Page 35 of The Devil's Bargain
“No.” Cal shook his head. “No one else is covering this. I’m going to find out who’s responsible.”
“What conflict of interest?” Reed glanced between the two of them.
“They’re in a relationship,” Saz announced, seemingly apologetic toward Cal for doing so. He had a sense of principle that Calix had always appreciated. “Mitri let slip that Aodhan told him about it a few months ago. Unless things have ended between you?”
“Nothing has ended,” Mercy clipped, getting to his feet. He didn’t approach, placing his hands into his pockets as he stared the officer down. “I don’t like it when my men are gossiped about. I would appreciate it if you didn’t go around talking about my pod, Mr. Laurier.”
“Your—” Reed slapped a hand over his mouth almost comically. “Holy shit.”
Saz seemed just as shocked, bowing his head and holding the position. “I apologize. If that’s the case, I doubt there will be a problem with Calix leading this even if it does break protocol.”
“You are correct.” Mercy stepped up to Cal then, gently resting a hand on his lower back. “Azi, don’t worry. Go with them. I’ll be here. Our Second won’t be alone.”
Calix nibbled on his bottom lip, torn between the urge to rush off and find who did this, and the fear of going and something happening to Aodhan in his absence. The bolt of fear he’d felt sweeping down their connection had been the single most terrifying experience of his life. Nothing in his past even came close to it.
Aodhan Solace wasn’t meant to be afraid. Wasn’t meant to know that emotion in any way other than as a definition written on a piece of paper. He was never supposed to get intimate with the word.
But he had. And the level of fear he’d felt the moment the crash had happened…
A strange sound slipped up his throat and past his lips and Calix hung his head and squeezed his eyes shut to fight off the wave of panic that threatened to swallow him whole.
Mercy hushed him and pulled him in close, uncaring that they had an audience. He cradled the back of Cal’s skull and urged him to hide his face against the curve of his neck. “He’s fine, Azi. I promise. I’m a Connect, remember? Once you go, I’ll push more energy into him. He’ll be awake by the time you return tonight. Nothing more is going to happen to him.”
“I can’t lose him,” Calix whispered. “I can’t lose either of you.”
“You won’t.”
He exhaled slowly. “You really mean it, right? This isn’t just a trick to placate me and get me to leave?”
“I don’t need you to do dirty work for me,” Mercy reminded.
True. If he wanted, he could go out and get revenge all on his own.
Connects and their chosen pod could live for hundreds of years.
But that didn’t mean they were invincible. They could die, just like everyone else.
“Aodhan survived the crash,” Mercy reminded, seemingly understanding here his thoughts were leading him. “And you heard the doctor. His surgery went well. So long as he still has a pulse, I’m able to fix him. You know this, Detective. You’ve studied my kind at the Academy.”
Barely. But Cal didn’t bother correcting him. He was trying to comfort him, after all.
“When he was dead…” He couldn’t finish that sentence, shaking his head.
“Three minutes and sixteen seconds,” Mercy said, able to come up with the exact timeframe due to his familiarity with the bond, something Calix still didn’t have.
What if he never got the chance to? What if—
“Enough,” Mercy’s tone firmed slightly. “I have to stabilize him, and I can’t do that with your teammates hovering like this.”
Oh.
That made sense.
Calix took one last deep breath and then untangled himself from Mercy’s hold and stepped back. He straightened his spine and squared his shoulders, allowing himself one last lingering look at Aodhan before he turned on his heels and addressed the other two in the room. “Let’s go.”
He’d head to the station, find out who did this, and then come back to a conscious Aodhan, because that’s what Mercy said would happen.
And Titus Mercer always kept his word where Calix was concerned.
