River Cast: Part Two in the Tale of Lunarmorte (40 page)

“
Did you ever
doubt it?” She teased.

“
Yes.”

She smacked him and tried
to pull out of his embrace but he held tight, laughing at her
efforts. “Just for that, no sex tonight.”

“
Oh come,
querida, you know I’m your biggest supporter.”

“
No, it’s too
late. Damage done.” She sauntered away from him, heading up the
staircase. Teasing him kept the pain of reality at bay for a while.
She tried not to smile at the sound of him jogging to keep up, at
the same time trying to be as quiet as possible.

As he followed her down
the hallway to their bedroom she heard him whisper, “You were
joking about the no sex thing, right?”

She rolled
her eyes at him as they entered the room, shutting the door behind
them. “We’re balanced on a precipice of potential disaster here
and
that’s
what
you’re worried about?”

He looked at her blankly.
“Well... yeah.”

***

For Jaeden and Ryder she
imagined their big day arrived just as slowly, at least that was
the impression Jaeden gave her every time she complained about
Ryder’s excessive ‘gentlemanliness’.

“
I’m telling
you I’m losing my mind,” she grumbled to Caia as she practiced her
telekinesis with her. Laila and Vil sat on the back porch, glad to
be free of Ryder’s apartment and taking in the fresh air. Caia
liked them nearby, still afraid that Marita would suddenly grab a
hold of Vil’s trace and appear out of nowhere to take them away
from her.

Caia chuckled. “You have
one more night and then he’s yours.”

“
Yeah, he’s
going to pay big time for this,” she grunted throwing all her
energy into spinning Lucien’s weights into the forest. Caia had
been impressed by Jaeden’s accuracy, but remembering how she’d had
to telekinetically throw a car once, she wanted to build Jaeden’s
strength. Lucien had pretended to be more than happy to donate his
training weights for their purposes.

“
Nicely
done.” Caia nodded encouragingly.

“
It’s rather
therapeutic,” Jae decided, her hair sticking to her forehead with
the exertion. “I can’t wait to move into Ryder’s. My parents are
driving me insane.”

Caia winced. “I’m sorry
about that.”

“
Don’t be.
I’m a grown woman with the right to make my own decisions. If I
choose to support you that is none of their business. Personally
I’m a little disappointed in
them
.”

“
They’re
entitled to their opinion.”

“
Come on!”
Jaeden hissed, throwing a meaningful glance towards Laila. “They’ve
met her; they’ve met you. You both have Midnight blood in you. That
isn’t telling them something!”

“
You can’t
just wipe out centuries of hate, Jae.”

She snorted. “Yeah well,
better you than me running this show because I would just lose my
rag with the whole lot of them. How are you so calm, so
patient?”

Caia laughed humourlessly.
“I’m not. I’m just good at pretending otherwise.”

And it was the truth. As
she sat with Lucien in his backyard, watching happily as Magnus
asked Artemis to bless the mating between Jae and Ryder, she was
uncomfortably aware of the discontent amongst the pack. Loyally,
they had shown up for the mating, but many of them were avoiding
Caia. She felt a little teary when the moon coloured glow lit up
between her friends bound hands. They kissed each other
passionately and she felt herself leaning into Lucien. The pack
cheered and everyone stood to congratulate them. Caia quickly got
out of their way, edging closer and closer to the woods. As they
dispersed, walking in little groups into the house where the
festivities awaited (weird, strained ones she was guessing) Caia
looked longingly into the dark velvet of the forest.

“
You want to
run,” a hot breath whispered in her ear.

She grinned. “You have no
idea how much.”

Lucien took her hand and
began pulling her into the trees. “Come on then.”

***

A little while later they
lay tangled in one another’s arms, their clothes abandoned around
them. Caia shivered as he stroked her hair, loving the sound of his
heartbeat beneath her ear.

Why couldn’t this be her
life? Why couldn’t it be this simple?

“
You wish we
had a proper ceremony?” Lucien asked her softly.

“
No.”

He chuckled. “That was
certainly adamant.”

“
Can you
imagine all that attention?” She shuddered. “No thank
you.”

He shook with amusement.
“You do realise that running a campaign for Head of the Daylights
and actually being the Head of Daylights requires quite a bit of
limelight?”

“
That’s
different, that’s necessary. I don’t need a ceremony with lots of
people watching on to know that I belong with you.”

He squeezed her closer and
pressed a loving kiss on her forehead. “Ah, querida. I feel the
same.”

“
Why do you
call me that?” She whispered lazily, knowing this moment was a
little slice of sunshine in their murky little underworld. She
swore she could feel him smiling into her forehead.

“
My dad. He
called my mom it and I remember how happy it made her.”

“
I’m such an
idiot,” she groaned and he laughed at what she knew sounded like a
change in subject.

“
Explain.”

“
You called
me that after the daemon attacked me. If I had opened my eyes a
little I would have known how you felt way back then.”

“
You know
now, that’s what matters.”

They lay for a little
longer, snuggled together in the darkness.

“
We should
get back,” Lucien said reluctantly.

“
I’m afraid
to.”

“
Why?”

“
In case we
never have a moment like this again.”

“
Caia.” He
pulled her up so he could kiss her tenderly. “I promise you that
after the storm passes there will be plenty of moments like this
for us.”

Although averse to
shimmying back into the little strappy dress she wore, Caia did so,
and hand in hand they walked back through the woods to their
home.

Where another surprise
awaited them.

Jaeden was waiting with
Ryder in the backyard, their faces a perfect mirror of
anxiety.

“
What’s
wrong?” Lucien picked up his pace.

Jaeden shook her head.
“We’re not sure. Marion’s here.”

Caia’s heart jarred and
she rushed past them and into the house. She found Marion talking
with Magnus, and Caia could tell immediately from her body language
that something was wrong.

She must
know.

“
Caia!”
Marion’s eyes lit up when she saw her. “Thank Gaia.”

Or
not.

“
What’s going
on?” She asked in trepidation.

The magik took her by the
wrist and led her all the way upstairs and into her old
bedroom.

“
Marion?”

“
Caia,
everything is a mess.” Marion pushed her hair back frantically.
Caia had never seen her so uncollected before. “My sister found out
that certain members of our Council have been feeding information
to the Midnights! She can’t get a handle on all who were involved -
they’ve combined their power to manipulate the trace… so she has
dissolved them. The entire Council. The Coven is in chaos... there
were actual riots inside the Centre!”

Marita had dissolved the
Council because of her. Caia couldn’t believe it. How could this be
happening? This couldn’t be happening. She felt breathless and
faint, all of her plans crumbling around her. Saffron had been
right. She hadn’t been prepared for the lengths Marita would go to
remain in power and annihilate the Midnights.

“
How...”

Marion shook her head.
“She has witnesses from within the Council member’s households.
This level of treachery is unthinkable. Nothing like this has ever
happened before.”

“
How come
she’s only finding out now? Her trace...?”

Marion shrugged but the
move was more violent than vague. “She had no reason to suspect
them before, so she didn’t go looking.” But Caia could see the
uncertainty in her eyes. This was insane. Irrational. And Marion
knew it. She was just… afraid.

“
Why are you
here?” Caia asked softly.

The witch scoffed at her
question. “I would have thought that was obvious.”

Oh crap. She
does know about me.

“
Caia, we
need you at the Centre. We held off because of Jae and Ryder’s
ceremony, but it’s done now and we need you there to help control
this situation. Half of them admire you and the other half
fear
you, it’s
perfect.”

“
Did Marita
request this?”

“
Who
else.”

Did Marita
really think she would be stupid enough to return to the Centre, to
a trap?
She must think I won’t be able to
come up with a reason not to return with Marion.

“
OK,” she
improvised, hoping she looked sufficiently agreeable, “You go back.
I have to settle things with the pack. I’ll get Lucien to drive me
to the portal tonight.”

“
Caia, just
say goodbye now.” Marion shook her head.

“
I can’t. I
might not be coming back. This is important.”

“
Magic
Fitness
won’t even be open by the time you
get there.”

“
Like that
will stop me.”

Marion heaved a huge sigh
of exasperation. “Marita specifically told me to bring you back
now. Arrggh. Fine,” she snapped, “I’ll see you in a few
hours.”

She disappeared
immediately, leaving Caia trembling with relief. She found Lucien
waiting for her at the bottom of the staircase and she quietly
related what had happened.

“
What the
Hades are we going to do now?” He hissed.

“
I don’t
know.” She shook frantically, her heart feeling like it was going
to explode. “I don’t know.”

She dodged quizzical looks
from Magnus and Dimitri who stood in the doorway of the sitting
room drinking scotch.

“
OK.” She
smoothed a hand absently down Lucien’s cheek from her higher
position on the stairs. “Six heads are better than two. I know it’s
unfair but this is kind of an emergency.”

“
You want me
to get Jae and Ryder.”

“
Yes. Get
them, meet me at the car. We’re going to Ryder’s apartment to talk
this over with Laila and Vil.”

He nodded, planting a
quick kiss on her lips before he turned to Dimitri and Magnus.
Cleverly he managed to draw them away from Caia whilst searching
for Jaeden and her mate.

Caia blew out a shaky
breath and headed outside, her feet taking the porch steps two at a
time. Thankfully, the pack had parked their cars around the edges
of the circular driveway, so Lucien’s truck wasn’t jammed
in.

She was just about to open
the passenger door when she heard a crunch of gravel behind her,
and a burst of pain slammed from the back of her head like a
speeding train knocking her into darkness.

25 - Taken

Lucien could feel the
panic building in his chest, threatening to cut off his
airwaves.

Ryder flew in from the
backyard, his breathing heavier than usual. His eyes were bleak as
they fell on Lucien, surrounded by most of a very silent pack. He
shook his head. “She’s not there.”

“
Lucien!”
Malek hurtled in from the front door. “We checked the whole
driveway over again. You might want to see this.”

He jerked away from his
mother’s comforting hand, following the boy outside at a frenzied
pace. He refused to listen to the whispers among the pack, that
maybe she hadn’t been taken, maybe she had deserted them. Caia
wouldn’t leave him willingly. His chest constricted with
fear.

Malek led him down to his
truck, where Daniel stood by the passenger side, his face
pale.

“
What is it?”
He snapped.

Daniel just pointed and
Lucien felt his whole world tilt as his eyes found the splash of
blood across the passenger door. Caia’s blood.

No.

“
CAIA!” He
turned and bellowed into the night. “CAIA!”

He would have yelled
himself hoarse if Jaeden hadn’t broken through the crowd the pack
had formed around him; distantly he saw his mother crying, Magnus
close to tears. What were they crying for? She wasn’t gone! He
couldn’t breathe.

“
Lucien!”
Jaeden stumbled towards him, her face flushed with fury.

He looked at her dazedly,
his throat closing with terror.

“
Do you think
it was Marita?”