nephi just before our people started rolling into town."

"Good,
I'm glad you were able to make it in time. What happened after that?"

"The
enforcers timed their arrival so that they all showed up at once.
There were a lot more of them than anyone told me to expect."

"I
see. And did you call back into headquarters once you got Alec's
message or were you too busy fuming to realize that the prudent thing
would have been to find out if we had any kind of revised force
estimate for you?"

She
didn't like that. I didn't have to be there in person—or even
know her very well—to know that she was probably bleeding off
metaphysical energy like a sun on the point of going supernova.

"Grayson
and I were focused on trying to make Alec's little deadline. We
didn't have time to waste calling in to plead for updates that
you
should have been sending
us
."

"And
ironically, Alec and the rest of our people were too focused on
trying to save dozens of people scattered across nine different
states to waste time repeatedly calling an operative who hadn't even
bothered to let us know that she'd received her orders and was
on the way to try and fulfill her mission. You didn't call in, so we
wrote you off and Alec made other arrangements."

"You
mean that whore from Del Rio."

"If
you're referring to Lori, then yes, I believe that Alec made
arrangements for her to be in Nephi in case you and Grayson couldn't
be bothered to follow orders. If you have a problem with that then
you'll have to wait to take that up with Alec when he's got a few
minutes to waste. I fully agree with his decision."

That
wasn't even a little white lie. If there hadn't been so much else
going on when I'd overheard Alec make the call to Del Rio—and
if there had been a way to talk to him without undercutting his
authority with everyone within earshot—I would have had a thing
or two to say to Alec about the idea of recruiting the slut who'd
tried to use her lust-creating power to steal him away from me.

Saying
that I fully supported Lori being on the ground with our people was
about as big a lie as it was possible for me to tell, but I figured I
was angry enough right then that Tasha wouldn't be able to tell for
sure that I was lying.

Actually,
it was too bad. Hating Lori was probably the only thing that both
Tasha and I could really get behind. Still, I wasn't going to give
away the upper hand now that I had it, not against Tasha Annikov.

"Do
you have any idea what she did?"

"Why
don't you just go ahead and tell me your version of events. I'll be
calling her shortly to get her version."

"Grayson
had the situation under control. The enforcers were on the ground
convulsing and our side was executing them. Everything was fine until she arrived and
short-circuited his ability. One minute we had everything under
control and then a wave of lust washes over everyone on both sides
and Grayson's eyes roll back in his head. I thought for a second that
all of the guys and half of the females here were going to rip her
apart in their effort to be the first to get to her."

"I
take it that she survived?"

"Yeah.
It was the eeriest thing I've ever seen. She asked for silence and no
sooner had the words left her mouth than you could have heard a pin
drop. Then everyone lined up in two lines just like she asked them
to, and she told the enforcers that she wanted them dead, that it was
the sacrifice she needed out of them if they were going to please
her."

I
wanted to say that was terrible, but I wasn't sure how well that
would fit with my current persona, the act that so far had done the
impossible and made Tasha toe the line. Tasha continued before I
could decide what the appropriate response was.

"I've
never seen anything like it. Some of the enforcers slit their own
throats. Most of them just stood there and let our guys kill them
without even trying to defend themselves. Only a couple in the whole
group managed anything even remotely like effective resistance, and
even they were swarmed down in seconds. I saw wolves well into their
second century, wolves with enough experience to know better, throw
themselves directly into the claws of some of the baddest hybrids on
the planet like they were hotheaded kids with more brawns than
brains."

"How
many did we lose?"

"Only
one, but it was one we didn't need to lose. If she'd just stayed out
of things then Grayson could have held them all in place for the
minute or so more we would have needed to dispatch all of them. That
death is on her head; more than that, it's on Alec's head and if you
supported his decision then it's on your head too."

Adriana Paige
Interstate 15
Southern Idaho

I
wanted to throw up, but I hadn't eaten anything since the evening
before so there wasn't anything in my stomach to come back up. I
couldn't have said how I got off of the phone with Tasha, but I had
vague memories of telling her to make sure that everyone was taken
care of and that they cleared far enough out of Nephi that the
authorities wouldn't be able to track them down.

There
were two calls waiting for me in the administrator phone queue, but I
couldn't bring myself to answer them. I looked over at Donovan, who
now had blood smeared all the way up to his elbows in addition to the
blood on his face from when he'd killed the sniper.

"I
have to know, Donovan. Is Alec going to survive or has all of this
been for nothing? I'll get back on the phone and lie to all of those
people if that's what needs to happen to make sure that the wheels
stay on long enough for Alec to take back over, but I can't do it if
he's not going to be around to pick up the pieces when I fall apart
in a few days because of all the stress and the lies."

Donovan
looked up at me and for the first time I could remember he looked old
in the
I-have-one-foot-in-the-grave-and-it's-only-a-matter-of-time-before-the-rest-of-me-follows
way. I'd seen Donovan face with equanimity the destruction of the
house that had been his to maintain for more years than I'd been
alive. I'd watched as he dealt with Rachel's disappearance with the
kind of serenity few parents could have hoped to match, but now he
looked exhausted in ways that went much deeper than just a lack of
sleep.

"Ruby,
you've been an outstanding assistant, I'm sorry to have to do this,
but I need your word that you won't breathe a word of what has
transpired in this room to anyone."

"Of
course, Mr. Harringsford."

"I'll
need you to bind your beast to it."

"Very
well. I promise not to breathe a word of what has transpired in this
room to anyone."

"This
ye so swear, unto this you bind yourselves?"

"Yes,
this we so swear. Unto this we bind ourselves."

"Thank
you, my dear. You can leave now. Please activate the white noise
generator on your way out and then shut the door behind you."

Donovan
watched until Ruby was gone and then resumed working on Alec for
several seconds before he finally sighed.

"I
can't say for sure, Mistress Paige. To be honest I should have lost
Alec four or five times in just the last hour. The bullet passed
within a centimeter or two of his heart."

"So
it missed it then, that's good, right?"

"With
a different bullet, yes, but a bullet of that caliber moving at
supersonic speeds doesn't just tear through flesh it creates a
shockwave that destroys everything in a cone around the entry wound.
By everything I've seen since I began practicing medicine Alec should
have been dead before he hit the ground."

"But
he's not, right?"

"No,
he's not, but we've used our entire store of whole blood and there is
still severe damage to the area around his heart. I think that I've
got the bleeding stopped, but if I don't then he could very easily
end up dead before we can find more blood."

"What's
his blood type? He can have a pint of mine."

"I
don't think that's a good idea, Mistress Paige."

"You're
not even going to ask what my blood type is first?"

Donovan
didn't even look up from his sewing. "No, I'm not. Your idea has
merit and if in an hour his blood pressure has continued to drop,
I'll search among the rest of our people for someone who has the
correct match, but we will not be using your blood."

"Why
not, Donovan?"

"Because
you are Alec's heir and we are still in the middle of a war. I'm not
going to do anything that might put you at risk."

"That's
ridiculous. People give blood all of the time. It's perfectly safe."

"Indeed
that is the case for civilians, but what do you think it would do to
your chances of survival if you were injured just after giving blood?
You're too important to the monarchy to risk in such a way. You need
to be preserved at all costs so that you can rule over our people."

I
was almost too shocked for words. I had to shake my head
incredulously several times before I finally managed a verbal
response.

"Donovan,
we both know that isn't true. The only thing that makes me even
remotely important is the fact that Alec cares about me. I'm not fit
to rule over anything. If I'd been the one in charge today everyone
would have died. You were the one who killed the sniper, you were the
one who operated on Alec, and you were the one who sent the police
chasing their tails so that we could flee the scene of the battle."

I
took a deep breath and said the words that we both knew needed said.
"Donovan, you need to be the one in charge of things until Alec
is back on his feet. I can't do it, I'll just get everyone killed."

Donovan
looked up just long enough to give me a sad smile. "Quite to the
contrary, Mistress Paige. You are the only one who can hope to keep
Master Alec's coalition together in his absence, temporary or
otherwise. My close association with Master Alec has imbued me with a
certain amount of his authority, but I'm a shape shifter and that
means that I'm part of the normal dominance hierarchy. No matter how
good my opinions actually are, I will eventually be challenged for my
position and the fact that I am or am not viewed as Master Alec's
logical successor will never even enter into the equation.

"You
on the other hand are a human being. That means you stand outside of
the normal dominance hierarchy and the fact that you're gifted with
an ability means that you're still somewhat of our world. More
importantly you'll be viewed as a fairly neutral party.

"The
authority Master Alec has invested you with will guarantee your
position for at least the next several days, possibly as long as a
few weeks. With any luck, Master Alec will be back on his feet by
then, but if the worst should come to pass, you'll have had a period
of time in which you were able to show yourself as a reasonable,
competent, fair ruler. If you can come to a favorable arrangement
with Jaclyn Annikov or Grayson there is a chance that you'll be able
to cement your position and continue ruling long past the time when
the Coun'hij is defeated."

"I
don't have anything to offer Grayson or Jaclyn."

"You
have Alec's half of the Graves fortune, but more importantly you have
the qualities that Master Alec saw in you so long ago. You have the
potential to be an excellent queen, you merely need time to grow into
the role."

"And
if I say no?"

"Then
it won't matter whether Master Alec lives or dies. In the absence of
a strong central authority, especially after a setback such as we
suffered today, our coalition will evaporate in a matter of days or
possibly even hours. With no other significant distractions to worry
about, the Coun'hij will hunt all of Alec's closest confidants down
and none of us will survive the month."

Adriana Paige
Interstate 15
Northern Utah

After
Donovan put things like that I couldn't refuse to do whatever it took
to try and hold things together. I took a deep, bracing breath and
then I put my headset back on and answered the first of the calls
that were waiting for me.

"This
is Adriana Paige, what do you need, Ms. Marks?"

The
communications software on Donovan's laptop told me who had been
waiting to talk to me, but I knew far too little about Tiffany Marks.
I was about to continue the high-stakes negotiation that Alec had
started with her a few hours previously with nothing more to go on
than an overheard conversation between her and Alec.

"I
was told I was being put through to Alec Graves. Nobody said anything
about making me dance for his skirt."

"Really?
I rather suspect that you were told you were being directed to the
person in charge. Right now that is me, and I'm feeling generous
right now, so I'm going to let you apologize and start over rather
than telling Alec to go ahead and carry out the threat he leveled
against you earlier today."