Eye of the Coven by Larissa Ladd Read Free Book Online Page A

my attention that you have moved,” Nema said, her voice hard and cold when it clipped the walls around us.
    “I did,” I said.
    “And where have you moved to?” Nema asked. I lifted my eyebrows.
    “I didn’t realize it was up for discussion. There are so many witches here who’s address I don’t know.”
    “They’re not the next in line.”
    “I’m here every week. Doesn’t that count? And I make it known every day that I’m still a part of everything.”
    Nema looked at me, and I felt her. She seemed angry in a way, short tempered, annoyed, maybe frustrated. It was hard to tell with her, her feelings all felt the same. I could feel the other witches pick up on it. They didn’t have the same skills as I did, they couldn’t tell what others were thinking, but it was something that happened. People picked up on the atmosphere whether they wanted to or not, and whether they knew what it was or not.
    I knew why they were angry. I wasn’t playing along, and that made them fear me. And witches weren’t scared, not generally. I can’t remember ever being scared, and I understood why being scared of me made them angry. But I still wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t lead them, I wouldn’t give up my life to give them what they wanted. They were asking things that they didn’t need to ask, they were asking me to give them something I didn’t have to give.
    When I got home, Devan was waiting outside the doors for me.
    “Have you been here long?” I asked when he pecked me on the cheek. He shook his head.
    “Only a couple of minutes. I thought I’d wait a few when I rang and you didn’t answer.”
    “Nice of you. Come up?” I asked, and he nodded.  I needed company now, I didn’t like the mood I was in and he was one of the few who could change my mood in a heartbeat.
    “How was your day?” he asked.
    “It was fine,” I said, trying to sound upbeat but not looking at him.
    He frowned at me, and held my chin between his forefinger and thumb. “How was it really? You shouldn’t lie to me, you know. Otherwise there’s no point in me asking.”
    I sighed. How could I explain it? As we entered the apartment, took our coats off, and sat on the couch, I had time to think.
    “It’s just… my family. They want me to be more than I am, want me to do better than I’m doing. Sometimes they give me a hard time.”
    He looked at me for a long time.
    “I think you’re doing fine. Don’t you think you’re old enough to make your own choices?”
    “I know it doesn’t make sense; you don’t know what kind of people they are.”
    “Then why can’t I meet them?” he asked. He’d asked a couple of times before. The only real family I had was Marlena and there was no way I was introducing him to her. She wouldn’t be able to keep her mouth shut. As for the rest of the coven, well, they would disagree and I would be forced to get rid of him. One way or another, they would force me to get rid of him.
    “It’s not that easy,” I said, “they’ll eat you alive. I want to spend more time with you before that happens.” I’d turned it into a joke and he smiled that skewed smile that I couldn’t resist. I leaned against him, my head resting on his shoulder. It felt like it was made for me.
    I started sending out my feelers. I didn’t like reading people’s minds unless it was something that I thought would be important, but I’d seen him a few times now, and I decided that it was important to me to know how he felt about me. I had to know if the effort I was going through, all the tongue-lashing I was getting from the coven, was worth it, or if it were just a game to him.
    It had to be more I decided, and I paused to consider it for a second before pushing on into the crevices of his mind. He was too nice to do that to me, even if I was strong enough to handle it, and he knew it.
    He was under no illusion that I needed him the way other females needed the men in their lives. It was more like a