Chapter 16
Skylar
The photo is grainy as hell.
I have it pulled up on the second monitor, the one I keep angled away from the bullpen on principle.
Sloane sent it over twenty minutes ago after I leaned on Kade to have the company keep digging through their own exterior feeds.
I told myself it was casework. It mostly was.
The part of me that’s gone soft just wanted another thread that didn’t end with me staring at the ceiling at two a.m. wondering if I’d already fucked this up before it started.
I zoom in on the still he sent. The figure is half in shadow, one foot caught mid-step like it’s dragging.
Same dark jacket. Same quality of stillness that doesn’t belong to someone just passing through.
The angle of the hood hides most of the face, but there’s something about the way he holds himself that makes my gut tighten even though I can’t name why.
“I have no idea who that is,” I say, honestly. “Could be anyone. Could be the same guy from the alley. Could be a coincidence that doesn’t exist.”
Sloane makes a sound that might be amusement or might be him biting back whatever protective thing he wants to say about Kade. “Kade said the guy in the alley had a drag in his step. This one matches. I’m not telling you how to do your job, Detective. I’m just giving you the thing you asked for.”
“You’re protective of him,” I say before I can stop myself.
There’s a pause. Then, dry as ever: “He pays me to be competent. The protective part is free.” Another beat. “He’s been different since this started. Not worse. Just… present in a way he hasn’t been. Don’t fuck that up because you’re still trying to be the detective first.”
I don’t answer that. I log the still in the parallel file anyway, then do the inconvenient right thing and submit it into the real system with a note about possible connection to the West Talbot assault.
The photo goes into evidence. Cedar is still on my skin from earlier, faint but there, and I ignore the way it makes the professional part of me feel like a liar.
I’m still a detective. Even when I’m not.
The call ends with Sloane telling me to get some sleep and me not promising anything. I’m still staring at the grainy figure when my phone lights up with Kade’s name.
Emrys wants you here. Quit for the night.
I type three different replies and delete them all. The photo is still open on the second monitor. The evidence is logged. The system has it now. I could stay. I could chase the thread until my eyes cross and the station empties out around me like it always does.
My phone buzzes again. Kade’s voice is low when I answer. “You’re still at your desk.”
“I’m chewing on something.”
“Chew on it tomorrow.” A pause. “Emrys has been asking if you’re coming. He’s been pacing the kitchen for twenty minutes pretending he’s not worried about you.”
That gets me out of the chair as I start explaining about the photo and how it might hopefully pull this case to a close if someone recognizes him.
“Skylar, fuck. Breathe. We both want you here, away from the investigation for a minute, just you.”
My heart does a little flip, Kade’s desire for me strengthening my resolve to close everything down for a night. “Right, yeah. I’m on my way.” I hang up, make sure I submitted the photo to evidence and then jog out to my car.
It’s been a long damn time since people I cared about asked me when I was coming home. My cases always took me away from them. Never once did they or even myself try to bridge the widening gap. In only a week, Kade and Emrys ripped down those walls and gave me a reason to want more.
The apartment smells like them the second I walk in.
Vanilla and warm bread and brown sugar, threaded through with cedar that’s settled into the walls like it lives there now.
My own scent rises to meet it the moment I step through the door, and for once it doesn’t feel like three separate things fighting for space. It feels like one.
Emrys is on the couch in one of Kade’s hoodies again, legs tucked under him, a bowl of popcorn balanced on his knees.
Kade is in the kitchen pouring something into mugs.
The TV is paused on the opening credits of something I don’t recognize.
It all feels so domestic, new enough that I keep waiting for it to feel wrong.
It doesn’t.
Emrys looks up when I come in and the smile that crosses his face is small and real. “You came.”
“Kade said you were asking.” I hang my coat on the back of a chair because it feels like the kind of thing you do when you’re staying. “Couldn’t exactly ignore that.”
Kade sets a mug on the coffee table in front of me without asking what I want. I sit on the other end of the couch from Emrys, close enough that our knees almost touch, far enough that I’m not assuming anything.
“So, we just… like this?”
Kade snorts. “Have you ever relaxed a day in your life, Skylar?”
I open my mouth to say something when Emrys crawls over my lap and pushes me toward Kade.
Confused, I move over until I’m in the middle of an Alpha and an Omega on either side of me.
I brace for it to feel weird or unnatural, Kade just laughing as he leans over to run his nose along my cheek.
That calms me immediately, my shoulders sagging a little.
Emrys grabs the remote and tucks himself against my side.
“I just wanted to do something that didn’t involve men in the dark and whatever other crime is going on.
It’s like the only time we see each other is because something is going kind of right with the case or horribly wrong. And I just… I need this.”
He presses play, some soft romantic scene lighting up the screen.
I just grab my mug and take a sip, trying not to vibrate out of my skin as Emrys shifts closer.
And then closer, just inch by inch until his shoulder is against mine and the vanilla is warm against my throat.
Kade settles on the other side, one arm along the back of the couch, fingers brushing the back of my neck once before he lets them rest.
I keep waiting for the moment it tips into something else.
It takes longer than I expect, Emrys turning his head during a quiet stretch of dialogue, eyes flicking to my mouth and then away.
His hand comes up to rest on my chest, right over the place where my heart is doing something stupid, and he leans in slow enough that I have time to stop him.
I don’t, Emrys’ mouth warm and a little sweet from whatever he ate earlier, his body angled toward mine like he’s afraid of taking up too much space. I freeze for half a second, the part of me that still thinks I need to manage every variable before it can hurt me.
Kade’s voice cuts through it, from my other side. “I was wondering when you’d crack, Skylar.”
Emrys makes a small sound against my mouth and kisses me again, deeper this time, and I let myself kiss him back. My hand finds his waist under the hoodie. His curls brush my fingers when I slide my hand up to the back of his neck.
Emrys climbs into my lap without breaking the kiss, knees bracketing my hips, the hoodie riding up.
I can feel how warm he is through his clothes, the way his scent sweetens when I touch him.
Kade shifts closer on the couch, one big hand settling on my shoulder, thumb stroking once over the muscle there like he’s checking in.
I reach for a joke because that’s what I do when my nerves are too close to the surface. “This is a terrible movie,” I say against Emrys’s mouth. “We should have picked something with explosions.”
It half-lands. Emrys laughs once, soft, and Kade’s mouth curves against the side of my neck where he’s leaned in to scent me again. But as Emrys’ hands slide under my shirt and Kade’s mouth finds the place behind my ear, the humor thins out of me entirely.
Emrys pulls back just enough to look at me. “Is this okay?”
“Yeah.” My voice comes out rougher than I mean it to. “It’s okay.”
Kade twists my face toward his and kisses me properly.
His hand slides into my hair and holds me there while Emrys watches from inches away, breathing faster.
When Kade pulls back, Emrys is already leaning in again, and then it’s both of them, mouths and hands and the slow discovery of how three bodies fit when nobody is pretending they know exactly what they’re doing.
Emrys climbs higher in my lap. He rocks down once, and I feel myself thicken against him through our clothes.
The movie is still playing behind us, but none of us are watching it anymore.
I flip him without thinking too hard about the logistics.
I get him onto his back on the couch with me over him, Emrys’ legs wrapping around my hips.
His scent spikes sweet, vanilla turning richer as he pulls me down into another kiss.
Emrys starts wiggling beneath me, the scent of his arousal drenching into my skin as he mumbles against my mouth. “Nest. Nest, please.”
The words come out soft and a little desperate. I pull back just enough to look at him, his eyes dark and glassy. He’s already gone in that soft Omega way that makes my chest feel too tight.
I stand up with him still wrapped around me and carry him across the apartment toward the nest he rebuilt in the corner of the bedroom.
Kade follows without a word. The moment we reach the edge of the blankets and pillows, I lower Emrys down onto his back.
We strip each other in pieces. Hoodies first. Then shirts.
Pants. Underwear. Everything ends up in a messy pile at the edge of the nest as Emrys rolls onto his side.
He pulls one knee up and looks at me over his shoulder, cheeks flushed.
I slide in behind him, chest to his back, and push into him slowly.
He is hot and tight and already making those small broken sounds I am starting to crave. I fuck him like that, on his side, one arm wrapped around his waist, the other braced on the blankets in front of us. Every thrust drags a soft moan out of him.
Kade moves in behind me, his chest pressing against my back.
One of his big arms comes around my waist. I feel the heavy weight of his cock sliding between my thighs instead of pushing inside me.
He rocks forward once, and the head of his cock drags along the sensitive skin there, a stripe of cum coating my fleshing
“Let me take care of you,” Kade purrs, voice rough against the back of my neck. His hand slides down between my legs to where I am moving inside Emrys. He wraps his fingers around Emrys’ cock for a few strokes, then lets go and grips my hip instead. “Let go, Beta. Let go.”
I stop managing as Emrys lets out soft sounds into my neck, Kade fucking my thighs.
Every time Kade thrusts forward, his cock slides between my legs and presses up against the base of my own cock and Emrys’s slick.
The friction is filthy and perfect. Emrys reaches backward, gripping my side and pulling me deeper into him.
Kade’s mouth drops to my shoulder, his teeth grazing the skin as his purr vibrates through my back and into my chest.
Emrys lets out a small gasp, followed by a low whine, as Kade’s arm tightens around my waist like he’s holding all three of us together.
I come first, buried deep inside Emrys, my forehead pressed to the top of his head as my amber scent spikes.
Emrys follows right after, clenching around me with a broken cry, Kade still fucking my thighs through our release, until he groans against my back and spills his release between my legs and over my cock.
The mess coats my skin and drips down onto Emrys where we are still joined.
We stay tangled like that for a long moment. Me still inside Emrys. Kade’s cock still between my thighs. All three of us breathing hard while the combined scent of cedar and vanilla and amber settles thick and satisfied around us.
“That’s so much better than staying at the office,” I mumble, trying to ease the sudden waft of emotions rumbling through my chest.
Kade chuckles from behind me. “Go to sleep, Skylar before you ruin the moment.” I open my mouth to say something else, Kade twisting my face just enough to nip at my lips. The silent warning has me settling between them, completely covered in their scents.