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Carson, but I can't just leave the
Coun'hij untouched and go after the other threats. They'd constantly
be taking potshots at me. Eventually they'd get lucky and it would be
game over."
    Carson nodded
with a considering air about him. "What if there was a way to
make it so that the Coun'hij couldn't find you? What if there was a
way to guarantee your safety from the Coun'hij while you carried on
your battle against the vampires and the werewolves?"
    "So now
we're going to explore hypotheticals?"
    "Please,
Alec, humor me."
    "I don't
know for sure, Carson, but it feels like that doesn't drastically
change things. The Coun'hij isn't just some kind of benign
dictatorship. They are killing wolves and hybrids we're going to need
in order to fight off the other threats. The best I could say is that
if there was a way to shield my people from the Coun'hij then I would
be more careful with my target selection. I'd make even more effort
to make sure that I wasn't killing the people who are just helping
the Coun'hij because they are scared."
    Carson
considered my words for nearly a full minute. "I think that
might be enough of a common ground for us to continue to work
together, Alec."
    "I hope
so, Carson. I could really use your help. You and your friends could
make a big difference with regards to whether or not this war is
winnable."
    "And yet
even if you knew that the war wasn't winnable you would still fight
it, wouldn't you?"
    "Yeah, I
guess I would. I won't continue to prop up Kaleb and the rest.
Passively going along with them while knowing that they were
massacring innocents wouldn't be as bad as killing those innocents
myself, but it would still be wrong."
    Carson's swords
disappeared into the heavy bag he used to transport them, and then he
looked up at me with a sad smile. "You hold yourself to a much
higher standard than you do your potential subjects."
    I shrugged
uncomfortably and then shifted back to human form a second after he
did. I knew that there were some logical holes in my arguments that
couldn't be fully explained away by the fact that most of the
moonborn didn't know the full extent of the Coun'hij's crimes, but
that didn't mean I was completely ready to face the roots of those
inconsistencies.
    Carson adjusted
his ha'bit, which he'd taken to wearing once we'd started working
together, and then picked up his bag and started down the trail that
led back to the cabin. I didn't follow, and he stopped after only a
couple of steps.
    "I'm sorry
for your loss, Carson. I can't imagine what that must have felt like,
and I'm sorry that I said what I said earlier. The closest thing I
can think of is what I would have felt like if I'd had to watch
Rachel die, and I'm pretty sure that still wouldn't have been as bad
as what you went through."
    Carson didn't
turn back to look at me, and for several seconds he didn't respond.
When he did finally acknowledge my words, it was with a ragged sigh
that contained more hurt than I'd known was possible for such a
simple gesture.
    "It
happened almost a year ago, but I've thought about her every single
day since she died. She was the same age as you and your friends, in
fact that girl who was with Taggart, Adri, reminded me a lot of my
daughter."
    I opened my
mouth hoping that something suitably comforting would come out, but
before I could find the right words, the sound of Brindi hurrying
back precluded any kind of further conversation.
    "Alec,
come quick. It's James, something happened to his mother."
     
     

Chapter 2
    Adriana Paige
Marauder's Gas Station
Central Wyoming
    A month ago I
would have said that the underground bunker where Taggart and I had
both nearly died couldn't ever feel like home, but Isaac and
Dominic's group had worked miracles in just the week that they'd been
here.
    The effects of
our failed attempt at saving Agony were still coming home to roost in
ways that I hadn't anticipated when we first started talking about
the best way to break him out.
    If we'd