Destined (War of the Covens 2)

“Uh, you will intervene in the instance of attempted assault or I will break the news quite bluntly to my father about our little situation.”

Not many people on this planet had the ability to intimidate or frighten him.

Dimitri?

Definitely one of the few.

Ruthless, blackmailing wench.

He clenched his teeth. “Fine.”

At her grateful smile, he ignored the little flip his stomach gave when she looked at him like that. He got out of the truck and made his way around to the passenger door, all his senses alerting him to Reuben’s cautious approach. Jae made a face at Ryder as he took her hand, believing he was making a point to Reuben, but in truth, he just wanted to comfort her.

He could actually smell her fear.

He squeezed her hand and gave Reuben a nonchalant nod in greeting.

“Ready?” Reuben rubbed her shoulder affectionately, setting Ryder’s teeth on edge.

The nod she gave them wasn’t exactly confident, but Ryder tugged her forward anyway. She had nothing to worry about. He just wished she’d realize that.

They hadn’t even stepped onto the path that led to the house when the front door blasted open and Julia came running out to throw herself into her daughter’s arms. Ryder felt an unexpected pain in his chest at the way the fear melted from Jae’s face, replaced by silent tears as her mother held her fast and sobbed in her ear.

A click sounded in his head as everything fell into its natural place.

Jaeden was home.

Her heart banged loudly, and she knew that not only could everyone around her hear it but her mother must feel it slamming against her own as she hugged her close. Jae inhaled Julia’s damp-earth-and-peaches scent that flooded her with warm memories.

It hurt to remember how loved she was.

How could she have ever thought it was for the best to leave them?

“Mom,” she whimpered, nuzzling into her mother’s shoulder.

“Sweetheart, sweetheart,” Julia gurgled happily between sobs.

And then another scent flooded her senses as solid arms came around both her and her mother.

“Dad,” she gasped and peered up at him from her crushed position.

His dark eyes shone down from his rugged face as he pulled her close, and that ache in her chest sharpened as she saw how much those eyes and that face had aged since she’d gone.

She had done that to him.

Julia sidled out from their embrace to allow Dimitri to envelop her, and she held on to his huge frame like a little girl.

“I’m sorry, Dad,” she whispered, choking on the emotion.

“It’s okay,” he said, brushing her hair back from her face, drinking in every feature, assessing her to make sure she was all in one piece.

Finally, he tore himself from her to stare over her head at someone else.

“Thank you.”

Ryder.

She winced at the reminder. She had no idea how her dad was going to react to that piece of news.

“No thanks necessary.”

“Let’s all go inside where your brother, Lucia, and your niece are all waiting for you. Maybe once inside, you can explain the vampyre … and that guilty look in Ryder’s eyes.”

She groaned inwardly. Her dad had always seen too much.

Everyone just stared at her. No questions, no prodding … just staring.

It was disconcerting.

It was good to see her brother and Lucia again. Good to hold Jaela’s warm little body and inhale damp earth and baby lotion. Christian had frowned at her even as he hugged her tight, but Lucia and Jaela had welcomed her home with broad grins and lots of bubbling happiness. She’d always gotten on well with her sister-in-law, who had been born to a different pack. When Lucia married Christian, her sister Cera and husband Michel had decided to move into Pack Errante with her. Dimitri had requested the inclusion from Lucien, who of course said yes, respecting Dimitri’s judgment and wishes.

After losing Michel to a gun-toting mugger, Cera and her children had become a huge part of their family and a protected member of the pack. Julia, Jae, Lucia, and Cera were especially close.

Somehow she had forgotten that.

“Where’s Cera?” Jae asked, lowering a now-wriggling Jaela to the ground.

Lucia picked up her daughter and strode over to place her in her playpen. “She wanted to be here, but she has the kids and …”

“We thought there might be a discussion that wasn’t … suitable for young ears,” Christian finished, still staring at her, his eyebrows pulled together. She might have known he would be the one to not let any of this go.

Not that she’d been expecting to get off easy.

“I’ll visit Cera in the morning.”

Julia smiled softly. “She would like that.”

All of them stood on the opposite side of the room, except for Reuben, who stood close by her shoulder. Ryder was more in the middle, watching her worriedly. Never in a million years would she have ever thought he would look at her like that. Heaving a sigh, Jae swung around to look at her family.