Bound (Dark Reflections Volume 1)

Chapter 3

Alec Graves
Graves Estate
Sanctuary, Utah

I left Kaleb's office wobbly on my feet from blood loss and mentally and emotionally exhausted. Part of me wanted to just go curl up on my bed and sleep off the worst of my injuries, but I knew that would only solve my physical problems, so I headed the other direction, away from my bedroom, towards one of the few sources of solace that I still had.

My mother's suite of rooms occupied nearly one whole side of the wing that housed them. Built during a happier time, back before Kaleb had been able to wrangle himself a spot on the Coun'hij due to the sheer size of his pack, Mom's rooms hinted at what Kaleb might have been if he hadn't decided to pursue power at any and all cost.

It took more than five minutes to cross the length and breadth of the house, but the journey was worth it. I knocked on her door and then at her invitation I entered into what felt like an entirely different world. Most of the house seemed to consist of dozens of long halls with no natural light, but Mother's rooms were liberally sprinkled with windows that allowed plenty of light in regardless of the hour or season.

The masterpiece of the entire suite was the receiving area in its center which was a giant solarium that contained dozens of plants, an exquisite grand piano, and half a dozen simple chairs scattered into different corners of the room. Some of the tension seeped out of me as my mother and my sister Rachel looked up at me and smiled.

Mother was dressed in a light cotton dress that looked like it belonged on a runway in Paris. "Come sit down, Alec, you look like you've had a rough day."

As I made my way around the greenery that seemed draped on every horizontal surface, Rachel jumped to her feet.

"Can I get you something to eat or drink, Alec? You probably need to build back up your reserves after being in another fight."

"Thanks, Rachel, the usual would be great."

"Right, one baby elephant, raw, coming right up."

I rolled my eyes at her as she left, started to sit down, and then stopped as I realized I'd get Mom's chair bloody if I did that. Mother turned the fountain at the center of the room to full strength and then motioned at the chair again.

"Please, Alec. Sit down. The chair can be cleaned up later, but you look like you're carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. What happened today?"

The fountain served very nearly the same purpose as Kaleb's white noise generator, but was much more pleasant than the hissing and pops that the small boxes produced.

"Vincent has been baiting Jasmin for days now. She's done a decent job of keeping her cool until today. She said something that really pissed him off and he was pretty much ready to rip her head off, so I intervened."

An uninformed viewer might be forgiven for thinking my mother frail, but while her body was indeed slender to the point of almost being unhealthy, there was something in her eyes that gave lie to that appearance of weakness. Mother would never go toe to toe with someone like Vincent, not given that she was only human, but there was a strength of will to her that exceeded anything I'd ever seen out of anyone else.

"I can't fault your loyalty to your friends, Jasmin especially, but you risk so much each time you put yourself between one of them and Vincent or the others. If your father decides that you're getting above yourself the consequences may be profound."

"I know. I've already been to see Kaleb. I got off on a technicality, but I think he mostly went easy on me because he started to expose a little bit of his master plan to me today. He's hoping that I'll manifest an ability soon, and that it will be strong and useful enough that he'll be able to set me up as a counterweight to Brandon."