by S. Young
Another whimper. Closer now. Much closer.
“It’s me. Caia.”
Another flame burst inside the cage, illuminating Jaeden curled in a ball at the back of the cage, her flesh healing from long, diagonal burns that scored her from shoulder to hip.
“Oh … Jaeden!” Caia cried, pulling at the bars in desperation. She scrambled around the cage looking for a way in, but there was no door, no lock. She braced her feet against the bottom of the cage and pulled at the bars with every last drop of strength within her.
“Aaahhhhrrrrggggh!” She growled in frustration as the bars refused to give. “Jaeden?” She heaved a breath. “Jaeden, it’s Caia. Can you hear me?”
Her friend made no move, just continued to shudder and whimper, unaware of her presence.
“Jaeden!”
“Caia,” a voice called from behind her. She turned to look but there was only darkness. “Caia.”
“Caia, wake up.”
Slowly the dankness of the basement faded and she pushed her eyelids open with effort. Lucien stood looking down at her, his forehead creased with concern.
“What?” She pushed herself up against the headboard. Lucien was on her bed, his hands stroking her hair.
“You were shouting in your sleep.”
“I was?”
He nodded, sympathy in his silver eyes. “You were shouting for Jaeden.”
Her dream came back to her and she scrambled for Lucien’s arm without thinking. “I dreamed of her.”
“What?”
“Jaeden.”
“What was the dream about?”
“I think I was where she’s being held.”
“What was it like?”
Caia couldn’t help but smile softly in gratitude. He wasn’t even questioning the madness. He believed her.
22
Revelations
“Are you still pissed at Lucien? ’Cause it didn’t look that way this morning,” Sebastian asked as they walked toward the main entrance of the school.
Caia sighed. Before her powers shifted into gear, she would’ve answered Seb’s question. Unfortunately, now she could feel the jealousy rolling off him, and she winced. Their relationship was so much easier when she hadn’t been aware of his feelings for her. She blanched at all the times she’d playfully shrugged off his embraces. Could she be any more of a clueless moron?
“We’re okay,” she answered, ignoring the smirks from her human schoolmates. They whispered about her alleged attack on Alexa. Well, not so much alleged as actual.
She huffed, “I’m trying to forgive him for deceiving me. I know he only did it to protect you all.”
Sebastian nodded but wouldn’t meet her gaze.
Damn it. Their friendship would be difficult if he kept this up, and frankly, he was the only friend she had right now. Mal and the others were suspiciously missing when Sebastian—who’d decided to drive Caia to school despite her protests that she had a shiny new car—pulled into the lot. They weren’t standing in their usual spot around Mal’s SUV waiting for them.
Caia had laughed and pointed at the abandoned SUV. “What, are they afraid of me or something?”
“Actually, yeah.” Sebastian had chuckled and taken her book bag like a true gentleman. She let him. It was easier that way … and kind of nice.
As they approached Caia’s locker, Sebastian asked, “No word yet from Dimitri and the others?”
Glad to be on safer ground, she nodded. “Yeah, but no good news. They’ve searched the eastern and southern boundaries, but nothing. They’re going to cross state lines next. But Lucien seems happy with the speed of the search.”
“They’ve accomplished a lot in a few days. They would’ve accomplished even more if they’d let me help.”
Caia touched his arm. “Lucien wants you here, protecting the pack.”
That garnered a snort. “Yeah, right. He thinks I’m a useless young male.” His golden eyes flashed. “I’m not useless. And she was my best friend, Cy.”
“Is. Not was,” she warned him.
He nodded, although his jaw clenched in anger. “Sure.”
The bell for first period rang and Caia impulsively pulled him into a hug. “I’ll see you at lunch,” she mumbled in his ear, and then regretted the hug when his arms tightened around her. She felt his anger dissipate into comfort mixed with lust. Teenage boys, she groaned inwardly. Even imminent danger and war couldn’t cool their libido.
Pulling away from him, she gave him her most platonic smile and wandered off to class.
“Oh, sorry,” a voice full of laughter said. Caia turned to see a large boy from her biology class stumble back and then smirk when he realized who he’d walked into. He nudged a guy Caia didn’t recognize. “Dude, it’s psycho Ribeiro.”
Dude chuckled, his dull eyes drinking her in from head to foot. “Man, how is it even possible that she launched some other chick across a room? She doesn’t look like she could lift a pencil.” He laughed raucously at his own lame joke.
The boy from biology curled his lips. “Dunno, man, but she did it.” He stepped closer to her and Caia narrowed her eyes. A human had never attempted to intimidate her before. Was there something off with her pheromones? “You like it rough, Caia? How about you play it rough with me after school, huh?”
A growl rattled in her chest, and she had to remind herself to exert some control. “Why don’t you go play rough with your ‘dude,’ jackass.”
His face darkened as he closed the distance between them. She refused to back up even though he had a good six inches on her. Seriously? Why wasn’t he afraid of her?
“Maybe someone needs to teach you some manners, little girl.”
“Maybe you need to back the hell off.”
“Or what?”
“Or—”
“Or you’ll be eating out of a straw for the rest of your life,” a rough voice rumbled behind them.
The boy retreated revealing Malek. He towered over them all, his muscles rippling as he crossed his arms over his chest.
She was surprised to say the least. Mal flirted with her, and was also downright rude (which she had shrugged off because he was rude to everyone), but he’d never shown her much interest other than wondering what she looked like naked. And from his absence this morning, she had a feeling he was now wary of her, afraid of the Midnight blood that ran in her veins.
But there he stood, unamused and defensive because someone had threatened her.
A warm rush ran through her. She was still his pack.
The boy looked like he was going to be sick, mumbling something about making a mistake and rushing away into the biology lab. Dude made a quick getaway too.
Malek nodded sharply at Caia. “See you at lunch.”
“Sure.” She grinned despite his abruptness. “And thanks.”
He shrugged as if it was no big deal and then grinned back at her … or rather leered at her. “Can’t have ‘them’ sniffing around our females now, can I?”
She grimaced and started after biology boy. Despite Malek’s obnoxious and backward view of lykan relationships, she was somewhat reassured that he still saw her as his pack.
And halfway through biology, with a little concentration on the boy who’d been trying to intimidate her, Caia tipped his open bottle of water into his lap, soaking his khakis, from across the classroom. Immature “he peed himself” jokes floated around for a good ten minutes, his angry blushes only making the class laugh harder.
Yup … being a magik had its perks.
Her mood soured at lunch with the pall that hung over the table. The news of Jaeden’s kidnapping reached the whole pack by the weekend and affected everyone deeply. Dana and Alexa didn’t bitch at her, and Daniel made no attempt to make her laugh at his stupid jokes. Only Malek seemed himself, cracking lewd comments and then teasing Caia quietly about being a witch. His first mention of it caused everyone to tense, except for Caia. She was glad he brought it up.
“I didn�
��t see your car outside, Cy,” he snickered. “You fly in on your broom instead?”
“Your wit astounds me,” Sebastian grumbled.
Caia actually laughed. She was the only one, other than Mal, who wasn’t acting like she should be grieving—because she knew Jae was still alive. She was comforted (despite Jae’s conditions) by her nightly visitations. The night before, she’d seen the scars on Jaeden’s back had completely healed and there were no fresh ones. Jae even stopped whimpering and was sitting upright, although she was still unaware of Caia’s presence.
“I really hope you’re joking, Mal, and that you know a bit more about witches than you’re letting on.”
Alexa snorted. “I think all we really want to know is if you’re going to kill us in our sleep.”
Sebastian growled and Caia kicked him under the table. It’d been fairly loud, and she noticed a few humans glance around in confusion.
“No,” she warned, pressing a reassuring hand on his arm, “it’s fine. I even understand the hostility now.” She smiled sweetly at Alexa, being deliberately irritating. “You’re worried because of my heritage that I’m a bad guy. I’m not.”
“No one is saying that.” Mal glared at his sister, which was out of character for him. “Are they?”
Alexa glared back at him. “Just because Dad said … ugh, you are so whipped.”
“And you are so dead if you don’t get your attitude in check.”
“What, you’re going to tell on me?”
“You bet your ass, I am.”
“Well, I’ll tell him all about your little sexcapades with them.”
Mal ripped into his sandwich and answered with his mouth full, “He already knows.”
“Uh-huh, yeah, sure.”
“Yeah-huh. Lucien had a word.” He winced and then bit harder into the sandwich. “And believe me, it sucked. So if you want to keep that little ass intact, I’d shut. The hell. Up.”
Alexa snapped her teeth and stood from the table to repeat her dramatic performance of leaving the pack in a huff. It was a ritual she’d perfected once a week since Caia’s arrival. Today it presented an opportunity for Caia. She stood, too, and to everyone’s surprise rushed after Alexa.
As Sebastian noted that morning, Caia and Lucien were talking, but things were still strained between them, and the cause of it was swinging her ass out of the cafeteria. With her newfound emotion radar, Caia was going to lay to rest some serious doubts.
“Alexa,” she said, grabbing the lykan by the arm and hauling her into the girls’ bathroom. She kicked in the stall doors to make sure no one was with them and then turned back to Alexa. Caia, surprised to be standing before a scared female, rolled her eyes. “Relax. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Alexa’s upper lip curled, and she bent her knees, lowering into a defensive stance. “What do you want, then?”
“An answer.”
She snarled, but Caia wasn’t fooled. She could sense the fear rolling off her.
“Did you sleep with Lucien or not?”
This visibly surprised Alexa and she straightened from her stance to cross her arms over her ample chest. She huffed in amusement, “That bothered you, huh? I thought that was why I was blasted across the classroom, but I couldn’t be sure. Well, you should really put that to rest, honey, because there is no way on Gaia’s green earth that a tainted being such as yourself could ever be Lucien’s mate.”
Caia tried not to flinch at the insult. She was actually proud of herself—she really, truly had her powers under a lot more control. “Just answer the question.”
“Yes.” Alexa smirked. “Yes, I slept with Lucien.”
The lie swelled out of her skin and settled into a smile on Caia’s face.
“What are you grinning at?” Alexa snapped.
“You’re lying. I can sense it.”
“What?”
Caia inhaled deeply and gave the lykan one last sweet smile before walking out the door. “Pathetic,” she said as she sailed out of the bathroom, feeling lighter than she had in days.
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.”
“I always am,” she whispered weakly, and then realized she had better stop clinging to the teacher’s arm or she would definitely get sent to the nurse’s office. She straightened. “I just a need a moment. I promise.”
“OK.”
After the teacher let her go, she headed toward the nearest bathroom to pull herself together. Then the pain, ten times intensified, blasted her head and her body against the lockers in the hallway. She wasn’t even aware of smacking the back of her skull against them or sliding to the floor. What she was aware of was the icy cloying she’d felt on the faerie who’d pretended to be Jaeden, and with it disrupted images of blood and a horror-filled eye. The eye was a familiar dark blue.
Caia snapped her eyes open, her breath rapid, glad to be alone in the halls. And then the panic set in, and tears of frustration and anger poured down her cheeks. Angry at her own weakness and damnable habit of crying, she swiped at the salty streams with enough force to leave red splotches.
“Jaeden,” she whispered in agony.
Jae was being tortured again. Right now. As Caia lay there in a useless lump of hysterics, Jae was in extreme physical pain. But what terrified Caia most was the bleak numbness she’d felt swelling out of Jaeden.