Hunted (War of the Covens 1)

Caia wouldn’t come out of her room while the males prepared for their journey. Irini and Ella made snacks, and Ryder hunted down a motel for them to stop at along the way.

“There’s the Motel En El Camino!” She heard Ryder shout as he walked from the office to the sitting room.

“That’ll do,” Lucien responded. “We just need a place to rest our heads for a few hours, nothing more.”

Caia picked up her lamp and threw it with considerable force against the large cabinet that housed her TV. It shattered with enough noise to wake the dead and she smiled, momentarily appeased at the following silence from downstairs.

“She’s really pissed.” Aidan chuckled.

“She was such a quiet girl when she arrived,” Ryder teased.

Lucien merely grunted.

Tantrum over, she waited for them to leave, but Marion arrived with Saffron, postponing their departure further.

“I’m glad I caught you. I just got back from the Center.” It sounded like she was out of breath. “I’m so sorry, but Marita won’t allow either me or Saffron to come with you.”

Caia hurried over to the door. Why wouldn’t the Head of the Daylights help them? They were supposed to protect everyone from Midnights, no matter what.

“She said it sounds as though Caia is more than enough artillery for you to deal with this.”

“Caia’s not going.” Lucien slammed that door closed.

“I didn’t think she would be. I am sorry,” Marion said, sounding genuinely anxious. “Marita doesn’t want to draw attention to this. She’s as fearful of anyone finding out that Ethan isn’t the Head of the Midnights as he is.”

“Why?” Ryder snapped.

“Because we have no way of knowing how the Midnights will react. It could be explosive. The Center is not prepared for that just yet.”

“It’s all right, Marion,” Lucien reassured her. “We weren’t asking you to come anyway. We can take care of this.”

“But Ethan …”

“We’re going in as lykans. He won’t be able to touch us with his magik.”

No one said anything after that, and Caia slid down the door to sit on the floor, her heart pounding. She wanted to go with them. She needed to go. And unfortunately, she realized it wasn’t only about being the one to get Jaeden back.

She couldn’t bear it if something happened to Lucien and she wasn’t there to help him.

“Damn him,” she hissed and jumped to her feet as tires spun on the gravel driveway and the noise of the engines gradually faded into the distance.

“Caia?” Ella knocked on her door.

She braced her magik against it so that no matter how hard her adoptive mother pushed, the door wouldn’t open.

“Caia, please.”

“I don’t want to talk to anyone.”

There was a moment’s silence and then, “Okay. But there’s food downstairs if you decide you’re hungry.”

As soon as Ella’s footsteps disappeared, Caia clambered out of her window and down the side of the house as quickly and quietly as she could. Once on the ground, keeping her back pressed against the wall, she sidled along the porch and glanced into the window. The kitchen was empty. Thanking Artemis, she ran full speed into the forest, shedding her clothes at the same time.

As she had the night before, Caia quickly transformed into a lykan, and she whooped as she tore through the woods, ignoring spiky bracken and branches that caught on her fur. At some point she was going to have to tell Lucien about her cool new ability. Just as soon as it entered her mind, she dismissed the thought, wondering if it would only alienate her further from the pack. It didn’t matter, she supposed. If she was going to live at the Center, she wouldn’t have to tell Lucien anything. Not that Marita sounded like a whole barrel of fun at the moment.

It took her only fifteen minutes going at a full sprint to get to Sebastian’s house. She had crashed out of the woods cornering Sebastian’s neighborhood when she remembered she was a wolf. Sheepishly, she cowered back and fell into the grass so she could study the surroundings. It looked like she was going to have to go through the backyards and hope to Artemis no one saw her.

There were a few hairy moments, such as when she thought the first backyard was clear and made to shoot through it and under the fence into the neighboring yard. She’d just managed to squeeze herself back behind a garbage can when a short, squat woman trundled out the back door with a pile of laundry in her arms. As soon as the woman’s back was turned, Caia streaked across and out of sight.

Two houses from Sebastian’s and her coat was soaked with sweat.

“Is that a dog?”

So startled at the booming male voice that came from behind her, Caia tore off, not even pretending to hide, and jumped the six-foot fence that bordered Sebastian’s house. There was some commotion behind her, so she scuttled to the back door, scraping and whining as loudly as she could.