by S. Young
“Caia.” Lucien made a move toward her, his guilt and anguish clear to see.
“Don’t.” She retreated from him. He was the last person in the world she wanted touching her. She took satisfaction in the way he flinched, wounded by her rejection.
He sighed and looked at Magnus and then back to her. “You should know Magnus wanted to tell you from the start, but he was outvoted.”
Caia nodded. “Then you explain, Magnus. Please, just tell me what’s happening to me.” She crumpled into a chair, hating the burn of tears in her eyes. “I’m scared.”
Lucien inhaled sharply. His emotions hit her like a wave, and she gulped under their force. Despite whatever had happened between him and Alexa, he had feelings for Caia—enough to hurt when she was hurt.
She didn’t want to know that. She just wanted to be mad at him.
Magnus approached her and when he pulled her from the chair to embrace her, she let him. In fact her fingers curled into his shoulders as if he were a life raft.
“You don’t have to be scared, Cy. We’ll get you through this.”
“Get me through what?”
“For you to understand, we have to go back to the beginning.” He eased her away.
And then he told her a tale that threw her back into a past she’d never known existed, to a history that had been rewritten.
16
The Awful Truth
Nineteen years ago
“How could you, Mikhail?” Albus burst out in rage, his hands trembling with so much emotion, so much confusion.
His older brother shrugged, defeated and weary. “I don’t know.”
“You’re the Pack Leader. To have an affair … with the enemy?” Rafe added in disbelief. Albus was glad for his presence, which calmed his own fiery temperament.
Mikhail’s eyes flashed with indignation. “Why are you even here? This is between me and my brother.”
“Mikhail,” Albus warned, angry at the obvious blow Rafe took. He tried not to show it, but Rafe’s eyes darkened with sadness. It had taken Ella’s persuasion for them to see that Rafe was an excellent man, a young man who had suffered for the sins of his father. Albus knew he thought of himself and Mikhail as his own brothers. For Mikhail to hint otherwise was a verbal punch to the stomach that Albus wouldn’t stand for. “Don’t take your own foolishness out on Rafe.”
Mikhail exhaled, “Nothing will come of this. I promise. The affair is over with Atia.”
“You had an affair with the wife of the Head of the Midnight Coven! If Devlyn finds out, this will never be over!”
“Well, Atia. You have been a naughty wife, haven’t you?” Devlyn murmured as he circled her like an animal. His eyes raked over his beautiful wife as she dangled by her arms, arms that were clamped in chains attached to the ceiling. A long time ago, he’d thought Gaia had created this enchanting creature just for him. Now his stomach turned thinking about whom she’d allowed to use her body. “How was it? Sex with a dirty animal? Not even an influential Pack Leader … some small-time piece of filth who has the audacity to call himself an Alpha.”
He watched as her eyes filled with tears of rage and frustration. She pulled at her chains, her body swinging with the motion. “I told you I killed Mikhail! It’s over, and there is one less lykan in the world!” she cried, her tears mingled with blood as they ran over the wounds he’d inflicted. “Please, Devlyn …”
He laughed humorlessly. “What? You think I’m happy with the death of just one of those mutts? More of them must know that my wife had an affair with one of their kind. If the coven ever found out …”
She pulled again at the chains. “They’re strong, husband. Small-time they may be, but they can’t be killed easily.” Her eyes widened as she thought of something, licking her lips in excitement. “Yes, you won’t be able to kill them unless you infiltrate them. I can help. I can find out their weaknesses, and together we can destroy them.”
Devlyn stared, amazed that she would think he would fall for that. “My dear, why would I ask for your help to take out this pack when you’re the reason I have to undertake an assault against them in the first place?”
“Devlyn,” she begged.
It was the last thing she said.
His name.
A plea for his mercy.
He felt nothing after he killed her, just stared in disgust and turned from her body. His son stood in the doorway, his hand protectively on his elder sister’s shoulder, even though he was three years younger than she.
“The coven is never to hear of this,” Devlyn commanded. He watched as they nodded, their faces belying their own disgust at what their mother had done. He felt their anger hit him like a heat wave and smiled at their loyalty. They were furious their mother would dare betray him, let alone with a lykan.
“Adriana,” he called to his young daughter. She stepped forward from the shadowy harbor of her brother Ethan’s side. She was just as beautiful as her mother, and the perfect weapon. “Your eighteenth birthday is in what … three months?”
“Yes, Father.”
“I want you training intensively until then.”
“Of course, Father.”
“Don’t you want to know why?”
“Yes, Father.”
He smiled. He had raised his children well. They hadn’t been poisoned by their mother’s weakness. Adriana would make a fine head for the coven once he was gone. “I’m sending you into the pack.”
“You want me to infiltrate the pack, Father?”
“Yes. I don’t want anyone other than my children knowing of this.” He strode toward her, putting his arm around her small shoulders and leading her to Ethan. His other arm around his son, he guided them from the room in which they’d watched him punish and execute their mother. “If the coven were to find out, children, this family would be stripped of its title. We’d go from royalty to traitors.”
“We understand, Father.” Adriana nodded. “I will infiltrate this pack of mangy dogs and find out what we need.” She stopped and stared at him with determination in her eyes. “Who their strongest warriors are, their relationships with one another, and thus where their weaknesses lie.”
“Good.” Devlyn was pleased. She’d been well taught. He looked upon his son. “Why is Adriana’s plan the best we have, Ethan?”
The fifteen-year-old pulled himself up straight, his eyes blazing with a hatred that would see him through the worst of the war. “Because there are only three of us, Father, and many more of them. If we can understand their weaknesses, we can exploit them. An emotional lykan is one that we can take by surprise, before they make the change into their … disgusting animal forms. In animal form they are protected from our magik. But as humans …” Ethan smiled wickedly. “They’re as vulnerable as a litter of puppies.”
Devlyn laughed and squeezed his children closer to him. “Exactly.”
“Albus,” Rafe said, placing his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I’ve returned.”
Albus looked at him, anguished. “You look well. I take it that last rogue didn’t give you too much bother.”
“No. Not really.” Rafe took a seat beside him. “Ella says you are adjusting to your duties.”
Albus shrugged.
“Al …” Rafe sighed. “It’s been months. I wish you would stop blaming yourself for Mikhail’s death.”
“I should have known that bitch would come back for him.”
“You did all you could for him. I know you don’t want to hear it, but Mikhail had to have known what he was doing when he got mixed up with a dark witch. For goddess’ sake, Albus … he signed his own death warrant.”
Albus flinched, and Rafe immediately felt terrible. “I’m sorry. I just don’t want you blaming yourself any longer. You have a pack who cares for you, a pack that is now your responsibility. Not to mention a lovely wife and two kids she’s having a hard time controlling while you are out here in your garage, blaming yourself.”
“Why did he
do it, Rafe? I can’t understand.”
Rafe shook his head. “She enchanted him. It could even have been a spell.”
Albus nodded. “Yeah, I’d thought of that.”
They sat in silence for a few moments longer until Rafe couldn’t keep his news to himself. “I’ve brought someone home with me, Albus.”
His friend, and leader, quirked an eyebrow at him. “Someone?”
Rafe smiled, thinking of the blond-haired beauty sitting in Ella’s kitchen. “A young woman I met on my travels.”
His friend smiled his first genuine smile in months. “Oh?”
“I was hoping she could stay with us.”
“You’re taken with her,” Albus stated in amazement as he stood. “Which pack is she from?”
This would be the difficult part. “She’s not from a pack. She’s a magik.”
“What?” Albus shouted in instant anger.
“A Daylight witch.” Rafe held up his hands in defense. “She’s good, Albus. I swear.”
His friend shuddered in pain. “Rafe …”
“Albus, it’s okay. I promise she’s not a bad person.”
Adriana watched the handsome lykan sleep peacefully beside her. She wondered if she’d inherited some of her mother’s perverse nature, because sex with this beast had not been nearly as intolerable as she’d thought it would be. She smiled wryly, remembering her inward reaction when her father told her she was to attach herself to this lykan, to give herself to him in every way, if needs must. She was the highest-ranking lady of the Midnight Coven, and she was to give her virginity to a … mutt?
But she considered her mother’s betrayal, and the thought of that betrayal becoming public, meant no sacrifice was large enough. Luckily for her, Rafe had been enchanted with her from day one. Within a week, she’d managed to weasel all his secrets out of him, including the fact that his former Pack Leader had an affair with the leader of the Midnight Coven’s wife.
“Who else knew this?” she’d asked, innocent and sympathetic to his pain.
“Everyone. Everyone except the children.”
Children, she rubbed her rounded belly and flinched, remembering her father’s fury when she’d returned to him with the news.
“Pregnant!” he screamed. “It’s not possible!”
She cried, kneeling at his feet. “It’s not my fault, Father. Please …”
He’d sent for their prophet. And then the horror of her situation was realized. Years ago, the prophet, an old immortal man who never spoke to or saw anyone except the leading family of the coven, had told of the coming of the child of mixed race who would contain such power they would bring the war to an end.
“Gaia has grown weary of her children’s war, my lord,” the old man had wheezed. “She has blessed your daughter’s union with the lykan male outside of a mating ritual, in order to bring forth a child from the prophecy.”
Devlyn had destroyed everything in sight while Adriana watched on, terrified of the thing growing inside her.
“The only way to kill it is to wait for the birth … or kill your daughter.”
Her eyes flew to her father’s face, his dark glare fierce on her. The silence stretched between them like a taut wire.
“And the child will definitely not just be a magik? It will have the genes of both my daughter and that … thing?”
The prophet nodded wearily.
His eyes burned on her as she began to cry harder.
“Father, no.” Ethan stumbled up from his seat in the corner of the room. Adriana’s heart pounded. How brave he was to face their father for her sake.
Devlyn stopped, took a deep breath, and shook his head. “No, old man, I won’t kill my daughter when she has done only what I asked of her.”
She drew in a huge breath of relief and smiled tremulously at her brother.
“What is to be done, then, Father?” Ethan asked for her.
“Adriana will return to the pack,” he instructed. “We don’t want to raise their suspicions. The child must be killed but so shall the pack be. We have everything we need to destroy them and the abomination growing in your belly. After the birth.”
“I’m sorry, Albus,” Rafe’s tears spilled down his cheeks as he cradled his baby daughter to his chest. “I’m so sorry I’ve brought this upon you.”
“You didn’t,” Albus bit out. “My brother brought this upon us. If anyone should apologize, it is my family.”
“I can’t believe … Adriana …,” he moaned, and held the baby girl closer.
“She … her family is not finished with us, Rafe. We must leave.”
Rafe nodded but made no move.
“We have to leave now, friend,” Albus demanded and pulled him to his feet. The rest of the pack was already traveling to a new location, and Marion, who’d revealed Adriana to them when she visited with Magnus, was protecting them from attack during their journey.
Rafe followed him outside to the car. Ella waited anxiously with Lucien and Irini who, although young, were fully aware something was wrong.
“Albus.” Rafe stopped him before they reached the car.
“What?”
“You’ll protect her, if something happens to me?” he pleaded, his eyes falling lovingly on his daughter. “You’ll protect my Caia.”
Albus nodded vehemently. “I already have a suggestion but it can wait for now.”
17
Alone
“Three years after your mother’s escape, she returned,” Magnus continued her tragic story. “The pack’s guard was down, and she tried to get to you. Your father got to you in time, but Adriana … she killed him,” he whispered, his grief palpable. “Adriana got away, and again she waited. It was another four years. She returned for you, but Albus was ready and he sent you and Irini into hiding under Marion and Daylight protection. Albus, as you know, went after your mother, and she killed him. That’s when Lucien went after her.”
Caia’s gaze flew to the Pack Leader.
Lucien stared back at her, his jaw clenched, his fists tight at his sides. “It took me five years, Caia,” he croaked, “but I finally got the opportunity, and I killed her. To protect you, to protect the pack.”
She felt her head moving back and forth as if trying to shake their words—the truth—right out of her ears. All the secrecy, the vague comments, the weird crap she’d been going through, all of it lies covering up the awful truth.
“So, I’m … a magik?” Her voice sounded dead to her. “Am I a witch?”
Ella leaned forward. She could smell her, could see her hand reaching to clasp her own, but she couldn’t feel her touch. “Yes. According to Irini, you’ve been showing signs for almost a year— since your eighteenth birthday. That’s why Marion is here.”
“By the sounds of it,” Marion added, “you’re a water witch.”
She pulled out of Ella’s grasp to hug herself, to keep herself from falling apart. A water witch?
She felt like laughing hysterically. What does that even mean?
The table in the center of the room began to shake, and she felt everyone watching, holding their breaths.
“My mother killed my father. Tried to kill me?”
“Yes,” Lucien answered her. His strong hand reached for her, and she could hear him telling her to stay calm, but the words were useless.
“And you killed my mother?” The table rattled uncontrollably now.
“She has a lot of raw power,” Marion murmured in surprise. Caia could hear her coaxing her to stay calm.
A witch. A lykan. Not one thing or the other.
The product of wicked vengeance and betrayal.
A wave of nausea swept through her entire body, and with her lykan reflexes, she ran from the room and onto the porch where she leaned over the railing to vomit the horrific truth into the bushes below. Even when there was nothing left inside her, she dry heaved as if there was something in there refusing to dislodge itself from her being. When she came up for air, she realize
d someone was holding her hair back. Lucien.
She felt his warmth at her back. Too exhausted to be angry at him, she couldn’t help but lean into his comforting heat.
His lips whispered across her hair, and then he wrapped an arm around her waist and her pulled tightly against him. He hushed her, and she suddenly realized she was crying. “It’s going to be Okay,” he promised.
Caia shook her head. “How?”
“I’m sorry.” She could hear the sorrow in his words. “I’m sorry I killed her, but I had to.”
Angry now, Caia pulled from his arms and faced him, batting furiously at her tears. “I’m not,” she cried, the sound of the wolf distorting her voice like she’d never heard before. “I’m not sorry you killed her! She was a monster, Lucien!”
Marion suddenly appeared on the porch between them, hands held out to Caia, beseeching. “Caia, you have to calm down. Your power is based in your emotions. You must calm down.”
“My parents … in my head. They were the one thing—” She couldn’t finish, the grief … it hurt all over. Splinters of wood started ripping up off the porch, one slicing her cheek. “And you didn’t tell me!”
“Caia.” Lucien tried to reach for her, but the world suddenly got very loud. A monstrous, soul-wrenching howl filled her ears. A wooden floorboard jerked up from the porch.
“Caia, you have to pull it together!” Marion was shouting; The woman stepped toward her, still speaking but Caia couldn’t make out the words now. There was nothing but a cacophony of chaos.
Nothing but confusion and terror.
Until eventually there was just nothing.