Hunted (War of the Covens Book 1) Read online

  2

  The Unknown

  They traveled by plane. Caia sat by Dimitri, leaving Irini alone with her thoughts.

  “You’re apprehensive.” Dimitri smiled kindly down at her. She brushed her hair behind her ears so she could look up at him. Being so close to him, she could smell his own individual brand of beautiful damp earth that identified him as a lykan. It brought unprepared-for memories. She had been so long without the pack that if it hadn’t been for her weekly runs in her true form with Irini, she would have felt almost entirely human—a socially deficient human, but one nonetheless.

  Looking into Dimitri’s eyes, she saw blurry images of a life long gone, a life where she had felt a part of something. But it no longer existed, and now they just expected her to what … be one of them again? The pack didn’t know her anymore, and she didn’t know them.

  “Of course,” she muttered in reply to his question. “I’m the returning orphan who stole away a member of their pack.”

  He laughed. “Irini? She’ll get over it.”

  “Really? Because that’s what lykans do? They get over it?”

  “Well.” His eyes twinkled with humor. “True, we’re a temperamental bunch, but Irini has never blamed you for what happened. No one does.”

  Right.

  “Good to know.” She stared straight ahead with her jaw set. Out of the corner of her eye, she felt him nod in understanding. It was irritating—she wanted to hide where he couldn’t see through her false bravado.

  “As for having no immediate family, that will change. It’s only right you go back to staying with Irini and her mother Ella … and Lucien, of course.”

  “What about Uncle Magnus?” She tried to sound indifferent. Magnus was an Elder like Dimitri and Ella, and the lykan she remembered the most.

  “He’s there … waiting for you too.”

  They’re all waiting for me. She tried to tamp down the butterflies in her stomach and failed.

  “You’ve been living a civilized life with Irini in a big town for much longer than the pack has. I’m sure you fit in at school much better than any of the pack kids.”

  She gave him with a wry smile and shook her head. “Uh, well … I wouldn’t say I exactly fit in.”

  “What would you say, then?”

  “I ate lunch every day in my car.”

  “Oh.”

  The door was thrown open, his tall, gangly assistant almost falling into the room in his hurry to get to him.

  “The spell!” he heaved as he lunged at him, out of breath.

  “You’ve been running?” he asked incredulously, following the trail of sweat that trickled down his assistant’s forehead.

  He nodded, bending over, his hands braced on his knees as he tried to regain composure. “I … I … I still … haaaa … haven’t … mastered the communication spell you taught me.” He gulped for air again, wheezing as he flopped down beside him.

  “Well, obviously, you rushed with a purpose. Spit it out, Lars.”

  Lars’s eyes were bright with excitement. “The protection spell is down. She’s unprotected.”

  His eyes blazed with the news. “You’re certain?”

  “Positive. I’ve been on Marion duty for two years. Her protection spell on the girl has been dropped.”

  His smile of triumph was slow and predatory. “Do you know what this means?”

  “It’s time?”

  “Activate our agent.”

  “They’re on their way, Magnus.” Lucien sauntered into his sitting room. Magnus was sprawled across an armchair while Lucien’s mother Ella poured them all coffee.

  The Elder looked up at him and smiled brightly. “I get to see my Cy again.”

  “I forgot how fond you were of the little brat.”

  “You were too busy chasing skirts at the time to notice the little blond kid who was constantly perched on his shoulder,” Ella pointed out wryly.

  “I remember her.” His voice was low, his tone a warning. Instantly a chill fell over the room.

  Ella stood, her eyes narrowed on her son. “No one would dispute that you were very aware of Caia’s existence, Lucien. I meant only that you avoided her, so you knew nothing about her.”

  “She was a cute kid.” Magnus chuckled, standing beside Ella, his warm teasing bending the steel of tension emanating from Lucien. His huge hand came down on Ella’s shoulder. “Why don’t you brew more coffee?”

  Nodding stiffly, she left the room, muttering under her breath about sensitive dogs.

  “You need to ease up, Lucien. Everyone is well aware you’ve fulfilled your responsibilities to this pack and that you intend to fulfil the one that’s on that plane. Defenses down, please.”

  “Thought I was the Pack Leader?”

  Magnus laughed and cuffed him across the head before pushing him into a seat. “You’re still a pup.”

  After Ella returned with more coffee, and it was clear the tension had eased between son and mother, talk switched to pack business.

  “When do they get here?” Magnus asked, his excitement evident. Lucien had been so wrapped up in dealing with what was to come from Caia’s return that he had forgotten about the one person who was looking forward to it. The girl had never known anything but Albus and Ella, and in particular, Magnus.

  He didn’t want to burst Magnus’s bubble, but they needed to get serious about the situation. “Magnus—”

  “Don’t start with that tone. This is a happy occasion. This is what your father fought for: the safe return of Rafe’s daughter.”

  Lucien took a deep breath. “I know. And I am happy to see that realized. Goddess knows, for this reason only, I will have made the old man proud. But Magnus”—his hard silver eyes searched Magnus’s happy ones—“we have to deal with the pack.”

  Reluctantly, the Elder nodded in agreement. “Stupid, scared, judgmental lykans.”

  “That may be, but they’re our lykans, and we’ve got to make sure the pack is happy.”

  Ella, from the corner of the room, cleared her throat. “I’ve already made sure most of the mated females are clear that they have to welcome Cy home. It’s the young I’m worried about. Most of them will see her as an outsider. They still fear what they don’t know, and they fear possible war … and the fact that she’s more competition when it comes to finding a mate.”

  “Yeah, I see where you’re going. Fine.” Lucien heaved, slapping his knees in determination and standing. “We’ll gather the whole pack here. It must be made perfectly clear to them that Caia is part of this pack’s future. Any mention of the war is to be kept to a minimum, absolutely nothing about her parents … and I want a full pack welcome.”

  “Oh, I dunno.” Magnus’s forehead wrinkled with anxiety. “Full pack welcome? That could be a little overwhelming. Lucien, this girl has lived without a pack for eleven years. Irini would only have been able to teach her so much.”

  “Irini will have taught her well,” Ella replied tersely.

  The Elder looked between son and mother, their postures relaxed but their countenance determined. He knew when he was outvoted. “Pack welcome it is, then.”

  3

  Home?

  “Have we got everything?”

  The noise was overwhelming. Why were there so many people going places and did they have to be going there today? Someone bumped into her and nudged her into someone else. Was it warm here? Jeez, they really needed more windows in this airport. Caia only just stopped herself from bracing her hands on her knees and tucking her head between her legs in an effort to breathe.

  “Caia?”

  They were here already. How did they get here so fast? She wasn’t ready yet.

  “Caia?”

  Pain flared up her arm and she looked down to see the cause of it. Dimitri gripped her tightly by the bicep, so tightly he was close to cutting off her circulation. She stared up at him stupidly, her eyes clearing at his worried expression.

  “You all right?”

&
nbsp; She needed to get herself together. Lykans didn’t act like this. They didn’t wimp out. Nodding, she pulled from his grasp.

  “You got everything, then?” he repeated, looking a little annoyed now. “We really should get going.”

  Oh my.

  Those earlier butterflies suddenly burst into flames in her stomach, the metaphorical ash residue covering her lungs in an attempt to suffocate her.

  “I … uh … I just need to … use the bathroom.”

  “Fine. Hurry up.”

  She slammed the door of the ladies’ room behind her and stumbled over to the sinks, striving to get her breath back. If she wasn’t mistaken, she was having a full-blown panic attack. Stop thinking about it, stop thinking about it, stop thinking about it. But the more she said it, the faster her head whirled.

  Caia suddenly stilled at the beginnings of a rumbling noise.

  Was that her heart?

  No. She shook her head, looking around as the rumbling increased in volume. Holy Artemis, Caia exhaled, stepping back as the entire length of sinks shook ferociously, the rumbling coming from the pipes. What the—

  All the taps blasted open, and water streamed into the sinks with the power of a fireman’s hose, the rumbling now deafening. Ceramic tiles cracked and fell away from the walls; water billowed over the basins and onto the floor.

  “Caia?”

  She whipped her head toward the door where Irini stood looking shocked. The water abruptly stopped.

  “What the Hades?” Irini indicated the watery mess in front of her.

  Caia gaped at her. “I have no idea.”

  “Well, come on, quickly, before you get the blame,” she snapped, grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her outside.

  “How could I get the blame?”

  “Just come on.”

  Her breathing regulated once they left the airport. They drove directly through the large town and then made a turn onto the highway, which caused her breathing to feel a little forced again. She was nearly at her new home.

  Caia could see why they’d chosen the town. It was large enough to melt into but had enough surrounding rural area to run free in. There were a few roads dotted along the highway leading off into what she thought must be neighborhoods.

  Finally, Dimitri drove down a road closed in on either side by woodland. At last, the trees opened into a huge, circled clearing, and in the center sat a large home with an old-fashioned wraparound porch. She drew in a deep breath.

  “The whole pack is here?”

  Dimitri nodded, his eyes brimming with understanding. “It’s the only way to welcome you.”

  Irini, on the other hand, was bubbling with excitement. Before Dimitri had even parked, she was out of the car and running for the house. He laughed and shut off the engine.

  “Ready?”

  “No.” Caia shook her head. “But then I’ll never be ready for this moment, so we might as well shove my ass out of the car, right?”

  He chuckled and got out of the driver’s side. “That’s the spirit.”

  Caia had no idea how she managed it, but she got out of the car and slowly followed Dimitri up the front stairs to the porch. Her lykan ears could hear the sound of Irini crying happily and people murmuring warm words of welcome. She could hear her growl Lucien’s name, but then start crying and mumbling, “I missed you, brother,” over and over.

  I guess all is forgiven, Caia thought.

  As her light foot came off the last step, she was seized once more with anxiety, undiluted and pure. She steadied herself, taking a deep breath. She couldn’t let them see how nervous she was. Dimitri had swung open the porch door and was now throwing open the main door with as much grace.

  “Well, hell!” he shouted in amusement. “Look at you all … you didn’t eat everything already, did you?”

  “I managed to save you some food,” a female voice singsonged back at him. “I hid it from these vultures for you.”

  She could hear Dimitri smack a kiss on someone and the pack chuckled lightly. The sounds of familiarity between them all sent another wave through Caia’s stomach, but before she could melt into an anxious puddle, Dimitri’s head popped around the doorframe. “Come on, Cy.”

  A sudden hush fell over the room. Slowly, Caia pushed through the porch door and stepped into a beautiful open hallway with a wide antique staircase winding up from the center of the room to the next floor. Bracing herself against her own insecurities, she looked into the sitting room and stared at the large pack that was to be her new family. There looked to be about thirty of them—large, feral, handsome males, young and old; beautiful, athletic females; small children with inquiring eyes.

  This was Pack Errante.

  The whispering began as all eyes drank her in from head to foot.

  Lucien was stunned. Whatever he had expected, it was not this. Caia stood at the front door gazing at them, her catlike green eyes cool and calm as she took in the pack staring back at her from his large living room. He could tell by her tentative step toward them that she was more nervous than her placid expression let on. He watched in satisfaction as people came forward to shake her hand politely.

  They’d taken his warnings to welcome her to heart.

  As distracted as she was by his pack, Caia had yet to notice Lucien, and so he took pleasure in the moment to study her. Her heritage gave her away, he decided—as did her smell. She wouldn’t realize it. How could she? She didn’t know there was anything to look for. She was as graceful as the lykan she was, but looked more fey than wolf. Moreover, she held herself far more aloof than the rest of them. She was like water to their fire.

  He was stunned by his reaction to her. He had not expected attraction.

  He watched her sleek, light eyes widen now and then, depending on what kind of welcome she was given. Her skin was pale compared to the golden glow of his and his pack’s skin, her figure slender compared to the curvaceous shapes of the other women. He frowned, wondering how much of a problem this was going to be—she didn’t look like one of them at all.

  She stopped suddenly, in the middle of shaking one of the mated female’s hands. Her attention was drawn across the other side of the room.

  “Uncle Magnus?” Lucien heard her whisper. In an instant, Magnus closed the distance between them and had the small lykan wrapped in his big arms. Lucien smiled at her surprise and then her tentative happiness. This is a good sign, he decided. It was a show of family, and it seemed to ease the tension radiating from his anxious pack. Magnus, of course, seemed unaware of any tension.

  “My Artemis!” Magnus exclaimed heartily, holding her slight weight away from him so he could inspect her. “Look at the size of you, Cy. I wouldn’t have recognized you on a clear, full moon!”

  She teased her lip shyly between her teeth. She shed no tears, Lucien realized. Not like Ella and the others who had wept at his sister’s return.

  He watched as Magnus lavished praise over her. Caia blushed prettily and kept holding on to him.

  Suddenly, Magnus looked up. “Caia”—Magnus’s voice rumbled in the room—“I’d like to introduce you to Lucien, Pack Leader.”

  Before this moment, Caia had been bemused but happy in the arms of Magnus, his laughing eyes and coarse voice drowning out the buzz of wariness and apprehension she felt oozing from the rest of the pack. Although some seemed genuinely glad to have her returned, excited by her presence for reasons that were not yet clear to her, others—in particular, females—viewed her as a threat. She could feel it in them, see it in their eyes …

  The bubble of happiness Magnus had momentarily created popped as he spun her around to introduce her to the Pack Leader.

  She had vague memories of a tall, dark-haired young man who was moody and forever in some kind of argument with his parents. He barely spoke to her, never looked at her, and at times she had even felt like he despised her. There had been things said, arguments happened, and she had been sure they had something to do with her, but as a ch
ild, she’d had no comprehension of what they meant.

  That dark-haired young man had become into a powerful lykan. He towered above most of the others in the room, excluding Dimitri, Magnus, and one young male who was staring at her with an almost cruel twist to his lips. However, it was safe to say that standing at least at six foot six, with broad shoulders and an intimidating build, there was no question as to why this man was Alpha. His face was all sharp lines and hard angles, his eyes like mercury. She couldn’t believe any human would believe this man was not supernatural.

  He was intense, watchful, waiting. His scent flooded her—an overwhelming combination of humid earth and rain. In fact, she decided, he smelled exactly the way the air did on the verge of a lightning storm.

  Caia held out her hand formally to him and determined not to be intimidated by the brute, held his silver gaze. He seemed to search her eyes for something and upon finding nothing, he clasped her hand in his. A rush of heat exploded like a million darts of fire shooting up her arm.

  Damn. She knew her eyes had widened in surprise. She was only appeased when his eyes mirrored her reaction. In reflex, she tried to pull her hand out of his, but he held firm, pressing his calloused skin into her softness.

  “Welcome home.” His low timbre spread a second rush of heat through her body. The feeling frightened her enough to give her the strength to pull away from him.

  “Thank you,” she whispered. She wanted to tear her gaze away, was embarrassed even by the long look they’d shared, annoyed by the outrageous arrogance she felt pouring from this lykan, but she couldn’t. If it hadn’t been for Ella pulling her into a hug, she may have stood looking at her Pack Leader like a fool for the entire night.

  “Ella.” She managed a small smile, inhaling her adoptive mother’s scent of earth and lavender. She remembered that smell more than the tall woman holding her. It told her of the affection this woman had once given her, and for this, she hugged her tighter.