by S. Young
“Yeah, and what about when he wakes up?” Caia was sure that the demanding voice belonged to Christian.
“While you’re gone, I’ll take care of him. Don’t worry.”
“Take care of him,” Christian spluttered. “What does she mean by that?”
“Marion would never hurt your father,” Ryder assured him.
Caia heaved herself slowly off the bed, stretching her limbs and checking her mobility. As far as her body could tell this morning, there was no wound. “Daemon who?” it said, and she smiled, only now truly understanding how wonderful lykan regenerative powers were.
In fact, overall, she mused as she pulled on clean clothes and brushed her hair and teeth, she was feeling rather chipper. She’d survived her first daemon attack, which was technically her uncle’s first assault on her; her powers were obviously growing; and she’d found Jaeden and was about to go and rescue her. Not a bad day’s work.
Her smile didn’t last long.
“What do you mean I can’t go?” she asked through clenched teeth, glaring at Lucien. He stood dominantly in the center of the room, the map spread across the coffee table. Ryder, Aidan, Christian, and Magnus were gathered around it, while Ella and Irini popped back and forth with refreshments. Marion and Saffron were conspicuously absent.
Caia seethed. She’d just spent the last hour with Aidan downloading detailed maps of the area. A big red circle now pinpointed her uncle Ethan and Jae’s position on the printout—the big red circle she had marked!
“You’re not coming.” Lucien said casually.
Okay, Caia, breathe, she told herself, making crescent shapes in her palms with her nails. “Yes. But why?”
Lucien sighed in exasperation. “Okay, let’s see. One, you were just attacked and should be resting in bed, for starters.” He ticked off his reasons a finger at a time. “Two, I’m not going to hand you over to your uncle like a Christmas present when it’s obvious he now wants to kill you. And three, you’re still in training, and I’m not taking the chance that you’ll blow us all up with your magik.”
Caia flushed. “Well … I …,” she stammered and looked around at the others for backup. Every single one of them lowered their eyes. She returned her blazing green eyes to her “mate.”
“Yeah, well … you need me to take you right to the door … jackass.”
Lucien stiffened at the insult while the others smothered their laughs behind their hands. “I’ll let that slide because you’re my mate,” he said, walking slowly toward her. He stopped inches from her so she had to crane her neck to meet his gaze. “But don’t call me a jackass again.”
She refused to be intimidated. “Jackass.”
Lucien narrowed his eyes and cupped a large hand around the back of her neck, holding her imperceptibly tighter.
“We don’t need you now that we know which area she’s in. You’ve gotten us close enough to find her with this.” He tapped his nose with his other hand and then drew her closer, as if for a kiss. “Good thing you destroyed your car so I wouldn’t have to confiscate the keys,” he whispered across her lips, and she tried not to shiver in reaction.
And then she came back to herself and pushed him away, blushing furiously. He had just provided the pack with a deliberate display of dominance, and she had fallen right into it. Bastard.
“I will never forgive you for this,” she whispered.
Lucien shrugged, though she saw his eyes had darkened with emotion. “Well, I would never forgive myself if something happened to you, so I guess I’ll just have to live with that.”
Caia wouldn’t come out of her room while the males prepared for their journey. Irini and Ella made snacks, and Ryder hunted down a motel for them to stop at along the way.
“There’s the Motel En El Camino!” She heard Ryder shout as he walked from the office to the sitting room.
“That’ll do,” Lucien responded. “We just need a place to rest our heads for a few hours, nothing more.”
Caia picked up her lamp and threw it with considerable force against the large cabinet that housed her TV. It shattered with enough noise to wake the dead and she smiled, momentarily appeased at the following silence from downstairs.
“She’s really pissed.” Aidan chuckled.
“She was such a quiet girl when she arrived,” Ryder teased.
Lucien merely grunted.
Tantrum over, she waited for them to leave, but Marion arrived with Saffron, postponing their departure further.
“I’m glad I caught you. I just got back from the Center.” It sounded like she was out of breath. “I’m so sorry, but Marita won’t allow either me or Saffron to come with you.”
Caia hurried over to the door. Why wouldn’t the Head of the Daylights help them? They were supposed to protect everyone from Midnights, no matter what.
“She said it sounds as though Caia is more than enough artillery for you to deal with this.”
“Caia’s not going.” Lucien slammed that door closed.
“I didn’t think she would be. I am sorry,” Marion said, sounding genuinely anxious. “Marita doesn’t want to draw attention to this. She’s as fearful of anyone finding out that Ethan isn’t the Head of the Midnights as he is.”
“Why?” Ryder snapped.
“Because we have no way of knowing how the Midnights will react. It could be explosive. The Center is not prepared for that just yet.”
“It’s all right, Marion,” Lucien reassured her. “We weren’t asking you to come anyway. We can take care of this.”
“But Ethan …”
“We’re going in as lykans. He won’t be able to touch us with his magik.”
No one said anything after that, and Caia slid down the door to sit on the floor, her heart pounding. She wanted to go with them. She needed to go. And unfortunately, she realized it wasn’t only about being the one to get Jaeden back.
She couldn’t bear it if something happened to Lucien and she wasn’t there to help him.
“Damn him,” she hissed and jumped to her feet as tires spun on the gravel driveway and the noise of the engines gradually faded into the distance.
“Caia?” Ella knocked on her door.
She braced her magik against it so that no matter how hard her adoptive mother pushed, the door wouldn’t open.
“Caia, please.”
“I don’t want to talk to anyone.”
There was a moment’s silence and then, “Okay. But there’s food downstairs if you decide you’re hungry.”
As soon as Ella’s footsteps disappeared, Caia clambered out of her window and down the side of the house as quickly and quietly as she could. Once on the ground, keeping her back pressed against the wall, she sidled along the porch and glanced into the window. The kitchen was empty. Thanking Artemis, she ran full speed into the forest, shedding her clothes at the same time.
As she had the night before, Caia quickly transformed into a lykan, and she whooped as she tore through the woods, ignoring spiky bracken and branches that caught on her fur. At some point she was going to have to tell Lucien about her cool new ability. Just as soon as it entered her mind, she dismissed the thought, wondering if it would only alienate her further from the pack. It didn’t matter, she supposed. If she was going to live at the Center, she wouldn’t have to tell Lucien anything. Not that Marita sounded like a whole barrel of fun at the moment.
It took her only fifteen minutes going at a full sprint to get to Sebastian’s house. She had crashed out of the woods cornering Sebastian’s neighborhood when she remembered she was a wolf. Sheepishly, she cowered back and fell into the grass so she could study the surroundings. It looked like she was going to have to go through the backyards and hope to Artemis no one saw her.
There were a few hairy moments, such as when she thought the first backyard was clear and made to shoot through it and under the fence into the neighboring yard. She’d just managed to squeeze herself back behind a garbage can when a short, squat woman trundled ou
t the back door with a pile of laundry in her arms. As soon as the woman’s back was turned, Caia streaked across and out of sight.
Two houses from Sebastian’s and her coat was soaked with sweat.
“Is that a dog?”
So startled at the booming male voice that came from behind her, Caia tore off, not even pretending to hide, and jumped the six-foot fence that bordered Sebastian’s house. There was some commotion behind her, so she scuttled to the back door, scraping and whining as loudly as she could.
Caia had never been so thankful to see anybody in her life.
“Caia?” Sebastian asked in amazement, his eyes darting around and then coming back to her. “What are you doing?”
She whined again and he ushered her inside.
“I’ll get you clothes.” He nodded and hurried out of the kitchen.
Back in a flash, he held a pair of jeans and a large Killers T-shirt. “The jeans are my mom’s. I couldn’t find a shirt for you, though, so you’ll just have to wear mine.”
Caia waited for him to leave but he just stood there watching her, his hands jammed in his pockets. After a moment, she growled, and he took the hint and left.
Her change back was just as quick, and again she marveled at it. It feels almost like cheating, she thought as she pulled on the clothes. Sebastian’s mom’s jeans were a little on the long side, so Caia rolled them as best she could and pulled on Seb’s shirt. It smelled of him, and she wondered momentarily if he had lied about not being able to find her a shirt from his mom’s closet, just so she would be encased in his scent.
Shaking it off as paranoia, Caia wandered through the house until she found him waiting for her in the sitting room.
He smirked, drinking her in, and she felt his rush of pleasure at seeing her in something he owned.
“I need shoes.” She distracted him.
“What size?”
“Seven.”
He grinned and got up. “My mom’s an eight—that’ll do, right? My mom has really small feet for a tall chick.”
“You call your mom chick?” she called after him.
“Not to her face.”
Once she had on sneakers and socks, Caia was able to explain the entire mess to Sebastian.
When she finished, he shook his head in disgust. “I can’t believe he did that.”
“Yeah, well, I should have seen it coming. He’s so …”
“Obnoxious,” Sebastian supplied cheerfully.
“I was going for overprotective, but obnoxious works just as well.”
He grinned and then stilled, looking serious and very grown-up all of a sudden. “So what’s the plan?”
Caia began to pace, hoping to Gaia that Sebastian would go for it. “The guys are staying at the Motel En El Camino. I thought we could take your car and head out after them and meet up with them. Once we’re halfway there, they’re not going to send us back, and if they try to, this time I’m pulling out the big guns.”
Sebastian looked worried. “Magik?”
“Yes. If it’s the only way.”
“Caia, you sure you want to do this?”
Yes. Didn’t he understand? Jaeden had been kidnapped because of her and now four of the pack’s strongest young males were headed out after her friend. Lucien was going—and they didn’t have the backup they needed. She wouldn’t let them do this alone.
“I have to.”
Sebastian nodded. “Then let’s go.”
“Sebastian, you don’t have to. You could just give me your car.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “No way are you leaving me out of the action.”
27
The Fight Before Battle
Sebastian left a note for his parents, telling them he was at Caia’s. He guessed once they found out the truth, he and Caia would already be with Lucien, who would most probably call Ella to let her know.
The drive was quiet other than when Caia gave him directions. The closer they got, the stronger the icy pull she felt from Ethan. What disturbed her more was the shades of familiarity that hit her every now and then as they passed a town; incoherent thoughts would reach out at her, some dark, some dismal, some mundane. But she could’ve pinpointed the exact location of those thoughts, told Sebastian to turn around and drive right up to the spot where they originated.
This is what Marion was talking about, she leaned her forehead against the car window. Her body hummed with connections that grew more numerous as the hours ticked by until Caia felt like she might burst out of her skin. It scared her more than she liked it; she put a plug in her emotions so Sebastian wouldn’t scent her fear and mistake its reason. She was frightened by the thought of being connected to thousands of Midnight magiks and what that would do to her sanity once she reached full capacity.
“Are you okay?” Sebastian asked quietly, keeping his attention focused on the road ahead. “You know, we could just turn back.”
“Is that what you’ve been thinking for the last two hours, Seb?” she replied, trying not to be snarly. His response was a tense silence. “No, I didn’t think so. My bet is that you’ve been playing over and over in your mind Jaeden’s rescue.”
He smirked. “You know me so well.”
“I need to bring her home, Sebastian. There is no going back.”
He nodded and let the silence fall between them again.
They couldn’t be too far behind Lucien and the others. Caia breathed in deep relief when they found the motel, and sure enough, Lucien’s truck sat parked outside a room farther down the lot.
Caia got out of the car, her heart pounding. She could hear Sebastian’s beating just as erratically.
“He’s going to kill us,” Sebastian murmured, coming around the car to stand close by her.
“Hasn’t seemed to bother you before.”
They walked slowly toward the room, picking up the other’s scents until they were standing immediately outside room 15. The door flew open before they could even knock, and Christian stood staring at them incredulously before ushering them in without a word.
Caia blinked in the dull darkness of the large motel room with its faded brown curtains closed across all the windows. Aidan sat on one of the twin beds with a matching look of incredulity and horror on his face. Lucien and Ryder were nowhere to be seen, and Caia couldn’t smell either of them nearby.
“What in Hades are you doing here, Caia?” Aidan jumped up, pulling her farther into the room as Christian shut the door. Sebastian clung closely to her and Aidan frowned, sniffing her. His eyes widened and he spluttered at Sebastian, “You didn’t dare.”
Just then, the door banged open, nearly knocking Christian out of the way. Caia gulped as Lucien strode forward, his eyes on her, blazing with undiluted fury. Her gaze swung past them to Ryder who wore a mixed look of disappointment and sympathy.
“Are you insane?” Lucien’s guttural growl was so animalistic, even the other guys flinched. And then he seemed to catch the scent of the air around him and his silver eyes darkened to almost black. Caia would always be thankful for how quickly Ryder reacted, grabbing Lucien by the arms and enlisting Christian’s help to restrain him while he writhed and spat and growled, his eyes locked on Sebastian with bloodthirsty intent.
“Why do you smell like him?”
Caia retreated from the snarl. At first, she was so taken aback by how uncontrolled Lucien was, truly scared of him for the first time, that she looked around at the others in incomprehension at his question. Sebastian had paled but stood bravely tense. Caia reached out to ease him by placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. It was a bad move. Lucien struggled harder and almost got free before Aidan joined them to hold him back.
“Caia.” Ryder struggled to hold on to his friend. “He means, why do you smell of Sebastian?”
Oh dear goddess, she slumped in relief, understanding now that he had misinterpreted Sebastian’s scent on her. She flushed, embarrassed at what they were all thinking. They thought she and Sebastian
had …
“Oh, for goddess’ sake,” she snapped, stepping forward, trying to be unafraid of him. “I’m wearing Sebastian’s shirt, that’s all.”
An eruption of disjointed growling followed.
“He’s asking why?” Ryder snapped, looking truly pissed at her now.
“Because I was bare ass after running wolf-style through the woods to get to his house.”
Lucien snarled again and looked more than ready to decapitate Sebastian.
Caia threw up her hands. She knew Alphas could be protective of their mates, but this was just obscene, especially considering she’d told him where to stick their mating. “For the love of Gaia, nothing happened!” she cried. “But thanks for the swell opinion.” This was directed at them all, because they’d all been thinking the same thing.
Sebastian tried to remain cool. “She’s telling the truth. I wouldn’t touch her without her say-so.”
Oh, such the wrong thing to say. Caia glared at him as Lucien struggled some more. “Sebastian, maybe you should wait outside.”
He nodded and then walked past the three large males, not even flinching when Lucien snapped his jaws at his ear. When Sebastian was safely outside and his scent had disappeared, Caia said to Ryder, “Will you let him go so he and I can speak?”
“I don’t know if that’s …”
He trailed off as Lucien shuddered in their arms, obviously trying to control his lykan. His breathing began to even out and his eyes became more silver, although no less angry as they glared at her.
“Leave us,” he demanded.
“Lucien, you won’t hur—”
Lucien’s head whipped around at his friend. “How could you even think I would?”
“You’re just not yourself right now.”
“Leave us.”
The others nodded and quietly left them alone in the motel room. Lucien strode by her and rummaged through an overnight bag filled with weapons and clothes. He pulled out a black shirt and threw it at her. “Change.”
His stormy scent infiltrated her olfactory senses and her stomach inappropriately clenched in desire. She blushed, turning away and hoping he couldn’t sense it. Holy Artemis, how could she still want him after that display of outrageousness? She shouldn’t put on the shirt; how dare he tell her what to do!