Hunted (War of the Covens 1)

He wished he could keep it that way for her. He wished he could prepare her for what was coming.

“Caia …” Lucien began.

“Yes?” she asked.

There’s that wariness again. Is she scared of me? That was the last thing he wanted. “You should know that you can come to me if you need anything. That’s my job here. To make sure you have everything you need; to make you safe and content.”

Those stunning eyes of hers grew round with surprise. As if she hadn’t expected something nice or sincere from him.

Great. He’d clearly made a wonderful first impression.

“Thank you.”

“You’ll be okay,” he promised, more for himself than for her.

Suspicion flickered across her expression, then bewilderment.

“Well.” He heaved up from the wall. “Good night.”

“Good night, Lucien.”

6

Unwanted

She woke up the next morning feeling a little more optimistic about her return to the pack, and dare she say filled with that dangerous thing they called hope. Caia was calling last night’s dinner a success. There had been a few awkward moments, but in general, the mood had been jovial, and the brothers seemed to like her.

To her surprise, and perhaps disappointment, Lucien wasn’t at breakfast. He’d already left for the store and Irini was sleeping late so Caia had breakfast alone with Ella. Caia found the Elder’s presence soothing, despite how anxious Lucien’s mom was to make sure Caia transited into the pack smoothly.

“You know, you have your father’s eyes,” Ella observed, her smile bittersweet.

“Were you good friends with my dad?” Caia jumped on Ella’s comment. This was the first time anyone had mentioned her parents since her arrival.

“I was friends with Rafe before Albus was.”

“Really?”

“We dated.”

Wow. “I didn’t know that.”

“It was a long time ago. Your father was hunting a rogue, and he stayed with my pack—”

“Your pack?” Caia interrupted in confusion.

“I was born into a different pack.”

“Huh.” She shook her head in amazement. “I didn’t know that either. Or that my dad was a Rogue Hunter, for that matter.”

It was unfair that there was all this history, their history, her history, and she knew very little of it.

Damn the Hunter.

Ella frowned at her bitter tone. “Irini didn’t tell you much, did she?”

“It upset her too much to talk about the pack.” Caia wanted to know as much as possible. For years she pretended like it didn’t matter. But surely everyone needed to know where they’d come from. She pressed, “So you were in a different pack?”

“Hmm?” Ella blinked, having been lost in her own thoughts. “Oh. Yes. A younger pack. I met Rafe, and we dated. After he left, I had a falling-out with my family.”

“What happened?”

“Well, my father wanted me to mate with a potential Alpha from my pack who everyone suspected would one day become Pack Leader. I hated the guy, so I ran away. To Rafe’s pack. This pack.”

“And you met Albus.”

Ella chuckled, resting her chin on her palm. Her eyes sparkled with happy memories. “It was instant. Albus and I just wanted to be with each other all the time. I felt exultant when I told my parents I’d mated with another Pack Leader … but we never spoke again.”

Having never been given the opportunity to know her own parents, it seemed like a crime against nature that Ella’s parents had, in their own way, made her as much of an orphan as Caia was. She murmured an empathetic sorry.

“Don’t be. They were never the family this pack has been for me.”

Caia nodded, letting that sit for a moment. And then … “What happened with my dad?”

Ella was patient, seeming to understand her curiosity. “Albus and Rafe had never been close. Albus really only trusted Magnus, and Rafe’s father didn’t have the best reputation.”

Caia inhaled sharply at this information. “My grandfather?”

Ella nodded. “Yeah, he was quite the trip. He tried to take Albus’s father’s leadership from him.”

Great. My grandfather attempted mutiny. Nice legacy. “Wow.”

“But your father was nothing like him.” Ella hurried to assure her. “I helped Albus see that, and they eventually became great friends.”

“How …” Caia trailed off, wondering how her father could have been friends with them after dating Ella himself.

Again, Ella seemed to understand. “By the time I ran away from my parents to this pack, your father and I were just friends.”

Caia smiled softly, looking down at her bowl. “It’s nice to hear something about him.”

There shared a moment of silence then Caia jolted at the sound of Ella’s chair scraping back loudly from the table. The Elder smiled down at her. “Wait. I have something for you.”

Caia watched as Ella dashed out of the room. She heard her running upstairs. The sound of drawers being pulled open and shut and Ella’s amusing mumblings filtered down through the ceiling. Caia wondered what on Gaia’s green earth she was up to. It was a few minutes before she came sauntering gracefully back into the kitchen, clasping something in her hand.