Hunted (War of the Covens 1)

She grimaced and started after biology boy. Despite Malek’s obnoxious and backward view of lykan relationships, she was somewhat reassured that he still saw her as his pack.

And halfway through biology, with a little concentration on the boy who’d been trying to intimidate her, Caia tipped his open bottle of water into his lap, soaking his khakis, from across the classroom. Immature “he peed himself” jokes floated around for a good ten minutes, his angry blushes only making the class laugh harder.

Yup … being a magik had its perks.

Her mood soured at lunch with the pall that hung over the table. The news of Jaeden’s kidnapping reached the whole pack by the weekend and affected everyone deeply. Dana and Alexa didn’t bitch at her, and Daniel made no attempt to make her laugh at his stupid jokes. Only Malek seemed himself, cracking lewd comments and then teasing Caia quietly about being a witch. His first mention of it caused everyone to tense, except for Caia. She was glad he brought it up.

“I didn’t see your car outside, Cy,” he snickered. “You fly in on your broom instead?”

“Your wit astounds me,” Sebastian grumbled.

Caia actually laughed. She was the only one, other than Mal, who wasn’t acting like she should be grieving—because she knew Jae was still alive. She was comforted (despite Jae’s conditions) by her nightly visitations. The night before, she’d seen the scars on Jaeden’s back had completely healed and there were no fresh ones. Jae even stopped whimpering and was sitting upright, although she was still unaware of Caia’s presence.

“I really hope you’re joking, Mal, and that you know a bit more about witches than you’re letting on.”

Alexa snorted. “I think all we really want to know is if you’re going to kill us in our sleep.”

Sebastian growled and Caia kicked him under the table. It’d been fairly loud, and she noticed a few humans glance around in confusion.

“No,” she warned, pressing a reassuring hand on his arm, “it’s fine. I even understand the hostility now.” She smiled sweetly at Alexa, being deliberately irritating. “You’re worried because of my heritage that I’m a bad guy. I’m not.”

“No one is saying that.” Mal glared at his sister, which was out of character for him. “Are they?”

Alexa glared back at him. “Just because Dad said … ugh, you are so whipped.”

“And you are so dead if you don’t get your attitude in check.”

“What, you’re going to tell on me?”

“You bet your ass, I am.”

“Well, I’ll tell him all about your little sexcapades with them.”

Mal ripped into his sandwich and answered with his mouth full, “He already knows.”

“Uh-huh, yeah, sure.”

“Yeah-huh. Lucien had a word.” He winced and then bit harder into the sandwich. “And believe me, it sucked. So if you want to keep that little ass intact, I’d shut. The hell. Up.”

Alexa snapped her teeth and stood from the table to repeat her dramatic performance of leaving the pack in a huff. It was a ritual she’d perfected once a week since Caia’s arrival. Today it presented an opportunity for Caia. She stood, too, and to everyone’s surprise rushed after Alexa.

As Sebastian noted that morning, Caia and Lucien were talking, but things were still strained between them, and the cause of it was swinging her ass out of the cafeteria. With her newfound emotion radar, Caia was going to lay to rest some serious doubts.

“Alexa,” she said, grabbing the lykan by the arm and hauling her into the girls’ bathroom. She kicked in the stall doors to make sure no one was with them and then turned back to Alexa. Caia, surprised to be standing before a scared female, rolled her eyes. “Relax. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Alexa’s upper lip curled, and she bent her knees, lowering into a defensive stance. “What do you want, then?”

“An answer.”

She snarled, but Caia wasn’t fooled. She could sense the fear rolling off her.

“Did you sleep with Lucien or not?”

This visibly surprised Alexa and she straightened from her stance to cross her arms over her ample chest. She huffed in amusement, “That bothered you, huh? I thought that was why I was blasted across the classroom, but I couldn’t be sure. Well, you should really put that to rest, honey, because there is no way on Gaia’s green earth that a tainted being such as yourself could ever be Lucien’s mate.”

Caia tried not to flinch at the insult. She was actually proud of herself—she really, truly had her powers under a lot more control. “Just answer the question.”

“Yes.” Alexa smirked. “Yes, I slept with Lucien.”

The lie swelled out of her skin and settled into a smile on Caia’s face.

“What are you grinning at?” Alexa snapped.

“You’re lying. I can sense it.”

“What?”

Caia inhaled deeply and gave the lykan one last sweet smile before walking out the door. “Pathetic,” she said as she sailed out of the bathroom, feeling lighter than she had in days.