Hunted (War of the Covens Book 1)

by S. Young

  He knew that. He did. Really. He just hadn’t thought that she would contemplate leaving him, leaving the pack, once she knew how tightly bound they were. Mates did not leave each other, for Gaia’s sake.

  But she was leaving him.

  Or seriously thinking about it.

  Lucien shook his head. He couldn’t believe it. Rage flowed through him as thick as the blood it rode, and he clung to it desperately. It was better than allowing himself to analyze just how hurt he was—and you could only be hurt by someone you cared about.

  Right now, the last thing on earth he wanted was to care about her.

  “I know you care about her, Lucien,” Marion said softly. He snarled, irritated that she could read him so easily. He forgot that magiks did that. Sensed emotions.

  “She’s my mate,” he answered coldly.

  “She’s more to you than just a responsibility. I’m not blind.”

  He flushed, wanting to hit something, and instead turned his back on the witch, trying to control his breathing and his anger. The last thing he needed was to insult the sister of the Head of the Daylight Coven. Although insulting the Head of the Coven sounded like a good idea right now. Interfering wench.

  “You should tell her you have feelings for her. Maybe that’s all she wants.”

  Lucien shuddered and looked back to her. “I don’t want to discuss this with you. I just want you to tell your sister where to stick her invitations.”

  “Now, Luc—”

  Scratch, scrape, scratch. Lucien’s ears pricked at the eerie noise. “Shh.”

  “What?” She frowned.

  Lucien shushed her again and listened. There it was—a scraping noise coming from the front of the store. He strode out of the workshop and stopped.

  “What is it?” Marion whispered.

  Lucien sniffed, puzzled. “Caia?”

  The scratching sounded again, followed by a whine, and Lucien raced to pull open the store’s front door. He watched in silent horror as a blond wolf limped inside and collapsed, leaving a trail of blood in her wake.

  “Oh my goddess.” Marion fell to her knees beside her as Lucian stood staring numbly at the sight of his mate bleeding to death on the floor.

  “Caia?” he whispered.

  “It’s her belly.” Marion’s lips trembled as she looked up at him, her hands covered in Caia’s blood. “She’s lost a lot of blood.”

  The copper smell pounded his nostrils like punches knocking him out of his daze.

  “Caia.” He threw himself down next to her and looked into green eyes that gazed up at him in fear. She whined, and he ran a comforting hand down her bloodied blond coat, noting a strange black dried blood around her muzzle.

  “What happened to her?” he choked, anger building the tempo of his heart.

  “Lucien, stay calm,” Marion ordered. “Her wound is bad, but it’s healing as we speak.” She stopped and looked up. “Saffron!”

  Suddenly, the faerie was in the store looking nonplussed, until she took in Caia. “Oh my.”

  “Saffron, I need you to follow Caia’s trail of blood and see if you can find out what’s happened here.”

  The faerie nodded and disappeared.

  Lucien looked down at his hands, now coated in Caia’s blood, and clenched them into fists. “This is her uncle, isn’t it?”

  Marion flinched at the lykan in his voice. “I told you to stay calm. She needs you to stay calm while I salt the wound closed.”

  He nodded and stroked Caia’s head. She whined again and stared up at him, and all his anger toward her fell away.

  “Caia.” He leaned down to whisper in her ear while he continued to stroke her soothingly, “It’s okay, querida. You’re going to be okay.”

  She snarled and flinched as Marion literally poured some kind of salt onto her wound, and Lucien had to hold her down so she didn’t snap her jaws at the witch. He hummed low in his throat to calm her and watched in amazement as the salt glowed like fire on a stick of dynamite before it burned out, leaving a closed wound behind.

  He frowned, realizing Caia had stilled beneath him.

  “Caia.” He shook her head until Marion placed a hand on his forearm.

  “She’s passed out. She’s fine.”

  His heart beat ferociously. “She better be,” he threatened.

  Marion chuckled. “Why, just five minutes ago, I thought you couldn’t care less about her?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Do you have a blanket?”

  Lucien shook his head in answer, not taking his eyes off Caia. A blanket suddenly appeared over her small furry self.

  “It’s for when she comes around. She’ll need to change to get proper rest.”

  Lucien choked again, not wanting to think about what Caia had just gone through. And he hadn’t been there to protect her. “What do you think happened?”

  “Saffron will fill us in, but … I can feel something unfamiliar in her energy.”

  “Unfamiliar?”

  “Daemon.” Saffron strode through the door, a grimace on her face. “Daemon,” she repeated and then looked down thoughtfully at Caia. “Is she okay?”

  “She will be. What do you mean daemon?”

  Saffron glanced between them. “The blood led to the mall parking lot. There I found Caia’s car obliterated and turned on its side. It was cast in magik, Caia’s magik, so I’m guessing she used it as a weapon. Smart girl.”

  Lucien couldn’t process that. Caia had used her car as a weapon? He looked back down at her in awe. Who was this young woman? “That doesn’t explain how you know it was a daemon.”

  Saffron actually looked gleeful. “I found a decapitated daemon several yards from the car. He had a spiked chain coated in Caia’s blood, so I’m guessing that’s how she was wounded. She must’ve changed into lykan to heal and then tore off his head. I’m impressed.” She chuckled. “That girl has serious attitude.”

  Marion was smiling as well. Lucien wanted to kill them both. Caia had just been attacked by a daemon, for Gaia’s sake!

  “Well,” Marion said briskly, catching his murderous look, “I better head out and clean up the mess. You two get Caia back to the house.”

  The throbbing pain in her stomach woke her with a start. It felt like her lower belly was on fire.

  “Ow.” She trembled, opening her eyes and reaching for where it hurt, but just as quickly as she moved, her hands were clasped tightly away from her torso.

  “Caia, don’t.”

  “Lucien?” She winced at the pain. “It hurts.”

  “I know, querida, I know. Marion will be back anytime now. I’m sure she can take care of the pain.”

  “What happened?”

  “You don’t remember?”

  Slowly, painfully, Caia peeled open her eyes. She was lying in her bed; Lucien was sitting beside her, her wrists clasped gently in his hands. He had a blood smear on his cheek and his eyes were filled with something she’d never seen in him before.

  Lucien was scared.

  She tried to reach for his cheek, concerned. “You’re bleeding.”

  He shook his head. “Not my blood.”

  “Sss,” she hissed, another rip of pain lancing across her stomach. “Daemon.”

  “You do remember.”

  Yeah, she remembered, all right. The bastard tore open her stomach. She tried to pull at her wrists to inspect her wound, but Lucien held firm.

  “My stomach, Lucien,” she complained, hating the fear in her voice.

  “It’s okay. Marion closed the wound, but you’re still weak from blood loss, not to mention burning with fever.”

  Caia slumped back against her pillows, exhausted from the attempted movement, a blinding agony rippling through her. She curled her toes into the mattress, her fingers mirroring the action, as if anchoring to the bed would take away the pain. “Where is Marion? I think I need drugs.”

  He let go of her hands and tenderly brushed her hair from her face. She opene
d her eyes as he bent over her, and again she was taken aback by the emotion roiling in his silver gaze and emanating off his body. “She’ll be here soon. She’s cleaning up the mess you made in the mall lot.”

  Of course. And it was quite a mess. The Daylight Coven would have her killed if a human happened by the dead daemon and the upturned car.

  “I, uh, guess you heard about the car,” she whispered.

  Lucien snorted. “Heard? I saw it. Really, Caia, did you have to destroy it? I know you’re mad at me … but it was brand new.”

  She cracked a smile and then remembered in the pain that, yeah, she was supposed to be mad at him.

  “Ah, no.” He shook his head comically. “You smiled. You can’t take that back.”

  “It’s my smile. I can do anything I want with it.” But she couldn’t stop herself from smiling weakly again. It was nice to have him near.

  Quirking an eyebrow, he shifted even closer and leaned over her. “Does that mean you forgive me?”

  “A daemon almost killed me tonight. What you did seems paltry in comparison.”

  She’d meant it as a joke, but Lucien’s eyes darkened and he drew in a sharp breath. “I nearly lost you.”

  Caia didn’t know how to reply. It was the first time she’d seen him look afraid… and all because she got hurt. As she gazed at him, wishing she could read his mind, Lucien slowly lowered his head and pressed a soft, sweet kiss to her lips. When he retreated, anguish still strained his expression.

  “Hey,” she cracked, wincing again at the sharpness in her wound. “No taking advantage of the patient.”

  “My thoughts exactly.” Marion swooped into the room and nudged a reluctant Lucien out of the way. “Alright”—she smiled softly at Caia, taking her by the chin—“you gave us quite a fright, young lady.”

  “You should see the other guy.”

  “Oh, I did.” She laughed. “An impressive decapitation.”

  “Well, you know—aahhhh—okay, drugs would be good now.”

  What followed was a spell that Caia wished she’d been more in the frame of mind to pay attention to. Whatever Marion was doing, the room smelled thickly of …

  “What is that?” Lucien asked from the corner where he now stood with a worried Ella, Irini, and Magnus.

  “Partly it’s Malaysian Kratom. I’m using a spell to run it into Caia’s bloodstream. It’s a natural painkiller and I’ve amped it up with some magik—the pain should completely disappear.”

  “The pain is completely disappearing,” Caia vouched, feeling a little loopy.

  “Uh, is it making her high?” Irini asked.

  “Oh no, that’s just the magik. That’ll wear off in a few minutes.”

  Marion was right. A few minutes later and Caia couldn’t feel a thing. She pushed herself into a sitting position, batting away the many arms that tried to still her movements. And then she took a deep breath and lifted her PJ top to inspect her stomach. A deep, diagonal slash marred her pale skin, but she was relieved to see that it was already healing and should be nonexistent in a few days.

  “How are you feeling?”

  She couldn’t tell which one of them asked. Maybe all of them. As her weary eyes took in the sight of her family gazing at her in concern, she thought of the people who weren’t here. “You have to call Ryder and Dimitri.”

  Lucien frowned and strode toward her, ignoring Marion who was trying to keep the bed clear. “Why?”

  “I was coming to you for a reason, Lucien.” She blinked and looked behind him at Marion and the others. “I dreamed of Jaeden and Ethan again. I know where he is.”

  A collective hush fell over the room.

  “You’re sure?” Lucien almost vibrated with excitement.

  “Completely.”

  “Where?”

  Caia shook her head. “He’s about a day and a half drive from here. I can show you on a map.”

  He nodded sharply and pulled his cell out of his jeans. “I’ll bring them home.”

  “Caia! Caia!”

  “Sebastian?”

  They could hear footsteps thumping up the stairs. Lucien groaned. “Who called him?”

  Irini shrugged. “He’s her friend. I thought she would want him here.”

  It was sweet of Irini, but Caia really didn’t want any more people worrying about her. Sebastian almost fell into the room, his eyes widening when he saw her in the bed. He ignored everyone else, practically shoved Lucien out of the way, and collapsed on the bed next to her.

  “Caia Ribeiro, I’m going to kill you,” he vowed hoarsely, and then dragged her into his arms for a tight hug.

  They both ignored the warning growl from Lucien.

  “Seb, I’m fine.” Caia pulled back from him, smiling. “Really.”

  “Irini said it was a daemon.” His eyes were huge with awe. “You killed a daemon?”

  “Yeah, but he got a lucky swing in,” she joked, uncomfortable with all the attention.

  Sebastian drew a sharp breath. “Let me see,” he demanded, and when she made no move, he huffed. “Caia, let me see you’re okay.” When again she made no move, his hands went to the hem of her top as if to lift it. In two seconds, he was off the bed and pinned to the adjacent wall.

  “Touch her again and I will kill you,” Lucien snarled into his face.

  “Lucien.” Caia threw aside the bedcovers, ready to pull him off, which sent everyone into pandemonium. Marion swooped down on her, tut-tutting, while Irini and Ella shouted at Lucien to let go of Sebastian. Magnus was the only one to stay calm. He strode forward and peeled Lucien off the boy without breaking a sweat.

  “Overreact much?” Magnus smirked, holding him back.

  Caia had to admit, she was impressed with Sebastian. He shrugged his T-shirt back into place and frowned calmly at his Pack Leader. “I only wanted to check her wound.”

  Lucien shook Magnus off, who moved to Caia to make sure she was alright. She nodded numbly at her uncle but kept her eyes on the two males who looked ready to battle it out. Over her.

  “She doesn’t need you checking her wound. You’re not her mate.”

  Sebastian smirked. “Well, neither are you, apparently.”

  Magnus had his arms clamped around Lucien like a vise before he could swipe his claws out at the young male. Even Magnus frowned at Sebastian. “Show some respect, you damn pup. That’s your Alpha you’re deliberately baiting.”

  The smirk slipped from Sebastian’s face, but he still looked less than deferential. “My apologies,” he bit out and then to Caia he said sincerely, “Sorry if I upset you.”

  Caia nodded. “Let’s forget about it. I’m okay. And I know where Jaeden is.” She flushed at the beaming grin of appreciation and love Sebastian threw back at her.

  “I knew you would find her,” he said reverently.

  “You’ve seen she’s all right. You—leave now,” Lucien demanded in a stony voice.

  The young lykan turned to his Pack Leader and then flicked his gaze to Caia, questioning. She couldn’t believe Sebastian would even attempt to deny his Alpha over her. The trembling tension in Lucien’s muscles and the winds of possessiveness that blew from his body told Caia all she needed to know.

  “I think you better go, Sebastian. Thank you for coming, though.”

  His face fell but he nodded, and with one last act of defiance pressed a tender kiss to her forehead. “You’ll be okay?” he whispered intimately.

  She nodded frantically, feeling Lucien’s anger building. “I will. I’ll call with any news,” she promised and sent him a silent message with her eyes. He would be in on the search for Jaeden too. She would make sure of it.

  When he had gone, the tension melted from the room, but Irini and Ella looked shell-shocked, Magnus almost as angry as Lucien. Looking mildly amused, on the other hand, was the sedate Marion, who watched on attentively.

  Magnus huffed and looked around at his pack mates. “Someone needs to teach that boy a lesson.”

  “Magnus
, no,” Caia pleaded. “He doesn’t mean it.”

  Lucien huffed in disbelief and Magnus shook his head in disapproval. “Even you should know, Caia, a male that young should not disrespect his Alpha the way that pup just did. Lucien would have had every right to tear him apart.”

  “No,” Caia grumbled. “Sebastian was just worried about me.”

  Magnus raised an eyebrow and then clamped a hand down on Lucien’s shoulder. “Come on, son. Let’s call Dimitri and grab a drink. Got any of the scotch I like … ”

  After they left, Caia looked to the females for reassurance. But they were frowning at her too.

  “You really should discourage him, Caia,” Ella advised sternly.

  Irini bit her lip. “I would never have called him if I knew the boy was in love with her.”

  “He’s not in love with me.”

  Lucien’s sister harrumphed.

  “You’ll have to put a stop to it,” Ella said.

  “Oh yes, or Lucien will end up killing him.”

  “That would devastate Isaac, and Lucien respects him.”

  “Caia, please—”

  “Ladies—” Marion didn’t shout but her voice resonated with authority, cutting off Irini’s and Ella’s tirade of advice. “You’re disturbing my patient. Please leave.”

  26

  Road to War

  Ryder and Dimitri must not have been far away because Caia awoke the next morning to shouting from downstairs. One of the voices belonged to Dimitri. As she awoke, drowsy but thankfully still pain-free, her brain began to process what the argument was about. Lucien had ordered that Dimitri stay home. The useless searching he’d done had driven his grief in on him and he was like a snarling, caged animal no one could help. As far as Caia could gather, Lucien and Magnus both thought it unwise for Dimitri to go with them to rescue Jaeden. His emotions would put them all in danger.

  She bolted up in bed at the sound of a scuffle and a crash. Growling was interrupted by a quiet voice, and Caia felt the glow of magik descend upon the house. The scuffling stopped.

  “What did you do to him?” Lucien demanded.

  “I put him to sleep,” Marion replied serenely. “It was in everyone’s interest.”