Blood Solstice: Part Three in the Tale of Lunarmorte (14 page)

“
Ryder!” Jaeden flew up from her crouched position beside the
vampyre and Irini and flew into his best friend’s arms. Lucien
brushed past them as they began making out and his nose told him
what he had feared.

“
What the fu-” He grabbed a hold of the vampyre and dragged
him out of the way. Reuben hissed at being manhandled but stood
back, allowing him access.

Caia lay
on the ground, her t-shirt and jeans soaked with blood – his nose
told him it wasn’t hers thank the gods – but as his eyes swept the
rest of her, his stomach flipped. Her shoulder had been turned into
a frickin’ chew toy. Bone and muscle clearly visible. Blood, her
blood, spread on the floor around it. His eyes met hers. She
smiled. She actually smiled. “Lucien.”

He
dropped to his knees and grabbed her hand in his. “Holy-” he
choked. She was so pale. “I can’t leave you alone for a
second.”

She made
to shake her head but hissed in pain at the movement. “Nope. I
guess you can’t.” And then she grinned at him again. “I missed
you.”

“
I missed you too,” he whispered hoarsely. And although she
was wounded he was just so glad she was here, that nothing fatally
bad had happened to her. He desperately wanted to know where she
had disappeared to. Why Vanne was working for them? What Reuben had
to do with it all? But instead he croaked, “I love you.”

“
Love you, too.”

He
whipped around to look at the vampyre. “So what’s happening? Can we
get her up?”

Reuben
nodded. “I had her under mesmerism; it stops her from feeling the
pain. I’ll need to be the one to take her up to the infirmary so I
can hold her mesmerised.”

The
thought of some other guy’s arm around her sent his back up. “No,”
he growled.

“
Lucien,” Jaeden snapped, unlocking herself from Ryder’s
embrace. “Let him take her to the frickin’ infirmary or I’ll
stab
you
next.”

He raised
an eyebrow at her. Had everybody completely forgotten he was Alpha?
“What did you say?” he asked quietly, dangerously. Sudden
realisation dawned on her face and Jaeden curled back into Ryder
protectively.

His
friend eased closer. “Come on,” Ryder pleaded. “Just let the guy do
this. If you carry her, her shoulder will be in agony the whole
way.”

Lucien
glanced back at Caia. She had gotten even paler. “Please,” she
whispered weakly.

That was
all it took. He nodded jerkily and let Reuben take the
reins.

***

Lucien
concentrated on watching the gentle rise and fall of Caia’s chest.
He sighed. He was never going to get used to this feeling. Even
when she was right there in front of him he was worrying about her.
Her lids fluttered in her sleep and he hoped to the gods she wasn’t
having nightmares. What she needed right now was a dreamless sleep
to help heal the shoulder that had been ripped open. At present she
was lying beside him in a huge bed in one of the suite’s a council
member utilised whilst she stayed at the Coven. Penelope Argyros.
She was a kind woman and she seemed to be fond of Caia. Vanne had
brought the magik straight up to the infirmary and she had utilised
some herbs and magik to seal Caia’s wound. She had then insisted
they all use her suite whilst the Council and Vanne brought the
Centre to order. Whilst Caia was being treated, Lucien had
questioned Vanne on what the hell had been going on. He now knew
all about Reuben – the slick bastard – and how Vanne and Saffron
had been working for the vampyre all these years. Vanne had been
placed as Marita’s husband. He had done his duty. He hadn’t loved
Marita, but he had respected and admired her. And then the years
passed and he’d grown to dislike the secretive, pretentious and
callous shrew she was turning into. After discovering what she had
been planning with the labs and especially now that Marion was
dead, Lucien could see hatred for the Head of the Coven blazing in
Vanne’s eyes. The warlock had gone on to tell Lucien about
persuading Alistair MacLachlan of the truth, how they had had to
wait thirty minutes before they believed it was really Vanne in
their home telling them that Marita was experimenting upon lykan
and vampyre children, and that she had imprisoned the Council.
After that it had been pretty easy to persuade them to rescue the
Council and the kids. According to Caia, Vanne had said the Council
member’s families didn’t need persuading. They had been waiting for
them at the gymnasium when they had arrived. Lucien shook his head.
This time last year he had thought his biggest worry was what the
arrival of his mate (who didn’t know she was his mate) was going to
do to his pack. Being part Midnight he hadn’t known whether she
would be dangerous to them all, a trouble maker? And then there was
the thought of being tied to someone you didn’t know for the rest
of your life. Never in a million years would he have suspected
Caia’s arrival meant his entire world turning upside down – the
Daylight and the Midnight Coven now sharing the same purpose: to
see the Head of the Daylight Coven destroyed. He sighed again.
Crap, all he ever did these days was cock his head and sigh
wearily. He brushed Caia’s hair back off her face and thanked the
gods that she was still here. Every day his gut twisted with panic
that today might be the last day he ever saw her again.

“
Stupid son-of-a-bitch,” he whispered. Why couldn’t he have
fallen in love with someone simple and uncomplicated? Someone like
Rose: Rose who had joined his pack in the fight against the Centre
without question when she saw Phoebe fighting off a vampyre from
the Centre. At this very moment she was in the other room watching
TV with Jaeden and the others.

But it
wasn’t Rose who ran through his veins as if she were part of his
very blood.

“
Why are you a stupid son-of-a-bitch?” Caia mumbled and he
smiled as her eyes fluttered open.

“
Hey you,” he whispered back and leaned over to press a soft
kiss on her lips. She smelled like Caia, damp earth of the wolf and
the vanilla scent of a magik.

“
My shoulder feels better.” She twisted to have a look at it.
She wore a nightdress, as the clothes she had been wearing were so
drenched in blood one of the witches had insisted on incinerating
them with her fire magik. Her shoulder was in one piece again
although the scar was still healing. “Hmm nice… dress.” She
wrinkled her nose and Lucien chuckled. Getting Caia into anything
remotely feminine was like asking the moon to be the sun. In fact,
this was probably only the third time he had seen her in something
that wasn’t jeans or shorts.

“
I like it,” he purred, tugging at one of the
straps.

She
laughed and reached up for him, her lithe arms wrapping around his
neck and pulling him down to her. He went more than willingly,
cuddling her into him and breathing deeply of her, reassuring him
she was OK.

“
I was so worried about you,” she breathed in his ear and he
felt himself laughing. “What?” She asked pulling back, a cute
little frown wrinkling the bridge of her nose.

“
You were worried about me?” He shook her gently. “Of the two
of us, who disappeared from whom? And who had her shoulder ripped
open? Oh and I heard about Marita’s attack,” his voice rose as he
continued on, “Apparently you were set on fire and drowned from the
inside out!” He knew his tone would annoy her and wasn’t surprised
when she wriggled out of his hold and eased herself up into a
sitting position. She was so easy to read. She hated being
physically and emotionally vulnerable to anyone, and it bothered
her that she was with him.

“
Lucien, do I have to remind you that this is a war? I’m going
to get hurt every now and then.”

He
shrugged and turned away. “I’m just saying it would be nice for
once to be waking up in bed next to you for a reason other than you
having just come under attack.”

“
We have… you know…” she started to blush and he struggled not
to smile. “You know… there have been times-” she stopped suddenly,
watching his expression, her eyes narrowing as realisation dawned
on her. “You enjoy tormenting me, don’t you?”

“
I’ve just never met a lykan as shy about sex as you, that’s
all.” He smiled and then gave a bark of laughter as her expression
turned mulish.

“
That’s what every woman wants to hear. My boyfriend finds me
amusing in bed… not sexy… amusing. Shy? Wow. Hot.”

All this talk of sex… he took a deep breath trying to regain
some control. But he leaned into her anyway, his lips inches from
hers. “Your mate,” he corrected her hoarsely. “Not
boyfriend.
Mate
.
And I find your shyness refreshing. I find it even more so when it
completely goes out of the window when you’re in
my
bed.”

He felt
her breath shudder against his lips and that was it. His control
snapped. Well he was a lykan. He couldn’t help it! Her hair slipped
through his fingers as he clasped a hand behind her head and
pressed her mouth to his gently. She groaned and kissed him back
and when he felt her tongue against his own he growled, kissing her
harder.

“
Lucien,” she whimpered against his lips and he knew what she
wanted. He held her face between his hands, gazing into huge eyes
that were, at the moment, glazed with lust.

He
trembled with indecision. And then an eruption of laughter from the
other side of the door brought him back to reality.

“
We can’t.” He shuddered and pulled back. “You need to rest
that shoulder… and we have company.”

She was
gazing at the door now, a moue of disappointment touching her lips
where his had just been. “I hear that.” And then her eyes widened.
“For Gaia’s sake! I didn’t even ask what happened? The
Centre?”

11 –
Trigger

Jaeden snuggled deeper into Ryder on the sofa, breathing him
in deeply. She felt his arm tighten around her but his gaze never
left the television. They were watching
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
and the boy wizard was presently pissing off Jim Broadbent’s
character.

“
Badly done, Harry,” Magnus muttered and Jae hid a snicker in
Ryder’s chest. He felt it and squeezed her. He was telling her to
quit it. You did not make fun of Magnus when he was watching
the
Harry Potter
movies.

“
Do you think Caia is awake?” Rose suddenly asked from her
spot on the other sofa next to Alexa.

“
Ssh,” Magnus hushed her without looking at her. Jaeden,
however, turned to look at her sharply, her gaze narrowing in on
the wolf. Jaeden knew from what Caia had told her, Rose was
Lucien’s ex-girlfriend. The lykan was watching the double doors to
the bedroom. She had been ever since Lucien had closed them behind
himself and Caia. Jae did not like the possessive look in Rose’s
eyes when she watched Lucien… and she watched him
all
the time. When the
fighting had stopped, Rose had made her way to the infirmary to see
Lucien. Jaeden had watched her face when she realised Lucien and
Caia were no longer ignoring their mating. Hatred for an
unconscious Caia had seared in her eyes. But no one else had seemed
to notice, Jae mused. Hmm, didn’t matter. She had. And she was
going to be sure to keep an eye out on Rose from now on.

She thought about the state of the Centre outside of this
suite. The Council had been amazing. They had taken control in a
matter of minutes, their combined power washing over the Centre and
stopping everyone in their tracks. They had ordered everyone into
one of the large reception halls and had explained the truth about
Marita and the labs downstairs. When Christian and Lucia, along
with a couple of magiks, came out of the Altar with the kids in
question, the supernaturals could smell the truth in the air and
see it on the faces of the traumatized children. Those
supernaturals who wished to leave were asked to do so and those who
trusted the Council could remain and help place protective spells
around the Centre to keep Marita out. After the revelations about
the labs, though, there were only a few who left. Unfortunately,
the kids had to stay to answer some of the Council’s questions so
they could find out exactly what had been done to them, especially
since the lab techs had all fled at the first sign of trouble.
They’re families were being brought in, however, to be with them
during the questioning. As for the pack kids, who were in Christian
and Lucia’s charge until they returned to the pack, Alfred promised
to question them that night so they could return with the pack in
the morning. Jaela was too young to be questioned. Thank goddess.
Jaeden had been relieved to feel little Jaela in her arms. She had
cried and blubbered over her family for a minute or so before the
events of the last few days seemed to be forgotten. Thankfully, she
was young enough for this to become a distant memory. A lump of
anguish lodged itself in her throat as she thought of Sunday, Ivan
and Kerianna. Unfortunately, she couldn’t say the same for them. It
was going to take them some time to get over what they had had to
endure.
Damn it
,
she tensed and Ryder turned to look at her sharply. She shook her
head and just rested it against his shoulder again. She was just so
mad. They were too young! They shouldn’t have had to go through
what she had! And thank the gods it had only been a mild version of
it. The day they hunted Marita down was the day Jaeden took a turn
tearing into her! The witch was going down! Because of her they had
traumatised kids on their hands. One of the MacLachlan’s had been
killed alongside two of the Council’s family members that had been
fighting with them. Word had also reached them that Desi, one of
the travellers that Caia had apparently befriended, was injured
when she had begun fighting on their side. Jae’s own brother had
been wounded but he had changed and healed himself. It hadn’t
stopped Lucia fluttering around him and Jaela like a mother hen on
crack. Jae glanced at Alexa who was watching the television
broodingly. She had had quite an eye-opener today. Alexa had been
in a tough fight with another lykan. Jae could see her wince every
time she shifted in her seat. Over all, though, to their surprise
and smug delight, their side had managed to take down a number of
the Coven who had fought against them. According to Phoebe, two of
them had been Michael Brown, the head of the Third Unit (Vampyre
division) and Lyla Thomson, the head of the Second Unit (Lykan
division); and ironically, Michael had fought by Caia’s side merely
weeks before. They were powerful enemies to have, but thankfully
the two of them, like good soldiers, stood down under the Council’s
orders. The atmosphere in the Centre was horrible. It was full of
anxiety and fear and hostility. But the Council were competent and
altogether more powerful than Marita, now she didn’t have any goons
working for her… well… except for the group of magiks who had left
the Centre when she had. According to Alfred Doukas she had perhaps
ten magiks with her at the moment, but with the trace magik it
would be easy for her to find more followers. They had to move
fast. At this very moment they were trying to figure out her most
likely hiding place and were putting together a plan to capture
her.