“It did, Kai, really. It was the best week of my life. But I told you before, I need to be with people I can trust. I don’t believe in them the same way I do with you.”
Kai’s anxiety was taking him over, panic setting up a tempo inside him that beat in me as well. I was scared he was going to revert to his old self, that one bad decision meant I’d ruined everything. That was enough to tell me that theirs wasn’t the kind of space I wanted to live in.
“Alright, yeah, fine.” There was a shimmer between us, and amusement teased our bond so quickly it threw me off. Suddenly, Kai was grinning, popping a hip as he surveyed me. “Let’s say Cas and Sin keep fucking up,” he said as he purred. “And they just can’t seem to get a damn thing right, what are you going to do?”
“What do you mean?” I asked cautiously.
“Well,” he said, a finger running silkily along the neckline he had spent the past hour sewing together while we chatted like we were normal people and not stuck in a bizarre situation like this. “If you don’t like my alphas, and I happen to get fucked off enough with them, what about running off into the sunset with me so we can live happy and free? I’ll take you to a shitty island somewhere warm where we can drink coconut milk and fuck whenever we want.”
I chuckled as he sent me a rush of desire, stirring up my insides. “If you’re not careful, I’m going to drag you back to your nest, and we won’t make it to the restaurant.”
“Oh no,” he said, leaning in to nuzzle my neck, wrapping a hand around my waist and pulling me close. “What an absolute fuckingtravesty.”
Sin
Caspian shot forward in the passenger seat with a heaving gasp, throwing his fist out, punching straight into the glove compartment as he yelled.
His eyes wide, his whole body exploded with energy as his aura fragmented.
He jolted, the car shaking as his huge body thumped back into the seat.
“Sin, what the actual fuck!?” he roared.
I stayed passive, focused on the road.
“You fucking shot me! You shot me, Sin! Me! I can’t fucking—”
The moment the memories returned, a choking cry ripped from him, as if I’d shot him again. I couldn’t see into his mind through the bond, but his stomach roiled, bile climbing his throat as he shook.
“I’m sorry, Caspian. It was safer to knock you out than to have you approach her,” I said as I turned onto the bypass. “It would have become too dangerous for all of us if your auras clashed.”
I refused to look at him as betrayal beat through him. I was sure he had many questions, but reaching Kai and Melanie was the priority.
We were close to the restaurant, but we were far too late.
Casually shooting Caspian with a stun gun to make sure Camille didn’t level the house when he went rogue had not been in my plans.
It took me an hour to drag Caspian to one of the spare rooms, clean him up, and fit him into a suit. All while he was unconscious, and I was intensely aware of Michael and Lily’s presence as they and Flint handled Camille.
To say I was irritated was putting it mildly.
Not that it was Caspian’s fault.
If we had to travel to the root of the problem, we would obviously find Zania sitting at the heart.
I swallowed down any emotion threatening to burn through me. I needed to be there for Caspian and trust Lily until we could gather ourselves.
I phoned Kai to explain that we would be late, but the coldness in my omega’s voice was nearly too hard to bear. We weren’t close enough to physically feel his disappointment in us, but it was clear.
Caspian bent forward, another gasp tumbling from him as he pressed his hands into his knees. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a panic attack.
He wasn’t quite hyperventilating, but one wrong word would have him sailing towards his rogue state, and we couldn’t afford to have him snap now.
“How…” he wheezed. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s not necessary for you to understand,” I said.
A snarl ripped from him. “I’m the one who gets to fucking decide that! How long have you been hiding this from me?”
