Sticks and Stones

Chapter Thirty-Nine

His phone rang the second the door swung shut on Sofia. Fallon spoke on the other end of the line.

"Got any updates for me?" He asked.

She'd promised to call if anything happened.

"Yeah, and you're not going to like it."

Just my luck. His body was already wound tight with tension. He'd come straight from a bloodbath to a fight with Sofia. Cas was seconds away from hitting his breaking point.

"Just give it to me."

"Warlocks arrived after you left."

Naturally they waited for Caspian to leave to make their appearance. Cas had been tracking them since the night outside of the portal. He was deeper into this than anyone. He'd made warlock business his business.

This whole thing felt like a cruel joke.

"Are you fucking serious?"

"I wish I wasn't but it's true."

He ran a hand through his hair, dragging it through the knots.

"What did they want?"

"They took Rosa." This couldn't be real. This just couldn't be happening. "Claudio's deal with them for Meg's wings meant he couldn't do anything." Which meant the warlocks had more or less had an open field with no one around to stop them. Hell, they'd have plucked the barmaid from their numbers without struggle. "No one was able to stop them."

"Fuck this."

A pause on Fallon's end sounded. Maybe she was questioning Caspian's mental stability right now.

"You good?"

"I'm going to kill something," He answered as calmly as a murderous man could.

"I'll be in touch soon. Stay out of trouble."

The line beeped with a close. Caspian threw the phone at the wall. He didn't check to see whether or not it was smashed. It was that or he'd put a fist through the plaster.

He needed an outlet. Something to focus on. Something to take his mind off all this.

An idea clicked and his legs started moving.

"Sofia!"

He whipped the door open, leaving it open as he marched down the drive.

"Sofia!"

She was halfway down the road now. He was lucky she hadn't portal jumped away yet.

"Sofia!"

She stopped walking and turned to him, face full of confusion.

"Did I forget something?" She asked as Cas jogged to cover the rest of the distance between them.

"No. You didn't."

"Then I don't under—"

He grabbed her by her hips and slanted his mouth down over hers. And though stunned, it didn't take her long to reciprocate. Her hands flew to his hair as he breathed her in, remembering the way she tasted, tongue sliding harshly against hers. When he pulled back to let her breathe, she moaned.

"What changed?" She asked.

"Nothing changed."

"You're not making any sense."

He'd gone from banishing her from his property to kissing her. Anyone with a braincell would question the sudden change of heart.

"Here are your options," He said, hands running down the length of her sides. "You can go home now and stay away forever."