Trapped (19 page)

Ash
gave me a tired smile. "A valid concern usually, but this place
is built over a series of natural caves. When the Graves family moved
into the area they walled a section of it off. There's one
piece that's the next best thing to an indestructible bank
vault. Rachel and the rest will hole up there. If Anton shows up
they'll call Alec and the rest for help."

I
let my mind twist the idea around a couple of times and then
shrugged. "So multiple lines in, all buried so that he can't
cut them off all at once?"

"Yes,
and a remarkable number of cameras hidden throughout the grounds and
house. As long as the rest of the pack survives the confrontation,
the civilians will be safe."

I
could suddenly see where Ash was going and I didn't like it.

"I
really don't want to be stuck in a hole in the ground while
you're facing Anton again, Ash."

Ash
cleared his throat. "Actually, that is exactly where I'd
like for you to be. Unfortunately Alec won't bend on the point.
He's determined that you'll be accompanying us out to the
ambush site."

I
found myself sighing in relief. It went against every natural
instinct for self-preservation, but the idea of being away from him,
of not knowing whether or not he survived, was more terrifying than
the prospect of not surviving myself.

"It's
OK, I think it's better that way."

Ash
shook his head. "No. It's not better, but I don't
think we have any other options at this point."

I
started to say something, but he cut me off.

"I
want you to promise me that you'll run for it if things go
badly out there."

"Ash,
don't be crazy. You came here specifically because Alec can
bring Anton down. I heard you earlier. He's got some kind of
remote kill switch ability. Anton will show up and Alec will put him
down."

"I'm
not so sure of that. There are rumors that it was some kind of fluke,
that he can't control it, or that it wasn't even a power.
It isn't the kind of thing that makes sense, I've never
heard of a power manifesting and then de-manifesting, but the rumors
are too persistent not to have some kind of basis in truth. I was
thinking it was all just a garbled version of something, but they
aren't acting like they expect Alec to just drop this guy instantly."

"So
if he doesn't have the power, what does that mean?"

Ash
looked like he didn't want to answer, but I was pretty sure he
hadn't ever outright lied to me before and I was banking on him
not being willing to violate his record.

"By
all accounts Alec, James and Isaac are all pretty good fighters.
Jasmin is actually pretty good as well, much better than you
generally expect out of a non-hybrid. Dominic will eventually be
fairly powerful, assuming she lives that long, but she's pretty
worthless in a fight right now, and Jessica's just as bad."

Ash
was pacing now, refusing to meet my eyes.

"We
already know how I stack up against Anton. A lot of things can go
unexpectedly in a melee of that size, but the odds are just too
steep. If Alec doesn't flip his 'kill switch,' Anton
will kill all of us, but there might be a window of opportunity where
you can escape. If that happens, I want you to get out of there. Go
to Anya, tell her I sent you and that 'case black' is in
effect. She'll get you out of the country and try to come up
with a plan to keep you in motion until someone finally takes Anton
down."

I
shook my head, unable to find the words, but Ash grabbed me by my
shoulder and then put his finger to my lips.

"Kristin,
I won't go out there knowing that you're planning on
going down with the rest of us. Alec can rip my throat out, but I
won't do it. I need to know that you have a chance of
surviving. Promise me."

Every
system in my body felt like it was on the fritz. This was the closest
he'd ever come to expressing the same kind of feelings for me
that I had for him. I found myself nodding without even being sure
what it meant and Ash sighed in relief.

"I'm
so sorry that it came to this. I wish I'd been able to stop him
myself so that we didn't have to get sucked into Alec's
little empire."

I
shook my head. "Please don't say stuff like that. You've
saved me again and again. I never would have picked this life for
myself, but looking back at how it's gone so far I have to say
that I wouldn't do anything different. If we have to deal with
all of this craziness I'm glad that we can do it together."

His
hand moved down to my waist, pulling me gently but firmly towards
him. I was still trying to register what was going on, still hoping
this wasn't some kind of weird, waking dream when his other
hand found the back of my head and pulled my lips to his.

It
was everything I'd imagined a kiss to be and somehow still
nothing like I'd expected. He was soft and firm all at once and
I felt a tingle of excitement course through me as I realized he'd
finally made his feelings toward me unmistakably clear. In that
moment there wasn't anywhere else I would have rather been.

By
the time Ash pulled back it was all I could do not to gasp for air.
The kiss hadn't been that long, but it had been so intense that
all of my systems had gone into overdrive.

"I
hope that was OK. I've wanted to do something like that for a
while, but it didn't seem right."

"Right?
Ash, it was absolutely wonderful. I wish you'd done it days ago.
Why would you think that would be anything but oh so right?"

"I
don't know, I guess I figured that you weren't really at
a point where you could be objective about your feelings for me.
After all, I did save your life. It just seemed unfair to you to act
on my feelings."

I
suddenly found myself biting back laughter.

"Ash,
you saved my life and then you terrorized me for hours while we ran
from Anton. Then to top it all off you nearly died on me. I think
I've got my hero worship under control. I like you. Not because
you saved me, but because you are the kind of person who would risk
his life going to crap in order to save someone he didn't even know."

Ash's
smile was more tentative than I normally saw out of him, but it gave
me a little bit of hope that he was going to accept that I was a big
girl who absolutely knew what she wanted in this instance.

He
pulled me close again and sighed.

"I've
got your promise. I don't want you hanging around doing
something stupidly heroic if this all goes badly. Just get out of
there and get to Anya. She'll think of something."

I
nodded, heart up in my throat, and leaned in for another kiss, but a
knock at the door interrupted us before I could complete the motion.
Ash released me with a frown and then walked over to the door. Alec
was waiting in the hall.

"Sorry
to break things up, but we need to get moving. No telling when this
Anton will show up. Ash, please go help Donovan. He's supervising the
loading of the vehicles. We need enough provisions to stay out there
for several weeks if it comes to it."

Ash
looked for a moment like he was going to argue, but Alec did the same
power flare thing that he'd done earlier.

"Do
you really want to fight me on this? I thought you were smarter than
that."

Ash
squeezed my hand once and then walked out of the room without looking
back. I got the feeling that he was storing these slights up; that at
some point there would be an accounting.

Alec
waited until Ash was gone and then pushed the door closed.

"He
finally told you how he felt?"

"What
do you mean?"

"He's
crazy about you. The rest of us could see it right off, and that you
felt exactly the same way. It's one of the hazards of pack life.
Given enough time you'll learn to hide the worst of the signs, but
for now you're more or less an open book."

I
shrugged. He wasn't necessarily winning any points with me by pushing
Ash so hard.

"Look,
what do you want, Alec? I know you're head cheese around here, so I
shouldn't piss you off, but I'm not really in the mood for small
talk."

"You
don't really like me, do you?"

"Not
particularly."

"Any
reason?"

"You
know the reason. You're pushing Ash just because you can, not because
there's any real reason to."

Alec's
knuckles went white momentarily and I felt a spike of power come off
of him.

"I
like you, Kristin, you're spunky and you show promise. Don't think
though that you have any idea what's going on here. Ash needs brought
to heel and soon. If he goes around with that chip on his shoulder
he'll push James or Isaac too far and then we'll have real problems.
I need to break him and quickly, but not so far that he becomes
useless."

It
was stupid to do anything to provoke Alec, but I couldn't help it. I
was pissed off enough now that I frankly didn't care what the
ramifications would be of crossing whatever line I was about to
cross.

"Look,
I don't like you. I don't like the way you're treating Ash, and
frankly I think it speaks volumes that you seem to think of people as
assets to be reshaped into something you can use. I genuinely hope we
manage to kill Anton out there, but it wouldn't make me feel
the least bit bad if he managed to take you down in the process."

Alec
nodded. "Well, I'm glad we're crystal clear on where you stand.
You never know, you just might get your wish."

The
ambush camp with Alec's pack, or the Sanctuary pack as I was starting
to think of them, was exactly the same and surprisingly different
than the ambush camp with the mercenaries. In both instances it was a
few degrees less comfortable than what the participants were used to,
generally speaking.

For
the mercenaries that had translated to sleeping bags and a very rough
cabin out in the Arizona desert. For the Sanctuary bunch that
apparently meant three mammoth motor homes driven to an
out-of-the-way RV park thirty miles from Sanctuary, which Alec owned.
The manager of the facility had calmly nodded when Alec told him
operations were indefinitely suspended, hung up a sign saying the
park was closed, and then driven away without seeming to be concerned
at all at the odd nature of Alec's orders.

I
guess it was occasionally useful to be known as a rich eccentric who
was used to getting your own way on every point. Nobody worth knowing
would actually want to spend any time with you, but it did mean that
nobody batted an eye when you asked for things normal people wouldn't
ask for.

Alec
and Rachel's butler, Donovan, had actually started growing on me
while I helped pack up the RV's for the trip. Everything was, for the
most part, packed up already by the time I got there, but I was able
to load a few clothes and other things meant mostly for Ash and me.
The old, limping shape shifter had actually apologized that they only
had three of the enormous vehicles.

Apparently
the pack used the RV's as a kind of emergency bug-out policy. If
things went downhill really quickly, the entire pack would just jump
into the RV's and leave the estate. Personally, I was having a hard
time imagining a scenario where you'd actually want to leave the
estate along with its impregnable bunker, but apparently Alec liked
being prepared.

Given
that the noncombatants weren't coming along, there was actually
plenty of room for Ash and me in Alec's RV, but I did appreciate
Donovan's concern. I wasn't particularly excited to spend any more
time in Alec's company than I had to. It would have been nice if Ash
and I had had an RV all to ourselves, like the rest of the couples.
Although couples maybe wasn't quite the right term.

James
and Dominic were definitely together. Isaac and Jess though didn't
seem to be. I was pretty sure Isaac was interested in Jess, but she
seemed determined to keep him at arm's length. Likewise, Alec
and Jasmin almost seemed to act with one mind sometimes, but there
didn't seem to be anything romantic there. I was surprised that
Jess and Jasmin didn't bunk up together, but maybe it was a
dominance thing.

Isaac
and Alec seemed to get along pretty well, but keeping two powerful
dominants in close quarters unnecessarily was just stupid. Ash was
finally managing to get me up to speed on shape shifter body language
and with his help I was starting to understand some of the pack
dynamic. More and more I was coming to understand just how unhealthy
the Sanctuary pack was.

Once
we'd arrived onsite at the ambush location, things had quickly
shifted over to the same kind of nervous waiting that had defined the
time Ash and I had spent with the mercenaries. The nature of the
waiting however had been quite different.

Hammer
and the rest had been almost lethargic when not on duty. They'd
played cards, slept, and occasionally cleaned their weapons.

Alec
kept each member of his pack active at least eight hours a day, in
addition to their six-hour shift keeping an eye out for Anton.
Towards the close of the second day I said something snarky about how
hard Alec was driving everyone considering the tensions already
present in the pack and Ash quietly disagreed with me.

"Alec
may be a real jerk when he feels like circumstances require it of
him, but it's also one of his real strengths. He knows that the
one thing his pack doesn't need right now is lots of extra time
on their hands. He's keeping them busy and improving their
level of training at the same time. It's almost unheard of for
a pack this size to be actively helping each other become better
fighters. A pack of two or three would be a different matter, but
generally the larger the pack, the more factions you've got
inside it vying for control."