Page 103 of Devil May Lie

“Of course I do,” he agreed. “Who wouldn’t? My point is, we all preach about getting along and I have always been the first one to act the part. But I can’t have Berga even after all of my efforts?”

“He’s not a piece of meat.”

“He isn’t a child either. He can weigh the risks for himself.”

“Berga doesn’t understand the exact level of risk he’s in,” Flix argued. “Baikal is our Dominus before anything else, and the elders are pressuring him already as it is. Many of them still believe him to be too young to lead the Brumal. If word gets out he can’t even control his Satellite…That may be his breaking point.”

“You think he’d harm Berga?” Madden clicked his tongue. “Impossible. You said it yourself, the Butcher is too important to your organization. Baikal is intelligent.”

“He’ll threaten him,” Flix said. “Maybe even with expulsion from the mafia. From the one place Berga has always felt accepted. If he’s abandoned by the Brumal, he won’t survive. His condition—”

“I would never let him succumb to that.”

“It’s not like I’ve been sitting on the sidelines twiddling my thumbs all this time,” Flix snapped. “It’s not that simple.”

“I’ll simplify it then.” Madden was confident he could. There’d already been progress, hadn’t there? And that was before he’d known he was helping. Now that he’d realized and decided to put in the effort, it was only a matter of how long it would take to cure Berga. “There is no if in this equation. The Butcher wants to be with me. So he will be.”

Flix grew quiet momentarily, silently staring Madden down before finally saying, “This conversation is getting us nowhere.” He exhaled in frustration. “Let’s spar then.”

“What?”

“Yeah. Fight me for it.”

“For what exactly?”

“Shouldn’t I be the one making that offer?” Baikal stepped up, gaze latching onto Flix. “I don’t think you have the right to chase him away when I haven’t even done so myself yet.”

Madden’s eyes narrowed. Yet?

So much for thinking all was fine when they’d passed one another earlier. Had the Dominus merely been biding his time? To what end?

“This is ridiculous.” He stood but didn’t retreat.

“Why? Because you know you can’t take me in a fight?” Baikal taunted.

“Not if you use your powers.” Probably not even if he didn’t, honestly. Madden knew it, but if they were going to play this game, he was going to stand his ground.

“That’s fair.” He pointed with a thumb over his shoulder toward the center ring. “Shall we then?”

“What exactly are we sparring for?” Madden asked, following him over anyway, stripping out of his shirt with a relieved sigh.

“You’ve been dying to do that all night, haven’t you?” Baikal drawled, shaking his head. He kept his clothing on but leaped into the ring, stretching as he waited for Madden to do the same. “This? This is just a friendly match, that’s all. When was the last time we trained together?”

“Never.” At Friction, both groups were on equal footing. Many of them sparred all the time, but Madden had never fought against Baikal. As the secondhand to Kelevra, his station always set him slightly apart from the rest, and he’d viewed it as poor taste to challenge the leader of the Brumal.

“Are we—” He’d been about to ask about rules, but almost as soon as his first foot touched the mat, the other man was attacking. Madden just barely had enough time to evade, dodging and rolling, lifting back on his feet to hold up his arms and block another punch that rattled him straight down to the bone. “Seriously?”

“Did Berga tell you about the body we got in last week?” Baikal asked causally, as though he hadn’t just made a move to attack Madden’s face.

“No,” he replied. “But I imagine the Brumal gets bodies in all the time.” Was he fishing to see if the Butcher had spilled Satellite secrets? “We don’t talk about official business with each other.”

“Really?” He hummed. “That doesn’t sound very healthy. Relationships should be open and honest.”

“Open, huh?” Madden delivered a series of blows, all of them blocked. “You share Rabbit?”

“Not that kind of open,” he growled, a spark of emotion finally lighting in his blue eyes. “And I caution you to watch what you say.”

“You’re allowed to talk shit about my boyfriend, but I can’t do the same, that it?”

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