Destined (War of the Covens 2)

Lucien was having a blast.

That morning he’d awoken early to a banging on his door by a lykan around his age with an attitude and bad hair. Julian was a pain in the ass, and Lucien had a feeling he’d been given to him specifically because he was a pain in the ass. He made deliberately malicious comments about the pack, about Caia, anything to try to make Lucien lose his temper. If only he knew that the transparency of his attempts merely irritated rather than angered. He was like a puppy, nipping in frustration because you won’t play back.

However, the Second Unit? Now that was fun.

The Center had set up a simulator of a large woodland arena where the lykans could work out strategies in human form but execute them as wolves. The arena was amazing—the smells, the mud, the trees, the air, all of it as real as could be. And Lucien was getting to stretch his legs, battling sandbag dummies and holograms of Midnights. The sweat was thick in his fur, his muscles screamed, and his jaws ached from ripping apart so many faux Midnights. But Hades, it was a buzz. What a way to work out the frustration.

A piercing buzzer went off, signaling them to return to base point and change. He laughed at his disappointment and set off with the others. Unabashedly they changed, men and women alike, and pulled on their clothing.

A hand slapped down on Lucien’s shoulder. “Gaia, you’re quick!” Julian was grinning at him now, all contempt wiped from his face.

“Yeah, dude,” one of the largest lykans in the unit said gruffly, his dark eyes glittering in respect. “I’ve never seen someone your size move so fluidly.”

“What do you say, Lucien?” Anders, the unit’s Alpha grinned at him. “Sure we can’t convince you to become a permanent fixture around here?”

Lucien laughed, enjoying the camaraderie, and truthfully, he snorted, the boost to his ego.

“I’m too old to start now,” he joked.

“No way.” One of the female members, Lyla, ran her tongue across her bottom teeth flirtatiously. “You look in shape to me.”

“I have a pack to run.”

Julian sneered again. “You like being king of the mountain, huh?”

Lucien slapped him on the back. “Yeah, I do.”

Anders and the others laughed. “Well, we’ve been pushing hard today. We really should get you a meal before your meeting tonight.”

He nodded and followed them out of the simulator. Thoughts of their five o’clock with Marita and Vanne got him wondering how Caia’s day had gone so far. It bugged him to be apart from her, especially not knowing how she’d been received by the others. Had they been cruel? Kind? Indifferent?

He stretched his neck, unfurling his fists from the tight balls he’d pulled them into. If she was harmed when he got her back tonight, he was going to crack some heads, regardless of being under the supervision of the Head of the Coven.

It looked like he had nothing to worry about. Caia greeted him outside his room with Marion, brimming over with excitement. Apparently his little Cy had awed everyone by picking up the communication spell on the first try.

Great.

Not only could she now slam a door in his face from a great distance, but she could actually disappear from his very arms within seconds. That certainly didn’t even things out in a fight.

Ah, he knew he was being belligerent. And she looked so damn pleased with herself.

“Did you know that some magiks use words?”

“Ethan,” he replied grimly.

He watched her blanch as she remembered the fight with her uncle, the spell Ethan cast under his breath to get out from the shield Caia had put around him to stop him from hurting Lucien and Jaeden.

“Right,” she said hoarsely.

“Caia—”

“No, right, I forgot.” She pretended to be unaffected and then grinned, though it was a little hollow. “Anyway, they use words to focus their magik. I haven’t been doing it because I’ve been taught by Marion and she doesn’t do it, but Mordecai has all these funny little words he uses when he’s transforming something or materializing an object out of his element. It’s very cool, very ‘Warlock Weekly.’”

Lucien pasted on a smile to try to ease the unpleasant tension he’d caused and went on to tell them what he had been up to, once they finally let him get a word in.

“They have a simulator here?” Caia’s eyes were bright with anticipation as they stepped out of the presidential elevator that took them to Marita and Vanne’s suite.

“Yup. It’s like the real thing.”

“Do you think they’d let me use it? You know, to take a run in … my bones are desperate to crack.”

Marion laughed. “Ask, and I’m sure it’s yours.”

Yeah, Lucien mused, as they walked down the corridor, Caia certainly was getting the royal treatment here. He knew she was an important weapon for them, but this seemed above and beyond what they had expected.