Page 58 of Only You, No One Else

Caster shrugged. “That is a long story, and not mine to tell. I don’t even think I know the extent of it, but he has a distrust of the Grand Coven that borders on real hatred.”

“And you are loyal to him?”

CHAPTER 37

Mark knew the answer to the question before he’d even considered asking it. That loyalty, almost brotherhood, was clear in their interactions. Riley and Caster were brothers in the same way he and Dean were. The abiding trust between them was clear in the way they seemed to communicate without words, and in Riley’s unceasing protection of the whole family. Some of it had to do with his love for Ben, but it was clear it went deeper than that.

Caster’s nod when it came was predictable. “I’ve known him a long time.”

Mark wanted to know everything about Caster and his family.

“You’re a part of that family, now. Yes, I will tell you anything you want to know.”

He smiled, a thousand questions battling to be first in line, but he needed to stay on task. He’d strayed too much already.

Caster frowned, his unrestrained ability to read his thoughts with minimal effort working in his favor.

Mark shook his head. “Only…” He searched for the right words. “I want to know about witches. But you’re saying Riley doesn’t trust them.”

“No. His distrust has nothing to do with witches in general. Just something in his family.”

“Your mother said the Grand Priestess is his grandmother.” That bit of information had come to him at a time when he’d been terrified of losing Caster, and he surprised himself by remembering any of it.

“Yes. But they have a strained relationship. Or none at all, I’m not sure.” He shrugged. “Riley won’t discuss it, and I don’t push. I’m sure Ben knows, but he won’t talk about it either.”

Mark tried to step away from all the complications of familial relations. He, more than most, understood the havoc they could bring. “I know that his mother and Edie are Fire Witches, Amelia is an Earth Witch, and Ethel?”

“She has the Power of the Water,” Caster said, leaning back into the couch. “There is one more kind, witches with the Power of the Wind. They are the least powerful and the gentlest.”

“And Fire is the strongest.”

He nodded, then settled further into the couch with a sigh. “Riley commands all four elements. His power knows no bounds.” Then he turned his gray gaze on Mark. “I can hear the gears grinding in your mind. What are you thinking?”

A plan had been forming from the moment he’d stepped outside to speak with his brother earlier in the day. The confusion of Amara’s revelation and Bastian’s reappearance had only delayed his strategizing. “I told you, I want to bring the fight to her. I can’t do that until I gather a sufficient army.”

Caster’s smile was slow, knowing.

“What?”

“I love this side of you.”

Mark couldn’t help but join in the levity of the moment, Caster’s smile drawing him away from the guilt thoughts of his mother had brought. “You didn’t think my brother kept me around for my good looks, did you?”

Caster’s laugh crawled over his skin, and he couldn’t contain the appreciative moan. His joy transformed his perfect face into angelic territory.

He gasped when that face was close enough they once again shared a breath. He hadn’t even seen him move. A single kiss turned to two and then three in the space of a few seconds. Soon, their ever-present need for each other threatened to erase the beginnings of a plan that would ensure they held on to their forever.

He didn’t want to, but Mark pushed away from the obsessive compulsion to remain in that desire, but he lacked the power to pull away completely. They remained close, so close that a simple lapse in willpower is all it would take.

“Tell me your plan.” It was a whisper that sailed through the scant space between them to settle in his heart.

Mark nodded. “We won’t be getting help from any more witches?”

Caster shook his head, creating a bit of space between them. “My father could compel the Grand Priestess to help, but then we’d lose Riley. And I would take Riley on his worst day over a hundred witches at full strength.”

Mark’s desire to know what would cause such a significant rift in Riley’s family was strong, but it wasn’t his business. The witches they had would be sufficient anyway.

“Sufficient?”