Chapter 27: Can We Not Use Your Usual Foolproof Method?

For a long time, the meaning of his words didn't register.
Ran frowned.
How could Caph be with his bonded mate right now?
Right now, he was in Acamar's truck with her and they were travelling along a rainy country road. There was no one else here but her.
Oh, wait.
'Me?' Her voice was incredulous.
Caph smiled his infuriating casual smile. 'Yes. You.'
Lightning flashed across the sky. She stepped on the accelerator with unnecessary force.
The truck jolted forward.
'That's not possible,' she said at last, eyes still on the road. She could make out lights from the human city in the distance if she squinted.
'Why not?' he asked.
'I would know if I'm your bonded mate because you would be my bonded mate as well,' she pointed out drily. 'That's how this works. But I don't feel it.'
Ran glanced at him from the corner of her eye. 'That's because you're resisting it.' He was smiling that overindulgent smile at her, one arm hooked behind his headrest, torso tilted towards her.
'I'm not,' she replied too quickly, scowling at him.
His grin grew even bigger.
She ignored him to manoeuvre the truck onto the paved road that would lead straight into Saxton and let the silence drag out between them.
Caph didn't speak either.
And she couldn't tell from his amused expression what he was really thinking.
Her hands tightened around the steering wheel.
He was probably just teasing her as usual, she decided.
Eventually he spoke, 'We can end this arrangement if it's what you really want.'
'It's not about me,' Ran reasoned, 'Your bonded mate—'
'—is you,' Caph interrupted. 'I'm not teasing you, Ran.'
It's like he read her mind.
'If you're uncomfortable with this fake courtship arrangement, then let's end it. I'll do whatever you want.'
Ran sucked in a deep breath. 'I'm not uncomfortable with it.'
'Then what do you want?'
She made the mistake of looking into his eyes at this moment.
They were dark, full of a desire she had never considered before.
Lightning flashed like a spotlight over him. She became hyperaware of the electricity that thrummed in the distance between them.
Thunder rolled, demanding an answer.
She had to step on the brakes and bring the truck to a halt by the side of the road, unable to concentrate on the road any longer.
Even with the rain pattering outside, Ran could hear every breath Caph breathed.
'I...' she began, fingernails turning white on the steering wheel.
His eyes consumed her, but he waited. He was holding back.
He had been restraining himself for a while, she realised.
She hadn't noticed it at all.
When did he stop playing around?
When did he change?
He had matured without her knowledge.
'What do you want, Ran?' he asked again.
She tore her eyes away from him, forcing herself to look at the city in the distance. They were supposed to be looking for Phraya and Liam's pet dog, Vicky. She should focus on that right now.
That's why she couldn't come up with an answer right now.
Ran shifted in her seat and cleared her throat. She urged the truck forward into Saxton, then turned off the main road into a small alleyway to the outer district of the city.
She could still feel Caph's eyes burning into her and made a show of squinting exaggeratedly at the well-lit road signs.
Soon, they reached the scrapyard and she was forced to bring the truck to a halt.
Only the soft pattering of rain outside the vehicle separated her from him now.
Lightning flashed again, giving her a good view of the Caph's lean back and his tousled head peering out the window at the locked and bolted gate.
Caph hopped out of the truck. She followed. The rain was falling harder.
He peered through bars of the gate into the scrapyard. 'There's really no one inside.' He glanced at her grimly. 'What should we do, Beta?'
Ran sized up the bolted gate, then climbed over it. On the other side, she unfolded the paper Phraya gave her and shone a flashlight at it.
There was a name and a large number '3' scrawled in pencil but no description of the cars Liam had been scrapped.
She shone the light into the depths of the scrapyard. 'Guess we'll have to search the whole place.'
Caph pulled her back just as she was about to charge into the darkness. 'Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on! Can we not use your usual foolproof method? Let's do this the accurate and fast way.'
Where his hand touched her shoulder, a jolt of electricity shot down her arm.
Ran had been about to explain how crucial it was that they combed through the entire scrapyard for Vicky when the sky growled a warning, and the rain turned torrential.
'Fine!' she yelled over the deafening roar of the full-fledged storm. 'What's the accurate and fast way?'