Free Riven by Dean Murray

reasons
are our own, it only remains to be seen whether or not you'll accept
our oath."
    Alec considered
Grayson and the others for several seconds before nodding. "Very
well, I'll accept your oaths for a minimum of two months and in
return promise not to expose you to any risk that I wouldn't accept
myself or set you to any task which I wouldn't be willing to
do."
    Grayson bowed his
head. "That would be acceptable, but there is one last thing
before I can agree." Between one second and the next, Grayson's
hybrid form ripped through his clothes and sprang towards Alec.
    I opened my mouth
to scream and then felt it snap back shut as a wave of convulsions
tore through my body. As my head flopped to one side I saw that
Shawn's muscles had locked up too.
    My head whipped
back around in an involuntary motion just in time for me to see
Grayson crash into Alec, but Alec didn't even bother changing forms.
Out of everyone in the room, he was the only one who wasn't fighting
off convulsions.
    I was sure that it
was Grayson who had caused everyone's bodies to stop working, but it
seemed to be causing him problems as well. His twitches weren't as
severe as everyone else's but he was still struggling as he tried to
bring his claws around to slash at Alec.
    Alec calmly
stepped back away from Grayson and then suddenly the convulsions left
me. As I scanned the monitor I realized that everyone behind Alec was
now back to normal, but Grayson and everyone else in the room were
still flailing about. Grayson gathered himself for another attack,
but Alec gestured and Grayson went down like his strings had been
cut. As soon as Grayson hit the floor everyone else's convulsions
disappeared.
    "I could kill
you right now. Are you satisfied with my prowess?"
    Grayson managed a
tiny nod despite the draining effect of Alec's ability, and then Alec
turned it off. I looked away, my face heating up, as Grayson changed
back to human shape, but Shawn's gasp brought me back around. He'd
frozen the largest monitor and zoomed in on Grayson's chest.
    The bulging
muscles looked exactly like I expected them to with one exception.
There was a ridge of raised skin in a perfect circle over his heart,
forming a white 'O' across otherwise unmarred flesh.
    I would have asked
Shawn what it meant, but Kristin chose that instant to hurry into the
reception hall. The meaning of Grayson's scar was going to have to
wait. I didn't know Kristin very well still, but she was a tough
cookie. There was only one thing that would make her interrupt Alec
like that. She'd just had a dream and it wasn't good news.
     
     

Chapter 7
    Alec Graves
Graves Estate
Sanctuary, Utah
    Kristin rubbed her
temples and sighed. "I don't know, Alec. I just can't explain
it."
    I held a hand up,
trying to calm her down. "It's okay, Kristin, nobody is angry at
you, I'm just trying to understand what's going on."
    Ash looked like he
wanted to intervene but I stopped him with a look. I'd kept this
discussion just between him, Kristin, Donovan, Louis, Rebekka, and me
but it hadn't been easy. Kristin had been understandably rattled by
her dream, but rushing into the reception and all but announcing that
the Coun'hij was about to attack us hadn't been very prudent.
    Donovan cleared
his throat, obviously uneasy in the presence of the alphas from
Tonopah and Las Cruces. "Maybe if you were to just run through
what you remember again, someone will think of something."
    Kristin took a
deep breath and nodded. "I fell asleep while I was studying for
my GED and I started dreaming about Sanctuary. It was like I was
floating a hundred feet above the ground and then suddenly dozens of
werewolves were running towards the estate."
    Louis' voice came
out as a deep rumble. "Which direction were they attacking
from?"
    "The south."
    "You're
sure?"
    The follow-up
question didn't seem to bother Kristin. "Yes. I remember
thinking that I needed to orient myself. I looked for the biggest set
of mountains and the werewolves were