Page 26 of Control's Undoing

Colum nodded, then winced when the motion made his head hurt.

Xavier helped him up the stairs, even though the assistance was unnecessary.Annie followed in their wake, continuing to the kitchenette as Xavier got him settled on the couch.

She returned a few moments later with an ice pack wrapped in a dish towel and a cup of hot tea in her hands.She handed the cup to Colum, then sat down next to him.Xavier had one shoulder propped against the wall, a seemingly casual pose, but there was a tightness in his posture, and he watched him with an intensity Colum could feel.

“What happened?”Annie asked, gently holding the ice pack against his face before encouraging him to hold it.

Colum winced before answering.“The front door alarm was triggered.”His grip was tight around the teacup, letting it warm his chilled hands.“I ran from my flat—it’s downstairs, basement level,” he added by way of explanation, “to the front door.”

“Did you take a weapon?”Annie asked, and though she was giving him a soft, concerned look, there was something hard in her voice.

Colum ran a hand through his hair, his grin self-deprecating.Neither Annie nor Xavier smiled back at him.

He swallowed heavily.“My first thought had been to save the archive.Unfortunately, no other thoughts followed that.The gate squeaked when I threw it open.I saw the man on the front stoop, trying to break in, so I went after him.”

Xavier muttered a curse in French as Annie pressed her fingers to her lips, probably to stop herself from calling him a gobshite.

“He punched me, then ran off,” Colum said, wanting to wrap up the story as quickly as possible.

Xavier pushed off the wall.Cupping Colum’s chin, he tipped his face up to the light.Annie pulled the ice pack away, and then her gentle fingers touched his cheek, just above Xavier’s hand, urging him to turn his face slightly.She pushed up so she was kneeling on the couch beside him and leaned in to examine his face.

Colum’s heartbeat picked up, and it had nothing to do with recounting the danger of the attempted break-in.

Xavier’s hand dropped to Colum’s shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.“Did you call your admiral…” He frowned, clearly remembering Colum didn’t have one.“Did you call the fleet admiral?”

“No, only you.”

Xavier’s dark brow rose.“Why wouldn’t you call him?”

Colum wasn’t sure how to answer that without giving himself away.The truth was, he was in pain and scared, and they were the ones he wanted with him.But he couldn’t say that.He shouldn’t be having any feelings for them.For one thing, they hardly knew each other, and for another, he was married.Even thinking that word made his stomach hurt.

“You didn’t want to worry him, did you?”Annie asked.

Bless her.It was the perfect response, even if it wasn’t the real one.

Colum nodded.“I didn’t.Plus, I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

Xavier frowned.“Worry the fleet admiral?It’s his job to worry about attacks against our society.”

Annie looked up at Xavier.“Colum has a different relationship with Eric, closer than most members.”

“Eric?”Xavier parroted, with both brows raised.He looked from Annie to Colum and back again.

Annie ignored Xavier, her focus returning to Colum.“You should call him.”

She was right, but now that she’d made the comment about Eric being worried, Colum hedged.Eric tended to react badly—as in a mad, murder-people way—whenever someone he cared about was hurt or in danger, and he had enough on his plate with the Trinity Council and all the other operations and missions that had started as a result of that meeting.

To say nothing of how Nikolett was probably reacting to the marriage.

“Nothing was taken, and no one was hurt.Eric has bigger problems than?—”

“No one was hurt?”Xavier all but yelled, gesturing toward Colum’s face.“You need to call him.”

“Er…um…okay.I will,” Colum lied.“Later.”

Xavier’s eyes narrowed, proving to Colum that he was still the shite liar Josephine had always accused him of being.

“Have you ever had a break-in at the archives before?”Annie asked.

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