Lucien stayed as far back from her as possible. She seemed lost in the feel of the run, for which he was glad; otherwise she would have felt his presence before now. Caia was extremely fast, faster than the other pack females, and this pleased him. She was a beautiful lykan, but more than this, he could feel her joy from a distance. Caia was part of the night, of the woods. He knew the others were worried about her; he was concerned too. But watching her, keeping her safe, he realized that perhaps she was more lykan than they could ever have hoped for.
4
School Rules
Irini had never been much of the mothering kind (having been so young, Caia couldn’t really blame her), so Caia was used to being up by the crack of dawn and taking care of herself. She’d hoped to have the place to herself on her first morning in Lucien’s house but, as she ambled downstairs, she could hear the sounds of the living coming from the kitchen. Taking a deep breath, she walked with what she hoped was a sedate confidence into the room. The sedateness and the confidence disappeared at the sight of Lucien at the kitchen table, hunkered over a paper and sipping coffee.
“Morning.”
He looked up in greeting. His bright eyes were as hard as the day before, and he produced no smile for her. She answered exactly in kind.
“You’re up early,” he observed.
She nodded, not really sure how to engage in small talk. Instead she shifted her weight onto her other leg, waiting for him to tell her where to find some breakfast. He said nothing, merely stared.
“Um.” She glanced around the kitchen and spotted cereal in a far corner. “Can I help myself?”
“Of course. This is your home now. There’s coffee in the pot and orange juice in the fridge. Bowls are in the second top cupboard to your left and utensils in the drawer below it.”
Obviously, he was a “throw ’em into the deep end” kind of guy. As she gathered her cereal, nervously finding her way around the kitchen, she was aware of his attention. And being a usually even-tempered lykan, she was surprised by her overwhelming and childish desire to snap at him and ask him if he wanted to take a picture so he could stop staring.
Yesterday he’d definitely bothered her in some way. Evidently the feeling wasn’t going away anytime soon.
When she finally found a seat at the table across from him, he was still staring. She tried to ignore the heat that blossomed beneath her cheeks at his scrutiny.
“Yesterday must have been overwhelming for you.”
Goddess, he was huge. Struck dumb apparently, she nodded. Her reaction to him produced a quirk at the corner of his mouth, which she suspected was a smile … or it could’ve been a smirk …
“You don’t talk much, do you?” His brow furrowed and he looked at her as if she was a complex puzzle.
“Only when I feel like I have something useful to say. I prefer to listen. You learn a lot more a lot faster.”
He chuckled, giving her a glimpse of his perfect wolf whites. “I suppose you’re right. Magnus would approve. Big guy missed you.”
“I missed him too.”
“He all you really remember?”
Caia stopped eating. His tone and the way he observed her told her that his question wasn’t merely out of curiosity. Pack Leader was beginning his interview. “I remember Magnus the most.” She looked over at the bulletin board pinned to the kitchen wall. Along with deadlines, memorandums, and notes to one another, there were a number of photographs of the pack. “I do remember Ella, though. I remember you too.”
“I thought maybe you were too young. I must have taken off just before you left with Irini.”
“Yeah, but I have this vague memory of you. Young, moody, avoided me like the plague.” She smirked.
His face remained expressionless as he replied, “You were a kid. I didn’t have time for you.”
If he thought she was going to be upset or insulted by this, he could forget it. Instead she continued, “I remember Dimitri and some of the older pack members that I met last night. I didn’t think I would but being around them brought back some memories.”
“Still, it’s been a long time.”
Caia finished her cereal and got up to rinse her bowl. “Are you asking if I’m ready to rejoin the pack?”
He made no sound but when she turned around, he was standing right before her, so close she could feel the heat from his body stroking her skin. His answer was a statement of fact. “You’re eighteen and you’ve never run with a pack.”
“No, I haven’t,” she replied. “And no, I don’t think I’m ready.”
Lucien contemplated her for a second before speaking again. “You have a lot of learning to do. From what Irini has told me, we have nothing to worry about with your integration into the local high school. But you must be advised on how the pack works.”