Hunted (War of the Covens 1)

“What happened?”

“You don’t remember?”

Slowly, painfully, Caia peeled open her eyes. She was lying in her bed; Lucien was sitting beside her, her wrists clasped gently in his hands. He had a blood smear on his cheek and his eyes were filled with something she’d never seen in him before.

Lucien was scared.

She tried to reach for his cheek, concerned. “You’re bleeding.”

He shook his head. “Not my blood.”

“Sss,” she hissed, another rip of pain lancing across her stomach. “Daemon.”

“You do remember.”

Yeah, she remembered, all right. The bastard tore open her stomach. She tried to pull at her wrists to inspect her wound, but Lucien held firm.

“My stomach, Lucien,” she complained, hating the fear in her voice.

“It’s okay. Marion closed the wound, but you’re still weak from blood loss, not to mention burning with fever.”

Caia slumped back against her pillows, exhausted from the attempted movement, a blinding agony rippling through her. She curled her toes into the mattress, her fingers mirroring the action, as if anchoring to the bed would take away the pain. “Where is Marion? I think I need drugs.”

He let go of her hands and tenderly brushed her hair from her face. She opened her eyes as he bent over her, and again she was taken aback by the emotion roiling in his silver gaze and emanating off his body. “She’ll be here soon. She’s cleaning up the mess you made in the mall lot.”

Of course. And it was quite a mess. The Daylight Coven would have her killed if a human happened by the dead daemon and the upturned car.

“I, uh, guess you heard about the car,” she whispered.

Lucien snorted. “Heard? I saw it. Really, Caia, did you have to destroy it? I know you’re mad at me … but it was brand new.”

She cracked a smile and then remembered in the pain that, yeah, she was supposed to be mad at him.

“Ah, no.” He shook his head comically. “You smiled. You can’t take that back.”

“It’s my smile. I can do anything I want with it.” But she couldn’t stop herself from smiling weakly again. It was nice to have him near.

Quirking an eyebrow, he shifted even closer and leaned over her. “Does that mean you forgive me?”

“A daemon almost killed me tonight. What you did seems paltry in comparison.”

She’d meant it as a joke, but Lucien’s eyes darkened and he drew in a sharp breath. “I nearly lost you.”

Caia didn’t know how to reply. It was the first time she’d seen him look afraid… and all because she got hurt. As she gazed at him, wishing she could read his mind, Lucien slowly lowered his head and pressed a soft, sweet kiss to her lips. When he retreated, anguish still strained his expression.

“Hey,” she cracked, wincing again at the sharpness in her wound. “No taking advantage of the patient.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Marion swooped into the room and nudged a reluctant Lucien out of the way. “Alright”—she smiled softly at Caia, taking her by the chin—“you gave us quite a fright, young lady.”

“You should see the other guy.”

“Oh, I did.” She laughed. “An impressive decapitation.”

“Well, you know—aahhhh—okay, drugs would be good now.”

What followed was a spell that Caia wished she’d been more in the frame of mind to pay attention to. Whatever Marion was doing, the room smelled thickly of …

“What is that?” Lucien asked from the corner where he now stood with a worried Ella, Irini, and Magnus.

“Partly it’s Malaysian Kratom. I’m using a spell to run it into Caia’s bloodstream. It’s a natural painkiller and I’ve amped it up with some magik—the pain should completely disappear.”

“The pain is completely disappearing,” Caia vouched, feeling a little loopy.

“Uh, is it making her high?” Irini asked.

“Oh no, that’s just the magik. That’ll wear off in a few minutes.”

Marion was right. A few minutes later and Caia couldn’t feel a thing. She pushed herself into a sitting position, batting away the many arms that tried to still her movements. And then she took a deep breath and lifted her PJ top to inspect her stomach. A deep, diagonal slash marred her pale skin, but she was relieved to see that it was already healing and should be nonexistent in a few days.

“How are you feeling?”

She couldn’t tell which one of them asked. Maybe all of them. As her weary eyes took in the sight of her family gazing at her in concern, she thought of the people who weren’t here. “You have to call Ryder and Dimitri.”

Lucien frowned and strode toward her, ignoring Marion who was trying to keep the bed clear. “Why?”

“I was coming to you for a reason, Lucien.” She blinked and looked behind him at Marion and the others. “I dreamed of Jaeden and Ethan again. I know where he is.”

A collective hush fell over the room.

“You’re sure?” Lucien almost vibrated with excitement.