Hunted (War of the Covens 1)

Caia’s thoughts and musings were interrupted by the doorbell, and both her and Irini’s heads whipped toward the sound. Always alert. Lucien’s eyes narrowed as if he understood. For years now, both young women had been living quiet, isolated lives where the doorbell ringing signaled a potential threat.

“It’s okay,” he reassured them. “It’s just Jaeden for Caia.”

Caia frowned, her mouth forming an o shape in question. But Lucien was up and out of his seat before she could speak, returning to the room a few seconds later with a tall brunette around Caia’s age. The first thing Caia noticed about her was the warm friendliness in her eyes, but under perusal, she realized that the girl, with her piercing blue eyes and luscious curves and curls, was as outrageously attractive as the rest of these creatures. She had a feeling her self-esteem was going to take a hammering among this crowd.

“This is Jaeden.” Lucien nodded to Irini and Caia. “Irini, you remember Jaeden, Dimitri’s daughter?”

Irini smiled at the mention of the Elder and got up to hug the girl who was at least three inches taller than she was. “Of course.”

Jaeden laughed, and Caia was warmed by the pleasant sound. The girl’s blue eyes found her. “Do you remember me, Caia?”

Studying her in concentration, Caia had the vague impression of a gangly young girl who coaxed her into playing with her. She smiled. “Yeah. I do.”

Lucien appeared pleased. “Good. Jaeden’s taking you to school.”

“School?”

“School.” He nodded, enunciating the word as if she were an idiot. “It’s Monday. I’ve got it all sorted. They’re expecting you. I told them your guardian died, that despite no longer being a minor, you wanted to be live among friends of your guardian. It smoothed over the questions about your transfer one semester from graduation.”

“Oh. Okay.” She was thrown by this news. She thought she might get to skip the whole high school thing and get a job.

Obviously, that had been wishful thinking.

Goddess, she couldn’t wait until she graduated. “I’ll grab my backpack.”

It was awkward at first, climbing into Jaeden’s—

“Can I ask, what is this?” Caia indicated the rust-colored rust bucket she had just climbed into.

Jaeden laughed. “I think they call it a 1982 Buick Skyhawk.”

“Wow, I’ve never even heard of a Skyhawk.”

“She runs like a dream,” Jaeden reassured her, lovingly stroking the wheel of her car.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude.”

Again, the girl laughed. “Don’t worry. I’d fear for my life as well if I was taking my first look at this baby. But she’s fine. I swear.”

Caia didn’t have a chance to reply because Jaeden launched straight into the questions. “So, what’s it like living with Lucien?” Her eyes sparkled as she ran her tongue along the tips of her top row of teeth. “He’s really rather delicious.”

It was Caia’s turn to laugh. “I suppose. To be honest, I really don’t know what it’s going to be like living with him. So far … pretty intimidating. The man is huge.”

“Well, you get used to that. I forget you haven’t been around males, they’re all huge, but yeah, I suppose Lucien is one of the largest. He’d have to be, to be Alpha; there are the Elders, though, and maybe Mal, and you’re just about to meet him.” She had an endearing way of rushing one sentence into the other as if afraid she wouldn’t have time to discuss everything she obviously wanted to.

“Mal?”

“Malek,” she explained. “He’s Morgan and Natalia’s oldest son. He’s a sophomore.”

Caia looked at her blankly. She couldn’t put names to faces yet.

“Mal,” Jaeden insisted. “You’ll recognize him when you see him; huge, dark, and has a handsome but smug face you want to smack.”

The vague image of a lykan she’d noticed standing head above others in the sitting room last night flitted across her mind. “I think I know who you’re talking about. He goes to school?” she asked, incredulous.

“Uh-huh. All the human girls are in love with him.”

“I’m guessing not you.”

Jaeden sneered. “No thank you. He’s so arrogant. You think Lucien’s bad? Ugh. Mal messes around with Dana. Watch out for her, by the way.”

“Dana?”

“Yeah, you’re going to meet her. She’s Daniel’s twin sister, and you’ll meet him too.”

“Anyone else I should know about?” Suddenly she was extremely nervous. She forgot that there were pack members her age, other than Jaeden, that she’d have to see every day. Would they all be as friendly as Jaeden? Somehow, she didn’t think so.

“There’s Sebastian. He’s seventeen, the same age as the twins—so is Mal. Their little brother Finlay, too, he’s fifteen.”

“So … you’re a senior, like me?”

“Yeah, so is Alexa. But, you know, we eat lunch with Mal, the twins, and Sebastian as well. So, you’ll have nearly all of us to keep you company.”

That’s not what Caia was worried about.