“What are you doing?” she whispered.

He looked back at her as if she were crazy. “You’re my mate now, Caia. That means my room is now your room.” He drew her into the master bedroom at the back of the house. Her pulse accelerated as they entered the largest room in the house, his huge king size four poster positioned in the center of the room. She had never been in Lucien’s bedroom. It was comfortable yet masculine at the same time, with a sturdy desk positioned at the back of the room near his walk in closet and en-suite. At the window sat a chocolate leather corner sofa, some of his clothes draped haphazardly over it.

He laughed softly. “Get undressed, get in bed, and go to sleep.” He brushed a reassuring hand down her cheek. “You must be exhausted.”

Aware only of nodding in agreement and shuffling around to the other side of his bed, Caia’s mind was whirring. It had never occurred to her that when they returned they would be living... well... like mates.

The bed looked so good though.

Her hands fluttered to the hem of her shirt and a burst of nervousness knocked the exhaustion out of her. Glancing up to see if Lucien was watching her, the sight of him was enough to make her mouth go dry. He was crossing the room towards the bed, his shirt discarded on the floor, his hair mussed up and his face unshaven and drawn with tiredness. The moonlight spilled across the room, highlighting his hard, taught abdomen and the thick ropes of muscles in his arms. The sight of him reminded her of the night she had lost her virginity to him.

Instantly her libido kicked into gear.

I can sleep later.

With a flick of her hand the bedroom door swung closed and the key turned in the lock. Lucien looked up from unbuttoning his jeans with questioning surprise.

She smiled shyly at him. “Suddenly not so tired.”

His answering grin was so wicked her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest.

“She’s back with the pack.” He gazed across the table at Nikolai. The magik looked worn out, his usually distinguished demeanor lessened by the dark circles under his eyes.

“Good. We have everything we need then?”

He shook his head. “There may be a complication.”

Nikolai shifted in his seat and he could tell he was trying not to roll his eyes. His expression read ‘not again’. “Da?”

He leaned across the Septum they had both been staring at with anticipation. “It has come to my attention that Caia is intending to go to the Council and ask to be put forward as a candidate for the Head of the Daylights.”

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 having sexual 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.