Hunted (War of the Covens 1)

“I know you don’t want to hear this”—Jaeden smiled cheekily—“but maybe Lucien kicked the guy out because he heard him asking for your number.”

The thought made her heart kick. It was a sweet thought. And it was based entirely outside the realm of reality. “I don’t think so.”

“You sound disappointed by that.” Jaeden’s blues sparkled with mischief. “Am I to assume one has feelings for our glorious leader?”

Oh crap. In her depression, she’d let too much show on her face. Trying desperately to redirect the conversation, she shook her head, laughing as if that were the most insane idea on the planet. “Oh, please. Of course not.”

Her friend looked unconvinced. “Uh, yeah … sure.”

“I don’t,” she retorted through gritted teeth.

Jaeden’s expression changed. She slumped and looked serious. “I really think he has feelings for you, Caia.”

“Don’t say that to me.” She got up and grabbed her bag, shoving her feet back into her shoes. Jaeden jumped up, anxiously following Caia as she made her way out of the bedroom and downstairs.

“Why? I think it’s the truth.”

Caia ignored her, her heart beating faster as she rushed out of Jaeden’s house. Her eyes fastened on her car with relief as she strode toward it.

“Caia.” Jaeden stopped her, spinning her around so they were face-to-face. “What’s wrong?”

She felt the threat of tears and gulped, holding them at bay. Before returning to the pack, she hadn’t cried since she was a little girl. These days it was all she seemed to do. She was so tired. Shaking her head, she pulled open her car door and threw her bag inside.

“Caia, please.”

She stopped at the worried look on Jaeden’s face. She realized Jae was afraid she’d offended her somehow. Caia should trust her; she owed her that much.

“I just …” She paused, trying to gather her thoughts. “I’m happy here, Jae.”

“So, what’s the problem?”

“The problem is … I’m happy here, and I never have been before. But this is all new, and the pack is just getting to know me. If anyone thought, for one second, that I had designs on Lucien …”

She watched the light dawn in Jaeden’s eyes. “I see.”

“Not everyone is as accepting of me as you have been.”

Her friend drew her into an unexpected hug. “I won’t tell anyone you like him. I understand. I won’t tell.”

Caia breathed a sigh of relief and hugged her back tightly.

“Why are you calling?” he asked. “I told you not to phone me unless it was necessary.”

“Well,” she replied, “last time we spoke, you seemed anxious that things weren’t progressing as quickly as you would have liked. Today, I have reason to believe that Phase Two won’t be as far off as we thought.”

He smiled into the mirror above his desk. He liked the sound of that. “Oh?”

“The girl and the leader are becoming attached.”

“You know this for certain?”

He clenched his fist, knowing she was insolently rolling her eyes. She thought he couldn’t see. “Yes,” she said evenly. “My eyes and ears are everywhere.”

Despite her impudence, he felt his shoulders relax. This was good news. “What about the others?”

“Except for one or two, they seem to be rather taken with the little abomination.”

“Good. We are depending on that.”

She chuckled. “Yes, we are. How’s my little pet faring, by the way?”

“Don’t you mean my pet?”

“Well, of course, my lord.”

“I’m enjoying it. I find it an excellent outlet for all my pent-up aggression.”

“I’m sure.”

In fact, he rather felt like visiting it. Bored with her now, he commanded, “Call when there is no doubt about their alliance. We’ll move in for Phase Two.”

“Of course, my—”

He hung up before she was finished and stared into the mirror again. His eyes narrowed on his unkempt hair. Smoothing it with his hands and straightening his collar, he grinned, thinking of the pet his spy had gifted him. It was just a bonus in this tense and frustrating business.

He strolled through the house until he came to the large kitchen. At the end of the kitchen was a pantry, and in it another door. The door led down old wooden stairs to a deep, dark pit. At the bottom, he stopped and breathed through the thin air. He winced at the damp earth that attacked his nostrils.

Damp earth and fear.

With a snap of his fingers, a flame appeared, dancing in front of him, lighting the room, awaiting his instruction. It followed him as he strode to the end of the dark dungeon-like basement and came to a stop in front of a large cage. He bent down, eyes lighting up with delight at the creature inside.

“Hello again.”

The fear roiling inside it hit him full force. He shivered in delight at the tingling warmth of excitement spreading through his body.

“You didn’t think I’d forgotten about you, did you?”

13

First … Everything

A dark cloud hovered over Caia’s head for the next week. She would fall out of bed in the mornings and go through the routine of washing and dressing, having breakfast, and then sauntering off to school.