“You’re capable of many impossible things, sweet-tart,” Marcus says, passing me a mug of tea. “But not that.”
Cassian’s phone chimes with a text and he pulls it from his pocket. “They’re letting Luca go. Will you be okay here with Marcus if I go pick him and Simon up and bring them home?”
I nod against him, though I’m loath to let him go.
He drops a soft, sweet kiss on my forehead and gently shifts me off his lap and onto the couch beside him. “Go, have a hot bath. Drink your tea. I’ll be home with your men before you know it.”
He goes to stand, but I pull him back and kiss him. He’s tentative for a moment before returning the kiss, smiling against my lips.
“Thank you for today, Cass. I had to help.”
“I know,” he murmurs, his lips brushing against mine. “You did good work today, love.”
Love.
That one little word warms me from my head to my toes and I smile, kissing him one more time before letting him go.
I finally hear from Ian when I’ve sunk low beneath a blanket of bubbles in the bath Marcus draws for me.
>
>
>
I smile faintly. After feeling so helpless for so long, it feels good to have made a difference, even a small one.
>I tap out, sending one message and then another right after.>
I have to tell him about Cadigan. It’s too late to undo the damage done by the collar-controlled omegas and the Soldiers of Saint Aldous, but if revealing Cadigan’s treachery can prevent another attack, Ian has to know the part his mentor is playing in the Soldiers’ devious dealings.
The older alpha has practically been a second father figure to him, and what I have to tell him will blindside him. Saints, Ian went into teaching after Cadigan inspired him to, and he loves teaching more than anything.
The truth willcrushhim.
Hehasto believe me. I don’t know what I’ll do if he doesn’t.
* * *
Luca chargesup the stairs just as I’m dressing after my bath. I want to go into my alpha’s arms, but he holds me at arm’s length, and I quickly understand why. He’s still covered in blood.
“The police never gave me a chance to wash up,” he explains in a low rumble. There’s a catch in his voice that makes me pause, and I search his face, trying to figure out his sudden bashfulness. All I find are bruises, burns and blood. His lower lip is split and swollen, one of his eyes bloodshot.
“Saints, Luca, did the policehurtyou?” I demand, my voice shooting up an octave.
He shakes his head, his long blond, bloodstained hair slipping from its knot and falling in front of his eyes. “I hate you seeing me like this.”
“Hurt? I hate it too. Please, let me heal you?”
“Not… not hurt.” His voice shakes and he can’t look me in the eye as he continues. “Juniper, I beat four men bloody today. I wouldn’t have stopped. Not if it meant getting to you. But then I saw you, covered in blood and I just… fuck, princess, I felt just like my father. Violent, brutal. A fucking monster. And you saw me like that.”
“You arenotlike your father. I didn’t see you as a monster, Luca. I saw you as a hero. My hero. My brave, protective, fierce alpha.Mine. You didn’t hurtme. It wasn’t my blood. Shit, most of it wasn’t even yours. The sight of you covered in Kel’s blood didn’t upset me at all. You can beat Soldiers senseless all day long, and I’ll only ever stop you long enough to heal your split knuckles.” I give him the lightest shove and he lets me walk him backwards into my nest’s bathroom. I sit him down on the edge of the tub and rifle through the linen closet for a few old washcloths. I soak them in hot water and then perch on the edge of the bathtub beside him.
Gingerly, taking care to avoid anywhere my alpha could have gotten hexed, I draw his sweater up over his head and toss it to the corner of the bathroom, doing the same with his button-up shirt and tie.
I let out a hiss of surprise when I see the burns and bruises that darken his tattooed skin.
“You should have put half a dozen more of those bastards down,” I mutter, grabbing a washcloth and wringing it out in the tub.
