Hunted (War of the Covens 1)

“He’s not in love with me.”

Lucien’s sister harrumphed.

“You’ll have to put a stop to it,” Ella said.

“Oh yes, or Lucien will end up killing him.”

“That would devastate Isaac, and Lucien respects him.”

“Caia, please—”

“Ladies—” Marion didn’t shout but her voice resonated with authority, cutting off Irini’s and Ella’s tirade of advice. “You’re disturbing my patient. Please leave.”

26

Road to War

Ryder and Dimitri must not have been far away because Caia awoke the next morning to shouting from downstairs. One of the voices belonged to Dimitri. As she awoke, drowsy but thankfully still pain-free, her brain began to process what the argument was about. Lucien had ordered that Dimitri stay home. The useless searching he’d done had driven his grief in on him and he was like a snarling, caged animal no one could help. As far as Caia could gather, Lucien and Magnus both thought it unwise for Dimitri to go with them to rescue Jaeden. His emotions would put them all in danger.

She bolted up in bed at the sound of a scuffle and a crash. Growling was interrupted by a quiet voice, and Caia felt the glow of magik descend upon the house. The scuffling stopped.

“What did you do to him?” Lucien demanded.

“I put him to sleep,” Marion replied serenely. “It was in everyone’s interest.”

“Yeah, and what about when he wakes up?” Caia was sure that the demanding voice belonged to Christian.

“While you’re gone, I’ll take care of him. Don’t worry.”

“Take care of him,” Christian spluttered. “What does she mean by that?”

“Marion would never hurt your father,” Ryder assured him.

Caia heaved herself slowly off the bed, stretching her limbs and checking her mobility. As far as her body could tell this morning, there was no wound. “Daemon who?” it said, and she smiled, only now truly understanding how wonderful lykan regenerative powers were.

In fact, overall, she mused as she pulled on clean clothes and brushed her hair and teeth, she was feeling rather chipper. She’d survived her first daemon attack, which was technically her uncle’s first assault on her; her powers were obviously growing; and she’d found Jaeden and was about to go and rescue her. Not a bad day’s work.

Her smile didn’t last long.

“What do you mean I can’t go?” she asked through clenched teeth, glaring at Lucien. He stood dominantly in the center of the room, the map spread across the coffee table. Ryder, Aidan, Christian, and Magnus were gathered around it, while Ella and Irini popped back and forth with refreshments. Marion and Saffron were conspicuously absent.

Caia seethed. She’d just spent the last hour with Aidan downloading detailed maps of the area. A big red circle now pinpointed her uncle Ethan and Jae’s position on the printout—the big red circle she had marked!

“You’re not coming.” Lucien said casually.

Okay, Caia, breathe, she told herself, making crescent shapes in her palms with her nails. “Yes. But why?”

Lucien sighed in exasperation. “Okay, let’s see. One, you were just attacked and should be resting in bed, for starters.” He ticked off his reasons a finger at a time. “Two, I’m not going to hand you over to your uncle like a Christmas present when it’s obvious he now wants to kill you. And three, you’re still in training, and I’m not taking the chance that you’ll blow us all up with your magik.”

Caia flushed. “Well … I …,” she stammered and looked around at the others for backup. Every single one of them lowered their eyes. She returned her blazing green eyes to her “mate.”

“Yeah, well … you need me to take you right to the door … jackass.”

Lucien stiffened at the insult while the others smothered their laughs behind their hands. “I’ll let that slide because you’re my mate,” he said, walking slowly toward her. He stopped inches from her so she had to crane her neck to meet his gaze. “But don’t call me a jackass again.”

She refused to be intimidated. “Jackass.”

Lucien narrowed his eyes and cupped a large hand around the back of her neck, holding her imperceptibly tighter.

“We don’t need you now that we know which area she’s in. You’ve gotten us close enough to find her with this.” He tapped his nose with his other hand and then drew her closer, as if for a kiss. “Good thing you destroyed your car so I wouldn’t have to confiscate the keys,” he whispered across her lips, and she tried not to shiver in reaction.

And then she came back to herself and pushed him away, blushing furiously. He had just provided the pack with a deliberate display of dominance, and she had fallen right into it. Bastard.

“I will never forgive you for this,” she whispered.

Lucien shrugged, though she saw his eyes had darkened with emotion. “Well, I would never forgive myself if something happened to you, so I guess I’ll just have to live with that.”