29. Aeris
Aeris
“I told you, my favourite is the Spinosaurus,” Oscar said with the confidence only a six-year-old had.
“He has big teeth, swims really fast, and is the coolest dinosaur.” My nephew’s eyes brightened when I nodded along, even adding my own admittedly lacking knowledge on dinosaurs.
I bought him the T-Rex, which was apparently the wrong one, but made up for it with the fact it was remote controlled.
“Nah-uh,” August said, shaking his head dramatically. “The Kraken is the coolest dinosaur.”
Oscar’s little face scrunched up. “Krakens don’t even exist.”
“They do!”
“Nah-uh!”
August waved his arms around, almost toppling Oscar’s party hat. “They have tentacles and everything.”
I caught his little arm before the wild swing could connect with my face and pulled him close, dissolving his attack into a fit of giggles as I tickled his sides.
God, I adored these moments with my nephews. Each one felt stolen, precious and painfully fragile. They stared up at me with those huge, innocent eyes, completely untouched by the blood and shadows.
It made me want to wrap them in bubble wrap and never let them grow up. To protect them from the horrors of my world until my last breath.
“Come on, boys. Your mum wants you out with the others,” Darya said as she appeared, her own party hat skew-whiffed on the side of her head.
She held Norh in her arms, clearly giving Brooke a break so she could concentrate on the fifteen five and six-year-olds she’d decided to invite.
“Aeris, there’s someone at the door for you. ”
“At the door?” I slowly came to my feet, feeling my face drain of colour.
Darya smirked, thankfully not noticing my panic. “A man.” With a wink she left, and I quickly made my way to the front door without knocking over a sugar-filled child.
“Caden?” My heart kicked hard as our eyes met, his usual cold, unreadable expression tightening something deep behind my ribs.
I quickly glanced down the street, finding him alone.
In a move that clearly shocked us both, I grabbed his hand and pulled him inside.
He didn’t have time to stop me, because I was already stuffing him inside the tiny toilet, the door barely closing once I joined him.
“What are you doing here?” I hissed, trying to keep my voice down even as blood rushed in my ears.
Caden looked ridiculous in the tight space, his shoulders brushing the sides and his head having to dip against the slope. I was forced to tip my chin, my back crushed against the edge of the sink.
“I told you to meet me at Thorns. You didn’t turn up last night.” A muscle in his jaw twitched, something I only really noticed when he was super angry.
“I was busy.” I’d given Vivienne the invite while I spent the evening with Selene going over her new informant’s details, what she expected me to say, and what she expected me to do to gain the information she needed. “You shouldn’t be here.”
I don’t care if it unravelled everything, I would not let Caden Ackworth harm my family.
“If Selene finds out—”
“She won’t,” he said, his tone neutral. “Unlike you, I’m careful.”
I frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I mean you haven’t even noticed how your guard hasn’t been following you the last couple days?”
I frowned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Hmm,” he mused. “Then you’re ignorant as well as unaware.”
I went to slap him, but he caught my wrist and tugged me until my breasts crushed against his chest.
“Careful, Tempest,” he murmured, the low timbre of his voice wrapping around me like a promise. “Unless you want me to fuck that attitude out of you.”
His threat shouldn’t have made heat curl tight in my belly.
“I thought you weren’t going to fuck me?”
Caden’s lips curved into a slow, dangerous smile. He leaned in closer, his breath brushing my ear, voice dropping even lower. “Keep pushing me, and I might change my mind.” His fingers ghosted along my back, possessive even as his other hand cupped my jaw.
I swallowed hard, the thick, suffocating tension between us wrapping around my throat.
“You hate me, remember?” I whispered, my voice far breathier than I wanted.
Caden’s eyes drop to my lips, and the air crackled, heavy and electric. His thumb brushed the edge of my lower lip, feather-light, sending a jolt straight between my legs.
Then panic seized my lungs.
“Aunt Aeris!” August’s voice rang out as he pulled the door open. “Oscar keeps saying Krakens aren’t real. But they are, aren’t they? I’ve seen them at the park!”
I froze, still wrapped up in Caden’s arms. August’s eyes went wide, staring at us with open curiosity.
“Gus, there you are!” Brooke called, hurrying over to grab his hand. Her gaze flicked to Caden, and her expression shifted from surprise to a very clear Who the fuck is that?
“Hi,” I said quickly, my voice edged with panic. “This isn’t what it—”
“I’m Caden,” he cut in smoothly. “Nice to meet you.”
I glanced at him, his face softened a fraction, but it did nothing to calm the terror clawing up my throat. He shouldn’t be here.
Not in my sister’s house. Not near the kids.
I’d had to keep the two worlds separate. The dangerous woman who played deadly games and the aunt who talked about dinosaurs, kissed scraped knees, and read fairytales about sea monsters and mermaids at bedtime.
“Where’s your gift?” August asked innocently. “It’s Oscar’s birthday, you’re supposed to bring a gift.”
“Gus!” Brooke gasped.
“Erm, we’ll be out in a minute,” I said, trying to give my sister a reassuring smile.
Brooke raised a brow as I reached for the handle and shut Caden and me back inside.
I was never going to hear the end of this.
“Look, just, what do you want?” I hissed, keeping my voice low. “You can’t just show up here.”
Caden’s eyes darkened. “Want to tell me how Selene knew where to find my fucking production facility?”
I went completely still, the blood draining from my face.
“I don’t—”
“We caught a man lurking around the perimeter,” he cut in sharply. “He admitted Blackwater sent him.”
“She didn’t get that information from me,” I hissed, fighting to keep my voice steady.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
His gaze locked onto mine, hard and unforgiving. “So you’re telling me you don’t know the location?”
My stomach twisted, because I did know it. But I’d never shared it with Selene. That information had been locked inside a secret compartment back at Atlantis, a contingency plan, accessible only to me. It had taken me years to piece together the details, because it was a highly guarded secret.
So how the fuck had she gotten it?
“She didn’t get it from me,” I said again, calmer. “I swear.”
A muscle feathered in his jaw. “Fine, then tell me about Vivienne Blackwater.”
“Her information’s in the document I already gave you.”
“She keeps appearing at the same events. Even gave me her number.”
“Good for you. Text her. Go on a fucking date.” I pushed the loose strands of my hair behind my ears, frustration and fear brewing. “If that’s all, you need to leave. Now.”
“I don’t think so.”
I sucked in a sharp breath, trying to steady myself.
“Caden …” My voice dropped in warning. “I don’t care what you think of me right now.
But if you ever hurt my family, even look at any of them the wrong way, I swear on my life I will burn everything down.
I will hand Selene every scrap of dirt I can find on you and watch as everything you’ve built crumbles to the ground. Do you understand me?”
His expression darkened. “So you do have the information.”
I lifted my chin, refusing to back down even as my heart hammered against my ribs. “I mean it, Caden. They’re off-limits. If you so much as make one of my nephews cry, I’ll make your death so slow and painful you’ll beg me to end it.”
Caden’s smile spread slowly, wide and dangerous, that infuriating dimple carving into his cheek. He leaned in until his lips brushed the shell of my ear, his breath hot against my skin as he said, “I’d like to see you try.”
“He’s cute,” Darya whispered, pursing her lips. “How long have you been keeping him a secret?”
I glanced over my shoulder. Caden had planted himself against the wall like he was trying to blend into the wallpaper.
Brooke had him cornered now, giving him the full big-sister interrogation treatment.
Annoyingly, he wasn’t radiating his usual fuck off energy.
Instead, he stood there with his arms folded over his broad chest, listening to my sister with a calm, almost civil expression.
He offered the occasional low word or nod, just enough to keep the conversation alive.
He was dressed down in dark jeans and a fitted black T-shirt that stretched across his broad shoulders and biceps. For the first time, I got a proper look at the tattoo I’d only ever caught teasing glimpses of before.
A turbulent sea swept down his entire right arm.
The ink started at his wrist and disappeared beneath the sleeve, layered with deep blues, stormy greys and sharp flashes of white to capture the movement of the sea mid-surge. The water seemed to move when he flexed his arm, so detailed it looked like they might crash right off his skin.
It was beautiful in the most dangerous way.
Just like him.
He looked up then, our eyes colliding across the room of screaming kids.
My heart skipped a beat, unable to look away.
His presence made the walls feel closer.
The laughter louder. The air thinner, like he was stealing too much oxygen.
Yet seeing him in this situation, at a kid’s birthday party surrounded by rainbow decorations and sugar-high children singing at the top of their lungs while my nephew blew out his candles, caused a strange, tight pressure to bloom behind my ribcage.
Something warm.
I hated it immediately.
Because Caden was far too dangerous to become part of this.