Chapter 11

Alec still wasn't back in town by the time Monday rolled around. I was starting to feel jittery and tired. Someone else might have taken that as evidence Alec really was right about the whole Ja'tell bond thing. I knew I was just missing him. A bad day with Alec beat a good day without him.

Lunch seemed tenser even than the week before. I thought about it for most of the next two classes, but couldn't decide if things were really worse, or if I was just reading into it more because of my lunch with Alison and Sam.

The one bright spot all day was the fact that Rachel and Jasmin were coming over for a strategy session after school. Capture Ben indeed. It wasn't the kind of thing I'd ever expected to get involved in, let alone look forward to, but I actually was looking forward to it.

Rachel waited around for me to finish up my session at the tutoring lab.

"I feel bad that you have to wait for me every day."

"Please. If I wasn't in the tutoring lab I'd just be home doing some other homework assignment. This way not only do I get the assignments done that I'd otherwise be tempted to procrastinate, but I also get to hang out with you."

"And drive your new car?"

"It's true. If I didn't have the excuse of needing to drop you off, then I'd probably have to carpool in with everyone else."

I shook my head as we turned down my lane. The Jeep, and therefore Mom, was gone but Jasmin was waiting for us. I unlocked the door and we all settled into the living room.

Jasmin absently handed me a small package. "Alec sends his regards."

"He's back?"

"No, he's unavailable still, but he was asking about the necklace he gave you last week. I told him you hadn't been wearing it. He thought maybe the chain that came with it was the problem."

I pulled the paper off the small box and found a small silver chain that was even more delicate than the one that'd come with the glass pendant.

I closed the box back up and sighed. "I wish he'd get back here. I miss him."

Jasmin pulled out a notebook and shrugged. "He'll get back when he gets back, but for what it's worth I wish he were back too. The terrible trio need their butts kicked again."

The comment was too reminiscent of what Sam had told me on Saturday. "I don't understand why you guys are so hard on them. I mean sure, Jack is a psychopath, but Alison and Sam don't deserve what's happening to them."

"Don't be so sure. Besides, it isn't a matter of deserving it or not. They are throwing off the power dynamic in the pack. They were small beans in Brandon's pack, but not all the way at the bottom of the totem pole like they are now. Until they accept that's their new place it's just going to cause problems."

"Why does it have to be like that though? Just because they are smaller and weaker doesn't necessarily mean that they deserve to run errands for James or serve as a punching bag when he has a bad day."

Jasmin frowned. "I don't make up the rules, Adri, that's just how it is. Trying to turn the pack into some kind of democratic knitting circle is just going to make things worse in the long run."

"Worse for everyone, or just worse for the dominants?"

"For everyone. Shape shifters aren't civilized. Not really. In our world you have to be able to back things up with violence and muscle. The pack could come under attack at any time. If the best fighters aren't running the show then what incentive do they have to defend the weaker pack members when everyone's lives are on the line?"

I looked to Rachel for help but she refused to meet my eyes. "You stood up for me despite the fact that I'm not any kind of asset to the pack."

For a second it seemed Jasmin wasn't going to respond. "No, Adri. I didn't stand up for you at all. I backed down because Rachel stood up for you. More importantly, I backed down because Alec was willing to die for you and I knew we couldn't survive without him."

"So it wasn't selflessness at all, it was just more dominance in action?"

"I'm afraid so. You're my friend now, but back then it was simply the natural result of the strongest member of the pack sticking up for you."

"Right. I'll keep that in mind."

Rachel came over and hugged me, but Jasmin wasn't done. "Adriana, I know Alec has been shielding you from most aspects of pack life, but you need to understand what he's done. He's essentially put every member of the pack on notice that he'll kill to protect you. It's the same thing he's done with Rachel, the same thing he's done with his mother, and to a lesser extent the same thing he's done with Donovan. The rest of the pack generally all likes those people so it's mostly unnecessary, but it's a factor in why their lives don't suck when James has a bad day."

Rachel had grown silent. She knew what was coming, maybe not in so many words, but it was something she'd probably absorbed with her baby formula.

"Alec having done that makes him vulnerable. It means that those of you he's protecting can be used to drag him into a fight at an inopportune time. Mostly it's not an issue because Isaac backs him up, but you have to be careful not to undercut his authority."

"I haven't done anything."

Jasmin cut me off. "Maybe you don't mean to, but you're doing it. Sam, Jack, Alison, they're all bad news right now. It won't always be that way, but until they settle into their place in the pack that's how it is. Disagreeing with how they are being treated sets you at odds with what Alec wants and weakens him and the pack as a whole."

I felt my face go hard. It was like being told Santa Claus ate a few children each year along with the milk and cookies.

"I don't believe that's right."

Jasmin's eyes bled to the same pale blue Alec's took on before a transformation. "You can choose to ignore the truth but that won't make it go away."

I didn't need Rachel's tightening grip on my arm to tell me I'd pushed Jasmin further than intended. The slight tremor to her clenched fists would've been clue enough.

"I'm sorry, Jasmin. I wasn't trying to call you a liar, I just want… need to believe that there's more goodness in the world than that."

A couple of deep breaths banished the tremble, but it was still the hot eyes of a predator that looked up at me.

"Again, it makes no difference to me, but it will impact Alec. You need to be careful or you'll put him in a position where he's faced with dying to defend you or repudiating you and letting Jack do whatever he wants to you."