Moon Spell (The Tale of Lunarmorte #1) (42 page)

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.”

Caia flushed, shifting from one foot to the other. “Well... I... ” she stammered and looked around at the others for back up. Every single one of them lowered their eyes. She snapped and turned her blazing green gaze on her
‘
mate
’
. “Yeah, well… you need me to take you right to the door…
jackass
.”

Lucien stiffened at the insult while the others smothered their laughs behind their hands. “I
’
ll let that slide because you
’
re my mate,” he drawled dangerously, walking slowly towards her. He stopped inches from her so she had to crane her neck back to meet his gaze. “But don
’
t call me a jackass again.”

She refused to be intimidated. “Jackass.”

Lucien narrowed his eyes and cupped a large hand around the back of her neck, holding her imperceptibly tighter. She gulped.

“We don
’
t need you now we know which area she
’
s in. You
’
ve gotten us close enough to find her with this.” He tapped his nose with his other hand and then drew her closer as if for a kiss. “Good thing you destroyed your car so I wouldn
’
t have to confiscate the keys,” he whispered across her lips and she tried not to shiver in reaction. And then she came back to herself and pushed him away, blushing furiously. He had just provided the pack with a deliberate display of dominance and she had fallen right into it. Bastard.

“I will never forgive you for this,” she whispered angrily.

Lucien shrugged nonchalantly, though she saw his eyes had darkened with emotion. “Well, I would never forgive myself if something happened to you, so I guess I
’
ll just have to live with that.”

Caia wouldn
’
t come
out of her room as the males made their preparations for their journey. Irini and Ella were making snacks, while Ryder hunted down a motel for them to stop off on the way.

“There
’
s the
Motel En El Camino
!” she could hear Ryder shout as he walked from the office to the living room.

“That
’
ll do,” Lucien responded. “We just need a place to rest our heads for a few hours, nothing more.”

Caia picked up her lamp and threw it with considerable force against the large cabinet that housed her television. It shattered with enough noise to wake the dead and she smiled, momentarily appeased at the following silence from downstairs.

“She
’
s really pissed.” Aidan chuckled.

“She was such a quiet girl when she arrived,” Ryder teased.

Lucien merely grunted.

Tantrum over, she waited and waited for them to leave, but Marion arrived with Saffron, postponing their departure further.

“I
’
m glad I caught you. I just got back from the Center.” It sounded like she was out of breath. “I
’
m so sorry but Marita won
’
t allow either me or Saffron to come with you.”

Caia hurried over to the door, holding her breath. Why wouldn
’
t the Head of The Daylights help them out? They were supposed to protect everyone from Midnights, no matter what.

“Marita believes Caia is more than enough artillery for you to deal with this.”

“Caia
’
s not going.” Lucien slammed that door closed.

“I didn
’
t think she would be. I am sorry,” Marion sounded genuinely anxious. “Marita doesn
’
t want to draw attention to this. She
’
s just as fearful of anyone finding out that Ethan isn
’
t the Head of the Midnights as he is.”

“Why?” Ryder snapped.

“Because we have no way of knowing how the Midnights will react. It could be explosive. The Center is not fully prepared for that just yet.”

“It
’
s alright, Marion,” Lucien reassured her. “We weren
’
t asking you to come anyway. We can take care of this.”

“But Ethan...”

“We
’
re going in as lykans. He won
’
t be able to touch us with his magik.”

No one said anything after that and Caia slid down the door, her heart pounding. She wanted to go with them. She needed to go. And unfortunately it wasn
’
t just about being the one to get Jaeden back.

She couldn
’
t bear it if something happened to Lucien and she wasn
’
t there to help him.

“Damn him,” she hissed and jumped to her feet as the car wheels spun on the gravel driveway, the noise of the engines gradually fading into the distance.

“Caia?” Ella knocked on her door.

She braced her magik against it so that no matter how hard her adoptive mother pushed, the door wouldn
’
t budge.

“Caia, please.”

“I don
’
t want to talk to anyone.”

There was a moment of silence and then the Elder sighed. “OK. But there
’
s food downstairs if you decide you
’
re hungry.”

“OK.”

As soon as Ella
’
s footsteps disappeared, Caia was clambering out of her window and down the side of the house as quickly and as quietly as she could. Once on the ground, keeping her back pressed against the wall, she sidled ninja-style along the porch and glanced quickly into the window. The kitchen was empty. Thanking Artemis, she ran full speed into the woods and began shedding her clothes at the same time. Like the night before, Caia was able to transform momentarily into a lykan, and she whooped inwardly as she tore through the woods, ignoring spiking bracken and branches that caught on her fur. At some point she was going to have to tell Lucien about her new cool ability. Just as soon as it entered her mind she dismissed the thought, wondering if it would only alienate her further from the pack. It didn
’
t matter she supposed. If she was going to live at the Center she wouldn
’
t have to tell Lucien anything. Not that Marita was sounding a whole barrel of fun at the moment.

It took her only fifteen minutes going at full pelt to get to Sebastian
’
s house. She crashed out of the woods that cornered his neighborhood when she remembered she was a wolf. Sheepishly, she cowered back, and fell down into the grass so she could gaze around at the surroundings. It looked like she was going to have to go through the backyards and hope to Artemis no one saw her.

There were a few hairy moments. Such as when she thought the first backyard was clear and made to shoot through it and under the fence into the neighboring yard. She just managed to squeeze herself back behind a garbage can when a short, squat woman trundled out the back door with a pile of laundry in her arms. As soon as the woman
’
s back was turned Caia streaked across it and out of sight.

Two houses from Sebastian
’
s and her coat was soaked with sweat.

“Is that a dog?”

So startled at the booming male voice that came from behind her, Caia tore off, not even pretending to hide, and jumped the six foot fence that bordered Sebastian
’
s house. There was some commotion behind her so she scuttled to the back door scraping and whining as loudly as she could.

Caia had never been so thankful to see anybody in her life.

“Caia?” Sebastian asked in amazement, his eyes darting around and then coming back to her. “What are you doing?”

She whined again and he ushered her inside.

“My mom and dad are visiting Cera. The kids all like each other,” he explained.

She whined again as if to say
‘
and I give a rat
’
s ass?
’

“I
’
ll get you clothes.” He nodded and hurried out of the kitchen.

Back in a flash he held a pair of jeans and a large
Killers
t-shirt. “The jeans are my mom
’
s. I couldn
’
t find a shirt for you, though, so you
’
ll just have to wear mine.”

Caia waited for him to leave but he just stood there with his hands jammed in his jean pockets watching her. After a moment
’
s padding, she growled politely, and he took the hint and left.

Her change back was just as quick and again she marveled at it. It felt almost like cheating, she thought as she pulled on the clothes. Sebastian
’
s mom
’
s jeans were a little on the long side so she rolled them up as best she could, and pulled on Seb
’
s shirt. It smelled of him and she wondered momentarily if he had lied about not being able to find her a shirt from his mom
’
s closet just so she would be encased in his scent. Shaking it off as paranoia, Caia wandered through the house until she found him sitting, waiting for her in his living room.

He smirked, drinking in the sight of her and she felt his rush of pleasure at seeing her in something he owned.

“I need shoes.” She distracted him.

“What size?”

“Seven.”

He grinned and got up. “My mom
’
s an eight, that
’
ll do, right? Mom has really small feet for a tall chick.”

“You call your mom, chick?” she called after him.

“Not to her face.”

Once she had on sneakers and socks Caia was able to explain the entire mess to Sebastian.

When she was finished, Sebastian shook his head in disgust. “I can
’
t believe he did that.”

“Yeah, well, I should have seen it coming. He
’
s so...”

“Obnoxious,” Sebastian supplied cheerfully.

“I was going for overprotective, but obnoxious works just as well.”

He grinned and then stilled, looking serious and very grown up all of a sudden. “So what
’
s the plan?”

Caia began to pace, hoping to Gaia that Sebastian would go for it. “The guys are staying at a Motel called
Motel En El Camino
. I thought we could take your car and head out after them and meet up with them there. Once we
’
re halfway there, they
’
re not going to send us back, and if they try to, this time I
’
m pulling out the big guns.”

Sebastian looked worried. “Magik?”

“Yes. If it
’
s the only way.”

“Caia, you sure you want to do this?”

Yes.
Didn
’
t he understand? Jaeden had been kidnapped because of
her
and now four of the pack
’
s strongest young males were headed out after her.
Lucien
was headed out after her. And they didn
’
t have the backup they needed. She wouldn
’
t let them do this alone.

“I have to.”

Sebastian nodded. “Then let
’
s go.”

“Sebastian, you don
’
t have to. You could just give me your car.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “No way are you leaving me out of the action.”