Page 46 of The Devil's Mercy

“Calix is still sleeping,” he said, “so I took a nap.”

“With him?”

“Where else?”

Not. Fair.

He kicked at the bottom of his desk, the loud sound echoing around him.

“Don’t pout,” Mercy told him, but he sounded pleased with himself nonetheless.

“Nyxian’s putting something together. I’m bringing Cal.”

There was a pause and then the sound of rustling, no doubt Mercy getting up and leaving Calix’s room in case they woke him. Sure enough, the soft clicking of the door shutting came a second later, followed by a deep, disapproving sigh.

“That isn’t sticking to plan,” Mercy pointed out.

“I’m speeding things up.”

“That’s not wise.”

“I bagged you, didn’t I? I think I know how to handle the detective.”

“Aodhan.”

“He’s been cooped up in that room for almost a week now with nothing to do,” he reminded. “I think we’ve bored him half to death already. He’s itching for some excitement.”

Cal really was. Aodhan had caught him staring at his mouth last night at dinner, and the hungry look in his eyes he hadn’t been able to mask in time wasn’t for the food set out on the desk in his bedroom.

“He’ll be begging for one of us to touch him soon anyway,” Aodhan continued. “I’m merely suggesting we give him the best setting to do so.”

“We can’t touch him until he realizes he wants us,” Mercy said. “We need him begging first.”

“Just use your ability. The party is the perfect place.”

“Physically forcing the issue isn’t always the solution,” he disagreed. “I can only release certain pheromones in the air for so long. We’re not trying for something temporary, we’re trying for something lasting. Something real.”

“I don’t care if it’s real,” he stated. “I only care about getting what I want.”

And what he wanted was Calix, on his knees, those pink lips stretched around his cock, a pool of blood—

“Get yourself together, little killer,” Mercy warned. “Or I’ll do it for you. I let you get away with a lot, but I won’t allow you to jeopardize this.”

He blew out a breath and willed those images of taking Cal in someone else's entrails aside. “I’m not suggesting we deviate from the plan. We stick to it. I’m just saying we give him that final shove now instead of later. He’s close, Mercy. I can feel it. He’ll break for us. You’re the one who said he needs to be the one to discover all his pieces.”

“He can’t accept who he is,” he said. “That makes it impossible for him to accept us.”

Personally, Aodhan didn’t think Calix was doing too bad of a job at that. After learning that he was a murderer, he hadn’t freaked out or anything of the like. In fact, he treated Aodhanno differently. Kind of like how he’d reacted to Mercy after watching him shoot Amory.

Cal was angry with them, of course, and for good reason.

But…

“He doesn’t hate us.” There was a knock on his door. “We’re doing this, Mercy. Trust me. I always get what I want.”

“So you keep saying.” Still, the older man made another annoyed sound and then hummed. “Fine. Get back to work so you can come home and I can spank that ass for not listening to me. Again.”

Aodhan perked up at the thought, ignoring the knocking when it came again.

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