Enigma

Epilogue 5 Years Later Caz

EPILOGUE

5 YEARS LATER

Caz

“Baby, you need to slow down,” she told him, and fuck if that “baby” didn’t get him revving every damn time. She had suddenly called him that in bed out of the blue one night, and he had lapped it up, forcing her to call him that again and again until she used it without thought now.

They were at a wedding, not their own, and he’d just had to pull her into the alcove. With the passing years, and with getting the love she was letting herself get, understanding that her perspective through her growing years had been skewed by her traumas, letting herself heal and grow better, accepting affection from her friends and her mother, and most importantly from him, she had begun to glow more and more, a dark goddess shining so bright she could blind a mortal man, and she did.

She had no idea how many men he had glared at just for daring to look at her too long, how many threats he had given over the years, and how many lives he had almost ruined for coveting her. They could look and want and covet all they liked, but she looked at him, wanted him, coveted him, and that soothed the ugly beast in him some.

Even though she had thought herself invisible and wanted to blend in for so long, she never understood and still didn’t understand due to her own self-esteem issues how desirable she was. Even now, after years of being together, she thought him the anomaly, the exception, the rebel who went against the grain by being with her because that’s who he was.

While it may have been the allure in the beginning, it was never about rebellion with her. Fuck, being with her was easy. It was flowing with the current, letting the river of life lead them together and enjoying the view on the way.

He looked down at her, not as much as he usually had to since she was wearing insanely high heels and was closer to his face, though still tiny. He had mad respect for women who wore those death traps, no idea how they took one step in those, much less walk and dance and exist like their feet didn’t hurt. He knew for a fact that they did, because after they got home, she was going to take them off, place them neatly in the closet, and plop her feet in his lap so he could give her a massage. The first time he’d done it instinctively, he had been rewarded with the best blow job. And even though that wasn’t why he did it, it was a nice perk. He was just happy to use his hands on her, happy to make her happy.

“We can’t be doing this here,” she chided him, or rather tried to, tilting her neck to give him access to his favorite spot on the side. He didn’t know, even after all this time, what exactly it was about her neck that made him so feral. Maybe it was pheromones, maybe it was just how dainty that was, but something about her neck drove him fucking wild.

He released a growl-like sound against her skin, knowing full well the effect his voice and his noises had on her, her brain going into overdrive in arousal with the vibrations of the sound. As expected, a shiver wracked her body and she pressed into him, clutching the lapels of his tuxedo and heaving a breathy sigh that made him forget all propriety.

He’d never been a fan of that anyway.

But over the years, he’d had to adapt to somewhat fit into society after he had reclaimed his name. It had created another scandal, a pretty massive one. With his return from the “dead,” the Vanguard name had come back front and center, the speculations about his parents’ death, his uncle’s death, and his aunt’s exile to a retirement home the fodder for gossip. It was inflamed even more with his very public relationship with Salem, with her being a Salazar and her father having done what he had.

Caz didn’t really give a fuck about anyone or what they thought, but he had cared for Selina and her perspective on things, given how she and Salem had been mending their relationship and how much he liked the older woman. Unsurprisingly, Selina had taken some time to process everything, after they had both come clean and shared everything about his brother and Salem’s father, their connection and relationship to Olivia. They of course hadn’t told her anything about the Order but after taking her time, Selina had surprisingly been open and accepting.

“Let sleeping dogs lie,” she’d told Salem and him over dinner that night. “I have my daughter and now I have a son. I don’t care about anything else.”

“What about the scandal?” Salem had asked. Caz knew how much anxiety the word alone gave them, and for good reason given their histories in the last decade.

Selina had shrugged. “The world didn’t end with the last one. It won’t with this either.”

Salem had stared at her mother with a stunned look on her beautiful face, and from what he had known, it was quite a different outcome to what they’d been expecting. It seemed her mother had grown too.

“Salem!”

Someone called and he pushed her deeper into the shadows, wanting to keep her like this just for his eyes.

She pushed his chest slightly. “C’mon. You can wait till we get home.”

He raised an eyebrow, looking down at the champagne-colored dress she was wearing, not the one she’d come to the venue in to help her friend get ready but rather one she’d changed into upstairs and surprised him with. Surprised him so much, in fact, that he’d descended upon her like a wild beast the moment he’d seen her come down the stairs that opened into the lawns, dragging her down the open corridor and into an alcove tucked away from sight.

The dress wasn’t too revealing. In fact, it had a modest neckline with just a hint of cleavage, a simple cut in the side that went up her legs to mid-thigh, a deep back that was hidden by her open hair. It was the fabric that was undoing him. He had no idea what it was, but it was clinging to every curve she had, outlining every place she had filled out more over the years, clinging to her tits in a way that made them look just a second away from spilling out, like the strings were hanging on for dear life. To others, it might look tasteful, to him, it was a tease.

“You knew what you were doing with that dress. You wanted me to drag you off,” he accused her and she just gave him a grin, one so full of naughty intent, one he couldn’t have imagined on her face when they had gotten together.

Five years ago, Salem had been intelligent but uncertain of herself, of her place in the world, believing she didn’t belong anywhere, believing she mattered to no one. She had been in a shell of her own making, too withdrawn, too scared, too lost, even without knowing she was any of those things.

Salem in present day was still the same, except a bit more certain, a little less lost, a tad more trustful. She knew of her place in the world, that she mattered, that she belonged, with him and to him and vice versa. She had a great support system around her in the form of her friends, her mother, her therapist, and her career as a forensics researcher. She had slowly, bit by bit, come out of the shell, shed her old skin, and become something newer.

And watching her transform, come into her own, had been one of the best experiences of his life, knowing that the girl she’d been and the woman she was becoming were both his and he hers.

“Salem, we’re getting late!”

The voice got closer and he recognized it as Aditi’s. Occasional pain in his ass, mostly a fantastic friend to his girl.

Aditi stumbled upon their little nook and came to a halt, rolling her eyes. “I fucking knew it. It had to be him.”

Salem straightened and pushed him back slightly, and he let her. As kinky as she was in her fantasies, most of the ones he loved making come true, in reality she was still the prim and polite girl her mother had raised her to be. It was such a contrast, but one he liked. He liked knowing that only he got to see the side of her no one else did, the side that made her cheeks heat, the side that loved to walk on the edge but didn’t have the courage to. It was the side of her that let him take the lead to take her on the wild side, that let him drag her and push her and take her as he wanted because she wanted, that let him and incited him to do things so she could go with the flow and not worry about the blame.

Just like she was doing now.

“I was just coming down…” Salem started to tell Aditi and her friend sighed.

“I know, I know. I knew the moment you chose that dress that he’d go nuts.”

Salem bit her lower lip to contain her smile, her eyes fluttering to him behind her matching gold glasses, before she looked at her friend.

“Is Melissa ready?”

“Nope.” Aditi popped the syllables. “She’s panicking. That’s why I wanted to find you. Your cool logic calms her down.”

It was fascinating to see Salem switch to her cool friend mode. The trio of girls—Salem, Aditi, and Melissa—were tight. They had calls together every other day, even though they were all in different cities, with Aditi working for the Blackthorne Group and Melissa becoming the apprentice to the lead auctioneer for an art gallery in Tenebrae City. Despite their lives and busy schedules, a few times a week, the girls were on a conference call that went on for at least two hours—yes, he’d counted.

In a way, he was fascinated by the bond they shared.

It was very different from the bond he had with the guys he could call friends. Baron, who was still with Aditi, and Jacob, the guy who had rescued Melissa from the cave that day, who was also her to-be husband. Both guys were from the Order and both dating friends of his girl. Their friendship was more incidental, being adopted into the group by the three girls and realizing they had common goals and interests to protect—their girls—rather than any emotional bond.

Though if he had to have allies, these two guys were pretty good. Baron was still a shithead and a dick who knew too much about everything thanks to his ethical hacking business that he’d just started. Jacob was a criminal lawyer, fiery in court but a pretty chill guy outside of it. And Caz, he was a full-time painter working on his next batch in his studio. All three of them were legacies in the secret society they were in.

And now that he was a full-time member, he realized how deep, how powerful it was, how much it influenced the world and the dynamics that existed everywhere in it, and so, solid allies were always a good thing to have in his corner.

The secret society, the name of which was so secret they were forbidden to even think of it, was truly well-oiled machinery the likes of which no one could even imagine, its roots going to the depths of the underworld and shoots going high into the zenith.

Salem’s smaller hands straightening the lapels of his jacket brought him back to the present. “I’ll see you outside, okay?”

He nodded, giving her a quick kiss, before taking a step back and walking back to the lawns of the venue. It was a mansion owned by a friend of Jacob’s near Mount Verenmore, with old stone walls and multiple bedrooms to accommodate any guests who chose to stay. But the highlight was the lawns, with a grand vista of the mountains, lush with trees and gray with the clouds but thankfully, not cold. It was scenic and stunning, he could admit to himself.

The man of the hour stood at the front of the makeshift aisle that was decorated with flowers under an archway. Baron stood by his side, looking bored as he did something on his phone.

Caz walked up to them and saw both men glance up, before sporting matching grins.

“What?” He felt his brows come down at the similar reactions.

“You got lipstick on your neck, dude,” Jacob laughed.

Caz rolled his eyes but didn’t make a move to wipe it off. He liked wearing the stamp of her lips on his skin, letting the world see he was taken, at least until she was ready to wear his ring. Though he wanted to ask her again, he knew she wasn’t ready. She needed more time to settle into her career and in her mind before she said yes to him.

“I want to be the best version of myself when we get married,” she’d told him one night after they’d come home from a party and he’d taken her against the door. It fascinated him, how they could be raw and hard but gentle and soft, how one didn’t exclude the other, how she could stimulate and soothe him so well.

She had been drawing patterns with her finger on his naked chest, pressed into his side on their bed.

“We’re already married, you know?” he’d told her lazily drawing back on her shoulder. “We just have to make it legal.”

She’d smiled. “It’s still something I want do right. I…” She’d hesitated. “I never dreamed I’d find love, much less contemplate the idea of marriage to anyone. I know it’s my own issues, but now that I have you, that I have us, I want to be better. I want to go into it with you knowing you’re getting the best me I could be. You… you’re okay to wait, right?”

Caz had pressed a soft kiss to her upturned lips, easing the line between her brows. “I’d wait forever if you wanted me to.”

And he’d meant it.

For her, he would wait eternity. Hell, he would be happy just being with her as they were if that was what she wanted till they were old and gray. Some might have thought that being at a wedding would make him feel a pang of longing, but it didn’t. He had already claimed her on an altar in their own ritual years ago, an unconventional consummation of their own making, their own first night. In his heart, he was already married to her, and he knew so was she.

So yeah, he could fucking wait till she felt she was the best ver sion of herself. Though, if anyone asked him, she already was. He couldn’t dream, couldn’t imagine a better her.

The guests took their seats. Caz recognized Nathan, Melissa’s brother, and yeah he still didn’t like him for that one incident years ago, for sitting too close to Salem. He was possessive, yes, but she didn’t mind and it was nobody’s business.

Aditi came down the stairs, followed by his girl, and he felt his breath catch again at how fucking stunning she was. That wild, serpentine hair immortalized on canvases in their house, that petite frame that had become curvier over the years, filling out in ways that made him wilder, and those eyes. Those liquid, golden eyes that filled him up to the brim with every look.

Melissa came out behind them but Caz couldn’t look away from Salem, not really noticing anyone or anything else, just her, walking gracefully on those strappy metallic death traps, coming to a stop on the opposite side of the aisle. Her eyes glanced down at his neck, where he was assuming the lipstick mark was, and a secret smiled bloomed on her face.

As much as she shied away from public displays, she fucking loved them, and he knew it. Him not caring and wearing her mark turned her on, he could tell.

The wedding ceremony began and he kept looking at her, as was his favorite thing to do, watching her watch her friend, seeing the slight shimmer shining in her eyes as vows were exchanged. He was aware of the bride and the groom kissing in his periphery but his vision stayed rooted to her, observing the reactions on her beautiful face.

Over the next few minutes, everything was done. Guests got up to greet and congratulate the couple, hooting and cheering and clicking photos.

Salem and Aditi hugged Melissa tightly, before Baron drew his girl away, congratulating the bride. Caz did the same, putting his arm around Salem and drawing her to his side while congratulating the couple.

Everyone began to mingle, leaving them four of them standing together.

“Man, I was getting hot seeing the way you were staring at her.” Aditi fanned herself, looking at him before turning to Salem. “What does he even eat?”

Salem flushed, and he was pretty sure she was remembering his face between her legs that morning, waking her up from slumber.

“Something delicious,” Caz smoothly interjected.

Baron rolled his eyes and Aditi scrunched her face. “Ew. TMI. I don’t wanna know.”

For a few minutes, he let the conversation flow, before realizing Salem was quiet by his side. Not uncharacteristically so, since she’d always been quiet, but more like she was deep in thought.

“A penny for your thoughts?” he asked her in a low tone so no one could overhear.

“You don’t need a penny,” she chuckled. “You have gazillions.”

He stayed silent, letting her ponder and take her time. One of the things he found so attractive about her was her brain, the keen intelligence with which she examined the world, the singular focus of her mind when she was analyzing something. Her thought patterns were so vastly different from his, more logical, more rational than his creative, emotional ways, it never got old trying to imagine what was going on in her head.

She took a deep breath in, as if bracing herself for something, before looking up and locking their gazes, hers filled with something profound, though he couldn’t discern what exactly, the gold almost glowing around her darkened pupils in the setting sunlight.

“Let’s do it.”

Caz blinked, slightly confused as to what she wanted to do. She must have read the confusion on his face because she stepped closer to him, going on her tiptoes and leaning her weight on his body, her hands flat on his chest, her face upturned and beseeching and fucking beautiful.

He held her steady.

“Pact of trust for life? Let’s make it official.”

She was ready.

Fuck him.