11. Caspian
Caspian
I didn’t know what to do with myself, and I fucking hated it.
Camille was too tired to walk, but she wouldn’t let me carry her.
Flint had come down from her room and was hovering behind us, looking like he planned to take me out.
And even though I needed to pay attention as Camille slowly climbed the stairs to reach her rooms on the first floor, almost all my focus was on Sin.
The higher we climbed, the closer we got to him, and the more intensely I could sense my mate and all the fucked-up feelings and sensations whirling around inside him.
We should have just taken the fucking elevator. But as soon as we scented Mel’s perfume and Sin's needy scent blasting out from it like a fucking wind machine, all three of us knew it was a bad idea.
There was no way I could control myself if I got any more of her scent on me. I was already a walking advert for how hot I made her when I threatened her life.
I tried not to growl as Sin’s pride hummed through me, his cock buzzing as he kissed Mel, my lips tingling along with his.
I could barely focus on the stairs in front of me.
Camille had a bedroom on the bottom floor for when she was really ill, but there was some kind of determination in her eyes I didn’t like. As if she had to prove she could climb them.
One hand pressed against the bannister, her other clung to me, and I was pretty sure she’d topple down the stairs if I let her go. Though I knew Flint would catch her if it ever happened.
“Please, let me help,” I stressed, my brow creasing. Pain flared over her face as she rose another step. We still had half a fucking flight to go.
“You are helping,” she said through panting breaths. “I want to do this by myself.”
I flicked a look to Flint, who kept his distance three steps beneath us and wouldn’t come any closer.
I had to clench my jaw to stop the anger rattling inside me, asking to get free.
Every time Camille got sicker, I got even more agitated, fucking furious with myself after years and years of her illness.
Normally when she was like this, the guilt would eat me alive. I’d barely be able to look at Camille without wanting to drop to my knees and apologise again and a-fucking-gain.
But Mel’s lips and her hips and her fucking taste still blew my mind, and there wasn’t space for anything else apart from Sin as played with her.
Before we even took another step, I froze, a harsh gasp ripping from me as my lips and tongue sparked with pleasure.
“What’s wrong?” Camille asked softly, reaching for me, but I flinched back.
“It’s nothing,” I snapped as I slammed my hand on the opposite bannister to stay fucking standing.
I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t fucking believe he was going down on her after everything we talked about with Kai.
Warmth and wetness filled my mouth, flooding through the bond. Sin’s heart leapt, and my fucking cock stirred.
I had to shut him out. I couldn’t let him affect me. But it felt so good that need pounded through me like a fucking sledgehammer and a low growl rumbled through me.
My head shot up, and Flint and Camille were looking at me wide-eyed. My aura kicked in and started shaking around me. Camille looked at me in pure shock, and I nearly groaned.
“Caspian? What’s happening?” Flint asked in a hard voice
Another low growl dropped from me at the way he looked at me, his fists clenching, preparing to attack me. The fucker.
The only reason he stood in this house was because of me. He would have never even met her and scent matched with her if I hadn’t been dumb enough to assign an alpha who reeked of honey to guard an omega with a chamomile scent.
I had to get a grip. I was supposed to help Camille. I had to fucking concentrate, but my palm was vibrating and I knew Sin was holding her in just the right place to feel her moans.
Whenever Kai and Sin fucked without me, I could deal with it. This was basically the same thing. Except Mel wasn’t our fucking mate.
“You need to lie down,” I said stiffly, meeting Camille’s empty stare. I didn’t even deserve to be near her when I felt like this.
As I cleared my head, finding a shred of focus, I held out my hand to help her again.
Only to be hit with Kai’s absolute fury exploding through the bond from somewhere in the building.
Jealousy fired in every direction, trying to fucking hurt us with it.
But if I lost myself now, I might end up in an even worse state than hobbling up the stairs with a fucking hard on.
And Camille already said she had something important to talk about anyway.
She took my arm, her own hand shaking, and by the time we reached the landing, I was panting as much as she was.
Sin was going to absolute fucking town, and I knew it was because he could feel me with him. I was trying to keep my aura and my scent in check, but there was no escaping from it.
I was going to get horny whether I wanted it or fucking not.
It felt like a full-on Himalayan-hike just to walk to her room and act like a sane human being.
Flint passed us to open her bedroom door and went to step inside. But Camille raised her hand, stopping him in his tracks. The agony in her voice cut deep through me as she spoke. “Flint, wait here. I must talk to Caspian alone.”
He nodded without a word, exactly how I taught him in training. Except he radiated fucking judgement—just like Sin would—as I led her in, and he closed the door behind us with a heavy silence.
After I guided her to her bed, I took the seat next to it. Watching her wince and gasp in pain as she struggled to climb into the low bed ached whenever I saw it. She wouldn’t even let me lift her, and so I sat and let the tension get to me as I waited until she was comfortable.
Suddenly, as well as my tongue, two fingers started buzzing. I dug my hands into my thighs as the sounds of Mel’s screams when I’d first fucked her bounced around my head.
I jammed my feet into the floor to try and keep my shit together.
Sin couldn’t be more than a few rooms away, maybe even directly above us. Because I could feel exactly when he sank his thumb inside her pussy and the way she tightened when he dragged it out.
I was begging my cock to stay the fuck down as Sin’s pleasure kept building. He didn’t hold himself back, pouring every shitty emotion straight through our fucking bond. As soon as Camille said I could leave, I was going to find him and tear them both apart.
Because I knew if he knotted her, he’d be fully done for.
Another roll of desire hit me, and a shudder ran through my body at how fucking good it was. I couldn’t even tell if it was mine or Sin’s. Just the idea of feeling his knot inside her was enough.
I should have left. Camille shouldn’t have to see me like this. She didn’t need to know this part of me.
I glanced up at her, relieved she hadn’t said anything. From the way her brow clenched as she buried herself under a giant feather down duvet, I couldn’t tell if she noticed.
We sat in silence as Camille gathered herself, and my heart twisted as I guessed she was about to say something I really didn’t want to hear.
“Aren’t you tired, Caspian?” she finally asked, her eyes lidded, a half-smile brushing her lips. “I’m exhausted from feeling so guilty about what I’ve done to you.”
My eyes widened at her words. I’d never once thought she was the one who caused our fucked-up situation.
I sighed heavily. “I’ve told you before, this is my choice. I want to care for you.”
“And look at you. You look like you’re about to burst on me. I know you hide your anger from me because you think you’ll scare me, but have you ever listened to me when I’ve told you that’s not why I get upset?”
I wasn’t exactly going to admit that I wasn’t angry right now. But telling her I was ridiculously horny over her brother fucking another omega on the floor above us probably wouldn’t go down well.
“Then why do you flinch whenever I growl or even show the tiniest bit of frustration? Sometimes it feels like you expect me to hurt you.”
Camille pressed her lips together, drawing in a shaking breath.
“You don’t know what kind of illness I have,” she said carefully, exactly the same way Sin did when he was hiding something from me.
“All we’ve told you is that I’m ill, but it’s getting too hard to treat.
And your anger and my jealousy don’t help. ”
I couldn’t even reach out to hold her hand like I normally did. I was scared I would crush her hand the moment Sin went for it with Mel. Sin had moved to fucking her with two fingers, and I needed him to hurry the fuck up.
Another silence descended around us, and I ached at how tense it was.
“I’ve decided to leave London,” she said so faintly I barely caught it through the buzzing in my ears.
I sucked in a harsh breath, going to reply, but she cut me off, trembling.
“It’s only for a year. I’ve already made all the arrangements.
I need to explain it to my family, but I wanted to tell you first.”
Shock thumped through me. She went to facilities and specialists and things for treatments all the time, but the way she said it was different.
“What do you mean, you’re going to leave? Are you going on another trip?”
She shook her head, her blonde locks falling around her shoulders as she met me with a determined look.
“I received an offer, one I can’t refuse any longer. I’ve been putting it off, but I’ve reached the point where I have to go or the worst will really happen. And I can’t put you all in that situation.”
Sin’s pleasure was chucked into the back seat as fear pitched through me.
We’d always talked about the chance of her dying.
Not just with Camille and Sin, but everyone in our families discussed it at one point or another.
We didn’t see it as inevitable. It was too fucked up to think that way.
But as the years wore on and she grew thinner and paler, sometimes sleeping for days after her heats, it hung about at the back of our minds.