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  Destined

  War of the Covens

  S. Young

  DESTINED

  War of the Covens

  Book Two

  By S. Young

  Copyright © 2021 Samantha Young

  Previously titled ‘River Cast (Tale of Lunarmorte #2)’

  Copyright © 2011 Samantha Young

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior written permission of the above author of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  This work is registered with and protected by Copyright House.

  Edited by Jennifer Sommersby Young

  Cover Design by Samantha Young

  Cover Stock Image by Inara Prusakova

  Contents

  Other titles by S. Young

  Prologue

  1. Lone Ranger

  2. Midnight Rebel

  3. Find and Retrieve

  4. Wants and Fears

  5. Sizing Up

  6. Why?

  7. New Friends, Old Acquaintances

  8. Consequences

  9. Darker Side

  10. Mate

  11. Misunderstood

  12. Homecoming

  13. The Proposition

  14. Cryptic Much?

  15. Breaking Out

  16. You

  17. Soldier

  18. Spark

  19. Sweet Midnight

  20. The Politician

  21. Finally

  22. Loyalty

  23. The Council

  24. Pack Woes

  25. Taken

  Epilogue

  COMING SOON

  About the Author

  Other titles by S. Young

  Hunted (War of the Covens #1)

  Ascended (War of the Covens #3)

  War of Hearts (A True Immortality Novel)

  Kiss of Vengeance (A True Immortality Novel)

  Kiss of Eternity (A True Immortality Short Story)

  Bound by Forever ( A True Immortality Novel)

  Fear of Fire and Shadow

  Other Adult Contemporary Novels by Samantha Young

  Play On

  As Dust Dances

  Black Tangled Heart

  Hold On: A Play On Novella

  Into the Deep

  Out of the Shallows

  Hero

  Villain: A Hero Novella

  One Day: A Valentine Novella

  Fight or Flight

  Much Ado About You

  Outmatched (co-write with Kristen Callihan)

  On Dublin Street Series:

  On Dublin Street

  Down London Road

  Before Jamaica Lane

  Fall From India Place

  Echoes of Scotland Street

  Moonlight on Nightingale Way

  Until Fountain Bridge (a novella)

  Castle Hill (a novella)

  Valentine (a novella)

  One King’s Way (a novella)

  On Hart’s Boardwalk (a novella)

  On Dublin Street: The Bonus Material (a novella)

  Hart’s Boardwalk Series:

  The One Real Thing

  Every Little Thing

  Things We Never Said

  The Truest Thing

  The Adair Family Series:

  Here With Me

  Young Adult contemporary titles by Samantha Young

  The Impossible Vastness of Us

  The Fragile Ordinary

  Young Adult Urban Fantasy titles written under Samantha Young

  Warriors of Ankh Trilogy:

  Blood Will Tell

  Blood Past

  Shades of Blood

  Fire Spirits Series:

  Smokeless Fire

  Scorched Skies

  Borrowed Ember

  Darkness, Kindled

  Drip Drop Teardrop (a novella)

  For Robert

  Prologue

  The State of Things

  Existing in the shadows of our world are supernatural races, children blessed by the ancient Greek gods with unimaginable gifts. At present, they are fighting a two-thousand-year-old war with one another. The Midnight Coven, an alliance of dark magiks, faeries, and daemons born of black magik, believe that the vampyres and lykans are lesser supernaturals and a threat to mankind. They are at war with the Daylight Coven, a confederate of light magiks, faeries, vampyres, and lykans who believe in the equality of the races.

  Into this war nineteen-year-old Caia Ribeiro is born … a lykan with a heritage unlike any other. A consequence of the manipulation of the gods and fate, Caia is unique—half lykan, half water magik. And to make it even more complicated, her mother was the daughter of the Head of the Midnight Coven: Caia is half Daylight, half Midnight.

  No one is sure of the extent of Caia’s abilities, not even her mentor Marion, the sister to Marita, the Head of the Daylight Coven. All they know is that after her explosive killing of her uncle Ethan, Caia is the heir apparent, and with it has trace magik—the ability to sense the emotions and whereabouts of every member of the Midnight Coven. The pack, Marita, and all their allies believe Caia is the key to bringing down the Midnights. But Caia is not so sure.

  Not only is she an nineteen-year-old girl trying to come to grips with adulthood but she’s also reeling from the death of her friend, Sebastian, confused by her feelings for the pack’s Alpha, Lucien, excited but terrified by her magikal powers, and frightened by the contradiction of the trace magik.

  Caia is beginning to realize that the war isn’t black and white. There are members of the Midnight Coven who are good people, magiks who have long forgotten why the war began, magiks who don’t view other supernaturals as a threat, Midnights who would happily see the war end. Is the trace wrong? Is she going insane or falling to the other side? Because everyone closest to her would believe her to be a traitor if she shared her concerns … wouldn’t they?

  And if all that weren’t enough, her best friend Jaeden is still missing from the pack, having run off after being rescued from the malevolent clutches of Caia’s uncle Ethan. Caia had seen through Ethan’s eyes the atrocities he committed against Jaeden’s young body and mind; only she understands Jaeden’s need to be separate from the pack for a while.

  However … perhaps it’s best Caia isn’t fully aware of Jaeden’s true situation. It would be just one more major worry to add to her never-ending pile of responsibilities. For not only is Jae out hunting rogue vampyres—a crime against the coven, as the law constitutes that only a vampyre can hunt a rogue vampyre, and only a lykan can hunt a rogue lykan—she has even bigger problems.

  When Ethan had Jae locked in a cage, messing with her body and mind, using an enormous amount of fire magik to torture her, something … happened. It had to have had, right?

  What else could explain Jae’s sudden telekinetic abilities?

  1

  Lone Ranger

  “Son of a—” Jaeden launched into a somersault to avoid the bullet whizzing toward her head. She whipped around from her position on the muddy grass in time to propel a blade at the vampyre’s wrist. The vamp girl screamed as it hit, the gun falling to the ground as she clutched her bleeding artery.

  “You bitch!” Blondie screeched, glaring at her as Jaeden stood and sauntered toward her with an intimidating lack of fear. The wound caused the vampyre’s eyes to glow with deadly intent.

  “Ouch.” Jaeden winced wryly
. “Your oh-so-original comeback is like a veritable stake to the heart.” She paused as her fingers brushed the line of steel blades she had strapped to her belt.

  Blondie hissed, her incisors lengthening. “My boyfriend is not going to like me coming home wounded.”

  “Oh, honey, you’ve been such a bad little girl, chewing on humans and breaking the coven laws … your boyfriend is going to be a little more concerned with the fact that you won’t be coming home at all.”

  The husky laugh that comment provoked was eerie. “I’m breaking coven laws? What about you, wolf girl?”

  That didn’t even deserve a response. She was breaking coven laws for the common good. Blondie here got off on killing human boys after she had sex with them. Yeah, she wondered how the BF felt about that.

  Jaeden opened her leather jacket and pulled out the small ax she kept hidden there. The vampyre’s eyes widened and then shuttered when she realized Jaeden was watching for her reaction.

  “So, vampyra”—Jae grimaced, hitting the blunt edge of the ax on the heel of her palm—“you ready to meet your ma—”

  The vampyre launched at the gun on the ground, cutting off Jaeden’s unoriginal parting quip. With a flick of her wrist, Jaeden pushed with her mind and the gun jumped from the grass, inches from the vamp’s fingers, flying into Jae’s outstretched and waiting hand. She then tucked the gun into the other side of her belt and smirked at the amazed look on the girl’s face.

  “I thought you were just a lykan.” Panic swirled in her eyes.

  Jae shrugged. “I am.”

  “Was that magik?”

  Her question received another shrug. Truthfully, Jaeden didn’t know what her telekinetic abilities were. Her greatest fear, in fact, were those abilities … and whether it meant, as she suspected, that some of Ethan’s malevolent energy had transferred to her during her captivity and torture.

  “Hey …” The vamp giggled a little hysterically. “Why don’t we just forget about this? I’ll go home, you go home, and I’ll never come back to your turf again, okay?”

  No. Not okay.

  “See that guy?” Jae pointed to the dead teenager who lay slumped against a gravestone. His neck had been ripped open so horrifically, it was a wonder his head was still attached to his body. She concealed a shudder, turning away from the gruesome and tragic sight. “Did he suggest the same thing to you when he first felt the bite of your teeth? Did you listen? Apparently not.”

  Blondie spluttered, “He’s just a human!”

  She snorted in response. “Yeah, well, weren’t we all once?”

  “I have money.” The vamp backed up as Jaeden drew closer with the ax. “Whatever you want.”

  Jeez, when were these chicks ever going to learn?

  “This isn’t a negotiation. You kill humans … you pay the price.”

  The ax was spinning through the air before she finished her sentence. It sliced through wind and then straight into the vampyre’s jugular. Her eyes popped wide, and she made an awful choking, gurgling sound. Her legs gave out, and the choking worsened as blood poured from her mouth.

  Jae didn’t even flinch.

  She strode toward the vamp, knelt beside her, and put pressure on both ends of the ax until it cut right through, crunching and squishing until it hit the muddy ground beneath, her head completely detached from her undead body.

  Silence.

  Jae pulled at her ax and then wiped the blade clean on the girl’s cashmere sweater, using her own scarf to wipe the blood splatter off her face.

  A quick glance at her watch. 5:20 a.m.

  The sun would rise in fifteen minutes, burning the body to nothing. No one would ever know she had been there. That was funny, she mused, standing up and turning away from the consequences of her soldiering—a vampyre could walk around in the day no problem. But once their undead bodies were really … well … dead … the sun did a cleanup job.

  Legend had it this began after Apollo, the Greek god of the sun, had a child, Asclepius, who pissed off Hades by bringing the dead back to life with his healing powers. Since the dead were Hades’ charge, he went to his brother, Zeus, who had Apollo’s kid killed. In revenge, Apollo killed the Cyclops, enraging Zeus, who caught up with him and threatened to send him to Tartarus. With a little sweet-talking from Leto, Apollo’s mama, Zeus lessened his punishment, with the proviso that Apollo help him keep the deadly creatures a secret from humankind by cleaning up their bodies when they died. Apollo gave the job to the sun, and the rest is ancient history.

  Jaeden’s attention settled back on the boy. She hated to leave him like that, but she couldn’t be involved. He would just have to be found by a human in the morning. It was a large, central cemetery. It wouldn’t be long. Not that that made her feel any less like a monster for walking away.

  Before she had walked into this new life with Reuben, she hadn’t known much about other supernaturals. Pack Errante, being so small, was protective of their kids, and only a few of them really knew much about the world outside the pack. Learning that for the past few centuries vampyre bodies had evolved because of the goddess Demeter’s fertility curse, and had begun to die by the time they reached three or four hundred years old, made Jaeden feel somewhat better that they weren’t overpopulating the world, thus making the job of tracking down rogues even harder.

  But there were still a few out there whose bodies hadn’t evolved, and if the legends were true, a rare number who were second-generation vampyres: the first to be born, after Hades stole Persephone (Demeter’s daughter) and made her Queen of the Underworld, thus enraging Demeter enough to curse Hades’ vampyres with fertility. The ability to have children gradually changed their natures over time. They became less aggressive, more human. Well … in general. Jaeden shuddered at the thought. If there was still a vamp out there from that time, it was probably a feral killer with the survival skills of a god.

  She pushed the folklore meant to scare small vamps around the campfire out of her mind and wandered back to her basement suite. With her head lowered, she bumped into some late-night revellers. The closer she got to the apartment, however, the quieter the streets became. The sun had risen, and soon those quiet streets would buzz with city slickers who had no idea they shared their world, their jobs, and sometimes even their homes with supernatural beasties such as her.

  More importantly, they had no idea a war was raging, and that if a certain young woman didn’t live up to her prophecy, that war might spill over into their lives.

  There would be nothing left of them.

  She walked through the building’s dark entrance and quietly jumped down the stone stairwell at the back. Jae could hear voices from the end of the hallway and smiled as she approached the sliding steel door. Lily and Adam were fighting over the Xbox again. She rapped on the door and it slid back within seconds. With an annoying crease of concern between his eyebrows, Reuben stepped back to allow her entry.

  “Where have you been? You missed all the action.”

  Jae shrugged and nodded at the two vampyres playing video games. Josh and Styx were sleeping in one of the back rooms. She wandered through the apartment, dropping her leather jacket here and her blades there. She placed the ax in safekeeping on a wall mount in the bedroom she used to share with Lily. She could feel Reuben prowling behind her.

  “Jae, what’s up?” His cool hands slid up her arms and massaged her shoulders.

  She shrugged him off and sat on the bed, pulling off her boots as he glared at her from the doorway.

  “Well?”

  “I hunted a rogue by myself.”

  He nodded, biting on his lip ring, a tic he had when thinking hard about something. “You’ve been doing that a lot lately.”

  She knew where he was going with this, and she was just too damn tired. Ignoring him, Jae pulled off her T-shirt and rifled through her drawers for a clean one.

  Reuben hissed, bringing her gaze snapping up to him. His eyes narrowed on her as he looked her over. “Some
people would call that teasing.”

  Inwardly, she flinched; outwardly, it pissed her off. “Is that a warning, Reuben?” she sneered, pulling on a clean shirt.

  “Maybe.”

  She blanched at the anger in his voice. “I’m sorry, okat? I just forget. Lykans are used to undressing in front of each other.”

  “I know. Just try to remember. I’m not made of stone.”

  She flushed, an awkward silence falling between them as they both remembered the night he kissed her—and was thoroughly rebuffed.

  He cleared his throat, and she sensed a now-familiar discussion on the horizon. “Why the solo hunting?”

  She was right. “I’m tired.”

  “I want to talk about this. Hunting by yourself? You’ve been doing it since that night in here with Lily.”

  Jae winced just thinking about it. “She could’ve been killed.”

  “But she wasn’t,” Reuben replied, approaching her. He sat down beside her on the bed, seeming afraid she would snap at him like a wounded animal if he got too close. “You’ve been controlling your telekinesis.”

  Not that night. Not when she had nightmares. When she was awake and in control, she was able to harness whatever energy it was that gave her the ability to move things with her mind. But as soon as her emotions went into overload, there was no stopping the chaos. She had been fine around Reuben and his gang—killing vampyres who preyed on humans, pouring her hate into pounding the living daylight out of them and feeling nothing more than a tangible connection to these good vamps she worked with. They were colleagues, nothing more. She wouldn’t let them be.