Silas #2
It would be the truth. Because three grown men—me included—have spent months hiding behind their own wounds while expecting her to somehow understand what they refuse to say.
Because every alpha in her life keeps making decisions for her and calling it protection.
Because none of us deserve her.
Instead I say, “Because sometimes people hide things so well they start to believe them themselves.”
She blinks but still doesn’t turn to see me.
“I don’t understand why everyone keeps deciding things for me.”
And there it is.
Harlan decided she was too young.
Isaac decided he was too much.
Evander decided it wasn’t his place to tell her.
And I… I decided Harlan meant more to me than she does.
None of us deserve her.
We really fucking don’t.
But I’m a selfish cunt, and I’ll take her anyway. I might not deserve her, but not a single person would be a better alpha for her than me.
Cassidy spends her life softening herself for everyone around her, and yet, the people who care about her most keep taking decisions away from her.
My jaw tightens.
“I know everyone means well,” she continues quietly. “That’s the worst part.”
A shaky breath leaves her.
“They always mean well.”
Fucking hell.
I close my eyes briefly.
Because she’s describing me, too.
Evander overwhelms.
Isaac protects.
Harlan retreats.
And I sit back pulling strings, convincing myself strategy is somehow kinder than honesty.
Every path leads back to the same place—Cassidy carrying the consequences.
“I just…” Her voice cracks slightly.
She looks down at her lap, at the blanket now gathered around her knees.
“You just…?” I nudge, but she shakes her head, closing her eyes.
“You know what I see when I look at you, Cassidy?”
Her eyes lift to mine.
“What?”
I hold her gaze and tell her the fucking truth.
“The hardest-working person in any room.”
Emotions flash across her face too fast to take hold.
Hope.
Pain.
Disbelief.
All at once.
“And the most frightening thing about that,” I continue quietly, “is that you think that’s the only reason people should care about you.”
The silence that follows is devastating, and she doesn’t look away from me.
That’s the first mistake.
Hers.
Mine.
The fucking universe’s.
Eyes wide.
Too bright.
Too open.
Her mouth is parted around a breath she doesn’t quite seem able to release.
Her scent changes first.
Of course, it does.
Strawberry cream softens. Warms beneath the blanket, wrapping around vanilla musk until the back of my throat aches with the need to get closer.
Until my jaw burns as my teeth try to elongate, preparing to mark that pretty little spot on her neck.
My trousers are too tight, my cock pressing against the seam, as my knot tries desperately to form.
Fuck.
I’ve photographed hundreds of beautiful things. Models under golden light. Rain on glass. Fabric falling just right over skin. Harlan’s impossible visions brought into the world one frame at a time.
None of it has ever come close to this.
To this beautiful woman here.
Cassidy Hargrove looking at me like I just saw something she’d spent years trying to hide.
“I don’t know how to stop,” she whispers.
My fingers flex against my thigh. “Stop what?”
“Trying to earn things.”
Oh, moonlight.
I can make it so she never has to earn another thing in her life. I could solve every problem she has before she even sees it coming.
But I know she’d resent me for it.
No matter how burnt out my mate is, she’s not someone who wants things handed to her.
I should say something useful. Something to take this weight off her shoulders.
Something appropriately distant for a man who has spent months pretending he isn’t already hers in every way that matters.
Instead, I unclip my seat belt, and Cassie’s eyes drop to the movement, her breath catching in surprise.
I move slowly, giving her every opportunity to pull away, to tell me no, to look back out of the window, and rebuild whatever fragile wall she’s been using to survive the men in her life.
She doesn’t.
She watches me cross the small space between us, all flushed cheeks and trembling mouth and trust she has no business giving me.
I stop before I touch her. Her scent is smothering me, slick, strawberry cream, and warm omega. I inhale it like a man starving for air.
I can see the tiny flecks of gold in her green eyes. The sprinkling of freckles across her nose and under her long lashes.
I’m close enough that my instincts stop begging and start directing me.
Mine.
Mine.
Mine.
“You don’t earn care,” I say, voice low enough I barely recognise it. “You don’t earn honesty. You don’t earn being wanted. Or being loved. Those things should have been yours already.”
Her eyes shine with the weight of her unshed tears.
“Then why does it feel like I do?” she whispers, inching closer to me.
Her breath is warm against my cheek.
Because people have failed you. Because I have failed you.
Because Harlan is a coward, Isaac is frightened, Evander is reckless, and I’m the worst of them all because I saw the whole board and still let you be hurt.
I lift my hand. Her gaze tracks the movement, but she doesn’t flinch when my knuckles brush the tear clinging to her cheek.
The contact should be nothing to her. Barely there. Skin to skin for less than a second.
And yet, it still steals the air from my lungs.
But when Cassidy exhales shakily, eyes fluttering, it’s clear I was wrong. That tiny bit of contact has done something to her, too.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Do not take, Silas.
Do not.
But she tilts towards me, looking me in the eyes, and I can’t deny myself any more.
“Si,” she whispers.
Not Silas, or Sir. Not Mr Varrick, or anything she could’ve said.
Si.
My control fractures, and my hand settles at her jaw instead of retreating.
I feel the soft warmth of her skin, the delicate tremor beneath it, the way her pulse skips against my touch.
“Tell me to move back,” I plead.
Her lashes lift, and I know she’s not trying to be alluring, but, fuck me, it’s like she’s designed to torture the sense out of me.
“What?”
“Tell me to move back, Cassidy.”
The words scrape out of me.
She swallows hard, her scent thickening around us, slick and sweet and so fucking divine.
I wish I could taste it.
I wish I could taste her.
I’m sure she’s soaking her knickers right now. Her pretty little pussy getting drenched for me and my knot.
Fuck, Silas, get a fucking hold of yourself.
I wait for her to tell me to move, but she doesn’t.
She just watches me with those soft eyes.
I should move anyway. I should be able to control myself better than this.
Then Cassidy leans into my hand like she’s been waiting for it.
For me.
And every noble thought I’ve ever had burns to ash.
I pull her closer and press my lips to hers without another thought. She moans into my touch, her tongue darting out to wet her lips.
I take it into my mouth, pulling her closer, but she gets caught in the stupid seat belt.
I growl into her mouth, low enough that her scent bursts sweeter, and then she’s in my lap, the belt no longer there, as she presses herself against me.
Her core is pressed against the bulge in my pants, and I tighten my hold on her so I don’t do something stupid like unbuckle it as we kiss.
As I devour her.
Every moan, every gasp, every sweet rush from my pretty little omega sends me into a frenzy.
One of her hands trails up and down my neck, the nails likely leaving proof that she was there, and it’s driving me insane in all of the best ways.
She’s perfect.
Sweet.
Mine.
I pull away from her lips, and she goes to move away, but I hold her in place, swivelling my hips up to meet hers. I kiss along her throat, skirting the swollen warmth of her gland, drawing moans and whimpers from her.
Her scent is impossible to ignore, need and desire pouring from her glands, pushing me further into this state of lust.
I nip her throat, just below her gland, not hard enough to mark her as mine, but I know it’ll bruise.
That’s all the claim I’m allowed to give right now.
“Fuck, Si,” she whimpers, rolling her hips into me. “Please.”
I nip again, and her movements speed up as she chases her own peak. I kiss and bite and suck along her neck, taking and pleasing as I go.
“Fuck, little moon,” I murmur before connecting my lips to hers again.
She tightens her hold on me, deepening the kiss without thought, her body chasing mine like instinct has taken over.
I’m in agony, my knot unable to release, my cock throbbing so badly. Every twitch burns, but I need that to keep me in the moment.
To keep me from taking things further.
Cassidy doesn’t seem to notice, not as her moans speed up and her breathing grows heavier.
Her scent is so sweet, I could get a cavity from it. She’s so close. So fucking close.
“Come for me now, little moon,” I hiss against her lips, and even without meaning to, a bark slips into my words, sharp enough that her whole body obeys.
She digs her nails into my neck, the other clutching my shoulder as she cries her orgasm into my mouth.
I swallow the screams, continuing to meet her thrusts, as I work her through her peak.
She’s fucking glorious when she comes. Her eyes are closed, practically rolled back in her head as she pants. Her chest is thrust forward, and I know if she had no top on, I’d lose whatever control I have left.
Cassidy is beautiful.
But right now—she’s the sexiest person I have ever seen. I wish I had my camera to capture this for all eternity.
Fuck, she’s perfect.
She shudders, and I know it’s finally over when she collapses into me.
I immediately wrap my arms around her, cradling her to my chest before she can remember how to be alone.
I never want to let her go.
Never want to be without her again.
Never want to go back to that reality.
Fuck, this is everything.
She is everything.
For a long moment, neither of us move.
The car hums softly beneath us. Rain taps gently against the windows. Somewhere beyond the divider, Jeff continues driving as though nothing in my entire world has just changed.
Let’s hope the partition works as a scent blocker as well as noise cancellation.