Page 5 of Crave Me

He jolted as he caught sight of me and his bruised and cut face lit up. “Caspian.”

“What are you doing out of that bed?”

“I’m conscious, hence me being done with that.”

“You suffered a concussion and a dislocated shoulder.”

“Ah, so that’s what the mind-numbing headache is all about and the ache permeating my arm.”

I rolled my eyes at him trying to blow it off like it was nothing. “Get back to bed.”

“You were going to have me moved anyway, weren’t you?”

He knew well how I worked. “Yes, but once all three of you were stabilized. Until then, my security is ensuring your safety.”

“Resources that could be better spent elsewhere—tracking down Elijah, for instance. Not wasted on me.”

I stepped up to him and laid my hand on his shoulder. “Matteo is currently being stabilized. He suffered third-degree burns over thirty-percent of his body. He actually would have been dead if he hadn’t used one of Elijah’s people as a human shield when the place blew. He’s also sustained three broken ribs and a fractured wrist.”

He grimaced at my report and took a moment to contain himself, before he asked, “And what of your loves?”

I scrubbed my hand over my face and gave him the details.

Pain twisted his features. “I’m so sorry, Caspian. So very sorry.”

He pulled me into him and I took the comfort, laying my head on his shoulder.

“We’ll rectify all of this, I swear it to you,” he said, stroking my hair.

I forced myself to pull away. “This shouldn’t have happened. We had him. Everything was in place. I was certain we’d weeded out the weak links and traitorous cunts, but for him to have known we were coming, then to put these attacks in place too, it points toward him having received intel from an insider.”

“To the existence of a mole.”

I nodded.

“Then we’ll smoke them out and exterminate them like the rat that they are,” he seethed.

Dante Mancini was a man all about loyalty and honor. Something like this, a traitor in our midst, was blasphemy to him, something utterly sick that he wouldn’t tolerate. That he wouldn’t forgive. There was only one response to such a thing and it matched mine precisely.

Ruin.

My phone rang and I answered quickly. “King.”

“It’s me,” Luke responded. “Just got word on the team we sent to Caleb’s location.” He paused, making my gut twist. He only did that when he was on the verge of having to deliver bad news.

“Tell me,” I pushed. Right fucking now.

“He’s not there, King. I’m sorry. His necklace was, however. They must’ve taken it off him.”

“No. The tracker tech in the pendant is imperceptible even to the most sensitive wands. He took it off. He didn’t want me to go after him, to put myself in danger.”

He was trying to protect me.

Dammit, Caleb.

It could cost him his life.

“You’re confirming he’s been taken?”

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