Blood Solstice: Part Three in the Tale of Lunarmorte (28 page)

Reuben
groaned. “Hades, save me from emotional women. Fine,” he snapped.
“It can wait a little while longer. Go tell the Council about your
lead and then we’ll get back to the pack to assure them you’re OK.
Saffron, take Marion back to your place for now. I’ll contact you
when we need you. Vil.” He grinned swiftly at the magik, showing
him his fangs. “You’re leaving now. Go back to the pack and tell
your Alpha that Caia will be back shortly.”

Vil
immediately disappeared. Caia threw Reuben a disparaging look. “I
don’t know why people are so afraid of you.”

His
answer was a smug cocking of his eyebrow.

Someone
really needed to put that guy in his place. She shared a look with
the witch and Caia knew Marion was thinking the same
thing.

She felt
a rush of pure happiness that the magik was back in her
life.

23 –
Fences

“
I’ve never done a communication spell with another person
holding onto me before,” Caia snapped at Reuben as they stood
facing each other in her suite at the Centre, both mirror images of
each other with their impatient sneers and defiant arms akimbo.
“Are you really sure it’s necessary.”

Reuben shook his head slowly, his expression that of someone
who felt they were dealing with a person of little intelligence.
“No, it isn’t necessary. However, I think it’s time you tried it,
and you
can
since
you’ve been to the hotel before.”

“
If I kill you this will be all your fault.”

“
Caia, you won’t kill me,” he reassured her. “We really must
work on your confidence if you’re to have any hope of taking on
Marita and winning.”

“
As much as I enjoy your pep talks, can we maybe just get
going?”

“
Hey, I wasn’t the one stalling.”

Caia took
a deep breath. Sometimes it felt like she was dealing with an
obnoxious teenager. Bracing herself, she held a tentative hand out
towards the vampyre and he gripped her tightly, her hand mostly
disappearing in his large one. Butterflies erupted in her belly at
the thought of seeing Lucien again after all these weeks and the
bad terms they had left one another on. The Council hadn’t been too
pleased with her decision to go after Marita with only Reuben and
Saffron for help, but they soon realised the method in the madness
considering how difficult it had been so far to track her, what
with her utilising the trace to escape all the time. Thus, they
were letting her go, although she was a little unnerved by Benedict
De Jong’s goodbye, the smug asshole waving her off gravely as if
sure it would be the last time he ever laid eyes on her. Goddess,
she hoped he was wrong.

“
Caia, let’s go.” Reuben squeezed her hand. At his insistence
she closed her eyes and began tightening her energy around them
both, visualising the front entrance of the hotel.

An
immediate lethargy crashed down over her body and she felt a tug on
her hand suggesting Reuben was holding her up. Taking a deep breath
Caia opened her eyes and forced her legs to straighten, demanding
strength rush back into them. They stood in the empty foyer of the
hotel, Reuben grinning at her arrogantly.

“
If you say I told you so, I will kill you,” she
snapped.

“
Caia!”

She
jerked around at the sound of her name, and only caught a brief
glimpse of Magnus running through the door of the dining hall
before she was crushed up into his arms like a little girl. She
held on tight, breathing in the scent of her favourite lykan.
“Uncle Magnus.” She grinned and pressed a kiss to his cheek,
watching as he glowed under her affection.

“
We missed you.” He suddenly pressed her back, glowering at
Reuben. “
You
have
some explaining to do.”

Uh oh,
Caia could see some trouble brewing here. “Uh, where is
Lucien?”

“
In his room.” Magnus continued to glare at the vampyre. “He
wants to kill this one.”

Oh crap
.

“
Oh, he can’t do that,” she rushed, her hands fluttering
nervously. “I need to explain to him before he sees Reuben…” she
trailed off and huffed at the blank expression on the vamp’s face.
He wasn’t concerned in the least.

“
Magnus,” she growled between clenched teeth, realising she
was the only one actually anxious about the situation, “Can you
take Reuben into the dining hall while I go and find Lucien, and
please promise that you won’t let anybody try to fight him. I know
he doesn’t look like much.” She smiled sweetly at the scowl Reuben
threw her. “But he can snap any one of us like a twig in under a
second.”

Magnus
huffed but agreed and, after giving her directions to Lucien’s
room, Caia watched silently as they disappeared into the dining
hall. She exhaled, brushing her hair nervously back off her face.
Seeing a mirror hanging on the wall by the entrance she rushed over
to it and gave herself a quick once over. She wanted to look cool
and aloof but instead she looked short and tired. Grunting, she
turned away and headed up the stairs. As she neared Lucien’s room
she began to taste his scent in the air and her ears perked up
hoping to catch any sound of him. What she did hear made her heart
stop, and she paused silently outside his bedroom door, her
fingernails making little crescents in her skin as she balled her
hands into tight fists.

“
So you’re just going to forgive her?” Rose snapped on the
other side of the door.

What the
Hades was Rose doing in his bedroom? Caia felt an overwhelming
desire to scratch the female’s eyes out and while she was at it
throw a good kick to where it would hurt Lucien the
most!

“
Rose,” he said quietly but determinedly, “We’ve been over
this.”

“
I know, but I’m still your friend, Lucien, I’m concerned. You
can’t just forgive her for leaving you, for lying to
you-”

Is that how he saw it?

“
-She’s only going to hurt you again and again because this
war means more to her than you or the pack.”

Bitch! She doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking
about!

“
You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lucien
growled.

Yes! Thank you!

“
I’m not trying to piss you off, Lucien. I’m trying to save
you some heartache.”

At the
dawning silence Caia had had enough. She pushed the door open with
enough force to send it slamming back against the wall and had to
stop herself from flinching under the crash it made.

She hadn’t really meant to make
that
much of a dramatic
entrance.

Lucien
gazed at her wide-eyed, and as he noticed her pointed glances
between him and Rose – Rose who was stroking his cheek
affectionately – he flushed, realising how it looked.
“Caia…”

She shook
her head. All this time she had been in turmoil and he had been
letting the red-head cosy up to him in his bedroom suite. She
glared at Rose and wasn’t surprised to see hatred in the lykan’s
eyes. Jealousy was a powerful emotion. She should know.

Caia
huffed, drawing her arms across her chest defensively. “Looks like
I wasn’t too greatly missed, huh. Jeez, Lucien, you work fast,” she
seethed.

If she
hadn’t been so angry she would have been amused by how flustered
and panicky he got, pushing Rose away from him. “It’s not how it
looks.”

“
It looks like Rose has been trying to replace me. It looks
like she’s in your bedroom…
alone
…
with
you.
”

He made
to move towards her but Rose pushed him back, turning on Caia in an
instant. “You’re the one who walked out, so don’t accuse him of
things you know nothing about.”

How dare this… this… this
person
speak to her like she had
business being involved in her and Lucien’s… well…
business!

Caia began walking slowly towards her, her eyes spitting
fire. “For starters, I was kicked out. And as for you, what goes on
between me and
my
mate has nothing to do with you, so I suggest you get out
before I really lose my temper.”

The air
around Caia crackled and sparked and she felt the urgency of her
power pleading with her to let loose as it tingled excitedly in her
fingertips. Rose’s eyes widened and she looked up at Lucien for
help. His lips pinched together and he pinned her with a
threatening look. Taking the hint, the lykan fled from the room,
dodging around Caia, clearly afraid of her.

When she was gone and the door was closed firmly behind her,
Lucien crossed the room to Caia but stopped so there was
enough,
obvious
,
distance between them. “That really wasn’t what it looked
like.”

Caia
shrugged as if it didn’t matter when they both knew it did.
“Whatever. You wanted to see me, so I’m here.”

“
Caia, don’t.” He shook his head angrily. “You must know how
bad I feel about kicking you out. But you should have told me about
Reuben. I’m supposed to protect my pack and I didn’t even know one
of them was being blackmailed!”

“
In order to protect the rest of you,” she argued.

“
Yeah, but you are the pack, Caia! What is the point of
preaching about looking out for one another and me protecting you
all when I couldn’t even protect my own mate?”

Caia
exhaled wearily, “I did what I had to do.”

“
So is that our relationship from now on? Doing what we have
to do to the detriment of our mating?”

“
I had to lie and you didn’t trust me… that’s
not
the mating, Lucien,
that’s us!”

He shook
his head as if he could dispel the accusation. “No! I only said I
was kicking you out because I thought you would see how crazy you
were being and change your mind.”

Suddenly
all this resentment she hadn’t even known had been there bubbled up
to the surface. Caia grabbed up a cushion off the sofa and threw it
at him with all her might. It bounced off his chest and he stared
at her incredulously. “Didn’t you even stop to think?! Didn’t you
wonder why I was so adamant about killing the Septum? Me? Killing
innocent people?!” She gestured wildly. “Did that make sense to
you?!”

“
No!” He yelled back like a child, crossing his arms over his
chest and making a face. “I knew something was up, but what the
hell was I supposed to do?! Run out after you and leave my pack to
deal with six deaths all by themselves?!”

Oh well,
he had to go and be all rational! She grimaced and shifted away
from him. “No,” she mumbled and began picking at the thread on a
throw over the sofa.

After a
minute of silence Lucien dropped down onto a chair. “So you didn’t
kill the Septum.” It wasn’t a question. Clearly, Vil had told
Lucien the little she had explained and hopefully left out the
rest.

“
I couldn’t. There was a little girl… anyway we worked out
something else.”

“
Worked out what?”

“
I can’t tell you.”

His jaw
clenched. “Can’t or won’t?”

Ignoring
his look of betrayal she sighed, “Can’t.”

He glared
at her. “I can’t believe you’re being like this. Fine. Keep your
secrets. But tell me one thing… are you going after
Marita?”

That much
she could be honest about. “Somebody has to do it.”

Lucien
launched to his feet. “But why does it have to be my
mate?”

Caia
chuckled humourlessly. “Oh gods, Lucien, I don’t know. But if I
don’t do this, things are going to get really bad. And it’s not
like I’m going into this alone. I have Saffron and
Reuben.”

He
stiffened and his face suddenly turned a mottled red. “Is he here?
Has he actually dared to come here?”

OK, so
Reuben had acted ruthlessly, but Caia couldn’t handle a
disagreement between him and Lucien right now. “It is his
hotel.”

With a
bellowing curse, Lucien blew past her and out the door. She heard
him running along the corridor at an insane speed. Oh dear goddess!
He was going to attack the vampyre that couldn’t die! Swearing
under her breath Caia took off after him, scaling over the railings
on the stairs in order to try and catch up with him. As it was,
when she came barrelling into the dining room, Reuben towered over
Lucien, his large hand wrapped around Lucien’s thick neck. The
flashing glints of red in his eyes told her he was mesmerising
Lucien, keeping him still as he choked the life from him, Lucien’s
face turning a terrible purple as they all stood around struck dumb
by the sight of their Alpha on his knees.

Caia felt
a rush of sickness. “Reuben… STOP IT!” She screamed, but he merely
tightened his hold. Suddenly Magnus leapt at the vampyre only to be
backhanded as if he were a mere fly.

“
REUBEN!” She screamed again as Ella followed Magnus’
footsteps. Lucien’s eyes were beginning to close and terror took
hold of her energy; her energy took hold of her, sneering at her
hopelessness and flowing out in a stream towards the vampyre. To
her utter surprise it made impact and Reuben was blasted across the
room with enough intensity to send him crashing through the windows
and outside into the cold. For a moment she was struck dumb by the
fact that her magik had actually worked on Reuben, and fleetingly
she wondered if he had been lying all along about being impervious
to it.