Page 22 of The Devil's Mercy

“No.”

“How come?”

“Because you and I have never even started.” Too late, he realized it was the wrong thing to say.

“Is that what you want, little monster?” Titus practically purred. “A proper start? It’s not too late for one.”

“I want you to unchain me,” he said. “I want to leave.”

The director gave a sigh, a wealth of disappointment in the sound. “It seems you really aren’t worn out after all. Let’s try again tomorrow, shall we?”

Chapter 6:

Titus removed his fingers—no doubt to replace the hook in Cal’s ass—and Calix forced himself to ask one of the questions he’d been pretending not to have.

“It was you, wasn’t it?” The accusation slipped past his lips, and he continued without giving the other man a chance to confirm or deny it. “That day in the woods. It was you.”

If Heathe hadn’t been the one who planned the night of the reunion, it was safe to assume he also wasn’t responsible for what had gone down in the woods.

A part of Calix had always known it wasn’t Heathe, but he’d buried those thoughts down deep, unwilling to allow them to clutter his mind in the middle of work. He’d convinced himself that, no matter what he believed, at the end of the day, it was clear whoever had accosted him with his own blaster had meant to punish him for something he’d done.

And he’d done a lot that was worth being punished for.

“If it's really about having me, that day in the woods was your chance,” Calix scrambled to piece things together now that he’d been gifted a single moment of clarity. Any second, the director could decide to shove the sex toy back into him, rendering him a mess of scrambled thoughts and jumblednerves all over again. “You made me think it had something to do with Nero and Heathe. Why?”

“I was disciplining you,” the director said. He stepped closer, the heat from his large frame enveloping Calix’s bare back, so close, and yet keeping enough of a distance that they didn’t touch anywhere. “It worked, didn’t it?”

“What?”

“Subconsciously, my intentions wormed their way into you. There were no more entertaining thoughts about dating that forensic scientist after our time in the forest.”

Mitri Meadows was one of the people Calix had met while working the case. He’d been there that day as well, at the scene of the crime, doing his job. They both had. There’d never been any mention of—

Oh.

That was right.

Cal had forgotten. Bruce had tried setting the two of them up that day, hadn’t he?

“It’d been a joke,” he whispered, the uncertainty in his tone ringing clear enough even he could hear it. But it didn’t make him back down. “Bruce wanted me to get out more, that’s all.”

“We both know that’s a lie, Detective.”

Cal stiffened. “No part of me ever considered going out with Mitri. Why would I? I’m not staying on planet. I’m—”

“You aren’t going anywhere. I thought that much was obvious by now.” A hand stroked down the length of Calix’s spine, starting from the spot just beneath his neck, trailing down to his tailbone slowly. “If it helps any, this almost came as a surprise to me as well. I thought we’d have much more time to get you acclimated and warm you up to the idea. I didn’t think things would fall into place this easily. Anytime people are introduced as components to a scheme, there’s always anincreased chance of things going awry. And Aodhan…Well. You know better than most how unpredictable he can be.”

There was too much information coming at him all at once, it was impossible to untangle and make sense of it all, so Calix tried to focus on the most important bits. The parts that might help him better understand—and therefore use to his advantage—his situation.

“What am I really doing here?” he asked. “Why did you attack me in the woods? Why did you let Aodhan…do all those things with me if you’ve already claimed him? If you’re attracted to me, why haven’t you done anything about it?”

“You mean why is our doctor always the one having all the fun with your hole?” Titus slapped Cal’s ass, grabbing a handful of his cheek and squeezing until Cal was left clenching his teeth against the sting. “You have great instincts, can sense danger miles away even without my influence. And what’s more, you have training from the Academy. This is a puzzle you can solve on your own. Stop trying to lead me into doing the hard work for you. We’ve only been at this a week. I’ve got all the time in the world to spare for you, little monster.”

So it’d only been one week. That was something, at least.

…something bad.

Because if Aodhan and Titus could make seven days stretch and feel like three months, there was no telling what else they were capable of doing. How else they would choose to break Calix down.

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