Marion suddenly swooped into the room and nudged a reluctant Lucien out of the way. “OK.” She smiled softly at Caia, taking her by the chin gently. “Well, you gave us quite a fright young lady.”
“You should see the other guy.”
“Oh I did.” She laughed. “Quite an impressive decapitation.”
“Well, you know – aahhhh… OK, drugs would be good now.”
What followed was a spell that Caia wished she had been more in the frame of mind to pay attention to. Whatever Marion was doing the room smelled thickly of...
“What is that?” Lucien asked from the corner of the room, where he now stood with a worried Ella, Irini and Magnus.
“Partly it’s Malaysian Kratom. I’m using a spell to run it into Caia’s blood stream. It’s a natural pain killer and I’ve amped it up a little with some magik so that the pain should completely disappear.”
“The pain is completely disappearing,” Caia vouched, feeling a little loopy.
“Uh, is it making her high?” Irini asked worriedly.
“Oh no, that’s just the magik. That’ll wear off in a few minutes.”
Marion was right. A few minutes later and Caia couldn’t feel a thing. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, batting away the many arms that tried to still her movements. And then she took a deep breath and lifted her pj top to inspect her stomach. A deep diagonal slash marred her pale skin but she could see with relief that it was already healing and should be non-existent in a few days.
“How are you feeling?”
She couldn’t even tell which one of them said it. Maybe all of them. As her weary eyes took in the sight of her family gazing at her in concern, she thought of the people who weren’t here. “You have to call Ryder and Dimitri.”
Lucien frowned and strode towards her, ignoring Marion who was trying to keep the bed clear. “Why?”
“I was coming to you for a reason, Lucien.” She blinked and looked behind him at Marion and the others. “I dreamt of Jaeden and Ethan again. I know where he is.”
A collective hush fell over the room.
“You’re sure?” Lucien almost vibrated with excitement.
“Completely.”
“Where?”
Caia shook her head. “He’s about a day and a half drive from here. I can show you on a map.”
He nodded sharply and pulled his cell out of his jeans. “I’ll bring them home.”
“Caia! Caia!”
“Sebastian?”
They all turned to hear footsteps thomping up the stairs. Lucien groaned, “Who called him?”
Irini shrugged. “He’s her friend. I thought she would want him here.”
It was sweet of her, but Caia really didn’t want any more people worrying about her. Sebastian almost fell into the room, his eyes widening when he took her in lying on the bed. He ignored everyone else, practically shoved Lucien out of the way, and collapsed on the bed next to her. “Caia Ribeiro, I’m going to kill you,” he vowed hoarsely and then dragged her into his arms for a tight hug.
They both ignored the warning growl from Lucien.
“Seb, I’m fine.” Caia pulled back from him smiling. “Really.”
“Irini said it was a daemon.” His eyes were huge with awe. “You killed a daemon?”
“Yeah, but he got a lucky swing in,” she joked again, uncomfortable with all the attention.
Sebastian drew in a sharp breath. “Let me see,” he demanded and when she made no move he huffed. “Caia let me see you’re OK.” When again she made no move his hands went to the hem of her top as if to lift it and in two seconds he was off the bed and pinned to the wall next to it.
“Touch her again and I will kill you,” Lucien snarled into his face.
“Lucien.” Caia threw off her bed covers, ready to pull him off. That sent everyone into pandemonium. Marion swooped down on her tut-tutting, while Irini and Ella shouted at Lucien to let go of Sebastian. Magnus was the only one to stay calm. He strode forward and peeled Lucien off the boy without breaking a sweat.
“Overreacting much.” Magnus smirked, holding him back.
Caia had to admit she was impressed with Sebastian. He just shrugged his t-shirt back into place and frowned calmly at his Pack Leader. “I only wanted to check her wound.”
Lucien shook Magnus off, who came over to Caia to make sure she was OK. She nodded numbly at her uncle but kept her eyes on the two males who looked ready to battle it out. And over her. Oh goddess it was like an episode of The Vampire Diaries, she groaned.
“She doesn’t need you checking her wound. You’re not her mate.”
Sebastian smirked. “Well, neither are you, apparently.”
Magnus had his arms clamped across Lucien like a vice before he could swipe his claws out at the young male. Even Magnus was frowning at Sebastian now. “Show some respect you damn pup. That’s your Alpha you’re deliberately bating.”
The smirk slipped from Sebastian’s face but he still looked less than deferential. “My apologies,” he bit out and then turned to look back at Caia. “Sorry if I upset you.” That at least sounded more sincere.
Caia nodded. “Look, let’s forget about it. I’m OK. OK? And I know where Jaeden is.” She grinned and flushed at the beaming grin of appreciation and love that Sebastian threw back at her.
“I knew you would find her,” he breathed reverently.
“You’ve seen she’s alright. You - leave now,” Lucien demanded in a stony voice.
The young lykan turned back to his Pack Leader and then flicked his gaze back to Caia, questioningly. She groaned inwardly. She couldn’t believe Sebastian would even attempt to deny his Alpha over her. The trembling tension in Lucien’s muscles and the winds of possessiveness that blew from his body told Caia all she needed to know. “I think you better go, Sebastian. Thank you for coming though.”
His face fell but he nodded and with one last act of defiance, pressed a tender kiss on her forehead. “You’ll be OK?” he whispered intimately.
She nodded frantically, feeling Lucien’s anger building. “I will. I’ll call with any news,” she promised and sent him a silent message with her eyes. He would be in on the search for Jaeden too; she would make sure of it.
When he had gone, some of the tension melted from the room, but Irini and Ella looked shell-shocked and Magnus almost as angry as Lucien. Looking mildly amused on the other hand was the sedate Marion, who was watching them attentively as if enjoying an episode of The Jerry Springer Show.
Magnus huffed and looked around at his pack mates. “Someone needs to teach that boy a lesson.”
“Magnus, no,” Caia pleaded softly. “He doesn’t mean it.”
Lucien snorted and turned away from her, leaving Magnus to shake his head disapprovingly at her. “Even you should know, Caia, a male that young does not disrespect his Alpha the way that pup just did. Lucien would have had every right to tear him apart.”
“No,” Caia grumbled. “Sebastian was just worried about me.”
“Humph,” Magnus huffed and then turned to hit Lucien on the shoulder. “Come on, son, let’s call Dimitri and then grab a drink. Got any of the scotch I like... ”
When they had left Caia looked to the females for reassurance. But they were frowning at her, too.
“You really should discourage him, Caia,” Ella advised sternly.
Irini bit her lip. “I would never have called him if I knew the boy was in love with her.”
“He’s not in love with me.”
“Humph.”
“You’ll have to put a stop to it.”
“Oh yes, or Lucien will end up killing him.”
“That would devastate Isaac, and Lucien respects him.”
“Caia, please-”
“Ladies,” Marion didn’t shout but her voice resonated around the room with authority, cutting off Irini and Ella’s little tirade of advice. “You’re disturbing my patient. Please leave.”
26 - Road to War
Ryder and Dimitri must not have been far from them because Caia awoke the next morning to the sounds of shouting from downstairs. One of the voices belonged to Dimitri. As she awoke, drowsy, but thankfully still in no pain, her brain began to function and process what the argument was about. Lucien had ordered that Dimitri stay home. The useless searching he had done had driven his grief in on him and he was like a snarling, caged animal who no one could help. As far as Caia could gather, Lucien and Magnus both thought it unwise that Dimitri go with them to rescue Jaeden. His emotions would just put them all in danger.
She bolted up in bed at the sound of a scuffle and a crash. Growling was interrupted by a quiet voice and Caia felt the glow of magik descend upon the house. The scuffling stopped.
“What did you do to him?” Lucien demanded.
“I put him to sleep,” Marion replied serenely. “It was in everyone’s interest.”
“Yeah, and what about when he wakes up?” Caia was sure that the demanding voice belonged to Christian.
“While you’re gone I’ll take care of him, don’t worry.”
“Take care of him,” Christian spluttered, “What does she mean by that?”
“Marion would never hurt your father,” Ryder assured him.
Caia heaved slowly up off the bed, stretching her limbs carefully and checking out her mobility. As far as her body could tell this morning there was no wound, ‘daemon who?’ it said, and she smiled, only now truly understanding how wonderful lykan regenerative powers were. In fact, over all, she mused, as she pulled on some clean clothes and brushed her teeth and then her hair, she was feeling rather chipper. She’d survived her first daemon attack, which was technically her uncle’s first assault on her, her powers were obviously growing and she had found Jaeden and was about to go and rescue her. Not a bad day’s work.
Her smile didn’t last long.
“What do you mean I can’t go?” she growled through clenched teeth, glaring at Lucien. He stood dominantly in the center of the room, the map spread across the coffee table. Ryder, Aidan, Christian and Magnus were all gathered around it, while Ella and Irini popped back and forth with refreshments. Marion and Saffron were conspicuously absent.
Caia was seething. She had just spent the last hour with Aidan downloading detailed maps of the area. A big red circle now pinpointed her uncle Ethan and Jae’s position on the print out. Uh the big red circle she had magic-marked!
“You’re not coming.” Lucien shrugged casually.
OK, Caia, breathe, she told herself, making little crescent shapes on her palms with her nails from curling her fists so tight. “Yes. But why?”
Lucien sighed as if he was talking to a moron. “Um, OK, let’s see. You were just attacked and should be resting in bed for one,” he ticked off his reasons one finger at a time. “Uh two, I’m not going to hand you over to your uncle like a Christmas present when it’s obvious he now wants to kill you. And three, you’re still in training, and I’m not taking the chance that you’ll blow us all up with your magik.”