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him).
    It had been four days since our steamy tryst and we couldn’t get any private time. Rand had been overly preoccupied with the various creatures being recruited into our army. Odran’s forces had already arrived at Pelham Manor and quickly began felling trees and constructing rudimentary forts to serve as their shelters for the next few months. Almost immediately after the fairies, the vampires and their humans (think walking blood banks) arrived, followed by the werewolves.
    What I found interesting, comical almost, was that each faction insisted on separating itself from the others. The fairies’ camp was closest to the stream, allowing the pixies to find refuge in the water lilies. The pixies, who were about as tall as my thumb, scouted the banks of the stream, reporting to the fairies when any other creatures came too close. The werewolves chose a locale bordering the woods. The vampires busied themselves digging their pits and burying their caskets in the middle of the field while their humans set up tents along the perimeter of the caskets. There was no intermingling; they kept to their own in a great show of pride.
    Although I found the hordes of vampires, fairies and werewolves impressive, the same couldn’t be said for Rand’s coven of witches which numbered…twelve. In his defense, this coven had only recently become his. Rand was infamous for not allying himself with anyone. While witch covens were only able to stay in power by taking on outside jobs (exorcisms, tarot readings, palmistry, etc.), Rand, the recluse, opted to work singly and picked his own jobs. But, after the estrangement between Rand and Bella was known, some of the witches migrated to Rand’s territory and in the end, he had no choice but to become their leader.
    The twelve witches laid claim to a small piece of land ignored by the other creatures who outnumbered them twenty to one. The coven was comprised of eight warlocks and four witches, from different nations; but the majority were Americans. Their skills were as varied as their backgrounds; some were newbies and others were pretty advanced.
    As far as our war effort was concerned, Rand was determined to protect Pelham Manor so the fairies had woven magical nets from tree to tree at the edges of his property; one misstep and you’d be as fried as a catfish in Louisiana. And if that weren’t enough to keep our enemies out, Rand had insisted each of the creatures take turns scouting the property to ensure nothing got through the fairy nets.
    In recent days, I had occupied most of my time by trying to relocate from the butler’s quarters into Pelham Manor. Because I was still so weak, I wasn’t much help—just telling the two witches Rand had assigned me where to put what.
    It wasn’t entirely thrilling to be living in Pelham Manor again. I mean, on the one hand, it was wonderful to be nearer Rand (my bedroom was coincidentally adjacent to his) but I cherished my privacy. Besides that, lurking in the back of my mind was the fact that the last time I’d lived inside the walls of Pelham Manor, my relationship with Rand had steadily and inexorably fallen apart.
    I was also bummed by the fact that I had to leave the bungalow I called home and further bummed that Odran snatched the tenancy along with two of his fairy paramours (aka fairamours). Rand had jumped at the opportunity to relet it to Odran, knowing it would mean one less male in the house. But, he still had Trent and Sinjin under his roof.
    What bothered me more than the idea of Odran sleeping in my bed was the fact that I was now living in such close proximity to my ex, Trent. Despite our brief interlude, now I couldn’t stand him. His reputation as a player hadn’t stopped me from dating him even though I’d known this from the get go. Instead, I basically faceplanted for his charismatic charm. Our relationship had lasted all of a month when he dumped me, explaining he was just too dangerous to date. Stupid me.
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