Inception

Hecate finished delivering her instructions to me and then quickly departed. She claimed to have more pressing matters to handle. Claudius bolted the door behind her and returned to the bed.

“Red, are you planning to do it?” he asked, sitting down.

I dropped my head in my hands and exhaled loudly. “Honestly, I don’t know.”

Hecate left me with a predicament. If I followed her directive, I’d return to Falls Creek and launch a campaign to wage war. I’d feed certain details to Maeve while imparting conflicting information to Kenrick. Eventually, they’d come to a breaking point. If all went according to plan, that point would leave the Blue Moon Coven dismantled without any survivors. It would also take out key members of the Locke Coven—namely Kenrick and Aaron, someone I actually liked.

Frankly, I didn’t want bloodshed. I really admired David and Cailin. They deserved to have whatever future they wanted. It didn’t matter to me if it was together or apart. Yeah, I was contradicting my own standards. But the hell with them if it meant innocent people might die.

Blame the big male keeping me company for my sudden change in mindset. He had a way of making me see life and circumstances differently.

About damn time, don’t you think, witch?

As far as Maeve and Rose went? I didn’t care about them. They started the fiasco, so they deserved the fallout. Same went for Kenrick. His initiative concept seemed a little too right-winged for me—and for Falls Creek. Maybe if he escaped the fray, he could take that shit to California. I heard there were very liberal-minded spell casters dwelling in that state.

“Red…” Claudius slipped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. “I suggest that you take your time. We’ve already been here for a couple of days. Care to hang out for one more day? We can discuss the possibilities. Maybe meet with Dad. He might have some ideas of his own.”

Suddenly, I remembered what Claudius said to me right before we were interrupted. My head whipped up, and I made eye contact with him. “Why have you been imagining kissing me?”

“Huh?”

“Before Hecate arrived, you said that kissing me was nicer than you imagined.”