Cassidy #5
Wrapped in warmth, love, and the steady reassurance of my mate’s heartbeat, I let my eyes drift closed, utterly convinced that no morning could ever top this one.
I don’t know how long I sleep. Long enough to have one of those extremely vivid dreams.
Sadly, not long enough to feel ready to be awake when something shrill cuts straight through the warmth wrapped around me.
I groan, burrowing deeper beneath the duvet. Somewhere close by, Silas lets out an amused huff.
“Told you there was time for a nap,” he murmurs, his voice still thick with sleep.
I grin because I’m clearly wrong. I thought I was the only one who gets super sleepy after sex, but Silas does, too.
My phone continues to ring, and I grumble under my breath, annoyance pulling at me.
With all the enthusiasm of someone being dragged back to reality against their will, I fumble blindly across the bedside table until my fingers brush cool glass.
I don’t even open my eyes as I grab the phone, aware it’s only going to be one of three people.
Maybe four, if Frankie were to call.
“What do you want?” I mumble around a yawn, pressing the phone to my ear.
Silas chuckles, tugging me closer to him. I purr as he snuggles me in closer, both happy we’re no longer knotted together so we can lie more comfortably but sad at the emptiness I now feel inside.
“Cassidy.
Then the sound stops, and my eyes snap open. I jerk away from Silas, every trace of sleep vanishes.
Harlan never talks to me like that. Not anymore—and barely even back then.
I push myself upright so quickly the duvet tumbles into my lap. Silas is already watching me, every trace of warmth replaced by sharp, alert focus.
“Harlan?” I ask, my voice suddenly much smaller. “What’s happened?”
A breath crackles down the line. “We’ve got a fucking disaster here.”
Ice floods my veins, and I look to Silas for some assistance. I rub at my chest, feeling the rage that’s flooding the bond from Harlan.
I can’t even feel Evander or Isaac underneath his fury.
“The campaign’s gone to shit,” he continues, words clipped and tight. “Get in. Now. There’s no time to fuck around in bed.”
My stomach drops, nausea cresting around as I hang my head.
“I’m sorry. What happened?” I ask hesitantly. “Can I bring anything in?”
“They’ve released it before we could,” he says darkly. “Don’t take the piss, just get yourself in.”
I blink, and Silas snatches the phone from me, demanding an answer to a question I don’t think I’m allowed to ask.
“What the fuck has happened?”
I flinch when I hear his tone, but Harlan’s answering one is worse.
“The campaign, Si. Visaro’s released the entire fucking thing,” Harlan hisses. “They’ve got everything. Our images, copy, videos—everything.”
Everything outside goes quiet. Inside, the vertigo hits, and I can’t get myself upright.
“Fucking hell,” Silas hisses. “I’ll clear the schedule, and we’ll be there in thirty.”
My mouth goes dry. None of this makes sense. How could they have all of this?
The launch isn’t due yet.
The assets aren’t—oh, fuck. My pulse begins to pound.
The line goes dead. Silence crashes into the room. I stare at the blanket in my lap as the dread builds higher and higher.
The warmth from moments ago has vanished completely, replaced by a cold so sharp it settles somewhere behind my ribs.
Beside me, Silas is already moving. He’s out of bed before I am, reaching automatically for clean clothes.
But when I don’t move, he comes back onto the bed, pulling me into his lap.
“Moonlight?”
I swallow and open my mouth, trying to explain how I feel.
Nothing comes out.
He tips my chin up with two fingers. “Cassidy, I need you to look at me, love.”
I look at him, my breathing unsteady.
“Breathe in, breathe out,” he soothes, repeating it a few times as I regulate my breathing.
It does little to help the panic, but at least I’m no longer seeing black spots in my vision from the hyperventilating.
“Tell me, little moon, what’s going on?” he asks.
“I…” My voice catches. “I don’t think this is going to look very good for me.”
His expression hardens instantly.
“I was already questioned about the leak,” I whisper. “Now, someone has released the campaign before launch. Surely, they’re going to think…”
The implications hang heavily between us. I don’t have to say them aloud for him to understand.
Silas cups my face between his hands, his scent sharpening. “You didn’t do this.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
I want to say yes. But proving it—that’s the part I can’t stop thinking about.
His jaw tightens, and he’s already reaching for his own shirt off the back of the chair as he says it. “We’re going in together. I will not let a single person doubt you. Not even yourself.”
His voice helps. A bit. But it doesn’t stop the thought that won’t leave me alone.
I’d only just started believing my worth—believing that I was actually capable of doing my job.
But now… I’m not sure what we’re building is going to survive this. I can’t let myself damage Harlan and Silas’s reputations.
I can’t.
Even if it means losing this pack I’ve fought so hard for.