“Caspian, your mum… Zania is…” But another sob wracked from deep in her chest as she bent over. Sin hugged her tighter, holding her hands, making sure she was wrapped in his aura as he met me with a hard gaze.
And I knew.
He didn’t have to say a word. No matter what happened, Sin would only make a face so fucking serious if it was that.
“I’m so sorry, Caspian,” he said.
“You’re still not fucking saying anything,” I growled, testing the cuffs against Kai’s bedframe. My arms were numb, but no wonder if they had me tied up there for three days.
He kept his mouth clamped like a pussy as Mel talked through her tears. She tried to tell me honestly, but so much fear twisted inside her that infected everything she said. There was no way I could get the full story out of her. For once, Sin being an emotionless bastard actually came in handy, because he finally took over when Mel reached the point in her story where they left the main restaurant to follow me, and she broke down in more sobs.
And when he described how he found me, the screams came back. Like an undercurrent to Sin’s empty voice, a distant moment I was never supposed to remember.
Every time I tried to interrupt him and ask questions, he shushed me, and, by the time he got to the end, I understood why.
“Sin, you have to be fucking with me right now,” I wheezed as I stared at him. I couldn’t drag my eyes away; I needed to see every single inch of his face to know that he was telling the truth.
But his gloves stretched as he buried his nose in Mel’s neck, and avoided me.
“Would I lie to you about this?” he murmured.
I wanted to be angry. I wanted to be hurt and messed up as gnarled grief rocked me, but none of it was there.
My mum’s death was just a numb gap between the chaos of Camille and the pain of going rogue.
“Your dads…” Mel gasped. “Sin, you have to tell him—” He nuzzled her, relaxing her instantly, and I sent a bolt of pissed-off energy at him. Even though I was in shock, I still had time to be annoyed with Sin for stealing her attention when she was the one who bit me, not him.
“Kai took care of your fathers while you were otherwise occupied.”
“You mean when I was going fucking rogue?”
“If you want to phrase it like that, then yes. But they were persistent, and it was the only way to keep Melanie safe.”
Shock hit me again as Brandy’s bloodshot eyes met mine.
“Are you alright? Did they make you do anything?” I snarled instantly. “If you had to hurt anyone…” I never wanted her to get her hands bloody, not anymore. Kai would be fucking furious if I treated him like that.
She quickly shook her head, her hair tumbling around her. “They didn’t make me do anything,” she whispered. “I had to protect myself.”
A snarl ripped from me, and she flinched, but I sent her as much love as my broken heart could find to show her it wasn’ther. It was us. It was our fault for dragging her into our world and never loving her the way we should have from the start. If we had bitten her sooner, if we had given in to our need and formed a pack, maybe we could have kept her safe from all of it.
And that other spark inside me, it was fucking pride that my omega went that far. That she had sheer balls to take on someone else. I didn’t need the story now, not when she looked more shattered than me. But one day I needed the story of how she went after one of my dads, and won.
I should have felt some kind of emotion, something to say that I cared that they were gone. They were my family, but I had more response to learning that Kai killed my dads than hearing that I was the one who strangled my mum.
“I know you’re in shock,” Sin said softly, reaching out. I didn’t even realise my fist was clenched until he gently held it. Pain stabbed every inch of my body, my chest was tight, while my blood boiled over, so why the hell didn’t I feel anything? Why didn’t it feel real? Like the world was just going to continue on the same because the three of them were all I needed?
“I’m so fucked up,” I groaned, but there were just the pair of them watching me like they were waiting for some kind of reaction instead of a numb alpha lying chained up in bed.
The quiet was eating into me. Whenever Sin started making people awkward with his silent stares, he would say that he was just giving the other person space. It was one of his mind games to get them to start worrying and overthinking so they would make mistakes. But I was too used to that bullshit.
Everything was too intense between us, and I didn’t want to hurt her again. I focused on Sin’s vanilla and Mel’s presence inside me, and tried not to wind myself up. Kai wasn’t here. I needed him just as much as the other two, and it was no wonder he was furious if I put Mel’s life at risk.
I needed the fucking cuffs off, but as soon as I struggled, Sin’s gaze narrowed. He was right. If he freed me now, I’d fuck her rather than comfort her. But I want to hold my omega so badly that it burns more fiercely than the pain that screams through my body.
“You both need to hear Kai’s side of the story as well,” Sin says, his voice grating on me. I didn’t know how to deal with Sin when he got emotional. I was pretty out of it when he was crying, but his eyes were still red-rimmed, and his hands hadn’t stopped shaking since I woke up.
“Please don’t take what I’ve said as the ultimate truth. I don’t want Kai to think I’ve twisted your view by telling you my side first.”
