Ascended Read online

“What’s the idea?” Alexa insisted.

  The vampyre glanced up at Caia. “Caia already knows my plan.”

  “What plan?”

  Jaeden shifted. “You mean the trace thing? How is that helping destroy Marita?”

  “Because if Caia gets rid of the trace, then Marita no longer has that power over the Daylights. She can no longer gather people to her easily and she can no longer hunt down the people she wants destroyed. Once the trace is gone, we can hunt her.”

  A feeling of helplessness swept over Caia as she watched Jaeden’s eyes glow with the news. Even Alexa, who was confused as to the actual technicalities of the discussion, looked animated.

  “Explain?” Alexa asked.

  Caia decided to answer instead. She couldn’t help the flatness in her tone. “The trace magik was created by three members of the Daylight Coven and four of the Midnight. It’s believed that killing the seven direct descendants of those first members will destroy the trace.”

  Alexa’s eyes widened. “Seriously? How? How can we kill them?”

  Caia’s mouth dropped at the blasé question, shocked at her eagerness, but it was Jaeden who answered, “Only Caia can. They have to be killed simultaneously in the exact same manner.”

  “Then do it,” Alexa demanded, her dark eyes flashing. “Fricking do it and we can get Marita!”

  Jae nodded. “Caia, please,” she begged.

  Oh dear goddess. Do they know what they’re asking of me? Of course not. All they could think about was their own loss, their own selfish need for justice.

  And she couldn’t hate them for it.

  Reuben smirked at her.

  Caia wanted to kill him. He was preying on their grief. And they were preying on her guilt and anger. “It’s not that simple,” she whispered. “These people are innocent.”

  “You don’t know that, you haven’t checked,” Jaeden snapped.

  “Jae,” she entreated, “think about what you’re asking me to do.”

  The lykan shuffled off the bed and strode around it to tower over her. “I’m asking you to avenge my father,” she bit out, and with the words came the tears. “My father who loved you, who protected you as if you were his own.”

  When she heard Alexa’s choked sob behind Jae, she wanted nothing more than to run from the room and keep on running. “I want to.” She trembled. “I want to, but you can’t ask me to kill people. That’s not avenging your father. They didn’t hurt Dimitri or Morgan and Natalia. These are just people.”

  “They’re magiks,” Jae spat. “Magiks who started this stupid war in the first place!”

  “No!” Caia hissed. “They just had the unfortunate luck of being their descendants.”

  “Caia, please,” Alexa implored. “We’ll come. We’ll help. The last thing I said to my dad was that just because he wasn’t brave enough to fight didn’t mean I wasn’t,” she choked. “How could that be the last thing I said to him? I have to do something. Help me do this.”

  Caia shook her head, her ears filling with their grief-stricken pleas.

  “Girls.” Reuben stood slowly, quieting their demands. Caia trembled at the ruthless aspect of his face.

  “What?” she whispered, her heart thudding in her chest.

  “You’re going to do this for them, Caia—no, don’t shake your head. You’re going to do this or the haven I promised for the pack and the assurance that I will manipulate every member of the pack’s trace so that Marita can’t find them will be null and void.”

  Bastard. Is he really … that bastard!

  Her chest tightened. Her fingers curled. Her teeth sharpened. “Are you blackmailing me?”

  “Yes. Do it, and I’ll protect the pack. Don’t … and I leave them here to rot.”

  There was no time for thought of repercussions. Caia lunged for him. Her claws unleashed as she swiped for him. A band of restraint enveloped her waist, and she struggled and twisted in Alexa and Jaeden’s secure hold.

  “Tut-tut, Caia.” The vampyre smiled humorlessly at her. “You need to control that temper.”

  Her tongue had gone thick with humiliated rage. It took her a moment to speak. “I was actually beginning to trust you, you son of a bitch!”

  “I’m doing what needs to be done.” He shrugged unapologetically. “I’ve never pretended to do anything else.”

  Remember, Caia, you can’t hurt him. Take a deep breath. Control your animalistic urge to hunt and kill the wily fox.

  She let her body relax, breathing deeply in an effort to cool her temper.

  “Caia, please,” Jae whispered, slowly letting go of her. “You have to do this for us.”

  “What if I can’t?”

  “At least try,” Alexa snapped. “For the pack.”

  Gradually, as the implications of Reuben’s threat settled in, along with Jae’s and Alexa’s beseeching, Caia nodded. “OK,” she croaked. “I’ll do it. Under one condition.”

  Alexa nodded. “Anything.”

  “It goes no further than this room that I was blackmailed into this.”

  Jaeden frowned. “Why?” She glanced anxiously at Reuben.

  She thought of her mate and his reaction to her decision. There was a huge possibility he wouldn’t speak to her ever again. Still … she loved him, so … “Lucien already feels terrible that he wasn’t here to protect the pack. Telling him about Reuben’s ultimatum will only make him feel worse.”

  Reuben smirked. “So gallant and self-sacrificing of you, Caia.”

  “Bite me, asshole.”

  Jaeden shook her head. “Seriously, Caia … he might not understand like we do. He’ll be mad at you.”

  “Then he’ll be mad at me.”

  With that, Jaeden hugged her tight and whispered a thank-you into her ear.

  Caia trembled and walked away from the cremation sight, glad Jason had cloaked the smell of her pack’s burning bodies. She didn’t think she’d be able to cope otherwise. So deaf to the world, she wasn’t even aware of Alexa and Jaeden on either side of her until Lucien’s hand clamped down on her shoulder, opening up her senses again.

  “Jae, Alexa, can you give us a moment? And Jae, Ryder wants a word.”

  Jaeden grunted and walked away, her hand clasped in Alexa’s. Caia watched them, thinking how sad it was that death had been the one to create a friendship between the two young women.

  “Caia.” Lucien sighed. She snuggled into his chest as his arm slid over her shoulders, drawing her into his heat. “How are you holding up?”

  Not good. You see, I have to kill seven people in a few days or the pack will be under constant threat of attack from Marita. You want to help me kill the blackmailer instead?

  She didn’t say that. She mumbled incoherently and tightened her grip on him. “How are you?” she whispered.

  He dropped a soft kiss on her head, and she heard the tears in his voice as he replied, “Ask me that question later.”

  They walked in silence, holding on to one another until they came out of the woods and rounded the house. Six cars were parked around the driveway as well as three moving vans. A lot of stuff had to be left or thrown away. Lucien kissed her again and moved unhurriedly toward one of the vans as if encumbered by a heavy weight. Ryder pressed keys into his hand and nodded toward the other moving vehicle. Magnus was supposed to be riding with Lucien in one of the vans.

  Caia shook her head as if she were conversing with them. No. She would ride with Lucien, not Magnus. Part of her bargain with Reuben was a haven for the pack. Apparently, a twenty-four-hundred-year-old vampyre tended to collect real estate. He owned a large hotel in the middle of nowhere the next state over. It hadn’t been in operation for ten years, but he’d paid a couple of magiks to clean it up for the pack. They could use it for as long as they needed (as long as Caia kept to the bargain). The drive was a good few hours. And it was quite possibly going to be the last few hours that Lucien respected her. She strode toward Magnus and her mate.

  “Magnus, I’ll drive
with Lucien,” she said quietly.

  The Elder frowned. “No, honey, you don’t have to—”

  “I want to,” she cut him off, giving Lucien a pointed look.

  He smiled gratefully back at her. “Yeah, Magnus. You take Caia’s place in Ella’s car.”

  “If you’re sure.” He didn’t waste time arguing. Ella’s car was way more comfortable. He nodded and made his way over to it.

  “Thanks.” Lucien gazed lovingly down at her.

  “Hey, Lucien.” Rose appeared around the corner of the house, and Caia’s stomach flipped. It was such an inappropriate time to be jealous, but she hated that Rose was here with them. Apparently it was thought she’d be safer with the pack for now, since Marita probably knew she had betrayed her. It was nice having her mate’s ex-lover living with them. Really nice.

  “Caia.” She nodded at her but turned her bright smile back on Lucien. “I thought maybe I could save Magnus a numb butt and offer to ride with you instead.”

  I hate her.

  “That’s nice, but Caia’s already offered.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to, Caia,” Rose tried to insist.

  Caia glared at her. “No, I do.”

  Rose had the graciousness to look abashed at least. “Of course. I’ll just ride in one of the cars.”

  As soon as she was out of earshot, Lucien sighed. “You know, you don’t have to be jealous. You can be nice to her.”

  His tone was prickly. Actually prickly.

  “I’m not jealous,” she snapped. “And don’t talk to me like that.”

  “I’m just saying, there’s nothing between us anymore.”

  “Yeah, maybe for you but not for her, Lucien. Come on … the way she looks at you—”

  “Is her problem. Not ours. Can you please get in the van? Not the time for this, Caia,” he admonished, and she immediately felt guilty.

  She bit her lip. “You’re right, I’m sorry.” She shuffled around to the van’s passenger side like a scolded child. She frowned as she caught Jaeden and Ryder out of the corner of her eye.

  “I don’t want to!” Jae snapped and pulled out of Ryder’s grip before loping over to the car Alexa and Mal were going to be riding in. Ryder growled, staring after her with a look of pure frustration. He shook his head angrily and turned, jumping into the rented moving van he would be driving. Caia didn’t know why Jaeden was pushing Ryder away, but if it didn’t stop soon, she knew Ryder would blow a gasket.

  Caia sighed again and looked around. There were only twenty-three members of the pack left, and they were all organizing themselves into the cars. With them were Vil, Laila, Reuben, and Rose. Jason and two other magiks Alfred had sent stood off to the side, and Caia held up her hand to them in a grateful wave. They nodded back in acknowledgment but stood stiff and vigilant as the pack geared themselves up to leave their home.

  15

  The Ultimatum

  Jaeden always assumed grief would feel the same no matter who the person was you lost. With Sebastian’s death had come a heartbreaking ache, a bitterness for how short his life had been, and an everlasting gratitude that someone had loved her enough to face death to save her.

  Losing her dad was completely different. She just felt … so alone.

  She could barely breathe for the crushing weight she carried on her chest every minute of the day. Her stomach churned constantly, and it was like a thick fog she couldn’t make her way through had descended over her. Her dad had been her everything. They were more alike than anyone else in the family, and they’d understood one another better than anyone else ever could because of it. His presence in her life, no matter where she’d been, had offered a kind of comfort and protection she couldn’t get anywhere else. Everything was always all right because, no matter what, she had her dad to run to … and somehow he always made it better.

  And now he was gone. She was so alone and terrified because without him, a part of her no longer made sense.

  She shifted uncomfortably in the back seat, her throat burning with the agony of repressed tears. Her head already ached like a bitch from her crying jags. Her gaze slid toward Alexa who sat in the passenger seat next to their designated driver, Reuben. Mal and Finlay shared the back seat with her. It was weird the person she felt closest to at the moment was Alexa, but out of everyone in the pack, she knew Alexa had been as close to her dad as Jae had been to Dimitri. And at least she still had her mom. Alexa had lost both her parents. So if anyone could understand the magnitude of her wrath, it was Alexa.

  She glanced at Mal. He was so changed. He used to tease and flirt like life was one big joke. But he’d lost his parents, his best friend, and his on-again, off-again girlfriend all in one fell swoop.

  Now he was quiet and intensely protective of his sister and little brother, hovering over them constantly these last few days. But despite his grief, he was just like Lucien and Ryder. They were determined to fix the pack, give them a fresh start. Where was the talk of vengeance? Of justice? Apparently there was to be none; in fact, Lucien had demanded it so! The pack has seen too much loss, he said, it’s time to move on. How could they move on? Their family had been destroyed, targeted like deer on a hunt! And was he forgetting that his own mate was a part of the war? Caia wasn’t getting out of it anytime soon … Was he intending to abandon her?

  Thank the gods for Caia.

  Jaeden refused to feel guilty for manipulating her into doing what Reuben wanted. And funnily enough, she was no longer mad at the vampyre. She was glad he blackmailed Caia. Together they’d gotten her to do something she never would’ve willingly done otherwise.

  And if it changes Caia beyond repair? If it destroys her?

  Jaeden shook her head. She couldn’t think about that. She couldn’t. Caia was a good person and asking her to do this was going to have its consequences … but hadn’t they all sacrificed something for this war? And it wasn’t like she was intending to leave her on her own to do it. She and Alexa had every intention of going with her and giving her moral support.

  Moral support for killing innocents.

  Stop it. It has to be done. It’s the only way to stop Marita.

  Keep telling yourself that.

  Arrggh! Jaeden shoved the thought out of her head and turned to stare at the passing scenery. She felt her pocket vibrate and shifted up so she could slip her cell phone free. It was a text message from Ryder. He was a couple of cars back on the road.

  Stupid idiot, fiddling with his cell while driving.

  We gotta talk when we get to the hotel.

  There were no xxx’s at the end like there would usually be. He was pissed. Yeah, well, so was she! She didn’t want him near her, comforting her, loving her. She didn’t want to fall into that. If she felt this bad losing her dad, she couldn’t imagine how bad it would feel to lose Ryder. Not to mention she might not make it out of this war, and she didn’t want him to hurt any worse than he had to. Making him hate her would make it easier on him if she did die.

  She sighed. She wouldn’t text back. It would only distract him from the road. But if she could have, she would have said …

  There’s nothing left to talk about.

  No xxx’s.

  The drive so far had been silent. Lucien hadn’t expected it to be fun filled, of course, but Caia had been extremely quiet. He couldn’t work out if it was just the magnitude of everything that had happened or if she was mad at him for rebuking her about Rose. He glanced quickly at her. She looked tired and as sad as he felt.

  But he was actually proud of himself for putting aside his instincts for revenge and making a deal with Reuben to protect the pack. He was paying rent and protection costs to the vampyre to keep the pack off Marita’s radar. That burned a little, considering he wanted to rip the creep apart for taking Caia and scaring the crap out of him, but the pack needed Reuben. They’d lost too many, and they were lucky to have the kids back. And if anything happened to the kids? Gods, he couldn’t bear to think about it. This was
the right decision. It stuck in his craw a little to retreat, but it was the right decision.

  As for Caia … he would cross that bridge when they got to it. He knew the Council would come back to her, but for now he was glad they were allowing her to stay protected until Marita was found.

  “You alright?” He couldn’t help asking. He feared a discussion about Rose. There was nothing going on between them, and it annoyed him that Caia could even think about being jealous at a time like this.

  “I don’t know,” she whispered.

  He braced himself.

  “Something’s happening.”

  He stilled, alert. “What do you mean?”

  “With the Midnights.” She straightened in her seat. “I’ve been feeling stirrings all morning, but … the Council … I think I need to warn Reuben and Nikolai.”

  It was weird to think of Caia and Reuben working with this Nikolai guy. But Vanne had attested to his trustworthiness so Lucien guessed he could let it go.

  “Warn them about what?”

  She shook her head. “Where’s my cell?” she hissed as she rummaged through her bag. She made a sound of triumph at finding it, and Lucien grew steadily more irritated at being on the outside of whatever was going on.

  “Caia—”

  She held up her hand, cutting him off, and pressed a button on her cell. “Reuben.”

  She had the vampyre on speed dial? Lucien leaned closer to her to pick up the vamp’s end of the conversation.

  “We need to get word to Nikolai.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “He’s in trouble.”

  “He stopped that faerie from telling the Council about the mess at the Daylight Center. It’s all fine.”

  Caia huffed. “No, it’s not,” she protested, clearly aggravated. “Between the two of us, who’s the one with the trace? Jeez, arrogant ass—”

  “Get on with it.”

  She exhaled in what Lucien sensed was growing exasperation. “The Council is going to have Nikolai deposed. They want to start sending out a task force against Daylights again. And if they do that—”