Caged in Darkness (Caged #1)(23)

“No clue, huh?” Liam startled me when he spoke at my shoulder.

“No clue about what?” Play dumb…just play dumb and he will let it go. That’s what other teenage girls did, right?

“I’m not going to make it that easy, princess.” He smiled, and jangled his keys in front of my eyes. I grabbed them and decided I was not going to point out that I only had my driver’s permit.

“Stop calling me princess. Where’s your car?” I stopped at the edge of the woods and looked over the assorted cars in front of me. I looked at him and back at the cars. I knew which one was his the moment I set eyes on it. Figures, that he would drive something black and sleek.

“It’s the mustang.”

I couldn’t stop myself from snorting at the ridiculous car. Okay, not so ridiculous, because I was dying to drive it, but it was kind of cliché that he would own a car like that.

“Did you just snort at my car?” His brows raised in mock surprise.

“Just get in the damn car.” The interior was just as divine as the exterior. Sleek with buttons I was afraid to touch, since I didn’t know what they would do.

“You see that little metal thing dangling from the chain? That’s the key. It’s what you use to start the car…”

He was really starting to tick me off. I looked over at him and waited for him to make his next remark. I had the keys and there was no way I was going to drive home a pompous jerk. He could just drive himself!

“Jeez, it’s like an iceberg in here! You need to lighten up, princess. I’m just teasing you.”

There was that smile again. That arrogant smile he seemed to think would make everyone bow to his superiority. He was infuriating.

“If you don’t stop calling me princess this car isn’t going anywhere.” I crossed my arms and leaned back in the seat with the car keys clenched tightly in my fist.

Liam threw up his hands in mock defeat. “Okay, okay! You win, Savannah.”

When he said my name, his voice deepened to a seductive huskiness that made me shiver. I suddenly wished he would go back to calling me princess. I could deal with irritation, but I didn’t want to embarrass myself because my body was seduced by the tone of his voice. Seriously, I thought that only happened in the movies. I was not one of those girls. Was I?

“Whatever.” Then engine roared to life. “Where do you live?”





7: Witchlings





Liam’s apartment wasn’t what I expected. From his car, I thought his apartment would be closer to a luxury condominium, but it was more of a modern bachelor pad. Ordinarily, I would not follow an infuriating male I barely knew into his apartment, but I felt compelled to see to his injuries. Maye would have been disappointed if I dropped Liam off without being completely sure he was taken care of. After all, being part of a family meant that you were partially responsible for their actions.

Witches rarely kept similar first aid kits to ordinary people, but Liam produced one from his bathroom. That surprised me. I would have offered to perform what little healing I could, but with my powers in turmoil he was better off with the first aid kit. Throughout the drive Liam continued to bait me with his remarks, which bothered me until I realized that his teasing was flirting. Flirting was a new concept to me. I tended to give people the cold shoulder and it made people keep their distance. In Liam’s case, he seemed to be enjoying my annoyance and found my icy personality to be amusing.

“Why do you have a first aid kit if you are a witch?” He winced as I applied the hydrogen peroxide to his split eyebrow, and then lifted one side of his mouth to smile.

“Is there a problem with owning a kit?”

“No, it’s just unusual. Wouldn’t it just be easier to have another witch heal you?” I leaned in to blow on his cut to soothe the pain.

“Do you see any other witches that live with me?” He mockingly glanced around. “It’s just easier to take care of my injuries myself, rather than going to my coven whenever I get a scrape.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense, but why don’t you live with your coven?” A coven was like a family, but with ties that exist on a higher plane. I couldn’t imagine leaving the Meadow Falls coven.

“My coven isn’t like yours. My mother is the high priestess and she is more concerned with politics than she is with personal relations.”





LIAM





Savannah patched me up and listened to my stories about the members of my coven. It didn’t take long for me to realize that she wasn’t like the women I knew. Whenever I tried to tease her she pulled away. Her company was enjoyable in an awkward way. She didn’t like to be touched, but had no issues with initiating the touching. She liked to be in control and seemed unused to attention. In the car she was frigid towards me, but that changed once I started talking to her as a friend. Our conversation went from forced to natural.

I managed to convince her to stay for dinner and I cooked a stir fry. She seemed genuinely surprised that I knew how to cook. I managed to find some left over ice cream for dessert. I told her that my coven was a dark one and she looked at me in horror with her mouth paused halfway through eating.

“I think I better leave.” Her spoon dropped to the bowl and she stood quickly almost toppling over her chair in the process.