Page 59 of Natural-Born Cullers

Gray switched CCTV feeds intoLight’s bedroom.

Light grumbled into the darkness as he twisted under the covers. “Still dark,” was whispered over audio. “Give me a few more minutes, yeah? You….”

Light jolted under the cover as if a noise dragged him out of sleep, and a moment later, he sat up in bed, a frown creasing his brow as he turned an ear, trying to catch something.

“Bad dreams?” said Simon. He’d been up for most nights over the past week, working the Blood Eagle case, and Gray couldn’t blame him for the missed signals. But, dammit, if ever there’d been a time to hold on to Light and stop the torment….

Gray cut that off so quickly and switched the CCTV camera to Light’s bathroom. Light stilled on the feed as he gripped the sink, andGray frowned as Light briefly closed his eyes. Steam filled the bathroom, misting the mirror, and Light mumbled something else as he rested a hand on the glass and drew a distracted path in it that dampened his fingertips and smudged the mirror.

Gray paused the footage over what Light had drawn, because he doubted whether Light registered what he’d written on the mirror last night, not from how lost to nightmares he still looked.

“Iodine, bromine, nitrogen…?” Simon dipped his head to get a better look, and Gray helped to break it down to the chemical symbols where Simon seemed to be struggling.

“I.” Gray swept a touch over Iodine. “B and R for bromine.” Then he touched Nitrogen last. “N.”

Simon eased back, more turned away with a hand running his hair. “Fuck.Brin. Light still can’t say his name, not even beyond writing it in chemical symbols amongst smoke and mirrors. He’s still hiding.”

“He’s not hiding,” Gray said softly. “He’s just trying to work this out in his own way. But he is struggling.” He edited a small clip, sent it over to his phone, then forwarded it to Halliday.

Simon groaned and came back over and rested against the unit, arms folded. “I keep….” He shook his head. “I keep looking for the dark web gaming addict who only finds a way to love when he’s playing the game, but all I keep getting is… is Light. This feeling that he’s not here to cause any fucking harm. I… I missed all the signs a few hours ago because after eight months of nothing, there’s suddenly this. I missed the point completely on why he’s not caused any trouble at all over the past few months.”

Gray pressed play on the CCTV.

“I gave you time to finish what I started. I gavehimtime to finish exactly what I started.”Light pushed Simon away.

Gray briefly closed his eyes.

Christ. Light really wasn’t here to cause any damage. He’d been waiting here all this time for a father to step up and take all the cullers down. He had, only….

“Deal. What fucking deal with the cullers have you both done?”

Gray gave a hard sigh and snapped the CCTV off before turning away.

“Sir?”

“Stay here,” he said flatly. “This gets sorted. It doesn’t fuck with his head and fists.”

“He’s over in the manor with Professor Baseman.”

Yeah. He knew that.

Chapter 18

Reactant

The clatter of a pan hit the kitchen as Gray headed in, then—

“Fucking shit.”

Jan stood back by the table, seat pushed back haphazardly as if the clatter had startled him off his seat, and a grin played his lips as he watched Jack dance around the pan of bacon he’d dropped.

Gray raised a brow. “Bad day now, stunner?”

“Not Jack here.” A look came Gray’s way. “Can you at least try and keep Light out of the kitchen when the fucker’s in the manor, snorting his chemicals in the corner with Baseman up there?” He nodded back down the hall, towards the stairs. “Because this is getting bloody ridiculous. I mean, get me to turn up as Jack’s having a beer, no. But bring out dangling Halliday naked from a MC cage, or worse when Jack’s dipping his dick in the cooking oil…. I swear the bastard’s doing it deliberately lately.”

Jan tried so hard not to laugh. Light being in the summerhouse triggered Martin, so knowing Light sauntered around in the manor with Professor Baseman in one of the three manor rooms Gray had kitted out as a lab…? Yeah, that wasn’t Jack’s anger there.

“Morning, Mart,” said Gray, grabbing the pan and wincing at being forced to pick it up. Martin cocked a smile seeing it too, then tossed the bacon Jan’s way. Jan danced about and barely caught it, more so because he had his suit on now, ready for overtime on a Saturday at work, and bacon grease and a Vivienne Westwood design didn’t go well together. His mock scowl said that, only he looked too relaxed after his blowjob to get serious.

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