Ascended Page 19

  He ripped his cell phone out of his pocket and searched his contacts for Reuben. His whole body trembled as he pressed the call button.

  “We’re sorry, this number is not in service.”

  Lucien paled. The son of a bitch had disconnected his phone! The pack looked around at one another grimly, having heard the misdial message with their lykan hearing.

  “Lucien.” Magnus stood as the pack stared at their Alpha, apprehensively awaiting the next explosion. “You couldn’t have known.”

  That wasn’t an excuse. There wasn’t an excuse. He had acted like a faithless fool.

  He curled his lip in self-directed derision. “I should have. I should have trusted that Caia doesn’t have the soul to kill seven innocent people unless under extreme duress. Like a true Alpha, she did it to protect her pack … while I let that slimy bastard walk out of here with her without a fight.”

  “Lucien—” Rose spoke up but he shook her off with a glare. He didn’t want anyone’s reassurances. He didn’t deserve them.

  For a while, Lucien just stood there, numb, shock taking over his system. Finally, when it felt like the entire room might crack under the tension, he glanced over at Vil who was watching him carefully. “Can you find her?”

  Vil shook his head sadly. “I’ve been trying these last few minutes. Something’s blocking me. I can only try places she might be.”

  Jaeden coughed. “Can I make a suggestion?”

  He shot her the filthiest look in his repertoire. “What?” he snapped, and she flinched at his temper.

  “Well,” she managed with a shaky breath, “it’s been weeks. I reckon Caia’s dealt with the Septum and is now at the Center, since she has nowhere left to—” She broke off awkwardly.

  “Nowhere left to go, right?” Lucien hissed, approaching her slowly. She backed up into Ryder. “Whose fault is that?”

  “Hey!” Ryder pushed Jae behind him and held up a cautioning hand to Lucien. “Back off, man. She said she was sorry. You’ve dealt out your punishment … now back off.”

  He wanted to kick Ryder’s ass. He wanted to punch him and throw him and smash him against something. The feeling was overwhelming, until Ryder’s familiar eyes locked with his and he remembered who it was in front of him—his best friend, his brother. Lucien shuddered, trying to gain some control.

  “Shall I go to the Center?” Vil asked tentatively.

  Lucien exhaled and turned back to the magik. “Yes, please, Vil. Tell her what has happened. Tell her … just bring her back to me. Please.”

  “Of course.” The magik pressed a soft kiss to Laila’s lips and then disappeared at the table.

  “Lucien, are you going to be okay, man?” Ryder asked quietly.

  “No.”

  There was a possibility Caia would never forgive him for this. That she would never trust him, just as he hadn’t shown her enough trust.

  He glared at Alexa who was still spitting mad at Jaeden. “You,” he growled. “The pack is going to love you and Jaeden. House arrest means work for everybody.” His gaze slid to Magnus. “You have first shift, Magnus. You will escort Alexa to her room and guard her door. Aidan”—he turned to his brother-in-law—“you will have the unfortunate task of guarding outside her window.”

  “Lucien, is this really necessary?” His mother piped up. His only reply was a withering look that made her clamp her mouth shut.

  “Mom, you will relieve Magnus of his duty in eight hours. Ryder, you will relieve your brother of his in eight hours. As for Jaeden”—he glared at her again—“since your and Alexa’s rooms are next to one another, I suppose the one guard outside will do.”

  “I know you hate me right now, but can I ask a favor?” Jaeden asked softly.

  The only reply she got was a long, drawn-out snarl.

  “I know. I just … I would really like to have some time with my mom.”

  Lucien groaned inwardly. How could he say no to that? Julia was grieving for her mate and at a loss on how to deal with her daughter. Now Jaeden wanted to speak to her mom … he would be an ogre if he said no. He gave a quick nod and ignored the grateful smile she threw him before Jaeden and her mother ambled out of the room together. Magnus trailed behind them, his hand cuffed tightly around Alexa’s upper arm. As always, Mal and Finlay weren’t far behind their big sister.

  As the pack slowly filtered out, leaving Lucien in the dining hall with his best friend, a wave of anxious nausea rushed over him. For a guy who hadn’t been afraid of anything before, he was suddenly terrified of a tiny blond who had the power to hurt him more than anybody else on this planet.

  “She’ll forgive you,” Ryder assured him softly.

  “I don’t even forgive myself, Ryder. How can I expect her to?”

  22

  Expect the Unexpected

  Once more Caia glanced down at the palm of her right hand where it was temporarily scarred by a faint silver annulet. The scar was a reminder of her blood oath to the Council, every inch representative of that vow and the consequences that would follow should she break it. It was her hand that was scarred, for the hand was often a symbol used to represent a pledge of sincerity and justice.

  If Caia made good on her oath, the scar would disappear immediately; if not, all her powers would transfer to the Council, leaving her with the annulet as a reminder of her deception. Not that she had any intention of keeping the trace.

  A loud grunt shook her from her thoughts, and she looked up to see one of Michael Brown’s unit members pulling a magik up off the mat. Caia sighed, watching the team that had been put together to hunt down Marita train in their private gymnasium. First she had to find and kill Marita before she could even contemplate performing the rite that would ask the gods to give her the Daylight trace.

  “Caia.” Lyla hurried over, sweat glistening on her forehead suggesting she’d been working out for longer than she should’ve been. “Come take over for Phoebe.” She gestured to the lykan who was scowling at one of the vampyres and shaking her head at whatever he was suggesting. “She’s killing me. I could use some light relief.” She winked, and Caia snorted. Lyla was only teasing her, but what she said was true. Compared to these people, she was relief when it came to sparring. They trounced her good. She was covered in bruises. Caia inwardly groaned at the thought of fighting Lyla, who was only marginally less aggressive than Phoebe.

  “I, uh—”

  “She can’t,” a familiar voice interrupted, and Caia smiled at the sound. Saffron. The faerie had come to save her. Thank you, Hemera.

  Lyla raised an eyebrow—the kind of eyebrow raise that suggested interest—as she gazed over Caia’s shoulder. Ah … so Reuben was with Saffron. Caia turned and rolled her eyes. She was right. Jeez, the females at the Center were really wound up about Reuben. Desi and Ophelia had been blah-blah-blahing about him for the last few days. What was so special about him? Ha, she wondered if they’d be so into him if they knew how old he was.

  “Hi, guys.” She gave them a wide-eyed, “thank you for rescuing me” look that Lyla couldn’t see.

  “Hey, Reuben.” Lyla ran her tongue along her upper teeth. “How’s it going?”

  “Better for seeing you, Lyla, better for seeing you.” He smirked.

  Ugh, gag me.

  “Oh, please,” Saffron grunted, not as polite as Caia to keep the thought to herself.

  Reuben ignored her and threw Lyla another flirtatious grin. “If you don’t mind, we need to steal the little one away for a while.”

  Uh, what? “Uh, the little one—”

  “Of course,” Lyla cut off her protest. “She’s all yours.” As am I, her eyes conveyed.

  Caia sighed. She’d never understand her sex. With a nod of acknowledgment to Lyla, Caia ushered Saffron and Reuben out of the gymnasium.

  “What do you want to talk to me about?”

  But Saffron was still stuck on Reuben’s behavior with the lykan. “Do you have to be so disgustingly juvenile with the women here?” sh
e huffed as they got into an elevator.

  He grinned wickedly at her. “Jealous, Saffron?”

  “Guys—”

  “Jealous! Puhlease, our day in the sun has been over for a long time, Kirios. I just don’t want to have to listen to you have verbal sex with everything that has breasts. I am stuck here beside you for now while we see this through, so please refrain from the mundane, and try to engage in some intellectual conversation with these people, rather than trying to decide which one’s pants you want to get into as if you were choosing between chocolate or vanilla ice cream!”

  Caia hid the face she made. Jealous much was right. Apparently even seven hundred years of Reuben’s presence hadn’t put Saffron off. If Caia had to guess, the faerie was perhaps just a wee bit in love with her vampyre friend. Saffron’s diatribe had apparently struck Reuben dumb. Under the growing silence, Caia looked up to see him staring at Saffron with an inscrutable expression on his face. As for the faerie, she stared straight ahead, her beautiful face pinched with tension as if she knew she had revealed more than she’d meant to.

  Caia felt bad. She knew what it was like to care about someone and not know if they felt that way about you. And Reuben flirted with everyone. Come on, he’d even flirted with Caia.

  The elevator doors binged open, and she realized they were on her floor.

  “Guys, you wanted to talk to me about something, remember?”

  Saffron sniffed. “Of course. Let’s go to your suite.”

  And so she walked behind them to her bedroom suite, not speaking or intruding upon their private business, even though she was impatient to know what they wanted. Just as they neared her door, Reuben leaned over to Saffron and hissed, “We’ll talk about this later.”

  Saffron shrugged and then spun around, holding her hand out to Caia. “Key.”

  “I am quite capable of opening my own door, thank you.” Caia nudged her aside and swiped the key card and the door popped open. It was the same room she’d stayed in before Marita had gone bat-shit crazy. Her eyes took in the magnificent panoramic view of Paris. She sighed, wishing life were as uncomplicatedly beautiful as the city.

  When the door swung shut behind them, Caia spun around. “OK, what’s going on? Why the secrecy?”

  Reuben exhaled and shared an anxious look with Saffron. “Maybe you should sit.”

  Wow, there were just never enough of these heart-pounding, nauseating, “what now?” moments in her life.

  “Okaaay.” She slowly lowered herself onto a sofa.

  With that, the vampyre stepped back, gesturing Saffron forward. The faerie gave a militant nod and then took a step toward her. “Caia, we have something that we haven’t told you. We kept it back from you—for a good reason—with the intention of telling you once you killed the Septum. That’s all changed now, of course. You see …” She trailed off, a strange look entering her eyes. “Marita has always had a weakness. The biggest threat to her, if you like. And that was Marion. Marion knew Marita better than anyone, could anticipate her moves better than anyone, knew the family’s past haunts and private hideouts. We had every intention of telling you this when the trace was gone, but, well …”

  Caia’s pulse raced and she clasped a hand over the throb in her wrist. That didn’t do much for the visible throb in her neck. “Tell me what?”

  The faerie’s answer was to vanish.

  Reuben hadn’t even moved. He just stood there like he’d been expecting it. Caia clenched her jaw. “What’s going on?”

  He didn’t say a word, just stared at her, waiting. Then Caia felt the telltale buzz of energy and Saffron was back in the room, smiling. A second later, another slight figure appeared beside her.

  Caia’s jaw dropped as she took in the familiar mass of fire-red hair and fey features.

  “Marion?” she gasped and got to her feet on trembling legs, tears filling her widened eyes. Was it really her? Was she really here … alive?

  The witch’s own familiar violet eyes watered up, and then she rushed at Caia, her strong arms encircling her in a tight hug. Caia held on for dear life, breathing in the familiar scent of her friend and mentor, clutching her as if afraid she would disappear at any minute.

  “It’s really me, sweetheart, it’s really me.” Marion stroked her hair, murmuring reassurances. The overwhelming relief took over, and Caia’s body shook with hard sobs. Marion merely held on tighter.

  “How are you alive?” she asked sometime later.

  Marion smiled smugly, a familiar expression that served to lighten the weight on Caia’s chest. “I was never really dead.”

  Drawing Caia back down onto the sofa, the four of them sat as Caia was told the tale of their deception.

  “You see,” Saffron said, “I’d already contacted Reuben, telling him Marion was very ill from having traveled with too many children. That’s when he came up with his plan to deceive Marita. He masked Marion’s trace, making Marita think her sister was dead. If she thinks Marion is out of the picture, she won’t hesitate to go to the places that Marion knew about.”

  Clever, Caia thought. Pity that along with it, they’d caused her, Magnus, and Vanne untold heartbreak.

  Marion must’ve seen the anger in Caia’s eyes because she patted her hand. “I know it was ruthless and deceitful, but we couldn’t risk anyone finding out I’m alive. This is the best weapon we have against her.”

  Caia gazed at her in admiration, taking solace in Marion’s seemingly unending strength and determination. “I am sorry about Marita, Marion.”

  She frowned and looked away. “I am sorry that I was a fool not to have seen it sooner.”

  “Apologies aside,” Reuben muttered, eyeing the witch carefully, “Marion claims to know where Marita is.”

  A mixture of excitement and apprehension rushed through Caia at the thought, and she gripped Marion’s hands harder than she meant to. “Really? Where?”

  “In a small village in Scotland. She has a safe house there, a derelict inn. Only myself, Marita, and my mother knew of it. Not even Vanne knows of its existence.”

  Caia’s heart was going overtime. “So we’re going there? We’re going after Marita?”

  Reuben nodded grimly. “That’s the plan.”

  “But what about Vanne and the Council? I have to tell them I’m going after Marita. The oath.” She held up her hand, palm out, so they could see the annulet.

  Marion frowned at it. “I can’t believe they made you take a blood oath.”

  “I don’t mind.”

  “I mind.” She scowled. “It was unnecessary. Bloody idiots running this place like …” Her voice trailed off as Reuben spoke again.

  “Caia, I must remind you that no one can know about Marion’s existence. Marita will be checking the trace for anything and everything, and we can’t tell them about this safe house because she’ll find out we know and leave.”

  Of course, dumbass, Caia silently berated. She took a minute, tracing the texture of the carpet with her foot. “OK. How about I just tell them I have a lead that I can’t discuss because I don’t want Marita to uncover it in the trace, and that I’ll only be taking you and Saffron with me as backup, to ensure Marita doesn’t find out.”

  “I don’t see how they can argue with that,” Marion agreed.

  Finally, Reuben nodded. “It’s our only chance. I think—”

  Caia felt an unexpected prickle of energy, as did Reuben who stopped talking. Caia’s eyes widened as Vil appeared behind the vampyre. Reuben was out of his chair in a blur, and when he stilled, it was with Vil clutched by the throat, Vil’s pale eyes wide with fear and shock.

  “Reuben!” Caia hissed, launching herself at him, tugging poor Vil out of his stone-hard arms. “Let. Him. Go.”

  He growled at her but finally let up, and Vil stumbled toward Caia, happily letting her place herself between him and the vampyre.

  “It’s just Vil,” she snapped. Reuben grunted, shouldering past her to take his seat again. Vil hastily jumped
out of his path. “What’s going on?” she demanded. But Vil was staring at Marion like he’d seen a ghost … which technically, he had.

  It took a good few minutes to calm him down and explain it all to him, and all the while, Reuben grumbled that he had to add another layer to Vil’s trace to mask his knowledge of Marion’s existence.

  “You can’t tell anyone about me,” Marion insisted sternly.

  Vil nodded. “I promise, Marion.”

  “You better,” Reuben warned. “Or I will take care of the problem.”

  “Reuben,” Caia warned.

  He ignored her and continued to unsettle Vil with his glare.

  “Vil, what are you doing here?”

  The magik tried unsuccessfully to ignore the evil looks Reuben was shooting him. “I … uh … I’m here because Lucien is looking for you.”

  She gripped his arm, her features a mask of anxiety. “Why, what’s wrong?”

  “Oh, nothing. I mean, well, something. I mean, Lucien knows all about”—his eyes flicked with reluctance to the vampyre—“Reuben’s blackmail. He wants you to come home to the pack.”

  So he’s sorry now, Caia thought numbly. “I can’t,” she whispered, and then glanced up at Vil’s sound of confusion. “I didn’t kill the Septum. I couldn’t,” she explained. “But I made a blood oath to the Council that if they give me the Daylight trace once Marita’s dead, then I will ask the gods to take both the Midnight and Daylight trace back, freeing us all from it. I have to leave now to kill Marita.” She couldn’t keep the despair out of her voice.

  Reuben groaned. “Hades, save me from emotional women. Fine,” he snapped. “It can wait a little while longer. Go tell the Council about your lead and then we’ll get back to the pack to assure them you’re okay. Saffron, take Marion to your place for now. I’ll contact you when we need you. Vil.” He grinned swiftly at the magik, showing his fangs. “You’re leaving now. Go back to the pack and tell your Alpha that Caia will return shortly.”