River Cast: Part Two in the Tale of Lunarmorte (23 page)

“
Is... is
Jaeden... has Jaeden... Was there any mention of Jaeden having...
abilities?”

He curled his head back
towards her, enough to raise a mocking eyebrow. “Such as the
ability to morph into a wolf.”

Ugh.

She grimaced.“You really
are unpleasant when you’re not getting your own way.”

“
No. I’m just
used to having my orders obeyed.”

“
There’s a
difference between that and abusing your position to nose into my
privacy.”

Scowling, he made to turn
away from her, and before he disappeared with a banging of the
doors together, he murmured, “Don’t think I don’t find the Jaeden
question weird.”

When he was gone, Caia
blew out a weary breath.

Jaeden was OK.

And she would remain as
such as long as Caia had any say in it.

***

23 hours later
after that

Vilhelm gazed back at her
wild-eyed and shaking.

“
You’re sure
this is going to work?”

Caia nodded, poker-face
on, her body steady as a rock. If they were to pull this off, she
needed to project a calm confidence that he wouldn’t
question.

She had to hand it to the
kid, he was either extremely brave or just stupidly in love. After
hunting him down it had taken very little to convince Vilhelm to
break Laila out of the Centre and take her to Ryder’s. It seemed
they were both desperate enough to place their trust in a stranger.
They stood now in a janitor’s closet, a few corridors away from the
prison.

“
You
ready?”

Vil nodded excitedly.“Do
it.”

With unruffled nerve, Caia
raised her hand so that it hovered an inch in front of Vil’s face.
Slowly and carefully, her fingers crackling with energy, she swept
the air in a vertical motion from the tip of his hair to the tip of
his chin.

“
Is it
done?”

She bit her lip, gazing at
Vil who was now the exact image of Vanne. “Not quite.”

Softly, she placed a hand
on his neck, where his voice box was.

“
Cold,” he
chuckled nervously.

With a satisfied nod, Caia
pulled back. “Say something else.”

“
I can’t wait
to see Laila.” His eyes widened. “I can’t wait to see Laila. Wow I
sound exactly like Vanne.”

Caia nodded briskly.
“Remember, you have exactly thirty minutes to get in there and get
out of the Centre before your face and voice returns. Hold out your
hand, palm forward.”

He did as she instructed
and she placed her small hand against his large hand.

Lucien had almost caught
her researching this act she was about to perform: the transfer of
a small amount of her power to another magik. The transfer would
last only ten minutes at the most, but they needed this so that Vil
could break Laila out of the bars in her prison.

Yesterday morning, Caia
and Vil had managed to sweet talk (to her utter mortification) the
name of the spell wrapped around the bars holding Laila in, from a
junior officer in the containment centre. He had been more than
happy to show off how the facilities worked for the VIP magik in
their midst. With the help of a little something Vil had picked up
during one of his air element lectures, he was able to stop the
memory of their having been at the containment centre by
temporarily starving the oxygen flow to the hippocampus of the
officer’s brain, where memories were consolidated from short term
to long term.

It tended to be a little
painful and cause some confusion for a moment, giving them plenty
of time to get out of there before he came back to his
senses.

Lucien had then
interrupted Caia’s research in the library where she discovered
what kind of spell to counteract the one keeping the magik up
around the bars. It was a small incantation that needed to be said
whilst focusing the energy used to produce glamour on the bars. The
transfer of her power to him temporarily was necessary, since Vil
wasn’t really good at anything but utilising his air element and
being a Traveller.

“
You remember
the password and incantation?”

Vil nodded vigilantly.
“Locked in tight.” He tapped his brain.

It was weird talking to
him when he looked and sounded like Vanne. Heart pounding with
trepidation, Caia jerked her head towards the closet door. “You
better get going. Remember you can trust Ryder, he’ll keep you
safe. Just don’t mention Laila being a Midnight just
yet.”

“
Got
it.”

“
Just tell
him what I told you to tell him.”

“
Don’t worry,
I will. I trust you.”

She guessed it was easier
to trust the person who tells you they think the girl you love is
actually a good person, than the person who imprisoned her and
forbade you from ever seeing her again.

It was at that moment the
familiar, sickening, icy feeling shuddered through her body, and a
wealth of new information poured into her.

“
Crap,” she
whispered.

“
What, what?”
Vil asked frantically.

“
Nothing.
Nothing. It’s not about this, it doesn’t affect this. Go!” She
pushed him towards the door and watched impatiently as he ducked
his head out to make sure the corridor was clear. Caia closed the
closet door behind her and nodded at him. “See you
soon.”

He smiled tremulously.
“Hope so.”

With that, they spun away
from each other and headed in opposite directions. At the
elevators, Caia picked up the intercom system.

“
Centre
Reception, Chloe speaking.”

“
Chloe, it’s
Caia Ribeiro. Can you put me through to Marita?”

“
One second,
please.”

The line was silent for
only a moment or two.

“
Caia?”
Marita’s imperious voice rang down the phone line. She felt her
face grimacing in anger and scolded herself for being obvious even
if the witch couldn’t see her.

“
Could you
please gather the tactical team for the MacLachlan’s
together?”

“
What’s going
on?”

“
I have some
important news.”

16 - You

“
I thought we
were going to spend more time apart until Lucien gets
back?”

She stood slouched and
languid against her doorframe, her mouth twisted in mockery, her
tone suggesting irritation. But Ryder was not deterred. He grinned
cockily into her dark blue eyes and found in them attraction,
happiness that he was on her doorstep.

Shrugging, he mirrored
Jaeden’s pretended indifference. “I’m bored. Thought you might be
bored; maybe desperate to get some air.” He nodded behind her
shoulder, his eyebrows raised pointedly. He watched, amused, as she
struggled to hide her smile of relief.

Yeah, she could definitely
do with getting away from her parents for a while.

“
Come on,
Jae,” he taunted at her hesitation, “You know you want
to.”

She huffed in response,
“You are such a tease.”

Grinning wolfishly, he
gestured with a sweep of his hand to his truck. “Not
tonight.”

Her eyes lit up and he had
to stifle his groan of frustration. He had no intention of doing
what she thought he intended on doing. The truth was he couldn’t
seem to last a few hours without her, despite the restrictions he
put on the activities allowed during their times together. But he’d
rather she was alone with him than with Reuben, who was constantly
in her kitchen.

“
Fine,” she
pretend grumbled, and then shouted back inside as she shut the
door, “I’m going out with Ryder for a while.”

Grabbing his sleeve, Jae
began tugging him at full speed towards the truck. “Hey, where’s
the fire?”

She rolled her eyes at
him. “We need to get out of here in the next ten seconds or
the-”

“
Jaeden!”

“
Oh,
great.”

They both turned at the
sound of Dimitri’s voice. He stood, glaring at them from the
doorway, his arms crossed over his chest, his feet spread
apart.

“
Where are
you going?” The question was directed threateningly to
Ryder.

Great
. He scowled at Jaeden as if to
say ‘nice going’. He really hoped her dad would back off once they
were actually mated.

“
With it
being such a nice night and all I asked Jaeden if she would like to
go for a run.”

“
We’re going
for a run?” He was relieved to hear that her surprise was tinged
with pleasure.

“
What about
asking me?” The Elder grumbled.

Ryder straightened his
shoulders. “Well, sir, I never thought. Would you like to come for
a run?”

“
Not me going
with you, you idiot.” He shook his head in disgust. “How on earth
did you make it to Rogue Hunter status with that brain in that
head?”

“
Dad,” Jae
warned.

He shrugged
and gestured towards him. “He’s the one asking the stupid
questions. I
meant
... why did you not ask permission from me to escort my
daughter on a run?”

“
Dad, I’m
eighteen.”

Dimitri merely snorted,
“Yeah, and that makes you mature.”

Ryder stiffened, feeling
Jae’s bristling between them. And Dimitri thought he was the dumb
one.

“
No,” she
snapped, stepping menacingly towards her father, “But weeks in a
cage at the hands of a psychopath, and then months living by myself
hunting kind of does.”

Dimitri blanched.
“Sweetheart, you know I didn’t mean-”

“
Dad, I don’t
want to argue.” She sighed, and then threw a meaningful glance at
Ryder, one that he couldn’t help but enjoy. “I just want to spend
some time with Ryder.”

The Elder stared at them
for some moments and then nodded stiffly. “OK.” His hand shot out
towards Ryder, his finger pointed in warning. “No funny business
though, or I’ll kill you.”

“
Daddy,” Jae
groaned, “Ryder is a perfect gentleman.” She lowered her eyes,
blushing and murmuring, “... so embarrassing... kill...
’rents...”

Ryder struggled not to
laugh as he grabbed a hold of Jaeden’s hand. “I’ll take good care
of her.”

“
You do
that.”

***

They lay side by side on
top of the hood of Ryder’s truck, their limbs torpid and warm from
their run in her father and Lucien’s woods. She smiled softly,
comforted by the heat of him next to her, by their recent
playfulness in their wolf form. Ryder was a big gentle beast; no
matter how hard she came at him he would just shrug her off
placidly and tickle her with his snout. It wasn’t like Lucien with
Caia. She had watched them play together and Lucien was a rougher
kind of guy; nudging Cy as hard as she nudged him, nipping, biting,
tumbling. Ryder just seemed happy to be there with her, despite the
bruises she inflicted.

She giggled.

“
What was
that for?” Ryder asked in an amused, sleepy voice.

She shook her head and
watched him from the corner of her eye. His eyes were in fact
closed, his arms locked behind his head.

“
You’re not
what I was expecting.”

“
Hmm, no? I
guess I wasn’t expecting you, at all.”

She chuckled at that and
gazed back at the stars, far above lights in the dark ceiling over
their heads. “Fair enough.”

“
You glad to
be home?”

It was weird how glad she
was to be home. Having been so set against coming back, having been
so determined to leave in the first place, she still couldn’t quite
work out her own sudden feelings.

“
Very.”

“
Told
you.”

“
Yeah,
there’s no need to be smug.” She sighed and edged a little closer
to his body heat. “It’s still weird, though.”

Jaeden almost laughed at
the way one of his eyes snapped open in alert. “What
is?”

“
Like I said
before, I was so set against coming home and then... just as
suddenly I couldn’t believe I had ever thought leaving was the
answer.”

It was his turn to sigh as
he rolled over on to his side, his arm bent at the elbow as his
hand propped his head up. “You went through a lot, Jaeden. You keep
saying you’re OK, but maybe that sudden switch in feelings is just
part of what you’re dealing with.”

No
, she thought inwardly,
no I really am OK
.

As if he could hear her
thoughts he reached out to stroke her cheek affectionately. She
curled contentedly into his touch.

“
How can you
be OK, Jae? I don’t understand how you can be OK.”

With that she withdrew
from him, her eyes fixed back on the sky. She didn’t want to pull
away from him, but she didn’t want him thinking she was some kind
of head case who needed help, when she knew within herself that she
didn’t.