Alix (The Coven's Grove Chronicles #1) by Virginia Hunter Read Free Book Online Page A

have to imagine, she’d seen him without his shirt first hand, which didn’t help in the slightest. Tearing her gaze from the man, Alix took a sip from the bottle, and ended up guzzling the whole thing.
    “You hungry?” Troy asked. “You’ve been out for awhile.”
    “I don’t know about her,” Sam said. “But I’m freakin’ starving.”
    Troy laughed. It was a welcome sound, warm, and infectious. “Okay. We need to look for a place to stop for a while anyway. Sound like a plan?”
    “Yep,” Sam replied, as Alix nodded.
    They went on in silence for a few miles until Alix’s curiosity got the better of her. “So what happened? How did getting chased by a mob make you come looking for me?”
    “The long and short of it: I got shoved out of a four story window.” Troy eyed Alix through the rearview mirror. “I shouldn’t have survived that fall, but I didn’t even break a bone. And this thing you put on me,”—he pointed to his chest—“It started burning and glowing like on the night we met. Scared the shit out of me.”
    Alix felt the blood drain from her cheeks. I’m so busted .
    “What did you do to me, Alix?” Troy asked.
    Sam twisted in her seat to look Alix in the eyes. “Yeah, and how are you still breathing after getting shot in the chest?”
    Alix sighed in defeat. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
    Sam scoffed. “Seriously?! After last night. C’mon Alix, give me a break. I’m not that blonde!”
    “All right!” Alix replied, with a bit of irritation. “It’s just hard to explain.”
    “Use small words then,” Sam persisted.
    Alix pursed her lips, but continued. “I’ve got this gift or something. It started when I was like sixteen. I can take thoughts and images from my mind, and bring them into the real world.”
    The only response to her revelation was the sound of the engine chugging away, as the Volkswagen chewed up miles. Not a word from either of them. Sam’s expression was a combination of shock, disbelief, and confusion. Troy kept his eyes on the road, and flexed his jaw in contemplation.
    “Well?!” Alix blurted in a panic, afraid they might throw her from the car at any moment.
    “Holy-no-shit!” Sam gawked. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me that years ago?”
    Alix gave her friend a flat look. “Really? Like that would’ve gone over well.”
    “I would have understood.” Sam scrunched up her nose, and crossed her eyes playfully. “Eventually.”
    Alix rolled her eyes.
    “So the tattoo you put on my chest…It was a thought that came out of your head?” Troy asked. There was tension in his voice.
    “Sort of,” Alix said. “I inked part of it.”
    Troy glanced in the mirror. “And that’s how you survived being shot. You have the same thing?”
    Alix bit her lip. Troy’s tattoo was the part she didn’t understand. She didn’t really understand any of it, but the symbol on Troy’s chest had her at a complete loss. “It’s similar, but there are some differences.” Alix pulled her sleeves up. “I put two matching tats on my arms the year before Hank found me. They were...I don’t know, ‘wards’ against harm. Mainly just protection from the elements in case I had to sleep outside in the cold.”
    Sam’s eyes widened. “Hey, what happened to this one?” She grabbed hold of Alix’s right arm. The one no longer decorated with a tattoo.
    “Whenever the power is used of one of my ‘imprints’, the image disappears.”
    “Whoa, that’s so cool!” Sam drawled, still looking at Alix’s arm.
    “Mine didn’t disappear,” Troy said. He avoided looking into the mirror, as his ginger brows came down in an expression of concern.
    “Yeah, I’m not sure what that’s about,” Alix replied hesitantly. “I’ve never had one not disappear before.”
    Troy gripped the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles turned white, but he didn’t say anything more.
    Even Sam noticed the tension, and was on the verge of saying something,