Chapter 23

Cas growls into my mouth, guiding the kiss, like he wants me to know he's the one in control. His forearm lands over my head as he holds my cheek in his massive hand, nipping and sucking at my lips. It gives me a safe and confined feeling that I adore.

My impulses hum in approval, filling me with a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Damn, his pheromones are strong.

Not to mention the tingly pulse that ravages the bond when he sucks on Ward's bondmark. Having a claiming bite on my lip feels like it'll be fun every time someone kisses me.

"You taste fucking delectable," Cas growls, pushing me into the cool tile with his strong frame.

"Thanks," I whisper, struggling to catch my breath. Each inhale of his scent seems to make me foggier. "My heat is coming really fast."

"I can tell, but I'm not sure I should have kissed you just now." He steps back but continues running his fingers over my cheek. "Once we got in, I spoke to Ranger again. He insinuated that he processed the marriage license electronically." His eyes close as his head shakes. "I intended to mention his outlandish plans that night in the kitchen, but?—"

"What name is on the license?" I ask, unable to hold back the ludicrous question. "I mean, I told the tech guy to pick my new identity."

"Did you know he was going to try something like this?" Cas takes a step back. It feels like an accusation, and that makes me bristle.

"No." My head shakes, causing my hair to fling water on his chest.

It's a nice chest.

He has killer muscles.

I'm not even thrown off by the dark curly hair on his pecs, which is normally not something I find sexy.

"Annika," Cas growls, like he's waiting for something.

Oh yeah, I think he's waiting for me to tell him why I'm not shocked my lunatic brother would do something like marry me off.

"I don't know what you want me to say, but there was a reason I ran rather than letting Kane drag me back to Ranger three years ago." I shrug but find myself leaning farther toward him. His pheromones are only getting thicker. Or my reaction to them is.

He stares down at me with what might qualify as an incredulous look.

"I had no idea you knew my brother until I walked into your house that night with Grady and Kane," I tell him truthfully. "No offense, but I'm not going to jump up and down at the thought of being married off to a rich guy. Even if you are ridiculously hot."

Cas spins me around until my back meets the tile once more. His long fingers brush over my cheek as his dark eyes stare down into mine. "I believe you. I'm sorry that I insinuated otherwise."

I nod as his slick skin presses against mine. His head tilts, and I stretch up to meet him in the middle. Our lips brush, and he deepens the kiss. My head gets foggy as he sucks over Ward's bondmark, sending a pulse of pleasure right to my clit.

The urge to crawl up him so he can fuck me against the shower wall is overpowering. Clutching his strong back muscles, I curl into him as his cock brushes my lower stomach.

"Food's here." Grady's voice makes me jump.

I don't pull back, but Cas pecks a final kiss on my lips and stands to his full height.

A half second later, Grady yanks the curtain open, glancing between Cas and me.

I lean around Cas, making eye contact with my alpha. I'm guessing he totally knew we were having a moment before he decided to pop in because his humor hits me in the bond.

"There's a giant spider in our shower," I inform him. "He probably hunkered down to wait for Cas to shut off the water. He's biding his time, planning his revenge. Once we fall asleep, he's totally climbing back up to kill us all."

Grady winks, and his dimples pop as he smiles. "Sounds like a legit threat to me."

Ward sleeps through the four of us eating. Kane disregards my warning and takes a shower after we're done. Cas disappears back into the other bedroom, pushing the door to the frame without clicking the connector closed.

I snuggle up with Grady in the bed closest to the shower, and the sound of the running water helps lull me to sleep.

His beachy scent is the first thing I smell when I wake up. Wiggling closer, I bury my face in his bare chest. He loves to pick on me about snoring, but his soft chuffs and grunts probably qualify as the same thing.

My mouth is dry, and my entire body aches.

I roll away from Grady, patting around the nightstand for a bottle of water. There's nothing. Grumbling under my breath, I toss my legs off the mattress and aim for the mini-fridge. They brought back a ton of drinks, and I am greatly in need of one.

I squat down, pop the door open, and grab a bottle of water before closing the door and standing up. Spinning around, I crack the bottle and take a long swig.

My entire body jolts as I catch sight of Kane. He's shirtless, sitting up against the headboard of the other bed. There's no way to be sure how long ago I fell asleep, but it feels like he should be getting some rest by now. He drove all day yesterday.

Dropping the bottle on the table, I aim for his bed.

"Aren't you tired?" I ask in barely more than a whisper.

He shrugs. "Someone should keep watch, just in case."

I take a seat on the edge of his bed, studying his exhausted expression. "And everything always falls on your shoulders?"

"I lost you three years ago. I'm not trying to make the same mistakes again." His green eyes sparkle in the low light.

"I'm not going to run," I assure him softly.

Grady is a pretty light sleeper, usually, but I also know I exhausted him during the second half of the drive.

My mind files through all the ways he and Ward managed to fuck my brains out in a moving vehicle. They make for a solid team, but even the memories make my thighs clench.

Kane's head tilts as he leans forward, brushing my hair back from my face. All the air in the room seems to evaporate as my chest rises and falls rapidly. "Are you afraid of me, Sparrow?"

My eyes fall shut as completely different memories come back in full force. The way he used to say my name made my heart race then too. I had a huge crush on him when he first moved into the house with Charles, Eddie, and me. Only, he was kinda awful to me back then, and it became easier to hate him than it did to admit I was wildly attracted to his scent.

His thumb brushes my cheek as his fingers dig into the hair at the base of my skull.

"I'm not," I say as my eyes pop open. "And I've owed you an apology for a long time. I'm sorry I shot you. More than that, I'm sorry that I left you to deal with Ranger's wrath."

Kane chuckles darkly, and his minty breath fans over my face with how close he is. "Yeah, I honestly thought he was going to kill me."

My heart beats against my ribs as my stomach bubbles uncomfortably. "You have every right to hate me. I proved you right. I acted rashly."

"You were scared. You had just witnessed something traumatic."

I hate that he sounds so sincere. It makes me feel even worse. "I had never killed anyone before."

"Since then?" he asks, quirking an eyebrow.

"No, but I was afraid my brother murdered you, and that would have been on my karma too," I admit.

"Marco and his thug aren't on you," he says. "When it comes down to a kill-or-be-killed situation, that's not the same thing as murdering someone in cold blood."

I nod, turning my face into his wrist. "I get that."

"I'm being real," Kane says in a firmer tone. "Don't try to compare yourself to me or Grady."

I hear what he's saying, but I've still got my own feelings about what transpired that day. I've obsessed a lot about what happened to Kane after I ran.

"Did Ranger torture you?"

"No." He chuckles, but it's a humorless sound. "He did force me to watch him work for a month, but other than one punch, he never touched me."

I exhale heavily.

I've never been forced to see that, but I did once witness the carnage left over after he was done working. Stumbling into his shedwas something that haunted me for years, but he never physically hurt me. He didn't even threaten me.

I remember the frown on his face as he sighed, complaining I shouldn't have followed him.

That was the day I realized who my brother really is.

My face nuzzles into Kane's wrist. "Do you know what he has planned for me?"

"Hey," he says quietly. When I don't look at him, he gives my hair a tug. "I'm not going to let him hurt you. I think we both know that's not his style, anyway. I've grown up a lot in the last three years. I get that it's not just physical pain that you're worried about."

"I don't want to live as a prisoner ever again." My eyes clench shut. "I want a life where I'm not constantly looking over my shoulder because my family has enemies. Where I can leave the house and not have to plan it out with three guards just to make sure I get home safely."

When my eyes open, Kane stares at me with an intensity that makes me shiver.

"Ranger has changed a lot, too, since you went missing. I'm not saying he's perfect, but he spent years trying to find you. He's also working on a plan to make that future you want into reality?—"

"Oh, yeah?" I snort. "By marrying me off to Cas without my consent?"

"What?" Kane growls, leaning closer.

"Cas said the paperwork is already filed, but don't ask me which name ended up on the marriage license for me. Honestly, it's not even valid, because I know neither of us signed it. It's the sneakiness that bothers me."

"That deranged motherfucker," Kane says, shaking his head. "It's like he thinks he's the next Mafia Matchmaker." My brow furrows at the reference to a TV show that was on maybe ten years ago. "Right before the Andrettis made the play to take out your family, there was an omega living with Lucien. Her real name is Fallon Pierce, but she goes by Kate. She ran when you went missing, but she's living with Ranger now."

"My brother found his omega?" I gasp.

"Hardly," he scoffs. "Ranger tracked her down and married her off to a couple of the guys from the security company we work for. He's using her as bait to draw out Lucien and Ezrah."

I'm not sure if I'm exhausted, and that's why none of that made sense to my brain. "So, you don't think he was lying when he told Cas the marriage paperwork was legally filed?"

"Listen, I know you probably think Ranger and I are close, but he was always my boss. He doesn't tell me shit about his plans. He barks orders, and my job has always been to follow them."

"That's why you spent the last three years looking for me." My cheeks heat.

I don't even know why.

I don't have anything to be ashamed about.

Well, other than shooting him.

"What do I smell like to you, Sparrow?" His low, gravelly tone sends a shiver down my spine.

He asked me that once before.

It was a whole lot of years ago, but I still remember the look on his face as he caged me into the wall, growling the question in my ear. At that moment, I swore the look on his face was attraction.

I don't answer, much like I didn't back then, but instead of stomping off like he did three years ago, he moves his hands to my hips and pulls me into his lap.

I'm in the same pajama dress I fell asleep in, but no underclothes. Once my heat gets close, I don't bother while I'm sleeping, because they're always uncomfortable. They magically seem to become too tight, or itchy, and sometimes they make me too hot.

My nipples tighten painfully as my hands land on his strong chest. His scent hits my system differently than any alpha I've ever smelled. It's a huge part of the reason I hated him for treating me like a little kid.

"I'll tell you how you smell to me," he growls, yanking me closer with a hand on my lower back. "You smell like nothing I've ever experienced. I've met scent matches before and barely blinked." His nose dances up the column of my neck, flicking his tongue over Grady's bondmark. "I get close to you, and my entire body gets a buzzed feeling that I normally hate because I can't handle being impaired."

My jaw falls open.

"Do you know what a soul match is?" he asks, pulling back to stare into my eyes as he repositions his hands on my ass.

"No."

"It's basically an old wives' tale. My grandfather used to tell me it's how he knew my grandma was special." He laughs. "I didn't pay much credence to it. He always said she smelled electric to him. Like the weather right before a lightning storm, it was a magnetic connection he had never felt before nor since."

"Whoa," I whisper, studying his blown pupils. That's insane because I've never been able to describe his scent in words, but after hearing that description, it clicks.

"You always hear how rare scent matches are, but soul matches?" His head shakes as his huge hands palm my ass. "It's fine. I know I sound crazy. I'm sure the rest of the world doesn't believe they exist, but?—"

"It doesn't sound crazy to me at all." The description makes perfect sense. The main thing I'm confused about is him. "You've always acted like you wanted nothing to do with me."

"You were barely legal back then," Kane growls, squeezing my ass. "It would have been a total asshole move to acknowledge how beautiful you are. It's not just that pretty face of yours or the fantastic tits, either. It's the way you used to listen to Eddie ramble the same story for the third time that week and pretend to be excited when he got to the punchline or the climax."

My eyes burn as I laugh, shaking my head. Eddie really did have a shit memory when it came to telling the same stories over and over again.

"God, I miss that old man." My nose draws me forward, and the next thing I know, my face is buried in Kane's throat.

"Yeah," Kane agrees.

My entire body pulses with warmth as I breathe him in. He's right. There's some deeper compatibility than even that link with Ward or Grady, but it doesn't mean I would ever leave them behind.

Hell, I really don't know where Kane and I stand.

"Don't think this snuggle is going to get you out of going over my knee one day soon." He chuckles. "But I appreciate the apology, and I accept it, if you care."

I nod against his neck as my fingers dance over his pec. He stretches back against the headboard, and a ragged purr starts in his chest. I purposely avoid looking at his scar, but my free hand slides down, running over it.

I'm pretty sure I owe him the chance to spank the hell out of me. I focus on the vibration of his purr as a yawn escapes. It doesn't take long for my eyes to get heavy, and I fall asleep on Kane.