8. ~Caleb~

I was doing my thing, pulling up intel as Asher and his team strategized their final stand against the Infidels that would bring the crumbling empire down in its entirety and finally free them all in the process.

My phone buzzed on the table and, assuming it was one of my contacts coming through with additional information, I absently snatched it up and swiped it open.

But then I was jolting at the name flashing on my screen.

Fuck me.

Caspian.

It was him.

After all this fucking time, he was contacting me.

Out of the blue.

That didn’t even cover it actually.

It had been so long.

I opened the text.

Caspian: There’s a situation that requires your expertise and influence. Skylar has been found. She’s on a rampage. A personal touch is required. My presence will antagonize her and be seen as a threat to her current crusade. Bastian isn’t ready. Has to be you. Confirm and I’ll send you the coordinates and further details. Classified details, Caleb. Not for my replacement’s ears.

“Everything all right?” Ash asked, pulling me from the shock of it all.

It took me a few seconds to utter a response and fortunately when I did, it at least came out steady. “Not exactly, but I’ll deal with it later.”

“Deal with what?”

Of course he wouldn’t just accept that. He was all about the details. “It’s nothing to do with any of this.”

“Is there a problem at one of your rehabilitation facilities?”

“No, nothing like that. I’ve got the best of the best running the show there. This is something else. Cas needs a word. In person.”

“Caspian King? Your former flame?”

“I wouldn’t put it exactly like that, but, yes, it’s him.”

Former flame. Cas would never be my former anything. That was just in a painfully paused state. And as for him being my flame, he was so much more than that.

“Go.”

I jolted at Ash’s response. “What? No. We’re not done here.”

“You can be. You’ve done more than enough already, stayed way beyond what I expected you to.”

What the—what was happening? “Is this about me breaking our agreement over Jonah? Honestly, that wasn’t planned, or—”

“You needed it, I get it. Believe me. We’re solid, Cal. After everything you’ve done, how you’ve helped me, it could never be any other way. If King needs you then it’s got to be urgent and, no doubt, dire. He never reaches out for help like this.”

“Especially not to me,” I grunted.

He could’ve found me, he obviously had, seeing as though he was contacting me now like this. But aside from once in two fucking years, he’d never called, never tried to make contact. He’d just… left me to my own devices. So, no, he didn’t reach out for help, he didn’t reach out for anything anymore. Except this right now.

“Exactly. We’ve got it from here.” Asher smiled. “Get out while you can, brother.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll head out in a few. Let’s finish this first.”

“All right.” Asher turned and looked out at the others. “We have the makings of a strategy, let’s work on the details.”

It was all I could do to keep my focus and not split it between this and the mind-fuck that was Cas contacting me like this, not to mention, the reason behind it.

I’d thought I was gonna head back to my rehabilitation centers once Ash was all good and back on his feet with his head on straight.

But it looked like that was gonna be delayed now.

Caspian needed me.

And after all this time, after everything I’d done and experienced far away from him and all the rest, he was as impossible to deny as he always had been.

I had to go.

I stareddown at my text response to Caspian.

Caleb: Send me the details. I’ll see to it, Cas.

Yeah, that was the extent of it.

Simple. To the point. No emotion. No pleasantries.

Just like his bullshit message.

I knew him so well that I’d recognized the tone of his text for what it really meant—he was closed to me right now. Purposely. He felt like he needed to be.

It meant that if I’d come back with sentiment, it would’ve been futile and just basically bounced off him.

No, right now, I needed to concentrate on Skylar.

She was obviously in trouble.

I couldn’t actually believe he’d found her. It had seemed like something completely off the table for so long.

The idea of laying eyes on her again, of touching her, hearing her voice, being close… it was hard to wrap my head around.

My gut twisted at her being in pain, though. The kind Cas had referenced was hard to endure, especially when it was likely rooted in grief for her. I’d know soon enough once he sent me all the details.

He was likely waiting until I was away from Ash and off his territory.

How did he know that?

Because of one particular fucker right here in my midst.

The porch door creaked open and I looked to see the guy in question walking on out, his eyes on me.

Aaron Wakefield.

The guy I’d actually spent a lot of time collaborating with lately in our bid to bring Asher back.

“They’re headed out here in a few,” he told me.

I finished the last drag of my smoke and stubbed it out as he joined me by the porch railing.

“Does Ash know?”

He arched an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

“That you’re also Dante Mancini’s spy?”

He tensed. “Excuse me?”

“I know you’re loyal to Ash, but I also know you owe Mancini a favor and repayment of said favor is keeping an eye on me, which is then reported back to Caspian King. Correct?” Fuck, I knew it damn well was.

“There’s concern from those you left behind, Cal.”

I stepped up to him, lowering my voice. “Did you report back about Ash, my connection with him?”

He nodded.

Fuck. Cas wouldn’t like that.

Given his replacement reference, I’d figured he’d at least heard about Ash and me, but it could’ve been conjecture, not definitive. So much for that.

“There were concerns from all sides about you and Ash connecting. It’s why you leaving now has come at a good time. You both need time apart. And Ash needs to settle back into his relationship with Jonah, Aurora, and Killian. You need to start considering your return to King and finally facing what you’ve been avoiding for two long years now.”

I ground my teeth, glaring at him. “Unsolicited advice not needed.” My eyes flashed. “Or received well.”

Of course, being the former soldier of the Infidels that he was and now one of Ash’s biggest supporters and strongest allies, he didn’t balk under my tone or the aggression now rolling off me and coming right at him.

Instead, he doubled down, telling me, “Your intense reaction to the mention of King lends a lot of weight to your need to follow my advice.”

“Hey!” Jonah’s voice came from the front door.

Aaron winked at me, then stepped away, walking down the porch steps and waiting a few feet away, as I turned to see Jonah walking out onto the porch closely followed by Asher.

My gut twisted.

I hated this part.

Hated goodbyes.

I was a loner by nature, so me connecting with people at all was a big deal, let alone deeply like I had with Ash and even Jonah recently.

So, goodbyes with all that in play were harder than they’d be for most others.

But it was how it needed to be.

That interfering shit, Aaron, was actually right.

And Caspian needed me.

All three of the loved ones I’d left behind did.

I swallowed it down and rose to my charismatic and lighthearted persona, telling Jonah, the first to reach me, “It’s been an absolute pleasure.”

He caught my innuendo right away, grinning from ear to ear.

“No doubt there.”

He held out his hand.

That was too formal for me, so as I took it, I pulled him against me, then wrapped my arm around him in a tight hug. “Take care of yourself and look after Ash for me,” I spoke quietly at his ear.

“Always,” he vowed as we pulled apart.

I sucked in a breath, then faced the most difficult part of all of this, taking in Ash who was now leaning against the porch railing. “You need me down the road, I’ll be there,” I told him.

He came to us, standing between Jonah and me. “Call on me any time,” he offered. Then he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me in tightly. “Thank you. For everything, Cal.”

Emotion threatened to get the best of me at his closeness and the actual heartfelt words coming off him, staggering for somebody normally as stoic as him. It actually reminded me of Caspian and his courageous ability to always show how he felt to those in his inner circle, one of the most endearing things about him.

I had to ease away, trying to soften it with a light slap to his back, which he returned.

“If King gives you any trouble, let me know,” he said.

That had me laughing. “Damn, I’d love to see that clash of the titans.”

“Well, once I’m done with the clash here, I’ll be free to—”

“No,” Jonah cut in. “No way. Once this is done, there won’t be any more of that. You’re retiring from this life, all this bullshit. Just nice and easy all the way. No more danger, pain, and self-sacrifice.”

“All right, Jonah,” he told him, but then smirked at me, letting me know his promise still stood.

As I snatched up my bags that I’d left in the corner of the porch, I slung them over my shoulder, then forced myself down the porch steps.

Don’t look back. Don’t.

I focused on Aaron who was gonna walk me off the property to avoid the traps rigged around the area to deter any enemy approach.

Unfortunately, that would give us more time to discuss the very things that I didn’t want to.

It was enough of a mind-fuck as it was that Caspian had reached out to me like this and about Skylar, no less.

We didn’t get more than five minutes into the journey out when it started up, as he told me, “You accomplished what you set out to do. That darkness is under control. You’re no longer a risk.”

“It wasn’t just about that. And you know as well as I do, thanks to your experience with somebody just like me in Ash, that the so-called darkness being under control isn’t to be taken for granted. Things can change where that’s concerned, given the wrong provocations and pressure.”

“Good thing you’re stronger than that now then, isn’t it?”

I blew out a breath. “Fuck, do you have an answer for everything?”

“You’ve spent enough time working with me recently, I think you already have your answer.”

The bastard had me laughing. “Jesus.”

He stopped suddenly and grasped my shoulder. “This is me just trying to do you a favor, all right? What you did for Ash… it’s a big fucking deal. You helped him like nobody else could. It’s made a difference. I won’t forget it.”

Well, then. I smiled. “He helped me too.”

“And going back to your home, reuniting with King, will get you the last step of the way, and bring completion to your personal quest.”

I grasped his hand on my shoulder. “All right, I hear you, you stubborn bastard. I”ll handle my shit. Just make sure you handle yours, get them through the upcoming war, okay?”

He smiled. “Deal.”

We broke apart, then started navigating our way through the booby-trapped laced forest, thankfully just shooting the shit, with no more heavy talk.

I was sure I’d be enduring a hell of a lot where that was concerned all too soon.

Caspian would make sure of that.

Me walking had cut him deep.

Just as deep as it had cut me.

All four of us, actually.

It wasn’t gonna be easy.

But answering that text had basically been me making the decision to face it.

I didn’t know exactly what I was gonna be walking into.

It didn’t matter, though.

I was ready.