Destined (War of the Covens 2)

Lucien was hers. Finally hers. And she wasn’t alone anymore.

“Lucien.” Caia pulled back from his hug, his hard, warm body the safest place she had ever known. “I have a lot to tell you. To explain. Some things you might not want to hear.”

As if sensing her fear, he cupped her cheek in his hand. “You can trust me.”

“I’m more worried about you trusting me.”

“Caia, I trust you completely. I thought you knew that.”

“I guess we’ve both been a little blind.”

“Oh, just a little,” he muttered.

“Okay.” She took a deep breath, preparing herself. “I’m going to tell you everything. No interruptions until I’m done.”

He grinned at her authoritative tone. “Yes, sir.”

“Lucien.”

“I’m kidding. Please, continue.”

“Okay. Okay. Okay—”

“Caia.”

“Okay. Here goes. The girl who escaped, the Midnight … I felt her trace when we got here and didn’t like what I found. She was, is, one of the purest souls I’ve ever encountered.”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“No interruptions.”

“Sorry.”

From there, Caia went onto tell him about how she’d realized Midnights were just like them. That a lot of them were even indifferent to the war. She also told him about Laila, what happened to her, and how she’d helped Vilhelm to break her out of the Center.

Lucien jerked away from her in shock. “You broke that girl out of prison?”

Caia’s heart thumped uncertainly. “Oh man, if you think that’s a problem, you might not want to hear the rest.”

Although he looked incredibly worried, he shook it off, pressing her to go on. She did. Telling him that she sent them to Ryder. That Marita and Mordecai bugged her room because they wanted to know secrets about Jaeden.

His brow cleared with dawning realization. “That’s why you asked that question about her abilities in the library.”

“Yeah.” She nodded, taking his hand in hers. “They were talking about Jaeden’s abilities, if I knew anything about them. I don’t. I have no idea what they were talking about. After that, I was suspicious of them both. Marita was definitely up to something.”

“You don’t know what that is?”

Caia braced herself for the worst part of her news. She told him about the secret laboratory beneath the Altar of Gaia.

“Oh hell,” Lucien said gruffly, and she felt the sofa dip as he settled beside her, his hand rubbing her back.

“I don’t know what she’s doing.” She shook her head and turned to face him, his skin ashen from the news. “Do you remember she asked me to stay and help train an elite lykan unit?”

He nodded and slowly his eyes widened. “You don’t think …?”

“There’s a possibility she’s trying to create a super army by experimenting on other supernaturals. There was another lab farther up the corridor, but I couldn’t get to it. I had to leave before Marita saw me.”

“What the hell are we going to do, Caia?”

She turned toward him now, never so grateful for the use of we in that question, she gripped his knee as she spoke. “I had to lie and tell her I would stay at the Center, that I was going back to the pack with you to say goodbye, and then returning to her. I had to lie, Lucien, because I think she would’ve done anything to keep me here.”

His face darkened. “As in threaten you? That’s against the law.”

“I think we can assume she doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the law.”

“Right.”

“Lucien …”

He squeezed her hand. “Say it.”

“The war is a lie.”

A cold, uneasy silence rippled out of him. “What?”

“The war … it doesn’t make sense. I can’t knowingly help kill magiks who are innocent or misguided. And I can’t help someone who professes to hate a race of people for doing things she’s so intent on doing herself. This war is so twisted … the reasons for it don’t even exist anymore.”

His grip tightened. “So what are you saying?”

She searched his eyes and took hold of the trust she found there. “I’m saying that I need more power to begin peace negotiations with the Midnight Coven.”

“Caia … peace negotiations? Are you sure that’s not a little naive?”

Her eyes dropped to her feet. “Maybe. But … if they knew that I’m the Head of the Coven, that I can find them anywhere … a little fear might go a long way to negotiating.”

Lucien nodded slowly. “Okay, true. But they might also just try to kill you.”

She frowned in annoyance. “It’s all I’ve got. I won’t fight for a lie.”

His shoulders slumped when he saw how determined she was. “What’s the plan?”

“Vil … the Traveler.”

“Yeah?”

“When I was in the library—”

“I was wondering what you were up to in there.” He tugged her close.

“I was researching a spell. But also the library has schedules for everything as a public reference. Classes, ceremonies, holidays, and … the days on which the Council convenes.”

“The Council?”