Free Cassie (The Coven's Grove Chronicles #3) by Virginia Hunter

instantly felt the heel. She quickly removed her hand. “Shit.” Doing damage to a car like this one was borderline sacrilege.
    “We don’t have a lot of options,” Caleb continued. “If you’ve got a better idea, I’m all ears.”
    Cassie placed her hands in her lap, and started wringing them. “No, I don’t.”
    “It’s going to be okay.” He reached over, and placed his hand over hers. “We’ll figure this out.”
    His touch tingled, as it usually did. The feeling helped distract her from the anxiety, and her power slowly cooled to a low simmer. “Sorry, I’m not used to people helping me.”
    “It’s okay.”
    Cassie leaned back, and looked out the window. Every so often there was a grouping of trees or a farmhouse, but for the most part the scenery was snow-covered flat land. She dozed off after a bit, and dreamt of a place where there were no bounty hunters, rapists, or monsters. Well, one bounty hunter was there, but he wasn’t hunting her. There was an enchanted forest with trees so large they couldn’t have been real. She and Caleb ran through the misty green woods without a care in the world, hopping over streams, and dancing in glades. She truly felt at ease for the first time since her dad had died.
    Eventually, the happy pair found their way into a secluded grove. It teemed with life, and at its center was an altar made of stone and living wood. Cassie approached the dais alone. The intricately worked stone sparkled with golden light, as she stepped up beside it. She was bathed in loving warmth and belonging. She reached down and touched the smooth bowl that had been carved in the heavy block. A tingling, not unlike what she felt when touching Caleb, ran up her arm and through her body. Bliss.
    Cassie jolted awake. “Holy shit, that was weird!”
    Caleb chuckled, “ You’re weird.”
    She grimaced at him, then rubbed her temples. A splitting headache had crept in, and set up shop just behind her eyes.
    “Need an aspirin?” Caleb asked.
    “Yeah, or a drill.”
    Caleb motioned to the glove box. “In there.”
    Cassie popped it open, and found the solution to her pain in the form of an aspirin bottle. “Thanks.”
    “You didn’t sleep for very long.”
    “Really?” She swallowed a couple of the little white pills. “Felt like I was out for a day.”
    “More like an hour.”
    This wasn’t the first time she’d experienced a lapse in time after a hard sleep, but this particular incident was different. Maybe it was because the dream had felt so real, or because of the stress she was under. Whatever the case, she could have sworn she’d been out for longer than just an hour, and that she had been somewhere that truly existed. She couldn’t say how she knew, she just did, and despite the headache, she felt good about heading south.
    “So, who’s this friend of yours?” she asked. “Is he cute?”
    Caleb grinned, “Well, I’m glad to see that you’re feeling better.”
    “Nothing like the prospect of meeting a hot guy to turn my mood around.”
    Caleb shook his head. “His name’s Brody, and unfortunately for you, he’s ugly as hell.”
    She laughed, causing a spike of pain to rifle through her brain. “Damn. This sucks.”
    “Sorry, I don’t have anything more powerful.”
    “It’ll be fine. Tell me more about this ugly friend of yours, and how he deserves the curse of putting us up for a while.”
    “I’ve known him since we were kids. He’s a good guy.”
    A thought came to Cassie. “So, you’re not Canadian?”
    “No.” He gave her a quizzical look. “What made you ask that?”
    “The bounty...”
    “Oh, I see.” He nodded, catching on. “I picked it up in Minnesota a year ago, after dropping off a guy wanted for fraud. I’ve been working your case off and on for a while.”
    “Huh, so you’re kind of a stalker,” Cassie teased.
    He chuckled, “I suppose everyone in this line of work is.”
    “This Brody guy, is he a bounty hunter too?”
    “Nah.