Caia choked on a broken sob. “I miss him.”
Jae swiped at her own tears. “I miss him too. But I’m glad you had each other through it all.”
After a moment of silence, one that now felt a little easier between them, Caia reached across and squeezed Jaeden’s hand. “Thank you for believing in me. For being willing to fight for me. It means more than you can know.” She choked, letting go of her hand. “I thought I was going to be doing this all alone. You’ve all surprised me.”
Jaeden chuckled humorlessly. “There are more surprises to come.”
“Meaning?”
She braced herself. “Something happened to me because of Ethan’s … torture.”
Caia went on alert. “What?”
Just get it over with. If anyone is going to understand feeling like a freak, Cy will be that person.
“I have telekinetic abilities.” She concentrated on a plant pot Ella had placed by the porch stairs and willed it to fly past them and smash against the nearest tree.
She took a little satisfaction in surprising Caia, her jaw dropping as the ceramic lay in pieces, the plant pulp on the ground.
Then Caia’s face tightened with worry, and she turned back to Jaeden with growing panic in her eyes. “I think I know who tried to kidnap you.”
“I can’t believe this.” Lucien ran his hand through his hair, tugging at the ends viciously. “This is insane.”
Caia couldn’t believe it either. She’d called Lucien out from the house and had refused to tell Jaeden anything until they were gathered at Ryder’s apartment. Caia insisted Laila and Vil be present as well. The six of them sat staring at each other, the atmosphere thick with tension and a terrible foreboding.
“Caia, are you sure?”
She shook her head frantically. “No, I’m not sure. But Mordecai was very interested in Jaeden, and then I overheard him and Marita discussing Jaeden’s ‘abilities’ before they bugged my room. They kept mentioning your abilities in relation to the fact that the ‘children weren’t reacting in any way.’”
“It’s true,” Lucien added in a defeated voice.
“And you think it’s because she knows about my telekinetic abilities?” Jaeden asked angrily.
“She has trace,” Lucien replied.
She has trace, yes, but not like mine. She tapped into Jaeden’s trace to find out what she was up to—the illegal rogue hunting. When there, she must’ve discovered that Jaeden developed telekinetic abilities as a result of Ethan’s torture.
The mention of her trace, however, made Caia’s heart pump rapidly. “Guys, Marita is keeping tabs on everyone close to me.”
Ryder frowned. “What do you mean?”
“She told me her trace isn’t like mine. It’s not as advanced.”
“There’s a surprise,” Jaeden muttered teasingly.
“No, this is bad, people, very bad. To find someone in Daylight, Marita has to tap into that person specifically. She’ll be watching me, through you. I had Lucien on alert, and he’s blocking himself from her, but I didn’t think about you guys.”
Laila’s delicate eyebrows puckered into a frown. “What does this mean?”
“No!” Lucien shot out of his chair, his eyes filled with worry. “She knows!”
Caia had to fight to not cry in frustration as she nodded.
“What?” Ryder and Jaeden panicked. “What does she know?”
“We have to believe that Marita knows, through you two, about my plans to go to the Council,” Caia explained. “I can’t wait around for their next meeting.” She turned to Vil, who suddenly looked flustered by the attention. “Vil, you have to take me to Alfred Doukas now.”
“What, Caia? Wait—” Lucien crossed the room, taking her by the arm. She felt his grip tighten, his eyes boring into her, full of fear. “That could be a trap. I won’t let you risk it.”
“Who is Alfred Doukas when he’s at home?” Jaeden asked.
Caia peered around Lucien to answer her. “He’s a Council member I met at the Center. We hit it off.”
“Caia.” Lucien shook her. “Please, don’t do this.”
She reached up to wrap a hand around his neck, drawing him down to place a soft kiss on his lips. “I have to,” she whispered as she pulled away.
“What if I say no?”
“Lucien. You know this is our only plan now. Think of the pack. If Marita knows, she could hold the whole pack as traitors to the coven.”
“Then I’m going with you.”
“You can’t. Vil hasn’t even tried traveling with one other person before.”
“All the more reason for you not to do this.”
“Stop thinking like my mate and start thinking like this pack’s Alpha.”
He growled in frustration and jerked away from her to make his way over to Ryder, who placed a comforting hand on his friend’s shoulder.
“Vil, are you ready to do this?” she asked, trying to appear as calm as possible. Inside, she felt as if all her nerves had snapped and her body was barely holding itself together. This was it. This was really happening. She was really going to do this.