Hunted (War of the Covens 1)

Caia got out of the car, her heart pounding. She could hear Sebastian’s beating just as erratically.

“He’s going to kill us,” Sebastian murmured, coming around the car to stand close by her.

“Hasn’t seemed to bother you before.”

They walked slowly toward the room, picking up the other’s scents until they were standing immediately outside room 15. The door flew open before they could even knock, and Christian stood staring at them incredulously before ushering them in without a word.

Caia blinked in the dull darkness of the large motel room with its faded brown curtains closed across all the windows. Aidan sat on one of the twin beds with a matching look of incredulity and horror on his face. Lucien and Ryder were nowhere to be seen, and Caia couldn’t smell either of them nearby.

“What in Hades are you doing here, Caia?” Aidan jumped up, pulling her farther into the room as Christian shut the door. Sebastian clung closely to her and Aidan frowned, sniffing her. His eyes widened and he spluttered at Sebastian, “You didn’t dare.”

Just then, the door banged open, nearly knocking Christian out of the way. Caia gulped as Lucien strode forward, his eyes on her, blazing with undiluted fury. Her gaze swung past them to Ryder who wore a mixed look of disappointment and sympathy.

“Are you insane?” Lucien’s guttural growl was so animalistic, even the other guys flinched. And then he seemed to catch the scent of the air around him and his silver eyes darkened to almost black. Caia would always be thankful for how quickly Ryder reacted, grabbing Lucien by the arms and enlisting Christian’s help to restrain him while he writhed and spat and growled, his eyes locked on Sebastian with bloodthirsty intent.

“Why do you smell like him?”

Caia retreated from the snarl. At first, she was so taken aback by how uncontrolled Lucien was, truly scared of him for the first time, that she looked around at the others in incomprehension at his question. Sebastian had paled but stood bravely tense. Caia reached out to ease him by placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. It was a bad move. Lucien struggled harder and almost got free before Aidan joined them to hold him back.

“Caia.” Ryder struggled to hold on to his friend. “He means, why do you smell of Sebastian?”

Oh dear goddess, she slumped in relief, understanding now that he had misinterpreted Sebastian’s scent on her. She flushed, embarrassed at what they were all thinking. They thought she and Sebastian had …

“Oh, for goddess’ sake,” she snapped, stepping forward, trying to be unafraid of him. “I’m wearing Sebastian’s shirt, that’s all.”

An eruption of disjointed growling followed.

“He’s asking why?” Ryder snapped, looking truly pissed at her now.

“Because I was bare ass after running wolf-style through the woods to get to his house.”

Lucien snarled again and looked more than ready to decapitate Sebastian.

Caia threw up her hands. She knew Alphas could be protective of their mates, but this was just obscene, especially considering she’d told him where to stick their mating. “For the love of Gaia, nothing happened!” she cried. “But thanks for the swell opinion.” This was directed at them all, because they’d all been thinking the same thing.

Sebastian tried to remain cool. “She’s telling the truth. I wouldn’t touch her without her say-so.”

Oh, such the wrong thing to say. Caia glared at him as Lucien struggled some more. “Sebastian, maybe you should wait outside.”

He nodded and then walked past the three large males, not even flinching when Lucien snapped his jaws at his ear. When Sebastian was safely outside and his scent had disappeared, Caia said to Ryder, “Will you let him go so he and I can speak?”

“I don’t know if that’s …”

He trailed off as Lucien shuddered in their arms, obviously trying to control his lykan. His breathing began to even out and his eyes became more silver, although no less angry as they glared at her.

“Leave us,” he demanded.

“Lucien, you won’t hur—”

Lucien’s head whipped around at his friend. “How could you even think I would?”

“You’re just not yourself right now.”

“Leave us.”

The others nodded and quietly left them alone in the motel room. Lucien strode by her and rummaged through an overnight bag filled with weapons and clothes. He pulled out a black shirt and threw it at her. “Change.”

His stormy scent infiltrated her olfactory senses and her stomach inappropriately clenched in desire. She blushed, turning away and hoping he couldn’t sense it. Holy Artemis, how could she still want him after that display of outrageousness? She shouldn’t put on the shirt; how dare he tell her what to do!

As if sensing her defiance, Lucien repeated the command.

Um, it may be better at this point to just humor the angry lykan.

Keeping her back to him, Caia drew Sebastian’s shirt over her head and heard Lucien’s intake of breath. She tried not to be pleased at how she affected him, but it must’ve been a female thing because she couldn’t help but want to wag her tail in smugness. Instead she quickly threw Lucien’s black shirt on, which drowned her even more than Sebastian’s had.