Claimed (Book Four of the Castle Coven Series): A Witch and Warlock Romance Novel (3 page)

“That is amazing.”
 

She turned to Kieran, cocking her head curiously. There was something rueful in his face too. Without thinking about it, she approached him, thrusting her nose in his direction. Even as a human, she could sense something was off about him. Even when she had a poor human nose, she knew something was wrong. Now that she was a wolf, she could sense even more. The scent that rolled off him was one that her human brain labeled with the word ‘sorrow,’ though her wolf brain was more inclined to call it a sickness, albeit one of the soul.
 

She whined deep in her throat, flicking her ears back.

Kieran’s laugh was hollow.

“In just a few short weeks, you have fulfilled the promise that both Piers and the Magus Corps saw in you.”
 

“The Magus Corps?” Piers’s voice was sharp. “And what exactly does the Magus Corps have to say about Hailey’s
promise
?”
 

Kieran glanced at him.

“The Magus Corps is more than just a club for bullies and time wasters, no matter what you seem to think of it, Coven Master. We need resources just as your precious Castle does, and we also understand that we must grow them up carefully.” He sighed. “Hailey, will you please return to your human form? I have something I must tell you.”

Hailey almost wanted to deny him. The wolf form was so sensitive and so wonderful. She wondered what it would be like to go wandering through the forest. She wondered what it would be like to go running in the night. She wondered what it would be like to chase down prey. The idea of killing something in this form, of feeling the red gush of blood and life over her tongue woke her up. She was repulsed by it and at once fascinated and excited. It jarred her so thoroughly that she gave up her wolf form entirely, rising up to stand on her own two feet again.
 

Kieran was there, steadying her with a hand on her shoulder.

“Are you well? I should not have asked you to do that without any preparation.”

“Leave me be, Kieran,” she said, something in her snapping. “I can’t take this. If I meant so little to you that you were willing to avoid me until the Magus Corps sent you my way again, don’t pretend that you care when I’m just shaky on my feet!”

He stepped back as if stung. For a moment, it was like she had ripped him open. She could see the shock and the hurt on his face. She could no longer believe that their parting was pain only for her. There was grief in him as well. He covered it up again quickly, but she could never deny that she had seen it.

“Rightly so. My apologies.”
 

For a moment, he couldn’t even look at her. When he spoke again, there was a deadness to his voice.

“Hailey, I am on a mission for the Magus Corps. At the moment, the scope of the mission is unknown, but my commandant believes, and I agree with him, that this is going to be more than what we usually deal with.”

“I fail to see how that is an issue for anyone here,” Piers said icily.

Kieran ignored him.

“What this means is that I need you to come with me. You have shown yourself fully capable and fully in use of powers that are commanded by no one in the Magus Corps.”

“The Magus Corps has no authority at the Castle,” snapped Piers. “There is absolutely nothing that you can do to take Hailey out of here, nothing that you can do to drag her out against her will.”
 

Kieran turned to Piers. He looked almost relieved to be talking to the coven master instead of to Hailey.

“What you say and want means very little to me, Dayton. I am here on a mission, and I owe my loyalty to a higher power than you.”
 

Piers’s eyes narrowed.

“How fascinating. What you need to understand, Major, is that I owe my loyalty to Hailey. Does that make any sense to you at all? Do you understand what that means? That means that it is my life’s work keeping her and the other members of my coven safe. That goes far beyond your mandate and far deeper.”

Kieran’s face was split in a snarl. At that moment, he looked more like Cavanaugh than Hailey would have thought possible.

“My business here is not with you–”

“Stop it!”

Hailey’s voice echoed across the practice yard. She could hear the way the sound reverberated through the thin mountain air.
 

Both men froze, staring at her. She was nearly trembling with rage and with emotion.
 

“I need to understand this very clearly,” she said at last. It occurred to her that her voice was strung as tight as piano wire.
 

“I will of course answer any questions that I can,” Kieran said. His voice was soft and subdued, as if she were a wild animal that he did not want to harm or startle.

“You came here to recruit me for a mission that the Magus Corps thinks is dangerous. Is that correct?”

“It is.”
 

“You came here because…someone decided that I was the best tool to use for the job. Who was that?” Kieran’s pause was long enough that her nerves frayed. “You need to tell me, Kieran,” she said, her voice growing louder. “I need to know if it was your commandant or…or Stephan or you that decided that I had the right skill set to be brought in for whatever it is that you are planning.”
 

“It was my commandant,” Kieran said at last. “Hailey, you must believe me. When I submitted my report on the mission that…on the mission, I related what we accomplished together. I had no idea that it would be used to count you among the resources that the Magus Corps commands.”

Hailey flinched. There had been a part of her that hoped, that prayed, that Kieran had used this opportunity to come see her. She wanted him to want her the way he had, the way that she still wanted him. That hope died a hard death in her heart. She struggled to keep her voice level.
 

“This mission. What is happening?”

“Over the last seven months, we have lost nearly as many Magus Corps officers. None of them were in situations that we consider normal, and we were able to recover none of the bodies. This has taken place in the Alps, mountainous cold territory that makes me a good fit for the mission. This region has long been known for its Templar activity, something that makes many of the Magus Corps nervous. We have considered sending in an entire strike team, but the concern is that they would be too obvious.”

“So they want to send you and me in instead?”
 

Kieran nodded.

“Throughout the history of the Magus Corps, smaller teams tend to have a greater level of success than larger ones. They saw the file that I created. They saw your powers.”

A sudden thought occurred to Hailey, one so terrible that it momentarily made her head swim. She stared at Kieran.

“What else was in that report?” she asked. It felt as if her entire body had gone numb.

“Hailey?”

“Kieran, tell me what else was in that report. Did you tell them everything that we did together? Did you tell them that I was…I am in love with you?”

Kieran’s face had gone white.

“Hailey…”

“You’re not saying no,” she whispered. “Dear gods above, you filed me in your report like your swords or your gear. That’s why they sent you.”

Kieran started to deny it, but there was nothing he said that would have convinced her otherwise. It was too clear. The Magus Corps saw her as a tool to be used. When they made that decision, it only made the most sense to send the person who could use it in the most able fashion.
 

She couldn’t take any more.

She shook her head, turned and walked away.

IN TIMES OF trouble, Hailey had a habit of seeking the highest ground she could. When she was staying with the Angioli coven in Italy, she often took refuge in the choir loft. Though the Castle was short on choir lofts, there were still many odd corners and closets where she could hide.

She found an unused bedroom in one of the towers, a place where someone had stored a small library’s worth of books before abandoning them. She sat on the window seat, gazing out over the dark mountainside. She had been so happy to come to the Castle. It had been an island both in time and in space. It marked the first place where she had felt truly safe, truly cared for. It was a community that was for her. She gave back to it with every bit of will and power that she could. Now she was being asked to leave it again.
 

The only light in the room was from a small lamp. She sat in the dimness thinking about what it would be like to pull back from this place, to leave it. Even in such a short time, the Castle had become her home. The idea of leaving it made her feel hollow and empty.

There was a knock on the door behind her. Hailey’s first impulse was to hide, to pretend that there was no one in the small room. Then she was disgusted with her own cowardice.

“Come in,” she said.

It only took her a moment to recognize Piers’s silhouette in the door. He entered, closing the door behind him, but in deference to her sensibilities, he didn’t turn on the light. She felt a surge of the love that she had for him. It was warm and lovely. She remembered that she could trust him.

In the light of the lamp, he looked uncertain, almost nervous. She held her hand out to him.

“Come sit with me,” she said softly. “I need you close.”

Obediently, he came to sit at her side on the window seat. She only hesitated a moment before she leaned against him, burrowing into his side. His arm around her felt like the warmth that she had been seeking her entire life.
 

“You have a decision to make,” he said finally.
 

When she tried to sit up, he held her closer. Giving in, she snuggled closer against him. In the dimness of the room, it felt like everything outside was a story, a fairytale that was designed to frighten her. This was real.
 

 
“He cannot take you from here unless you wish to go. That is not something that I will permit. Unless you say that you are willing to go with him, you will remain right where you are, and he will leave empty-handed.” Piers paused. “I understand that you have a history together.”

“Piers…”

“It is one that I respect. Hailey, if you want something, I think I would move heaven and earth to get it for you. I understand that he has been someone very important to you. The fact that he had a hand in making you who you are, that alone would be enough.”

“Piers, I do love you. Please, you must understand that as well.”

Piers’s smile was crooked.

“And if I thought that love was enough to make the world work the way that I wish it to, I would be a far happier man, I think. I love you as well. However, I’m not so great a fool as to think that you don’t love Kieran McCallen.”

Hailey bit her lip.
 

“But we’re not talking about love right this moment,” Piers said. “What we are talking about is a choice that you have to make. It is up to you whether you want to aid Kieran McCallen on his mission. However, that is your choice. You do not need to fear him or the Magus Corps. They may stamp and bluster. Let them. There is no way on earth they can pull you from these walls if you do not wish to go.”

“But…but they help Wiccans. They protect us.”

Piers shook his head.

“They may do that for other covens. I would even guess that they do it very well and very willingly. However the Castle has always been different. We have always been a place that is self-sufficient. We protect our own, and we do it without needing to resort to the services of the Magus Corps. Things are different for other covens. I understand that. However, they have no authority here.”
 

Hailey thought for a moment.

“Thank you,” she said at last. “I need to learn more to decide what I want to do. But Piers, what if I decide to go with him?”

Piers was silent for a long moment.

“Then you will. That is your decision, and just like Kieran cannot force you to go, I will not force you to stay. What I want for you, what I want for every Wiccan, is freedom of choice. You are not my prisoner, and you are not his tool. You are a person who has been asked to help someone who needs your skills––or thinks he needs them.”

Hailey’s smile was faint, but it was real.
 

Slowly, she leaned up to kiss him. The kiss that they shared was almost chaste. They had only recently begun to learn each other’s bodies. She could feel the spark there, lying under the surface and ready to get fanned into flames at a moment’s notice. She warmed herself against it for a moment before turning away.
 

“I want to come to you tonight,” she said huskily. “That is one thing I want. However, before I do that, I need to talk to him.”

Piers’s face was very still, betraying nothing.

“Go and be quick, then,” he said softly. There was a certain heat to his voice that made Hailey blush. “I’ll be in my quarters, come looking for me when you are done.”

Feeling more calm, if not more in control, Hailey hopped off the window seat and followed Piers to the door. When she stepped into the brighter light of the corridor, her eyes widened.

“Piers, what happened to your chin?”
 

There was a dark bruise on Piers’s face. It was a vivid purple. He had definitely not had it when she’d been with him earlier.

“Some understandings are created through fair words and considered speech. Some…are not. Let’s leave it at that.”

Hailey decided to let it go. With another gentle kiss, she walked down to the guest quarters where she knew Kieran was going to be sleeping.

• • • • •

When she knocked on the door, she could hear a stirring inside. Kieran opened the door, and immediately she presented him with a piece of cold steak from the kitchen.

“I figured you would need this.”

Kieran frowned, but then he shrugged, a rueful look on his face. It would have been useless to protest given the black eye that he bore.

“Can I come in?”