“It’s OK,” he reassured them. “It’s just Jaeden for Caia.”
She frowned at this, her mouth forming an ‘o’ shape in question. But he was up and out of his seat before she could speak, returning to the room a few seconds later with a tall brunette who looked about Caia’s age. The first thing Caia noticed about her was the warm friendliness in her eyes, but as her gaze travelled over her she realized that the girl, with her piercing blue eyes and luscious curves and curls, was as outrageously attractive as the rest of these creatures. She had a feeling her self-esteem was going to take a serious hit among this crowd.
“This is Jaeden.” Lucien nodded to Irini and Caia. “Irini, you remember Jaeden, Dimitri’s daughter?”
Irini smiled brightly at the mention of the Elder and got up to hug the girl who was at least three inches taller than her. “Of course,”
Jaeden laughed at that and Caia was warmed by the pleasant sound of her chuckle. The girl’s blue eyes found her. “Do you remember me, Caia?”
Gazing at her in concentration she had the vague impression of a gangly young girl who used to have to coax her into playing with her. She nodded and smiled tentatively back at her. “Yeah. I do.”
Lucien looked pleased. “Good. Jaeden’s taking you to school.”
“School?”
“School.” He nodded, enunciating the word as if she were an idiot. “It’s Monday. I’ve got it all sorted out. They’re expecting you. I told them that your guardian died and as a minor you had to come here, so there shouldn’t be too many questions about your transfer one semester from graduation.”
“Oh. O-K.” She was thrown by this news. She thought she might have at least been given time to settle in.
Obviously that was wishful thinking.
Goddess, she couldn’t wait until she graduated at the end of the school year. “I’ll grab my backpack.”
It was awkward at first, climbing into Jaeden’s …
“Can I ask… what is this?” Caia indicated the rust-colored rust-bucket she had just climbed into.
Jaeden laughed. “I think they call it a 1982 Buick Skyhawk.”
“Wow, I’ve never even heard of a Skyhawk before.”
“She runs like a dream,” Jaeden reassured her, lovingly stroking the wheel of her car.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude.”
Again the girl laughed. “Don’t worry. I’d fear for my life as well if I was taking my first look at this baby. But she’s fine. I swear.”
Caia didn’t have a chance to answer because Jaeden launched straight into the questions. “So, what’s it like living with Lucien?” She giggled, her eyes sparkling in excitement. She ran her tongue along the tips of her top row of teeth. “He’s really rather delicious.”
It was Caia’s turn to laugh. “I suppose. To be honest, I really don’t know what it’s going to be like living with him. So far... pretty intimidating. The man is huge.”
Another laugh. “Well, you get used to that. I forget you haven’t been around males, they’re all huge but yeah I suppose Lucien is one of the largest, he’d have to be to be Alpha, there are the Elders though and maybe Mal and you’re just about to meet him.” She had an endearing way of rushing one sentence into the other as if afraid she wouldn’t have time to discuss everything she obviously wanted to.
“Mal?”
“Malek,” she explained. “He’s Morgan and Natalia’s oldest son.”
Caia looked at her blankly. She couldn’t put names to faces quite yet.
“Mal,” Jaeden insisted. “You’ll recognize him when you see him; huge, dark and kind of twisted.”
The vague image of a lykan she’d noticed standing heads above others in the living room last night flitted across her mind. “Actually I think I know who you’re talking about. He goes to school?” she asked incredulously.
“Uh-huh. All the human girls are in love with him.”
“And you?”
Jaeden sneered. “No thank you. He’s so arrogant. You think Lucien’s bad? Ugh. Mal messes around with Dana. Watch out for her by the way.”