Our group makes its way to the living room where Enoch, Nash, Kallan, and Becket shoot up from where they’re sitting on the couches and chairs.
“Are you okay?” Nash asks, taking steps toward me like he can only be reassured if he can see for himself.
They guys tighten around me infinitesimally, but it’s not lost on Nash.
“I wouldn’t hurt her,” he defends, and the rest of his coven close in next to him in a show of support.
None of the guys say anything as they do their best impersonation of the fucking secret service.
“Are you okay?” Kallan asks, reiterating the unanswered question.
“I will be...”
“Vinna, we need to talk.” Enoch interrupts, stepping forward to take point for his coven.
Bastien and Valen move in closer to one another in front of me, cutting off Enoch’s line of sight.
“Will you guys cut it the fuck out! We’re not going to hurt her, so stop treating us like we’re threats!” Becket shouts at the guys.
“Vinna, what happened at the house? Why did you storm out, what got you so upset?”
Enoch’s question cuts off the mounting fight that is itching to take place between these two groups of casters.
I reach forward and pinch both Valen and Bastien’s asses. I get a good hold on both of their butt cheeks and use it to guide them over so I can have some space to move forward. I get that they’re feeling territorial, but talking to Enoch and the others like they’re disembodied voices floating in the ether isn’t going to work for me. I need to see their faces when this conversation goes down.
My eyes land on Enoch’s.
“What has your dad talked to you about when it comes to me?” I ask, keeping my emotions in check and my face blank.
His eyebrows dip down slightly in confusion. “Nothing.”
My blank looks turns incredulous. “Well, I guess if we’re going to just lie to each other, this conversation is over.”
I try to move to leave, but I’m boxed in by big muscular bodies, so I end up kind of bouncing around until the guys get the hint and start moving toward the door. We’re definitely going to have to work on our synchronized stomping out.
“You’re powerful. Probably the most powerful Sentinel anyone has seen sinceThe Forsaking,which is what my ancestors called it when the Sentinels broke from the casters and disappeared,” Enoch confesses, and I whirl around.
His body language is resigned, but his eyes are pleading.
“How long have you known? I ask. At the same time, Kallan and Becket turn to Enoch and demand to know what the hell he’s talking about.
It’s not lost on me that Nash doesn’t seem as confused as the rest of his coven.
“I suspected when I first saw you at the beach that day, but Iknewwhen you picked Harris up by his neck and threw him down. My ancestors have been passing down stories about the magic users of old for forever. When I was younger, they were fairytales my mom would tell me at bedtime. But when I saw your markings and what you could do, the fairytales I loved as a kid became real.”
Enoch’s explanation doesn’t surprise me as much as it would have before his dad’s threat. I figured his family had seen and interacted with my kind recently enough for the knowledge to still be fresh, or somehow the stories of another race of magic users weren’t as dead and buried as the readers seemed to think.
“Seriously, what the fuck are you talking about?” Kallan demands again, looking from Enoch to me when his question isn’t immediately answered.
“I’m not a caster,” I tell him. “I’m apparently from a different race of magic users called Sentinels. That’s why I can do the things I can, and why the lamia are after me.”
Kallan stares at me. His aqua-blue eyes run over every inch of my face, and I think he’s trying to gauge if I’m fucking with him. He turns back to Enoch.
“You knew this the whole time, and you didn’t say anything?” Kallan questions, his voice overflowing with hurt and swirling with anger.
Enoch sighs and runs a tired hand over his face. “My dad told me not to.”
“We’re your fucking coven!” Becket shouts at him. “You’re telling me you don’t trust us?”
