She felt herself nodding, but the truth was she didn’t care about her shoulder anymore.

Swimming with Reuben was nice.

10 – The Fear that Feeds on Love

An unshakeable rage was pouring out of Lucien’s pores like smoke. A pale-faced Ryder was watching him warily as they listened for the next noise from outside their cell. The sound of a faint commotion had been going on for a while – they had already heard a door crash open and the growl of a lykan. Then a girl screamed and Lucien and Ryder had looked at each other in horrified surprise. Had that been Caia? And then the female magik who guarded them was shooting past their cell, her face readied for battle. It had barely been two seconds before her body went flying past the cell again, followed by a bristling Vanne. The girl screamed again and they heard Jaeden’s voice. Ryder forgot himself and had rushed towards the Plexiglas. Lucien grabbed him back just in time but he hadn’t let go of his shirt, his fist clenched in anxiety around the material. A howl of agony shook his last vestige of control.

“CAIA!” he roared and then it was Ryder who was pushing him back, having a difficult time of it too. Lucien didn’t care; he had to get to her, no matter what. He shoved Ryder off him and strode to the cell door but the idiot was on him again. They started grappling.

“Stop it,” a cool voice commanded and they both whipped around to see Vanne. He clutched a hold of a terrified guard.

“What is going on?” Lucien spat.

“We’re taking the Center back. Marita has flown the nest.” His dead eyes suddenly sparked with hatred.

Lucien put aside enough of his worry to ask, “You’re in on this?”

He nodded stiffly and pushed the magik against the Plexiglas. “Blair, free them.”

As Blair worked, he looked back up at Lucien and Ryder. “I’ve been working against Marita for a long time. Everything will be explained to you later.”

“Caia?” Lucien asked anxiously.

Vanne nodded sympathetically. “She’ll be OK but she’s badly hurt.”

Suddenly the energy on the Plexiglas buzzed like a broken fluorescent light and then disappeared. Blair’s fingers shook as she hurried to open the door with a swipe card. As soon as it sprang open Lucien rushed past them and turned to his right. A large crowd was gathered at the entryway surrounding something… or someone.

“The Council and their families,” Vanne explained the crowd as he strode past him, still holding onto the witch. “Now we need to rescue the children from the labs.”

Lucien wasn’t even listening. Ryder gripped his shoulder in comfort and the two of them took off after Vanne.

“Ladies and gentleman, you are needed upstairs where you can bring that riot back under control. Penelope we would grateful for your help with Caia once you’re done.”

She nodded, throwing Caia a sympathetic look.

“Marita is gone then?” One of the Council asked.

Marita’s husband – ex-husband? – nodded and began ushering them all quickly out of the door. The sight they left sent his heart plummeting to his stomach. His sister, in wolf form, sat rigidly, her eyes glued to Reuben who was hovering over someone lying on the floor.

“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 mesmerized.”

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 realization 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 suites a council member utilized while 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 utilized some herbs and magik to seal Caia’s wound. She had then insisted they all use her suite while the Council and Vanne brought the Center to order. While 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 members’ 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’d 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 Center without question when she saw Phoebe fighting off a vampyre from the Center. 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 laughed. “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.