Chapter 15
Skylar
I knock twice, a muffled ‘come in’ after I announce myself prompting me to open the door.
There’s a soft click, like the lock’s being undone and then I swing open the door.
The scent hits first, cedar and whiskey gone thick and sated, layered with vanilla that’s turned heavy and sweet at the edges, like brown sugar left in a warm oven too long.
Underneath it is the unmistakable musk of bodies that have been close, skin and slick and the kind of relief that leaves a room changed. My steps stutter on the carpet.
They’re on the couch. Kade half-reclined against the arm, shirtless, one big hand resting on Emrys’s back like he’s been exactly there for a while.
Emrys is curled into his chest, wearing what is very obviously Kade’s shirt—the sleeves shoved up over his hands, the hem riding high on his thighs, the collar slipping off one shoulder.
His curls are a wreck. His face is soft with the kind of peace that only comes after everything else has been wrung out.
One hand rests over Kade’s heart like it belongs there.
The room smells like them. Like pack. Like something I walked in on too late to pretend I don’t belong in.
Kade’s eyes lift to mine with that steady pale blue and the faintest curve at the corner of his mouth, like he knew I was coming before I decided to. He doesn’t move Emrys. Just waits.
I stand there in the doorway like an idiot who forgot how doors work. My brain offers the usual excuses but none of them make it past my teeth. The room is already settled into a shape without me, and I don’t know where to put myself in it.
Kade watches me for another second, then tilts his head slightly. “You going to stand there all night, or are you going to tell me why you’re here?”
I could lie. I’m good at it when I need to be. I could say I came to update him on Morrison still watching the building, or that I wanted to run the Vesper thread past him in person, or that the tail from earlier had me jumpy and I didn’t want to go home. Any of those would be true enough to pass.
Instead I say, quiet, “I could make up an excuse. But I just wanted to come.”
Kade doesn’t smile, but something in his face eases.
He nods once, like that answer was enough.
The awkwardness is still there, thick as the scents, until Emrys stirs.
His eyes open slowly. When he sees me the smile that spreads across his face is small and real and completely without embarrassment. “Skylar.”
Emrys untangles himself from Kade with a soft sound as I come to sit beside the Alpha, crosses the space, and climbs into my lap like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
His weight settles against me, vanilla wrapping around my throat so fast my lungs forget how to argue.
I settle one hand on his back, the other falling to his bare thigh.
He tucks his face into the curve of my neck, exhales once, and goes soft again.
Kade leans over, his hand coming to the back of my neck, and he runs his nose along my cheek in one slow pass, scenting me and claiming the space I just walked into.
Cedar and whiskey bloom warm against my skin, and my own amber and sandalwood answer before I can stop it.
Emrys makes a small contented sound against my throat and dozes off again. The silence rests between us for a few moments before Kade fills it with information regarding the case. It’s more of what I suspected until he throws in a name that’s new.
“Remember I mentioned Vesper Hotel?” Kade asks. “One of the shell chains routed a donation through it two weeks ago. Same intermediary as the approaches. Same timing window.”
I’ve heard the name, in passing, just the usual Ansdale underbelly chatter that never quite turns into anything usable. I file it away with the rest of the pieces that don’t fit yet. “How do you know it connects?”
“Because it feels right.” He doesn’t sound defensive.
Just certain. “Their money has been funding different ventures but what was spent at Vesper feels more like a bribe than a donation. I still have no idea who or what Cardinal Network is. A person, a group of people, an actual organization? Not a clue.” His gaze dips to Emrys in my arms. “I told him the investigation was officially pointed in a different direction and he couldn’t wait until the end of his shift. ”
I glance down at the curly hair pressed up against my chin, Emrys sprawled across my chest like I’m just as much of a safe space as Kade is.
“I’m not mad or anything,” I push out. “I could see you two being pulled together even when I first met you in the station. It’s just…
” A few weeks ago, I would have done anything to shove a joke into this moment.
Instead, all I’m left with is the truth because that’s all Kade has asked of me.
“I’ve been part of four packs, ones I thought I might have stayed around forever until they didn’t become the shape I needed them to be. ”
“And what do you need, Skylar?”
I chew on that for a moment before reaching Kade’s earnest expression.
“For someone to understand that I really enjoy my job, that sometimes I let it consume me and take over but it’s not because I hate everything else.
It’s not because I’m avoiding or trying to pull away.
It’s never been because I didn’t want a pack.
When things crack, I work more to fill the silence.
When things finally broke, I was so far removed from the pack, it never hurt like it should. I just….”
Kade leans back a little, a purr rumbling through his chest. “You need someone to be attentive.”
“Yeah, but not…” I don’t know how to finish that sentence.
“You need attention but not to be controlled.” He folds his hands over his stomach, the smile on his face warming me from the inside.
“I’m not going to ask for your submission, Skylar.
” He sits back up, leaning across the space between us.
“Your attention. Your focus. Your love. Give me that over your submission any day.”
I swallow nervously as he twists my chin up and presses a feather light kiss to my lips. Then he just stands, all those beautifully inked muscles on display, leaving me to hold Emrys. The Omega. Our Omega.
For the first time in a long time, I don’t have an exit strategy.
And I’m not looking for one.