Chapter 5
Melanie
As soon as I left the restaurant, I strode through the gardens. It was only after I calmed down that I realised I had no idea where I was.
I’d stopped in front of a wide tree that dappled my skin with shadows, but I was too fired up to stay still, so I just paced.
I couldn’t do anything about my feelings. I didn’t know how to calm down, but I didn’t want to unleash myself on anyone who didn’t deserve it.
All I felt was useless. I just wanted someone to be there for me after all that.
I used to think I was so strong, but it looked like I’d found my breaking point.
Because stupid tears rolled down my face, and I couldn’t stop myself from snarling in frustration.
I bet Zania didn’t care. She probably waved her hand, ordered the table to be removed, and they carried on with dinner like nothing happened.
I couldn’t make a single dent.
And I just kept picturing Kai, Sin, and Caspian’s faces as I left.
It didn’t matter if Kai was reaching for me and tugging on our bond. He still wasn’t with me.
I had to move, but where was I going to go when I was stuck outside in my underwear?
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
Caspian snarled from behind me, and I cried out.
It was half surprise, half relief. Because one of them actually came for me, and they actually did something that didn’t involve their cocks.
I really wanted to spin around and let him gather me up into a hug. Sin or Kai would, if they had come, but I already knew what expression Caspian wore.
I didn’t understand why he was the one who had come. I still turned, because I wanted to see him. I wanted all of them there to hold me, to show me that someone cared.
I flinched when I met Caspian’s shattered gaze. It definitely wasn’t the fury I was expecting.
“You look like you’re worse off than me,” I said hoarsely. I swept my hand over my body, showing what state I was in.
His nostrils flared as heat fired in me at the barest scrap of attention. I didn’t even know if it was my omega instincts reacting to an alpha, or if I was so sad that I’d take any comfort I could.
He held my dress in one hand, the other clenched into a fist.
His skin was ashen, his shoulders hunched, and even his eyes looked dim. It didn’t matter that he was growling, because I could feel the hurt beating off of him. It spun in his scent like burnt sugar, fragile enough to crack with one touch.
“You don’t know what you’ve just done,” he said as he prowled towards me.
I always thought he was dangerous, but he had an edge today that told me if he got his hands on me, I’d never make it out alive. “My mother could fucking kill you for that shit.”
“Are you saying you’d let me be killed?”
His eyes widened as another growl rumbled from him.
I was too haywire, too vulnerable. I’d never expressed myself so violently, and I didn’t know how to calm down. I backed into the tree, the bark rough against my back as my head tilted so I could meet the storm that was Caspian Risler.
“You need to be more afraid than that, Mel. You need to be fucking terrified.”
Drawing in a slow breath, my heart jumped into my throat as he leaned closer.
I replied with my own low growl as he got further into my space. “After everything you’ve done to me, there’s no way I’m going to be scared.”
“You think you’ve seen my worst?” he said as he lowered himself to my eye level.
“I want you to show me your worst.”
The tension cranked up between us, and one of us needed to move, or I was going to scream.
I pressed my palms against the tree by my hips, holding on as he growled.
“Don’t do it, Caspian,” I said, and he shuddered the moment my name left his lips. “Kai will never forgive us if you kiss me without him here.”
“Who said I was going to kiss you?” His lips twisted into a snarl. Nerves tumbled through my chest as I pressed a hand over my stomach.
“Then why did you follow me?” I asked, my throat dry as my hand slipped down. His hungry gaze was glued to it as the tips of my fingers brushed my white thong.
I reached out for Kai, like I was asking him if it was okay, and I immediately felt a rush of love from all the way inside the restaurant.
“What if my mates were the ones who sent me here?” Caspian growled, and I knew he could feel Kai’s presence, too.
I swallowed, and he caught the bob of my throat. His breath whispered over my skin, following the line he had made with his tongue just a week ago.
I wasn’t supposed to tremble; I didn’t mean to. But having him so close was too right, and I let out a sigh as I took in his scent.
His hand pressed against the tree by my ear, trapping the dress there, his body surging over mine.
I reached up my shaking hand, feeling everything but terrified as I cupped his cheek.
He could have backed away; he could have kept growling at me. He could have done absolutely anything, but he chose to soften into my touch, rubbing his cheek against my hand.
“What was I meant to be afraid of again?” I asked. My anger washed away with his as I purred, guiding him down to me.
He gave way as I brought his lips to mine, finally surrendering to it.
Moans echoed between us, and he didn’t hesitate to sweep me up. He pulled me to his hard body, his back curved to reach down to my lips.
“Fuck,” he moaned as he launched himself into the kiss. That tender moment between us suddenly exploded as his tongue fed past my lips and hot caramel burned my mouth.
“Fuck,” he growled again as he bit at my lower lip and I pressed my hips out to him, grinding my stomach against his hardening cock.
There was no way my thong could handle the slick that was coming.
“Fucking hell,” his groan was higher, needier.
I wrapped my arm around his huge shoulders, amazed at how he bent to my touch. He let me take control, his small gasps so gentle it was like he couldn’t deal with my kisses even though he had dominated me every other time.
What had made him so vulnerable? Why was he giving in so easily?
I’d never experienced a high like I did holding my giant alpha in my arms. It really felt like he was mine.
It didn’t wipe away everything he’d done to me, but my heart clenched as his pain beat through his aura and his weight descended on me.
He pushed me against the tree, scattering nips and bites over my cheeks and jaw.
“Caspian, come back,” I murmured as I brought him to my lips again.
All my anger, my pain, every single drop of frustration that weighed me down, it all vanished as we sank into each other.
His hand slipped down my waist, pushing away the thin band of my thong, and I nudged my hips back so he could move it aside.
“This is the best way to get to her,” he chuckled. “If my mother knows we’ve been fucking in the garden and we walk back into the restaurant, she’ll be even more furious.”
I rocked my head back as his lips descended on my neck as my heart fell. I didn’t have to stifle my whimper because he couldn’t tell it came from hurt and not desire.
Why couldn’t they just want to be with me for me?
Pain spread from every place he kissed as I forced myself to hide it. To not show it. To make it disappear, even though Kai was tugging at me, answering my pain.
My fingers dug into Caspian’s shoulders like I could keep him with me. But they were so broad, and his muscles were so thick that I couldn’t leave a mark.
His finger traced down the V of my hips, and he was so absorbed in kissing my skin that there was no way for him to sense the fresh anger blooming in my heart.
I wanted him to pay attention. I wanted him to notice what was going on. Kai could feel so deep inside me I couldn’t hide anything from him. So what would change if Caspian knew me the same way?
“Hey, Caspian?” I said, pushing at his shoulder to bring his face up to mine.
I’d been thinking about it as an actual way to take him away from Zania, and I hated myself for it. But I couldn’t stand the way they made me feel about myself even more.
I was so tired from everything that had happened in the restaurant that I just didn’t care anymore.
“Do you really want to know how to make her furious?” I asked.
I couldn’t believe I was going to say it after everything they’d put me through.
Caspian was here, and he needed me, even if it was for the wrong reasons.
“Tell me, Mel,” he asked breathlessly, his gaze so innocent it threw me off. “What do you need me to do?”
I drew in a breath, standing on my tiptoes to whisper in his ear.
“Bite me.”