Hunted (War of the Covens 1)

23

Duplicity

Ethan was furious. More than that, he was anxious. Xylena hadn’t called in when she was supposed to, and without what should’ve been his birthright, he couldn’t feel out her trace to see where she was, or if she still even was. He tried not to panic. He pissed her off last time they spoke; perhaps this was her shallow attempt at getting back at him. No. He would give her until tomorrow. If there was still no word then, he would change his plans.

He yanked at his hair in frustration and then blew up the TV without thinking. Damn. There had to be a more constructive way to deal with his fury.

Oh yes, he smiled evilly, getting to his feet. There was.

The smell of fear and sweat hit him before he even reached the last basement stair. His own personal punching bag. Sometimes he just liked to come down in the dark, when she couldn’t see or feel him, and watch her suffer; it soothed his own pain. Yes, her spirit was waning every day. He chuckled, thinking about the uncontrolled rage that would greet him when the lykans found their filthy female in such a twisted mess. They would get stupid, and he would get revenge.

“Morning, Jaeden!” he called as he slithered toward the cage.

Caia felt better after her confrontation with Alexa. Not only had the knowledge that she was half witch, half lykan boosted her confidence but the heavy rain cloud that hung over the corner of her heart reserved for her Pack Leader cleared a little.

She might as well admit that she forgave him for keeping her heritage a secret. The pack had no way of knowing who she was going to be since the last time they’d seen her, or how, in fact, she was going to react to her magik. Lucien had just been doing what he did best—protecting his pack. But since then, he’d made it perfectly clear that she was just as much a part of the pack, and that he didn’t hold who her mother was against her. It meant a lot, considering none of the pack—except for those closest to Lucien and his family—had visited the house since, and the usual pack run had been canceled due to Jaeden’s kidnapping. Caia knew that Yvana still hated her, and now she could understand why.

You look like your mother.

Yeah, definitely not great, being the spitting image of the snake who killed a few of the most beloved members of a small pack. If Yvana hated her, Caia was sure there were others who were only civil to her for Lucien’s sake.

For that, she was grateful to him.

And now she knew with absolute certainty that he hadn’t kissed her and then had sex with another female. What did that mean? That he meant to kiss her? Unlike Sebastian—who was so open, his emotions were pretty much a neon sign—Lucien was good at masking how he felt. And now that the pack was slowly learning that one of her abilities was the ability to sense surface emotions, they’d all gotten good at strapping them down and shutting her out.

Caia had, however, felt that Lucien at least cared about her, but then she’d sensed that same stirring from him when it was directed at other lykans. What use was being a magik if you couldn’t even tell if the guy you liked returned your feelings?

These wicked, girlish musings had been progressing after lunch, and she’d barely paid attention to her classes. She was kind of disgusted with herself, actually.

Mooning over a guy when she had a war on her hands.

It didn’t stop her mooning, though.

It wasn’t until the last hour of the school day when said mooning was brought to an abrupt halt by an intense pain ricocheting behind her eyes. She hissed loudly and slammed back in her chair. Feeling the stares of her classmates, she quickly righted herself and pretended nothing had happened. But something had.

The lingering nausea from the pain was hard to control. She took a few deep breaths, praying she wasn’t going to be sick. Just as she was beginning to relax, another bout of lancing pain shot through her head.

“Aah,” she whimpered quietly, slapping her hand to her eyes.

“Caia, are you all right?”

She managed to push her eyes open and through the blur of tears saw she had captured the teacher’s attention, as well as everyone else’s.

“I’m not feeling well,” she managed.

“No, you don’t look it.” The click-clack of the teacher’s heels grew closer. A gentle hand helped ease her out of her chair. “Let’s get you to the nurse.”

She shook her head. The last thing she needed was the nurse. “No. I just need a minute. Can I get a bathroom pass?”

The teacher clucked her tongue. “Oh, I don’t know, Caia. You’re very pale.”