“What?” Mal’s eyebrows furrowed.
“Them.” She subtly nodded her head, gesturing at the rest of the cafeteria.
“What about them?” Jaeden seemed concerned more than confused.
“They’re whispering about us,”
Dana shrugged. “So?”
“So, don’t you think separating ourselves from the rest of them make us look more … conspicuous.”
Jaeden smiled. “Caia, weren’t you a bit of a loner at your old school?”
She nodded. So what?
“Loner’s are just as conspicuous, but no one really said anything, right?”
Caia shook her head. “That’s different. I mean, I just... listen to them. We unsettle them.”
Alexa growled in irritation. “Look, they just see us as a bunch of really cool, hot kids who only like to play with other really cool, hot kids. They call us weird and whisper about us because that’s what jealous biatches do. There’s no need to worry.” She heaved a dramatic sigh as if she was talking to a moron who should know this stuff already. “Lucien moved us into town gradually over five years. We didn’t all just appear here together. One family moved in, and then another, and we gradually pretended to befriend each other over the years, just like ordinary folks. So … not suspicion.” She gestured to ‘them’. “Jealousy. Normal, teen, green envy. You should feel honoured to be one of us … Cy.”
Caia wasn’t sure she was convinced. “Bu-”
“Why don’t you can the questions?” Alexa glared at her meaningfully. “You don’t want to annoy me.”
What she really wanted was for her to go to Hades, but Caia was a little worried that Lucien might believe Alexa over her. It was definitely too soon to be getting in trouble with the Pack Leader. When it was obvious Caia wasn’t going to retaliate, Dana snickered at Alexa’s victory. It was a short-lived snicker, followed by an ‘Ow’. Jaeden had kicked her under the table and was now turned towards Alexa. “Why don’t you sheath your claws, Alex?”
“I hate that name,” Alexa spat.
Jaeden smirked. “I know.”
“Ladies,” Mal growled, “Please. You’re spoiling my appetite.”
Caia looked down at her food, feeling Jaeden’s gaze on her.
***
“So, that’s why you didn’t tell that spawn of the undead where to go?” Jaeden mused, as she drove Caia home.
“Pretty much.”
“And you didn’t kick her?”
“I swear to Gaia I don’t know what happened in that classroom.”
Jaeden shrugged. “Just ignore her then. You know Alexa’s unbalanced enough to have pushed her own damn chair away from you.”
“It was just... weird.”
Caia was exhausted. She hoped everyday with the pack wasn’t going to be as trying as today had been.
And she had been so stupidly optimistic this morning.
Jaeden pulled the car up to the driveway and Caia was surprised to see Lucien was already home; an unfamiliar car parked beside his.
“Is it always like this, do you know?” She quizzed Jaeden.
Jaeden smiled in understanding. “He’s Pack Leader, so you’ll find the house pretty busy. You know, if you ever need space to breathe you’re always welcome at my house.”
It must have been the exhaustion but Caia felt her eyes watering at this young girl’s kindness, her friendship like air to a trapped claustrophobic. Rapidly blinking to blot out the tears, she smiled wearily and thanked her.
“Cy?” Jaeden stopped her as she was getting out of the Buick.
“Yeah?”
She looked away from Caia, a deep frown creasing in between her eyebrows. She sighed, seeming unsure whether to say what she was going to say. She bit her lip.
“Jaeden,” Caia prompted.
“OK.” She sighed. “I... just... I want you to tell me if Alexa bothers you, OK.”
“You know, contrary to popular belief I can take care of myself.”
“I know. But I’ve known her my whole life, and she’s... manipulative.” Her blue eyes saddened. “Her brother was Dermot... he died in the Lunarmorte against Lucien.”
Caia’s eyes widened at this new piece of information. “He tried to take Lucien’s title?”
Jaeden nodded solemnly.
Caia was quiet for a minute, absorbing this. It didn’t seem right to condemn someone for their family’s mistakes. Then again, Alexa was pretty scary. Ruthless her middle name. But... nah... she shook her head. “That doesn’t mean Alexa’s the same. Look at my grandfather. He tried to take Lucien’s dad’s title and my father was nothing like him.”
“Cy,” Jaeden’s voice was firm, “Alexa wants to be Lucien’s mate. She’ll stop at nothing to do it.”
“I’m not standing in her way.”
Her friend shrugged, starting the engine up again. “Apparently, you are.”
Caia laughed humourlessly. “Are you all crazy?”
“Just promise if you need me you will come to me?”
“I feel like I’ve landed in a bad mafia movie.”
Jaeden giggled as she started backing up the car. She leaned out of her window as she passed Caia. “You’ve lived the life of a human too long. Pack politics are normal for us.”
Caia rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, Irini could have at least warned me about them.”
She pulled to a stop now that she’d turned the car around. Her face was suddenly serious. “Yes, she should have.”
Caia raised a questioning eyebrow - these lykans confused the hell out of her. They were so blasé one minute and the next as serious as if someone had just killed their mom.
“See you tomorrow, Cy.”
She waved silently as Jaeden pulled away, and then turned to look at the house. When she had stood in the airport unable to breathe for panic at the sheer thought of returning to the pack, she hadn’t been afraid because she knew what was awaiting her, she’d been afraid because she hadn’t known. If she had... well... she might have jumped on the next plane to anywhere else.
As she entered the house she could hear Lucien talking to someone in the kitchen and being answered by an unfamiliar female voice. What she really wanted to do right now was run upstairs to her bedroom, shut the door, and have an uncharacteristic crying session.
But that would be rude.
Heaving a sigh, she walked cautiously into the kitchen. Lucien had obviously caught her scent because he was looking towards the doorway when she stepped through it.
“Caia.” He smiled, and she was surprised that he looked genuinely happy to see her. She tried not to blush and sauntered towards him, her gaze flicking between him and the attractive older blonde across from him.
“Hi.”
“Caia, this Yvana - Ryder and Aidan’s mother.”
She smiled at the older woman, catching the resemblance now. She held out her hand formally. Yvana had been staring at her, expressionless, but as she’d stepped closer, freezing icicles had crept into her eyes, and she cringed back from Caia’s outstretched hand. “I hadn’t realised how much you look like your mother,” she spat.
Caia flinched, completely taken aback. The venom in this woman’s voice was uncontrolled and so heartfelt. First Alexa, now her?
“Yvana,” Lucien’s voice rumbled darkly in warning. Caia had never heard him use that tone before, but she was still too shocked by Yvana’s reaction to look at him. She was caught in this woman’s bleak gaze. What had she done to her?
“Griffin died because of your parents... because of you.” Yvana was standing up now, trembling with anger and grief.
Caia looked to Lucien for answers. Who was Griffin? But Lucien’s face was mottled with anger as well, the muscles in his forearms taught as he rounded the table. “You can leave now.”
“Lucien,” Yvana protested, her eyes breaking from Caia’s as she realised how angry she had made him.
“What’s going on?” Irini’s voice drifted towards them from the doorway.
<
br /> “You can’t expect me not to be upset. That you would even expect me to be in the same room as that,” she spat again, flicking her hand distastefully at Caia.
Caia recoiled as if she’d been hit. She staggered back, her mind roiling with confusion. This woman really hated her. Not the petty teenage hatred of Alexa, but real intense dislike. As if she had wronged her somehow. She felt the tears prick the corners of her eyes. She didn’t want to be here. Where everything was unfamiliar and cold; where she was welcome, but unwelcome; where secrets hung in every doorway and no one trusted her enough to confide them. Instead of asking for an explanation, exhaustion defeating her, she turned and ran from the room, brushing past a worried Irini who tried to stop her. But she didn’t stop. Not until she was in her room with the door closed. The tears had cascaded down her cheeks now, her vision blurred as she stumbled past the bed, and into the bathroom where she could lock the door behind her. Relieved, she slid down and crumpled onto the bathroom floor. The tears came. And she let them keep on coming.
It wasn’t long before she heard a soft knocking. Irini must have followed her.
“Caia?”
She tensed at the voice. It wasn’t Irini. It was Lucien.
“Caia, open the door.”
“I’m OK.” But she knew he would hear the tears in her voice.
“I’ll just break it down,” he teased.
Sighing, she slid away from the door to the wall opposite it, rubbing the salt out of her eyes. She must look a mess. Sniffling, she stretched up and flicked the latch up on the door, and then settled back against the wall with her knees pulled up to her chest, her arms protectively around them.
“It’s open.”
Slowly it eased open and Lucien appeared. His hair brushed the top of the door frame as he stepped inside, his gaze soft as he looked down at her. In fact, Caia could have sworn there was anguish in his eyes.
“Yvana’s gone,” he told her quietly.
“I’m not crying because of that.”
“Uh-huh.”
For a moment Lucien just stared at her, and then sighing, he stepped towards her. She was surprised at how he managed to fold his huge body down into a sitting position next to her, his entire left side pressed against her right.
“So... why are you crying?” He persisted gently.
“Tired, I guess.”
“It’s been a long couple of days for you. But I thought... I don’t know... I got the impression last night that you enjoyed yourself at dinner.”
Caia peered up at him from under her lashes. He was looking down at her, his eyes wary, sad even. She nodded. “I did.”
“But today you don’t want to be here,” he guessed.
She didn’t have to say anything. Why else would she be sobbing her guts out on the bathroom floor?
Lucien sighed again. “Yvana has her reasons, Caia. Not great ones. What she said she never should have, but the rest of the pack wants you here. You belong with us.”
“Her reasons?” She whispered.
“Griffin was her husband,” he explained wearily, grief in his own voice. “He died alongside your father... I mean, your parents... protecting you.”
She blamed Caia then; blamed her, and her parents, for bringing The Hunter upon the pack. She guessed she could understand her rage. Most lykans when they mated, mated for life. It was said that when their mate died, a part of themselves died with them.
She let silence fall between them, relieved that it was actually a comfortable silence with him. For someone who could be slightly overbearing he had the ability to be patient when he wanted to be.
“Why?” She croaked, verbalising the confusion in her head. “Why does Yvana hate me, and Ryder and Aidan don’t?”
“She was his mate, Caia,” Lucien whispered, turning to gaze at her intensely. “She can’t see reason in this.”
“I’m sorry.” Frustratingly, the tears came even more intensely this time. Just as Lucien tut-tutted and leaned over to wipe the tears from her face, the tap in the sink and the shower blasted on.
Lucien cursed and jumped to his feet to quickly turn them off. He muttered under his breath and then turned to look back down at her. She felt his gaze, but her own was on the tap in the sink. A sense of déjà vu washed over her. It was insane, but that was three times in the last few days that the water had come on unexpectedly around her. Really, it was crazy for her to even think that she had something to do with it. Right?
“Is there something wrong with the pipes in this town?” She asked quietly.
“What?”
Caia looked at him intently; he had no idea what she was talking about. She groaned and whispered an unintelligible ‘Forget it,” under her breath.
“Caia.” He was crouching down before her again, his hand brushing her hair back from her face affectionately and bringing her strange thoughts back to him. “You going to be OK?”
She nodded mutely, her heart suddenly thumping loudly at his nearness, his touch. Goddess, she hoped he couldn’t hear it.
He smiled. “Why don’t you come for a walk with me then? Get up off the cold bathroom floor?”
His change in tone made her frown and she quickly got to her feet. “I’m not five years old,” she said dryly, brushing past him. She stopped abruptly and turned back to face him; he nearly crashed right into her having been tailing right behind her. She drew in a deep breath as her heart thumped again at his closeness. She had to crane her neck back to gaze up at his face. “And...” she managed. “Just so you know, I don’t cry like that normally.”
Lucien lips quirked up at the corner. “I actually believe that.”
Hmm, she wasn’t sure what he meant by that, or how she should respond.
***
It was quiet out here, just as he liked it. Being Pack Leader he didn’t really have much time for himself, and so was always the more appreciative of quiet moments such as these. Caia walked a few steps ahead of him, stepping over bracken and rocks as they picked their way through the woods. Lucien let her have some space for a while, knowing she probably needed some time to collect herself. She seemed embarrassed for having been caught crying. Lykans were an emotional lot, he was used to women crying and shouting over nothing. But the sight of Caia curled up on the bathroom floor with true pain behind her eyes had done something to his insides. He never wanted to see her like that again. Damn these unexpected feelings towards her - they had hit him from the left field.
“It’s heaven out here.” She stopped in front of him, her head tilted back as she breathed in heady earth.
Lucien smiled, strolling towards her slowly. “It’s why I chose the house,”
“I can see that.” She opened her eyes and smiled gently back at him. Her eyes were still red and puffy from her crying, but at the same time the green in them seemed to be electrified from all the tears. He felt himself caught in her gaze, feeling like a shy teenager all of a sudden. At the long silence she quirked her eyebrow in amusement. Lucien cleared his throat feeling himself flush. What on Gaia was going on with him?
“Uh-” He looked away from her, staring ahead into the deepening forest. “Uh... Oh did ah... Irini tell you the story about the pack history?”
“No. Apparently Irini didn’t tell me much,” she replied dryly.
Lucien thought he caught a note of annoyance in her voice and narrowed his eyes on her. “Are you angry about that?”
“No.” She sighed, her sweet face crumpling wearily. “I even understand it. It’s just... hard.”
Her response touched him. Lykans were such volatile beings, usually quick to anger and frustration. But she wasn’t like that. The kindness with which she seemed to approach everything and everyone appeared too honest to be anything other than the truth of her. It made it hard to keep his guard up around her. She seemed to pose no threat whatsoever.
He shoved his hands in his jeans pocket and started walking ahead.
“Where are you going?”
&nbs
p; “Into the story. Are you coming?” He threw back over his shoulder.
He heard her laugh at his whimsy and then pick up speed until she was striding by his side. “Remember to slow it down a little. My legs are like an entire foot shorter than yours.”
“Are they really?” He let his gaze wander over them flirtatiously and then laughed when he saw her blush. She was too easy to tease.
“The story,” she reminded him wryly.
Lucien chuckled. “Right.” He glanced at her as she stepped gracefully over a small fallen tree limb. “You know the pack originates from Portugal, right?”
She nodded, not taking her eyes from her path. “Some of our surnames give it away,” she reminded him.
“Right... And you know about Lunarmorte?”
“Lunarmorte. Moon Death,” she breathed. “I can’t believe you fought one.”
He felt a sharp pain in his chest at the reminder. “I don’t like to talk about it.” He was curt. He didn’t mean to be, but discussing how he had killed a man he had grown up with, brought with it a hailstorm of pain that was just a little too overwhelming to bear.
“Of course. Sorry.”
The patience in her eyes made him sigh in relief. If he’d spoken that way to his mother or Irini - or any of the women in his pack for that matter – they’d have more than likely snarled and stomped away from him, in hurt.
“Do you know why we have Lunarmorte, and other packs don’t?” He continued in her easy company.
Caia shook her head, her brow creasing. “I didn’t know it was something only we did. I mean, I know we’re the only ones that call it that, but I assumed the concept was universal.”
“Not really. It has to do with where our pack began.”
They walked further into the woods until he touched her shoulder and indicated for her to start walking in a different direction. She seemed more relaxed around him now, for that he was grateful.
He smiled slightly when she glanced back up at him, her eyes expectant for the story.
“The pack’s story really began with our ancestor Aurelio Lorenço,” he began. The words came easily to him as he had told this story a million times to the kids of the pack, who for some reason requested it as a bedtime story more often than not. He snorted, lykans really were weird...
Moon Spell: Part One in the Tale of Lunarmorte Page 7
