Chapter 17 Melanie
Melanie
Igroaned as I stretched out my body. My stomach still hurt from the kick Caspian’s dad gave me, but everything else was so light and good. It was the same way I felt after fucking them for the first time, and I’d snuggled up with Sin and Kai…before everything else.
I was surrounded by a cloud of warmth that rocked like a boat on the waves, and I wiggled closer to the source. I’d never felt so safe, like nothing bad could ever happen to me.
Except, instead of the softness I thought was floating around me, my left ear pressed against hard muscle, and Caspian’s faint heartbeat pulsed in my ear.
I didn’t want to open my eyes as the memories flickered through me. Of what had happened. Of what we’d done.
It had been like that since the restaurant. I’d wake up, and my body would remember, and I needed their warmth to stop the horror of it from taking me over.
We’d stayed in Kai’s nest the whole time, just holding onto Caspian to keep him calm with both conventional and unconventional methods.
I couldn’t be away from Caspian for more than a minute without panicking, and every part of me needed him.
If I stopped touching him, I’d still desperately reach for him through the bond.
Kai promised I’d be embarrassed about it once it wore off, but I couldn’t think that far in the future when everything was so intense.
Pressing harder against the warmth, I hoped it would wrap itself around me like a blanket that could protect me from the world. If it was so hard and muscular, it could be a shield that could keep me safe from the memories attacking me.
I squeezed my eyes closed, bending my body, rubbing my nose against the deep scent of caramel that instantly calmed me.
But my hands balled into fists, and my back bowed as I whimpered. I curled in on myself, shaking, desperately pushing away the shock of Zania’s face and her screams as I—
“Pssst.”
I jumped, my eyes snapping open.
Kai threw me a wink, a chuckle winding out from him and instantly settling me.
He was cosied up on Caspian’s left side, both of us closing our alpha in. He lay on Caspian’s left pec, and I was on the right, watching each other as love flowed around us.
“Kai! What are you—” but he cut me off, putting his finger to his lips with a wicked grin.
Caspian’s chest slowly rose and fell with his every breath, gentle rumbling, like a mix between a growl and a purr.
I instantly relaxed into him because my alpha’s aura was so calm that he had to be asleep. I never imagined Caspian could be so peaceful, or that I’d ever see him asleep in the first place.
Kai was teaching me how to use my aura so I could help Caspian, but us smothering him in love couldn’t take away what he’d done to Zania, even if he didn’t remember it.
It was even harder when Kai was pretending he wasn’t furious with them. Caspian and I had taken days to heal, so Kai and Sin probably thought I couldn’t hear or sense them arguing.
My omega instincts wouldn’t let me focus on anything else except for Caspian. He was the still point of my life, and everything else circled around him. But Kai kept doing everything he could to drag me out of it.
I arched my neck, looking up at Caspian’s sleeping face, and softened at how relaxed he looked compared to yesterday.
Until my gaze followed the lines of his arms, which were strung up, still chained to the bed frame so he couldn’t lash out, even though all he’d done was snarl and growl.
His biceps pressed against his ears, and sturdy leather handcuffs and chains, Kai said he “just happened” to have in his closet. The tightness of them echoed on my own skin and Caspian’s numb muscles, but thankfully, his whole body had stopped screaming.
Another spike of fear pierced my heart as I remembered the pain and how close I’d come to losing everything, including them.
But Kai forced his contentedness through the bond, reminding me where I was, soothing me, so I could sink into the feeling of them even more.
Kai had other plans for Caspian as he grinned at me, glancing down towards Caspian’s crotch.
Kai stripped Caspian whenever it was his turn to look after us, while Sin preferred to cover us in a blanket and sleep. I didn’t ask them why they were acting like that, because I wasn’t ready to have that conversation yet. Even telling Caspian what had happened to his family was too much.
Caspian looked completely delicious. His cock wasn’t fully hard, but there was so much of him it still stood out amongst the hard lines of his body.
Kai grinned as his hand sneaked down Caspian’s chest, and excitement buzzed inside me. It wasn’t like we were going to do much. It was just to see how far we could go before he woke up.
My hand joined Kai’s and snuck downwards, my fingertips brushing over Caspian’s hip. I took a shaky breath as I reached farther down, stroking Kai’s wrist, but I suddenly froze as Caspian’s presence flooded the bond.
“What the fuck are you two doing?” His deep voice rumbled around us, sending an arrow of desire whizzing through me.
“Well, you weren’t waking up, and we wanted to play,” Kai instantly replied with a purr. “We didn’t know how long you were going to be asleep for.”
“How are you feeling?” I asked, and he flinched, a scowl twisting his face even though the pain pulsing inside him was the same as mine.
“I’d feel a lot better if you got me out of these fucking handcuffs,” he growled, tugging at them, and the bed rattled.
Kai said it was normal for Caspian to take days to recover, but what had happened at the restaurant couldn’t be called normal.
He didn’t hesitate as he curved his fingers around Caspian’s hardening cock, making him shudder.
Kai smirked as my hand travelled farther down. It was funny that I was nervous about touching his cock when he had already fucked me in broad daylight in the middle of a garden.
“We’re deciding whether we should give you a treat after everything you had to go through. Or should we punish you for going rogue and fucking ruining Brandy?” Kai snarled as he dug his fingers into his shaft, and I gasped as the pain flowered in me.
Kai’s lips pulled back over his teeth, growling, his anger rising as he dug his nails in.
“Fuck off,” Caspian snarled as his back arched and he let out a yell of pain.
“Now you get to feel what it’s like when you can’t fight back,” Kai growled, and I instantly grabbed his arm.
“Stop. What are you doing?”
I knew Kai was trying to hide it, but his anger kept bursting free at the worst times.
I didn’t want him to hide from me again, but I couldn’t focus when worry for Caspian choked me up.
“Are you two going to let me the fuck go?” he groaned as Kai let go.
“But we don’t know if you’re going to go rogue. And Brandy’s so scared, aren’t you?”
Kai tilted his head as Caspian swung his gaze to me, and I was already humming with need. It was easier to pretend that we were all okay than let Kai unleash himself.
They’d be able to tell straight away that I was more scared of my memories than Caspian. Maybe they even knew that I really didn’t mind the idea of Caspian breaking free from the handcuffs and going at me like he did when we first met.
“Terrified.” I nodded as my hand circled his crotch. “So scared that I don’t even know if I can touch you properly.”
My thumb swept the line of his shaft, and he instantly shuddered, the bed creaking as he jerked at the handcuffs, his hips jutting towards my hand.
“Mel,” he said my name so lovingly that I was already trembling. Sparks of heat flickered in us as we watched each other.
Kai chuckled as he lifted himself to his knees, leaning over his alpha.
Kai and Sin said that fucking was the best way to bring Caspian back to a stable state, and I was happy to try that out.
“I swear to God, if you two are going to be like this from now on, I’m going to have to show you how it’s done.” Caspian’s lips spread as he ran his eyes over me. “Do you want your alpha to teach you a lesson, Mel?”
My breath stuttered as I moved closer to him. His scent wafted around us, and he fed his need into me. I was his omega. I was his mate, and I had to be there for him. I had to take care of him. I had to love him, and if he wanted to teach me a lesson, I was there for him.
My brain went fuzzy as my desire to be everything my alpha needed took over me.
“Caspian,” I whispered with awe as I bent over him, stars dancing in my eyes. He looked so beautiful and perfect, even after he had gone rogue, and I wanted to do everything I could to make him happy.
I reached a quivering hand upwards, going for the handcuffs, because my alpha needed to be free so he could be happy.
“Hey!” Kai snarled, suddenly grabbing my wrist. “You stop that right fucking now.”
I jumped in shock, but Kai was glaring at Caspian, who instantly avoided him.
“What is it? What’s going on?” I asked.
Kai pressed his hand against Caspian’s chest. “Listen, Brandy, don’t let him use his alpha voodoo shit on you, okay? This is why I’m not letting you out of my sight until you’re back to normal.”
I blinked at both of them, and another rush of love hit me from Kai. I lowered my hand from the cuff as I shook my head, suddenly realising I’d been caught up in a different kind of spell.
“You’re going to think Caspian is God until the bond settles, and then you’ll get that you’ve mated with an absolute dickhead.”
“What do you mean?” I asked shakily.
“I mean Cas can use ‘the power of fucking love’ to get inside your head and make you do whatever he wants. So I gotta keep you both on a leash until the haze from his bite fades away.”
He narrowed his eyes at Caspian, who just shrugged like he didn’t know anything about it.
I wasn’t sure how to answer him. I couldn’t exactly say, ‘he’s not that bad’ after everything that had happened since I met them. But, there were also his moments of care and attention, even if he used to disguise them with hate.
“You’re being pretty harsh here,” Caspian said. “Snapping at me isn’t going to help. Or these fucking handcuffs.” He yanked at them, and the bed frame rattled as I felt them tighten around my wrists. I wanted to be tied up like he was, and see what the three of them would do to me then.
Kai leaned in close, gently biting the tip of Caspian’s nose. “Maybe I just want to see my alpha all trussed up for our new omega so he can’t fucking touch her. Then he can learn what it means to be broken up over someone who loves you.”
His eyes flashed, those red shards that had become thinner since yesterday, pulsing as he stretched up to Kai. “You think I haven’t been broken by love before?” he growled.
Kai’s sneer returned, and I was sure Caspian was talking about Sin’s sister, which was the worst thing to do when Kai had already dug his nails into his cock.
But Kai suddenly pulled back, his anger vanishing as he threw me another wink. “Brandy, you’re the one we need to focus on. You’ve probably never seen an alpha go rogue before, have you?”
“I sort of always wanted to…” I trailed off, biting my lip.
“I just didn’t think… Well, I didn’t know…
” My brow furrowed as my hands shook again.
“…I’d ever do something…something like that.
” I dropped my head, guilt and shame taking over me.
I thought we all needed to take care of each other, rather than just putting their attention on me.
Not that I didn’t love it, but that I wasn’t the only one coming to terms with it.
Zania’s screams suddenly echoed in my head, and I jerked, my heart caving inwards at the sound. A tremble stole through my body, and I drew in a breath, and I thought the fear was going to drown me. Until more love burst through the cracks of my fear, and Caspian and Kai were both suddenly there.
Caspian dipped his chin, tugging at my right ear with his teeth.
“Come back here,” he scowled. “I don’t want my omega feeling like this when her alpha is stuck and can’t hold her. Kai said you wanted to play, so hurry up. Just looking at you both is making my cock rock-fucking-hard.”