“Do you want to practice with me?”

The questions were asked in unison. Lucien glowered at her question. “Sebastian’s fine. Pack business.”

“I was just asking.”

“I was just answering.”

She rolled her eyes at him and sighed. “Practice what with you?”

He smiled, trying to shake off his jealousy. “Your magik.”

“What could I do?”

“Marion said you still needed to practice telekinesis.”

She looked him in the eye as she sat back in her chair. Her green eyes washed over his face with a perceptiveness that made him want to squirm. But he was Alpha. So he remained cool and expressionless.

“Well, it sounds like you’re getting daily reports.”

He nodded. “Of course.”

Dropping her gaze she fiddled with a fraying edge on Ella’s tablecloth. She was quiet for so long Lucien began to worry. Had he said something wrong? Without thinking he leaned across the table and pulled her hand gently away from the thread she was pulling at and laid it palm down on the table. “What’s up?” he asked drawing back. He wondered if she realized how gentle he was with her in comparison to how he acted with the rest of the pack. It had certainly come as a shock to him.

She shrugged her delicate shoulders, her hair falling across her face. “Nothing.”

“You are a terrible liar.”

“Good to know in times of war you can’t bluff for shit.”

He chuckled and sat back. “With great powers comes great attitude apparently.”

Her lips twisted in petulance but at least she was looking at him again. “I don’t think that’s how the saying goes.”

“I don’t think a Spiderman quote counts as an actual saying.”

“Pop culture reference. Ryder would be proud.”

Lucien smiled but leaned towards her. “Stop avoiding my question.”

She rolled her eyes again and sighed.

“You know you keep doing that and your eyeballs are going to be permanently stuck facing the wrong way.”

She laughed and he relaxed at the sound. “I’m being a teenager again, aren’t I?”

“You are a teenager.”

She shuddered and sat back. “No, I’m a hybrid. There should be a difference. No rolling my eyes for a start.”

“Well, I’ll try not to say anything that makes you want to roll your eyes.”

They smiled at each other, their gazes caught, and suddenly they were back where they had been before he had started kissing her that Saturday night. The moment seemed to stretch, twisting tighter with tension and he was a second away from launching across the table at her like some uncontrolled pubescent male when suddenly the back door flew open, leaves scuttling in with the wind.

He shot out of his chair, sending it flying behind him.

“Sorry.” Caia smiled sheepishly, standing too now. “You said I could test out my telekinesis on you.”

Lucien groaned and narrowed his eyes on her. “A little warning first perhaps.”

That night Caia fell into bed, her emotions ripped to shreds. She had spent most of the day with Lucien, showing him what she could do so far. For hours they had stood together in the back yard as she moved things with her magik and created water from nothing. In all that time her heart had ached in panic for Jaeden, and just ached for the male standing next to her. She had never wanted to feel anything for anyone and now her heart was breaking for two lykans.

Not once did Lucien touch her, it was almost as if he was afraid to. Instead he encouraged her and smiled proudly at her accomplishments like any Pack Leader might do. When she pounded a tree branch like a spear into the thick trunk of a tree she pretended it was Ethan she was obliterating, soothed by the splintering sounds of wood and Lucien’s snort. He was impressed with the speed and power she could put behind her telekinesis.

It took her what seemed like years before she fell into the blackness of sleep and as soon as she got there her mind fought to be free.

“Please,” Jaeden whined, pressing her body against the back of the cage.

“How many times do I have to tell you, you mangy mutt, that begging won’t get you anywhere?”

Caia had her face pressed against the cage, could hear those awful words tumbling from her mouth. But no, it couldn’t be. It hadn’t been her voice; it was cold and clinical and decidedly male.

“I can’t breathe,” Jae whimpered.

Anguished, she tried to push her arm through the bars to reach for her but her arm wouldn’t move. Instead her left arm gripped a bar tightly. She looked at the hand and gasped, but no sound came out her mouth. The hand was large and elegant, but masculine. “Well we wouldn’t want that, would we?” The cruel voice taunted. “I still need you alive, after all.”

His hand let go of the bar and he flicked his wrist, sending a flare up into the ceiling of the cage. It burst into beautiful light and then filtered down like golden petals. As it touched Jaeden her eyes closed, and her breathing returned to normal as she fell asleep. “Sleep well. Tomorrow it’s going to start all over again.”

“NO!” Caia tried to scream and rip his body away from Jaeden, but he wouldn’t move. Desperate and terrified she kept screaming for him to get away from her but not once did he even acknowledge her presence.

“Jaeden!” she screamed hoarsely.

“Caia.”

“Caia.”

She was being shaken all of sudden… and finally she was able to move her body. Her eyes flashed open and she was back in her room. Lucien had a hold of her, his arms gripping hers painfully. Ella stood in the doorway, fully dressed, but her hair was wild, as if she had been sleeping.

“Are you alright?” Ella came forward.

Caia blanched, embarrassed, as Lucien eased her back against her pillows. “Was I dreaming again?”

Ella glanced anxiously at her son, who met her gaze with his own concerned one. “I wouldn’t call that dreaming, honey.” Ella shook her head. “More like a nightmare.”

“I was calling out?”

Lucien snapped his gaze back at her and for the first time she realized that he was half-dressed, his muscular torso bare and gleaming in the faint light from her bedside table. He at least wore jeans, merciful Olympus. “Calling out?” he asked hoarsely, incredulously. “Caia, you were screaming so loud and hard I nearly had a heart attack.”

She bit her lip. “I’m sorry.”

“What happened?” Ella pressed a comforting hand on hers.

But Caia didn’t get a chance to answer as Lucien turned to his mother, towering over her. “I’ll talk to, Caia. Make sure she’s OK.”

Ella must have read something in his gaze because she just nodded, pressing a motherly hand to his arm. “OK. I was just going over to Irini’s.”

“At this time?” Lucien frowned.

“She called.” Ella sighed. “She’s lonely and upset without Aidan. Newlyweds separated and all.”

Was that admonishment in her voice? Caia frowned as Lucien tensed. “He’s needed elsewhere.”

“Magnus could have gone in his stead. I’ve been comforting him because he feels useless.”

“I need him here.” Lucien stood firm, obviously annoyed at having his decisions questioned by his mother.

Ella didn’t reply, she just smiled at Caia and left the room quietly, closing the door after her.

Lucien blew air out between his lips and turned back to Caia. He slid down onto the side of her bed and she scrambled for some equilibrium, bringing herself into a sitting position against the headboard.

“Your nightmare?” he asked softly, his silver eyes gazing at her fiercely.

It was Caia’s turn to exhale. “It was horrible. Like I was inside Ethan, hearing what he was saying and doing?”

Lucien grasped her wrist all of a sudden, his eyes blazing. “Do you know where he is?”

At that she wrestled her wrist free. Every time he asked her that she felt more than a little useless. “No,” she didn’t mean to snap, “I didn’t.”

“What did you see?”

Oh Gaia, did she want to cry right then, but she swallowed the burning lump in her throat and managed to meet his eyes, tear free. “He was sending Jaeden to sleep because she was in so much pain. But he plans to do the same thing to her tomorrow... all that... torture. He burns her, Lucien. Tears her skin with flames and gets off on her screams.” A ferociousness forged into her features. “He’s not just some soldier on the wrong side of a war, he’s darkness and perversion, and completely devoid of a soul. Just being inside his mind is a violation.” Lucien tried to shush her rant but she shook him off, her green eyes huge and pleading. “No! He’s sliced into every inch of her body with fire and she bears it. When I should. It should be me in that cage, not Jaeden. Me!”

Lucien made a choking sound, and before she knew it she was being pulled into a tight hug, his huge arms enveloping her so that her face was pressed against his throat. Without thinking she wrapped her own small arms around his back, pressing her hands into his shoulder blades. His skin was hot, and as she brushed her cheek across it she inhaled his comforting scent of storm and damp earth. The feel of him was like silk over steel, and for the first time since she had learned of his deceit, she felt truly safe with him again.

“We’ll get her back,” he whispered into her hair. “We will get her back. I won’t let him hurt you. I won’t let him have you.”

Caia’s mouth fell open as she drew back to look up into his face. He wouldn’t release her, though.

“Lucien?” she whispered, drinking in the pain in his eyes, wishing she could soothe it somehow. “I-”

Before she could tell him she forgave him for keeping her heritage a secret, his mouth was on hers, and it was literally as if he were kissing the life out of her, as if he could steal her very essence into himself.