Page 1 of Love in Unexpected Places

Chapter One

The silence in thecar was heavy.Sullivan wasn’t surprised.After all, they were heading to meet people who were technically their enemies.There was no way to know if this would end up being a mistake or if it was the right thing to do, but Sullivan hoped for the second.What their coven was doing wasn’t right, and there was only one way to fix it.

The fact that they were being driven to the pack by a bear shifter didn’t help.Sullivan had already gone through this, but it was the first time Michelle, Ryan, and Braden visited the pack.Sullivan had gone first in case the pack tried something, but wanting help seemed to be Chance’s only goal.Sullivan had managed to create a relationship with the alpha.He wouldn’t say they were friends, but they weren’t enemies, which was all that mattered.He hoped that, eventually, working together would mean they could fix the coven and everything wrong within it.

Or maybe they would have to destroy the coven.

Most coven members hated what the leaders were doing, but they didn’t have a choice.When their leaders ordered something, they obeyed, and that was that.Saying no wasn’t an option if they didn’t want to die or their families to pay.How strong Sullivan and his allies were didn’t matter—the coven leaders were stronger.They had even more power now that they were using dragons for their spells.Sullivan could do the same to stand up to them, but he refused to use other human beings.He’d done what he could to help the dragons when the coven had attacked their clan, but it hadn’t been enough.

Nothing Sullivan did was enough.He hoped that by accepting the pack’s help, he could finally change things, but he didn’t dare hope, not yet.It was too soon, and they weren’t really allies.

“So, you were born in the pack, right?”Michelle asked James, who was driving the car.

Sullivan sucked in a breath.James wasn’t the nicest person he’d ever met.He wasn’t rude, but he was curt, probably because Sullivan and his friends were mages.

“Weren’t you born within your coven?”James asked in a harsh tone.

Luckily, Michelle wasn’t offended.“I wasn’t, actually.No one else in my family had magic.They didn’t know what to make of me when we found out that I did, and they decided that I was evil.They kicked me out when I was sixteen.”

James’s gaze flickered to the rearview mirror, probably to look at her.She was in the back seat with Sullivan and Ryan, while Braden was in the passenger seat.There was no other way to do it, considering how big Braden was.He would’ve taken half the backseat on his own, squishing the other two.Michelle, on the other hand, was tall but slender, so they fit.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” James said, sounding slightly nicer.

“It was a long time ago, more than twenty years.I’m fine now.”Michelle grimaced.“Well, not fine, but I have a roof over my head.”

“I understand how hard that can be.My boyfriend lived on the streets for a bit.”

Sullivan blinked.He’d heard that the pack had welcomed a smaller pack of shifters who’d been homeless, but he hadn’t expected James to be so open about that information, especially since it involved this boyfriend.James was the kind of person who was fiercely private, especially with people he didn’t know.

“But he’s fine now, right?”Michelle asked.

“He is.He’s part of our pack, and I’ll do anything in my power to protect him.”

Michelle nodded as if she couldn’t hear the threat in James’s voice.“Of course you will.You love him.”

To Sullivan’s surprise, James’s cheeks flushed.“I do.”

That was something else Sullivan hadn’t expected.Michelle was a mage, and apparently, she was so magical that she could convince James to be nice.

“That’s why we’re all here,” Braden said in a rumbling voice.“To protect the people we love.”

James’s shoulders tensed, and Sullivan sighed.He’d known this wasn’t going to be easy, but he’d hoped it would be easier than it was.

“It is,” Michelle quickly agreed.“And we’ll be able to do that as long as we work together.No one here wants to hurt anyone.”

Yet the mages had hurt people.They’d had to choose between their lives and the lives of the people they hurt, but still.Knowing that didn’t make Sullivan feel any better.Sometimes, he wished he’d chosen to save people instead of hurting them, but if he had, he would be dead now, and no one would be working to stop the coven leaders.Sacrifices were necessary, even though Sullivan hated them.

He was relieved when he realized they’d entered pack territory.They drove through the small town, heading closer and closer to the meeting with Chance.

Sullivan liked the alpha.He was willing to listen, even though technically, Sullivan was an enemy.It was the only reason Sullivan had agreed to bring along some of his allies within the coven.If he hadn’t thought he could trust Chance, they wouldn’t be here.They were his friends, and he wanted to protect them.

“This is pretty,” Michelle said as she glanced out the window.“And not at all hidden.Aren’t you afraid that people will find you?”

“You mean, aren’t we afraid that a bunch of mages will attack us?”James asked.

“That too, I suppose.Or maybe I’m just so used to having our home protected with spells that make it impossible to find it that I find it hard to believe not everyone needs or wants that.”

“We’re working on it.”James still sounded grumpy.

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