Nikolai snapped to attention, his black eyes darkening impossibly. “Kirios, you can’t be serious? My Coven will hear of this... it could jeopardize our plans.”
“You worry too much, Nikolai. My source tells me that the Council don’t reconvene for another few weeks. By then it will be too late.”
“Why mention it at all?” Nikolai grumbled.
He shrugged, relaxing back in his chair. “I just wanted to keep you apprised of the situation. Anyway, even if she had gone ahead before we could stop it, it would merely have been a hindrance, nothing more.”
The magik snorted, “Well, I am tired of hindrances. My Council are eating away at my nerves. I can’t wait to begin.” His eyes dropped to the Septum.
“So close.”
“Da.”
23 - The Council
Jaeden sat anxiously waiting for Caia in Ella’s kitchen, her cold hands wrapped around a hot mug of coffee the Elder had planted before her as soon as she arrived.
“I’m sure she won’t be much longer,” Ella assured her, two flags of color on her cheeks. Magnus snorted and made a mumbling sound under his breath that sounded like “Yeah right.”
Jae tried not to laugh. Lykans were a pretty open bunch, but it was still uncomfortable for a mother to think about her kids hav**g s*xual relations of any kind no matter what age. A pang of jealousy hit as she heard a giggle from upstairs and the sounds of something clattering to the ground. At least Caia and Lucien were free to be with one another. She had to wait another frigging ten days because her honorable mate-to-be was old fashioned.
“What do you think of these?” Ella slid a bunch of fabric swatches towards her.
She frowned. “What are they?”
“They’re swatches for the chair coverings, for your ceremony. Julia put me in charge of decorations.”
Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, Jaeden nodded at the plain cream swatch. “That’s nice.”
Ever since Lucien had gathered her and Ryder together with both their families yesterday to announce the ceremony could go forward, and preferably soon, her mother had been driving her crazy with recipes and talks of dress shopping. Everyone had burst into discussion, Yvana and Julia arguing over who would take care of the cooking and baking, Lucia asking if Cera would be wearing the same color as Jaeden along with the rest of the women in the family. Only her father had quieted everyone with a direct question to Lucien, “Why has the mating to be so soon?”
Lucien had glanced at both herself and Ryder before telling the others solemnly that he had something extremely important to discuss with them at the pack meeting on Sunday. The answer to that question would be answered then.
“Will the fact that my daughter was nearly kidnapped again be brought up as well, because it doesn’t seem as if anyone is as bothered by that as I am?”
Well, of course she was bothered by it. The thought of going through that all over again... the thought was unimaginable. But she had Ryder now and he had stopped it. And yesterday Cy had promised to keep looking into it for her.
“Caia and I are dealing with that,” Lucien had said in such a way as not to be disputed.
Her father hadn’t looked too happy, used to being brought into Lucien’s confidence in all matters, and had quizzed Jae all last night about it. As usual he somehow knew that she knew what was going on. She still couldn’t believe that Caia intended to put herself forward for the Head of the Coven, but she’d watched her yesterday with Laila when she had visited with the young couple again, how kind and gentle she was with the girl, how easy it was to believe that she could and would take care of everything. At first she really believed Caia and Lucien had gone mad, that Caia’s ego had inflated since she had gone. However, when Lucien explained what Caia had found, that Marita was experimenting on lykan children... Jaeden had been enraged. She felt personally betrayed by the witch. Still, taking her down was a huge deal. Yet when Lucien told her what Caia had done to those Midnights who planned to attack the MacLachlan pack she had been blown away and a sense of relief had melted over her. Never had she heard of any magik doing such a thing. Caia was a weapon. The most powerful weapon in their world. She guessed they should feel lucky that she was one of the good guys, one of their own.
And that was why she found herself at her house, waiting for her to climb out of her love nest with Lucien so she could talk to her. Ryder thought they should clear the air, and she tended to agree with him. They needed to trust one another if this were going to work.
“Jaeden!” Caia bounced into the room, her cheeks flushed, her green eyes brighter than jade. “Sorry to have kept you.”
Jaeden regarded her knowingly, somehow comforted by the blush that blossomed across Caia’s cheeks. It made her seem more approachable. She made a face and sat down next to her, glancing idly at the fabric swatches Ella was looking at. Caia grimaced. “Ah mating ceremony plans. Don’t envy you that.”
Relaxing a little, Jaeden shook her head. “My mother is taking care of everything and slowly driving me nuts. It’s been a day. It feels like years.”
“Tut tut,” Ella admonished. “Your mother loves you. She wants you to have the best.”
Jaeden harrumphed at that.
“Morning.” Lucien strolled into the kitchen, his hair more mussed than usual. He threw a scorching look at Caia before noticing Jae. “Hey Jae.” He made his way to the coffee machine. “What’s up?”
“I just wondered if Caia had a moment to talk.”
Caia nodded at her. “Of course.”
“In private?”
She received a curious look at that. “Backyard?”
Prying ears could still find them there, she mused looking around at Magnus, Ella and Lucien. Magnus was the only one who noticed. He folded his paper and tapped Ella on the shoulder. “Sitting room.”
“Huh, what?” She didn’t look up from the folder she was going through.
“Ella, you can do that in the sitting room. You too, Lucien.”
Jaeden smiled gratefully at him, and rolled her eyes at Lucien who couldn’t resist pulling Caia in for a kiss as he passed her.
“Ready?” Jae asked, unable to keep the amusement out of her voice.
Caia smoothed her hair, looking a little flustered, but she nodded in the direction of the back door. “Sure. Let’s go.”
They stood in the middle of the yard, their backs to the house, their eyes drawn to the forest like magnets. A wind whistled gently through the trees towards them and Jae watched as Caia tilted her face into it, pulling the rubber band from her hair so that it fell down and into the wind.
“Reminds me of the wind in my pelt,” she explained to her, and Jaeden smiled. Somehow it made it better knowing Caia loved her lykan side even though her powers as a magik were phenomenal. “So what’s going on?” she asked softly, lowering herself onto the grass.
Jaeden stretched out beside her, sighing. “I thought we should talk... about things.”
“Such as?”
Jaeden shrugged. “Our friendship. What happened? Other stuff I have yet to explain.”
“Well, friendship wise… you’re my friend and always will be.” She turned her face away so that Jae couldn’t read her expression. “When I found out the truth, that you weren’t you, that you were gone… I was devastated.”
Memories of those first two weeks together swallowed her momentarily. They had hit it off instantly, a bond created between them from the moment they had met. A lot of those memories included laughter, lots of laughter.
“You know I haven’t asked anyone about that faerie.” Jaeden shuddered at the thought of her. “No one seems to want to bring it up. What was it like, Cy?”
Caia turned back to her with tears shimmering in eyes that blazed with hatred and anger. “It was shocking and heinous. She was you, Jaeden. She must have watched you for weeks, memorizing your mannerisms, the way you laughed...”
Jaeden gulped at the thought of that ghoul pretending to be her, sleeping in her bed, wearing her clothes, laughing with her friends. “No one had any clue?”
“None whatsoever. It was Saffron, Marion’s faerie - she felt her in the house, knew she wasn’t...”
“Me.”
“Yes,” Caia answered hollowly. “Then I started getting the visions of you through Ethan’s eyes.”
That someone had paid witness to the scars on her soul was difficult for her to deal with, but looking at Caia’s pained expression, the fury in her eyes that was there for Jaeden because she genuinely cared, made it a little easier to cope with. “Ryder told me you saw everything.”
Caia nodded, blinking back tears. “I am so sorry I didn’t get to you sooner.”
“Don’t be,” Jaeden bit out. “You didn’t give up. That’s what matters.”
“I didn’t save Sebastian.”
Like always his name set off a fire of grief in Jaeden’s chest, her breathing labored and her throat burned with unshed tears. He had been her best friend and he had died trying to protect her.
“Sebastian would have found a way to be there with or without you bringing him along. I was his best friend and he did what either one of us would have done for him.”
Caia choked on a broken sob. “I miss him.”
She swiped at her own tears. “I miss him too. But I’m glad you had each other through it all.”
After a moment of silence, one that now felt a little easier between them, Caia reached across and squeezed her hand. “Thank you for believing in me. For being willing to fight for me. It means more than you can know.” She choked letting go of her hand. “I thought I was going to be doing this all alone. You’ve all surprised me.”
Jaeden chuckled humorlessly. “Well there are more surprises to come.”
“Meaning?”
She braced herself. “Something happened to me because of Ethan’s... torture of me.”
Caia went on alert instantly. “What?”
Just get it over with. If anyone is going to understand feeling like a freak... Cy has to be that person.
“I have telekinetic abilities.” And with that she concentrated on a plant pot Ella had placed by the porch stairs and willed it to fly past them and smash against the nearest tree.
She took a little satisfaction in surprising Caia, her jaw dropping as the ceramic lay in pieces, the plant pulp on the ground. And then her face tightened with worry and she turned back to Jaeden with growing panic in her eyes.
“I think I know who tried to kidnap you.”
“I can’t believe this.” Lucien ran his hand through his hair, tugging at the ends viciously. “This is insane.”
Caia couldn’t believe it either. She had called Lucien out from the house and had refused to tell Jaeden anything until they had gathered at Ryder’s apartment. Caia had insisted Laila and Vil be present as well. The six of them sat staring at each other, the atmosphere thick with tension and a terrible foreboding.
“Caia, are you sure?”