Page 9 of Crave Me

I’d never seen him like this.

Irate, unpoised, volatile, pained.

I scanned the area, expecting Caleb to be nearby, to be the support that he always was for him. But he was nowhere in sight.

Maybe he was working another angle trying to bring Bastian back, employing his infamous hacking skills.

As I walked into the kitchen, Caspian’s words became more discernible.

“That’s not good enough! That intersect point puts us at five-hundred square miles to search. It’ll take days upon days! Send four teams out ASAP. Luke, I’m well aware that it’s a strain on my resources with everything else going on, but it needs to be done.” He tugged at his hair. “How far are we into investigating the mole situation? Fuck, only thirty percent of my workforce? I know there are thousands in my employ.” He sucked in a breath, clearly fighting to calm himself. “All right, continue. I’ll explore other avenues. Yes, I’ll let you know if I need to cross any lines.”

He hung up, then stuffed his phone into the back pocket of his dress pants, before slamming his hands to the patio railing and hanging his head. I’d even seen his muscles beneath his open white dress shirt straining with tension. He tightened his hold on the railing to a white-knuckle grip.

“Caspian,” I spoke softly, staggering out onto the patio.

He spun around, worry all over him as he took me in. “Why are you out of bed? You need to rest.”

“I feel okay. It doesn’t hurt much. It’s just a little awkward walking around.”

“It will hurt soon if that IV isn’t put back in.”

As he went to wrap his arm around me, no doubt to lead me back upstairs, I stepped back. “I need to be a part of this, Caspian. I have to be.”

He ground his jaw. “And I need you resting and recovering.”

“Damien confirmed that Bastian was taken, that he’s still out there. I can’t just sit back knowing that, knowing he’s in danger and hell knows what else.” My voice cracked. “Knowing he’s not here.”

With my determination to state my case, to ensure he shared the load here when he clearly needed to more than ever, if I could just get him to see past his concern for me, I hadn’t been taking him in properly now that he was up close and facing me.

My breath caught in my throat the moment I noticed his pendant.

More specifically, that his wasn’t the only one around his neck.

“Oh my God,” I choked, stepping up to him and easing the other one out from behind his purple gem one. The red gem set into the other heart beneath his glinted back at me.

“How did you… how did you get Caleb’s necklace?”

Emotion swam in his eyes, his voice thick with it as he gave me the answer that had already crossed my mind when I’d laid eyes on it, “He was taken too that same night.”

“No,” I choked, shaking my head vehemently. “No. No. No. No.”

His arms were around me in the next moment, enveloping me tightly.

I couldn’t stop it then.

The proverbial dam burst and so much pain and grief broke through, and I was sobbing into his chest.

“We’ll get them back,” he said, his voice breaking.

I looked up to see tears glistening in his eyes.

And something I’d never seen from Caspian King before, something I was sure nobody had.

Fear.

As soon as he saw me looking, he blinked it away, like it had never been.

Not wanting me to see.

---