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he was in
danger of losing other things, more important things.
    Hearing
that my actions had produced the opposite effect made me want to curl
up in a ball somewhere quiet and just sob for days. I hadn't wanted
to leave Alec; I'd loved him then and I still loved him now, but I
hadn't been willing to sit by and watch him lose his soul to
'necessity.' I'd deprived myself of something I needed almost as
badly as food and water, and he'd gotten worse instead of better.
    Yet
again I wondered if I'd made the right decision, but ultimately there
wasn't anything I could do about it now. Him having ordered the rest
of the pack not to talk about me was plenty sign enough. I'd known I
wouldn't be able to go back, but having that simple, terrible fact
confirmed hurt with a searing heat that made it hard to breathe.
     
     

Chapter 3
    Adriana Paige
Upper East Side
Manhattan, New York
    I
exchanged cell numbers with Isaac on the ride home. My school was
just a 'short' ride down the number 6 train and then a jog over on
the L line. The relative proximity of the school to Central Park East
had a lot to do with its success when it came to filling its
classrooms with the children of millionaires and billionaires.
    Isaac
hadn't been able to find a vacancy in my building, but he'd
apparently purchased a unit in the building down from mine. I knew
how much we were paying for our two-bedroom unit on the twenty-third
floor, so when Isaac casually pointed at the penthouse suite at the
top of the building in response to my question as to where he was
living, I nearly choked.
    I
knew Alec was rich, but it still boggled the mind that he'd casually
drop millions, if not tens of millions, of dollars on a whim like
that.
    Isaac
had faithfully accompanied me inside and up to my floor and then
watched as I'd unlocked my door and disappeared into my apartment. I
closed the door as I reflected on just how odd it felt to have a
bodyguard again. There had been a couple of weeks back in Sanctuary
where I'd had someone from the pack with me at all times, and
although it had taken some getting used to, I was now remembering the
incredible sense of security involved in having a very capable, very
deadly shape shifter at your side. That feeling of safety helped
offset the whiplash of emotions I'd been through since seeing Isaac
earlier in the day.
    Mom
was waiting for me, and she had an honest-to-goodness apron on for
the first time that I could remember in weeks.
    "Hi,
sweetie. How was school?"
    "Same
old, same old. A bunch of yuppie rich kids with more money
than sense."
    That
earned me a frown. Mom was shelling out some seriously crazy cash
right now between our apartment and my school. She was bringing at
least that much in with her photography work, but every so often her
conservative Midwestern upbringing would rear its head and remind her
just how much she was spending on a monthly basis.
    She
seemed to think that I was mostly joking when it came to my
criticisms of Manhattan's number one school, but my comments still
occasionally made her think twice about the spend.
    "I
really wish you'd put forth a little bit more effort when it comes to
fitting in at school, Adri. A school like Brathingford can open up a
lot of doors for you, but you'll have even more options if you'll
actually make friends with some of your classmates."
    "I
know; they're all in line to rule the world someday, but I don't
really care about ruling the world, Mom."
    She
looked up from the lasagna she was preparing and gave me a
considering look. "What do you want then, Adri?"
    That was the rub. I actually knew exactly what I wanted.
It was the same thing that kept me up late, night after
sleepless night. I could admit I wanted it inside the privacy
of my own mind, but it wouldn't do any good to tell Mom that
I longed to be back in Sanctuary with Alec—but not the Alec
who sacrificed his friends and family, the Alec who stood
in front of anything that would harm the pack and