Captive Mate BL-Chapter 650: - - -

Caspian had been in the movie room when he got Asher’s text, his phone’s screen lighting up his grumpy face. He had almost forgotten that he was upset, but Asher’s text reminded him why he had been upset in the first place.

He sighed and dropped his phone face down on his lap, his upset fading into anticipation. He could be upset all he wanted about his mate’s coddling, but it was up to him to do something about it.

After a while, he slowly rose to his feet and made his way to the foyer, a little worried about Rae. He stayed in the foyer for a bit before the person he had been waiting for arrived.

Asher was the first through the door, all of Caspian’s anger fading away at the amazed happiness in his mate’s eyes when he saw him waiting.

He walked forward, letting Asher pull him into his arms, wearing a comfortable sweater. Over Asher’s shoulder, he saw Jael coming in with a grim expression, which made him pull away.

"Jael, what’s... Oh my goodness, what happened to him?" He exclaimed in horror, looking at Rae, who was covered in blood and reeked of liquor.

The in-house doctor made an appearance then, and before Caspian could get a response, Rae had been whisked away.

"Jael, wait," Caspian caught his sleeve when he was about to go after them, "Can Rae stay for a while? At least until he’s alright?" He pleaded, knowing that he wasn’t going to get an answer about why Rae came back injured.

Jael didn’t give him a definitive answer, but he didn’t turn him down either, it gave him some hope.

"It’s cold, baby," Asher pulled him back into his arms when it was just the two of them in the foyer. "You shouldn’t have waited out here for me."

Caspian sighed, giving in. He let himself be carried up the stairs by his mate, it was like trying to converse with brick walls, they weren’t listening to him, especially his hardheaded mate.

It was cold, but Asher’s skin was borderline uncomfortably warm as they got into bed. It was pretty late, Caspian unable to fall asleep despite Asher’s breaths deepening as soon as his mate had him tightly wrapped up in his arms.

He thought he had been making some personal progress, but right then, he didn’t feel awesome. He wasn’t seeing results fast enough... maybe he should talk to Angelo about it. He was an impressively strong Omega, perhaps he could get some useful tips from him.

Caspian’s thoughts eventually slowed down as he fell asleep, snuggling deeper into his mate’s warmth, which chased away the cold.

-+-

Waking up late the next morning didn’t surprise Caspian, he hadn’t exactly slept on time. Despite how melancholy he had been the night before, he woke up with fresh energy, getting ready for the day.

Before bothering with breakfast or the kitchens, the first thing he did was to go on the search for Rae. The young Alpha was lying down in the room Caspian had given him, a bandage around his arm.

"Hey," Caspian said softly after getting the go-ahead to come in, "How do you feel?"

Rae was watching him intently, green eyes bright. "Okay."

"Hungry?" Caspian asked, keeping his distance.

"Jael is still angry with me." Rae blurted out, startling everyone in the room.

Caspian took a few steps closer, "He is? Did something happen?" He prodded gently so that Rae wouldn’t shut him out again. He didn’t know why he was going through the trouble of reaching out to the young Alpha, maybe he was too bored cooped up in the mansion all day.

Rae hadn’t meant to say that, but after saying the first sentence, everything kept spilling out. He had no one to speak to about this, and maybe he idolized Jael way too much.

"He told me to carry a weapon, but I can’t fit a baseball bat in my backpack," His lips turned down, looking terribly distressed about the matter.

Caspian blinked a couple times, but he didn’t slow down, stopping by Rae’s bedside. "Was that why you got hurt?"

Rae thought about it, even if he had a weapon on him, he would have still gotten hurt because the attacker had taken the first shot. "I dunno," He mumbled, green eyes glassy.

Caspian got over the strange topic pretty quickly, guessing that Rae was not the random civilian who got caught in a shootout. "If carrying a weapon wouldn’t have stopped you from getting hurt, then I don’t think Jael is really mad at that."

"You don’t?" Rae sniffled.

Caspian ’uh-huhed’ sympathetically, "I know Jael, he’s more likely more upset that you got hurt."

Rae went quiet like he was really thinking about it, but his expression showed that he didn’t really believe Caspian’s words.

Caspian didn’t push, this was already some progress, there was no need to overdo it. But it was clear that Rae really admired Jael, he didn’t quite know how to address that. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"So you hungry?" He repeated his earlier question, "You’re injured, so you can even eat ice cream for breakfast if you like."

Rae caught himself then, Caspian was dangerous, he had almost completely let his guard down around the other. But ice cream did sound really nice, "And some fudge?" He asked tentatively, it was a first for him.

Caspian beamed, rising to his feet. "Sure!" He agreed easily, "Be right back."

Rae watched the Omega glide out, settling into his pillows with a heavy sigh. It really was hard to believe Caspian’s words, because he hadn’t seen Jael even for a moment ever since they returned to the mansion last night.

The in-house doctor had been meticulous despite his knowing looks, patching and cleaning him up just as well as he had done the last time. The gunshot had been a surface wound, so he was fine... not really.

He rolled onto his good arm, the bed the biggest and cleanest he had ever been on. Rae felt a little disoriented, like he was free-falling.

He had always had a clear goal of what he wanted, and then he fought tooth and nail to get it, time after time. Well, it was more like he had always been chasing a distant light, and now that he had caught up, it blinded him.