River Cast: Part Two in the Tale of Lunarmorte (33 page)

The tiny black chip lay
before her merely seconds before she crushed it underfoot. Goodbye
bug, goodbye Centre.... goodbye Marita.

21 - Finally

He watched the rain,
wishing that they weren’t stuck in this bubble at the Centre so he
could hear it battering against his windows. The sounds, smells,
and sight of rain had always reminded him of the pack, of the damp
earth that told him he was home. Sighing, Lucien turned away only
to glare at the wall that connected to Caia’s suite. Something was
going on, he knew it; that she wouldn’t confide in him enraged him
past all rationality. Her attitude towards him before and after the
attack at Remnant Forest had been inexcusable considering he was
the wronged party. He wanted to throttle her.

The day he had cornered
her in the library he’d gone snooping when she had left the room,
hoping to discover a clue as to what she had really been
researching.

Taekwondo my
ass
.

To his ever continuing
irritation he’d found nothing.

Then there had been her
venture into Paris without him, without even telling him it was
going to happen. Ah yeah, Marita had been particularly smug about
that when he had gone looking for her only to discover she was
destroying Pierre Du Bois’ lab with Phoebe MacLachlan and she
hadn’t even had the decency to tell him, her pack Alpha.

Lucien growled just
thinking about it. Marita was winning this stupid war with him over
Caia’s loyalty and the sooner he could get her out and away from
that woman the better.

He snapped to attention at
the soft knock on his door and admonished himself for hoping it
wasn’t Rose. Although he hadn’t entered into a relationship with
her, she had been trying to persuade him otherwise, pulling him
into surprise kisses and talking about a future together. When she
had asked him if she could return to the pack with him, Lucien had
felt awful letting her down when she was recovering from the
beating she had taken by that Midnight. She had been angry at his
refusal, but he felt it would have been worse to commit to her when
all his thoughts were ever centred on was Caia. Not that the little
she-witch cared, he grumbled, feeling her rejection like little pin
pricks of pain all over.

Disgruntled, he yelled,
“Come in!” towards the door and hoped his visitor wasn’t looking
for pleasant conversation.

“
Lucien.”
Marion marched inside, slamming the door.

His eyebrows hit his
hairline, surprised by his visitor and even more so by the glare
she was using to staple him to the window.

“
Marion.
What’s going on?”

She spluttered at him,
“What’s going on?” Throwing her hands up in the air, she spun away
from him and began pacing. “This is why I stay away from
relationships. The male species, of any race, are a dim-witted
bunch, testing the patience of saints.”

Lucien tried to cover his
snort and failed.

“
It’s not
funny, Lucien. You’ll be laughing on the other side of your face
when I impart this next piece of news.”

Just like that his heart
stopped, his body went rigid. “What news?”

The magik strode towards
him, her head craned back in order to look up at him, her eyes
narrow slits. “What on earth are you playing at, young man? Kissing
another lykan in front of Caia, avoiding her completely? She’s been
alone the entire time she’s been here.”

He only heard the first
part of that statement. “What do you mean kissing another lykan in
front of Caia?”

Marion curled her lip in
distaste. “Rose Bronson. You kissed her in the
reception.”

“
Caia
saw?”

“
Caia
saw.”

Damn
, guilt flooded him. Rose had
kissed him good luck and he hadn’t exactly thrown her off. What
must Caia think? He was such an id-

“
Wait!” He
snapped, pushing passed her belligerently. “I have nothing to feel
guilty about. I’m not the one that’s been avoiding Caia, it’s the
other way around. She’s been keeping secrets, giving me
attitude.
She
made it perfectly clear that she didn’t need
me
.”

He expected an apology
from Marion, for her to graciously admit she had blundered and tell
him how sorry she was for him.

He really was an
idiot.

The witch gazed at him as
if he was the most stupid person she had ever met. “And when did
this behaviour start? Before or after Rose’s arrival?”

“
Well...”
Lucien shrugged, not sure he liked where this was going.

She threw off his
dithering with an impatient swat of her hand and stormed towards
him again. “Just tell me this... are you with Rose now?”

“
That’s not
really your business, Marion.”

“
Lucien.” She
warned.

He huffed, affronted at
having to discuss his personal business with this woman. “I would
be better off, wouldn’t I?”

“
That’s not
an answer.”

“
No. I’m not
with Rose.”

At that, Marion heaved a
huge sigh of relief whilst still managing to stare at him in
disgust. “Men.”

“
I don’t
really understand the male bashing, Marion. What exactly are you
doing here?”

“
Believe it
or not, I’ve come to help you stop Caia making a terrible mistake
that will affect you both.”

An immediate panic set in.
“What? What’s going on?”

“
Caia is
staying at the Centre.”

“
WHAT!”

“
Shut up,”
she hissed, smoothing her hair back down after Lucien’s ferocious
bellow had blown it back. “It’s your fault.”

“
My fault!
I’ve been here! I’ve been trying to find out what the hell she’s
keeping from me.”

“
No. You’ve
been with Rose.”

“
For the last
time-”

“
Lucien
Líder, do not interrupt me again,” Marion warned, her stern eyes
gluing his mouth shut. “Good. As I was saying, I am tired of the
complete idiocy you and Caia seem to share when it comes to the
matter of your relationship. Caia has not been divulging any
information to you, Lucien, because she was hurt and jealous by
Rose’s presence in your life.”

Well, that
doesn’t sound right.

“
Are we
talking about the same Caia Ribeiro?”

“
Oh dear
Gaia, I’m surrounded by fools.” Marion threw her hands up in dismay
and flopped down on to his sofa. “Lucien, when you arrived at the
Centre was Caia talking to you? Yes. When Rose arrived did Caia
stop confiding in you? Yes.”

“
What, no-”
he stopped, a nagging feeling telling him to halt and take a
moment. Now that she mentioned it, there had been a few times Caia
had seemed to want to talk to him about something, but there had
always been an interruption. And true, lately, that interruption
had been Rose.

Marion must have seen the
comprehension dawn on his face because she made a clucking,
gloating sound. “And everything starts to make sense.”

Lucien shook his head,
trying to remain cool. “Are you telling me that Caia thinks I’ve
abandoned her?”

“
I’m telling
you that you let my sister’s plot to separate you and Caia so that
she would be more inclined to stay at the Centre with her work. I’m
telling you that for the last seven months you haven’t been with
your mate because you didn’t say the one thing that she needed to
hear. I’m telling you what I tried to tell you the night Caia was
attacked by that daemon.”

“
What?” He
asked hoarsely.

“
Lucien.”
Marion tut-tutted and got up off of the sofa. “What do you think?
Caia has never really had a family until you. And right now she is
the most valuable magik in our world and she doesn’t know who to
trust. If she knew how you really felt about her, if she was secure
in that, she would turn to you.” Her eyes filled up and she
coughed, embarrassed, looking away from him. “I care about her a
great deal, Lucien, but I worry for her all the time. This war is
going to swallow her whole if she’s not careful. She needs you. So
choke on that stubborn pride of yours and tell her those three
little words she’s been waiting to hear.”

He clenched his jaw, fear
breaking out across every inch of his body. “And if she doesn’t say
it back?”

Marion smiled slowly,
softly. “She will.”

He searched her eyes,
astounded by her utmost certainty in Caia’s love. Did she know
something he didn’t? That certainty eased the ache that had been
pressing on his chest for the last few months. He nodded, feeling
an elated sense of hope. “I need to speak to Rose
first.”

***

Pressing her hand against
the glass, Caia wished the rain in Paris could hit against the
Centre’s window. She loved the sound of rain battering against the
house when you were tucked inside, safe and sound, with cosy flames
roaring in a fireplace.

A loud rap sounded on her
door.

“
Come in!”
She called, keeping her back to her visitor, her eyes glued
hypnotically to the blurry world outside.

She heard the door open
slowly, heavy footsteps drew across the room towards her; she
inhaled the scent of damp earth and electric air, and wasn’t
surprised when Lucien came to a stop by her side, his own eyes
staring straight ahead out the window.

“
I’ve been
looking for you,” he told her in a quiet, deep voice.

Well at least
he doesn’t sound angry.

She had been waiting for
the explosion to come ever since she had gotten back from the lab
with Phoebe. So far, she hadn’t seen him.

There’s a
surprise.

“
I like the
rain.”

“
Me
too.”

After a moment of silence
Caia sighed. “Did you hear the news?”

She wasn’t looking forward
to telling the truth, of explaining about Laila and Vilhelm, or her
plans to create a coup after her discovery of what lay beneath the
Centre.

“
Yes.” His
tone didn’t give anything away, and Caia snuck a glance at him out
of the corner of her eye. His entire body was rigid with emotion.
He
was
angry.
Time for the
truth.

She pushed out with her
magik and wound a shield around the two of them. Lucien frowned,
glancing around at it, but she refused to meet his gaze, her own
eyes staring adamantly ahead.

“
For
privacy,” she muttered in explanation. “We need to
talk.”

“
Yes, we do,”
he agreed and she felt him heave a huge sigh. To her it almost
sounded like he was nervous... but what did he have to be nervous
about?

Rose.

Caia gripped the ache that
name created in a stranglehold and attempted to suffocate it from
her body.

“
Rose isn’t
coming back with us.”

What?

“
What?” She
forgot she was trying not to look at him and directed the question
into his eyes.

He shrugged uncomfortably,
and she thought she saw pain flitter across his features. “I just
spoke with her. Everything was explained. She’s not coming. We were
never really together, you know.”

“
I’m sorry,”
she managed tightly. What? Did he expect sympathy for being
dumped?

She flinched at his growl
and returned to looking out of the window.

“
Caia,” he
sounded exasperated, “Look at me.”

“
What
for?”

“
You’re being
a child.”

“
I told you,
I like the rain.”

He let go of his growl and
stared stormily ahead. “I never wanted to be with Rose,” he
revealed through a clenched jaw. “That kiss you saw was her, not
me. I told her she couldn’t come back to the pack with us. Caia, I
thought you were pulling away, I thought you didn’t want...” he
sighed. “I’m not good at... the word... thing. I just... I’m not
with Rose.”

Caia tried so hard to
stamp down the little butterflies of hope that were fluttering in
her stomach to no avail. She tried to seem uninterested, she really
did. She failed. “Why?”

At first Caia didn’t think
he was going to answer but then she felt his gaze on her face as he
began, “Do you remember that night you found me in the woods? The
night we ran together alone?”

She nodded numbly, wishing
she didn’t.

At the touch of his hand
sliding around her waist, Caia jerked in surprise, tensed as he
slid behind her, wrapping his strong arms around her middle and
pulling her body in close. The heat and strength of him, the feel
of him, the scent of him, exploded over her in a riot of
butterflies and stunning shivers. She held her breath, wide-eyed,
as he inhaled her, before tucking her head under his
chin.

A moment of tense
silence.