Hunted (War of the Covens 1)

She knew where Jaeden was.

She couldn’t stop grinning, her heart pounding, adrenaline rushing. She almost wanted to change.

The Ford flew smoothly into town as she headed for Lucien’s store, where she knew he’d been hanging out till all hours of the night, trying to avoid her. But right now, he couldn’t avoid her. She needed him to help her get Jaeden back to the pack.

As expected, the mall she had to park in was completely empty, except for Lucien’s truck. She smirked and got out of the car, shivering in the cold night air during the five-minute walk to Lucien’s place. At the opposite end of the mall lot was a narrow alley between two stores through which she’d reach the main street. She glanced around, very aware of being on her own, and tried to shrug off a sudden blast of ice that tingled in a perverse caress over her skin.

“Stupid … wimp,” she muttered as she headed across the lot.

And then she stopped.

Her ears pricked, the hair on the back of her neck rose, and her animal instincts told her to run.

By then it was too late. The ice blasted through her veins at the same time something solid crashed against her back, sending her flying. Sickening pain exploded through her body when she landed on the asphalt, the flesh on her hands and legs scraping off in burning strips. Her head snapped back with the impact and her front teeth jarred, rattling her brain and then piercing her bottom lip. She tasted the blood and hissed, turning over in time to watch the approach of something she’d never seen the like of before.

It could have been a human, except for the swirling vortex of hell that was its lipless mouth, its nose two small holes in the middle of its face where smoke belched out its excitement as it neared her. Caia’s heart pounded dangerously in her chest, but she breathed in and out, in and out as she scrambled away. The thing’s eyes blazed at her like two white, glowing orbs. Hairless, the beast stood at least seven feet tall, towering over her in nothing but leather and twisted muscle for a torso, its skin burnt red and roped.

A daemon.

Caia instinctively knew that’s what it was. Ryder had come across a few in his time and had described them in perfect detail.

Oh, I am so screwed.

She hopped to her feet and crouched in a defensive position. “What do you want?” Her voice was impressively steady, considering.

The hole that was its mouth widened into what could have been a smile, and a soft, eerie voice escaped it. “It’s not what I want, little wolf, it’s what your uncle wants.”

“Ethan?”

It nodded and smiled again. “Aren’t you going to ask what he wants?”

There was no need. Ryder had told her that daemons were only used for two purposes: security and assassinations.

Quickly, she scanned the area, gauging what her best move would be. She didn’t know if she could outrun this thing. She could maybe if she was in lykan form, but did she really have time for that?

No.

And then her eyes alighted on her car and she gasped, looking back and forth between it and the daemon. Could she? She’d never moved anything as large as a car before.

The daemon took a step toward her. Caia threw all her energy toward the car and it strained, the metal crunching under her pull. It stopped the daemon in its tracks.

The monster looked confused as it took in the crunching car, which had begun squealing slowly toward them, then turned back to Caia. Seeing her concentration, it stood stunned in disbelief.

“I hadn’t thought it true,” it grumbled and picked up its pace, striding toward her.

“Aaaaaaaarrrrggggh!” Caia reached out with both arms and pulled on the car with all her magik, sweat beading across her body. The car soared into the air and hurtled back down, knocking the daemon over like a bowling ball hitting a pin. Caia didn’t hang around. She took off in the direction of the store, flinching at the deafening sound of the car crashing to the ground and rolling and rolling.

It sounded like it was rolling toward her.

She whipped around and stared in shock as it tumbled across the lot, still coming at her. How much power did she put into the damn thing? “Waa—” she shrieked and dove to the side, out of its path. Panting in disbelief, Caia watched as the Ford finally lost momentum and drew to a screeching halt on its left side.

“My car.”

It was completely wrecked.

“Don’t mourn your car, little wolf.”

“Aw, come on!” she yelled in frightened irritation at the gods.

The daemon sneering down at her from a few meters away.

Getting back on her feet was the toughest thing she’d ever had to do.