Page 56 of The Devil's Mercy

Then there had also been the director’s office the day Rhett had held him at gunpoint. Rhett’s emotions had been all over the place, but Calix hadn’t been affected even once he was in the small room alone with the two of them. He’d had suspicions the ability could be directed at a single person, but he really should have spent more energy thinking about this, instead of feeling sorry for himself, wasting time wondering if his two captors would really keep him if he told them what they wanted to hear.

“You like animals so much,” Titus continued, “you should know a bit about how predators and prey work. Prey have instincts that alert them when a predator is near. Senses like smell, hearing, and sight all come into play, but sense in general can also be considered something all on its own. That intuition you get when something doesn’t feel right, even though you can’t quite put your finger on why. Dominant alphas release pheromones naturally that warn everyone they’re top of the hierarchy.”

There were certain species in the universe that had a second gender known as alpha, omega, and beta. Calix had only taken one case on a planet where that was the norm, and he’d spent a night in bed with a man who’d claimed to be an alpha. It’d been intense, but the man had still been too delicate, afraid of hurting Cal even though he’d told him over and over again that was what he wanted.

His own personal experience aside, he’d heard stories about how aggressive alphas could be when they entered their heat cycles. If he’d had the chance to stick around longer on that planet, he would have out of pure curiosity.

“Are you saying you learned how to mimic those pheromones?” Calix sucked in a breath when Titus’s hand drifted from his neck down the center of his chest leisurely.

“Don’t you feel like you should submit?” his voice turned sultry. “Doesn’t it feel like that would be in your best interest?”

It did, and in a way that Calix had never experienced before. Only that wasn’t entirely true, because now that he was aware of it, he could pinpoint that he’d felt this way around Titus before, on multiple occasions. Hadn’t he instantly pegged Titus as the one in charge, despite how forward Aodhan always was?

Before he’d been kidnapped, the director and him had spoken infrequently, and yet even then, Cal had gotten the odd sense that something wasn’t right. That he should avoid the older man for his own well-being.

And now that avoiding was impossible?

He did want to submit.

Which seriously pissed him off.

Even if it made things easier for him in the long run.

“Frightening you outright wouldn’t work,” Titus said, touching him lower. “Your penchant for rushing toward danger instead of away from it wouldn’t have allowed it to. But this? This is a different sort of unease, tinged in fear, yes, but not sourced from it. Your subconscious simply knows which of us has the most power. It isn’t you.”

“Are you saying you’ll hurt me if I don’t comply?” Calix grunted. “Not seeing how that’ll work in your favor either, Wa’rid.”

They all tensed, and Cal inwardly cursed himself for the slip. His comment would have been a lot more impactful if he hadn’t accidentally tacked on the respectful title. They’d been calling him things like Be’urn and Azi for weeks though, and it must have gotten to him. Wa’rid was the title given to an oldermale one was close with in his language, and since they were currently on Emergence…

“I take that back,” he said when it became apparent Titus was waiting for him to say something else. “We are not close. I shouldn’t have—”

“Get up.” Titus took three deliberate steps away, giving Calix room to follow the command.

“What?” Taken aback, he sat there instead of listening, though the sensation that he should get moving screamed in his head.

“Should I drag him out?” Aodhan suggested.

“No. He’ll do it himself. Up. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

He opened his mouth to argue, but Titus beat him to it.

“You might like pain, little monster, but you don’t like suffering. And you especially don’t like,” Titus tipped his head, “humiliation.”

Calix glanced around him at the orgy in the back, sucking in a sharp breath. Bodies were writhing and slapping together chaotically, almost to the point he wasn’t entirely sure any of them would even notice if he was brought out there and forced to join them.

But it wasn’t something he was willing to find out, and Titus knew that.

“I can fuck you here,” the director reiterated, “in front of our Second, or I can put you on display out there and make you come on my cock in front of a live audience. The choice is entirely yours.”

“What will it be?” Aodhan crossed his arms, scowling now. “Hurry up. Don’t keep us in suspense.”

Calix frowned at him.

“He doesn’t like the idea of sharing you,” Titus answered the question he was thinking before he could ask it, and when hisbreath hitched, reassured him. “I mean in any capacity. No one else is allowed to touch you, Calix. Ever. Even if you decide to continue pushing me, and I end up having to carry you out there and breed you on the floor like one of the animals you care for. They can watch, but no one can lay a hand on you.”

“Mercy,” Aodhan growled, proving he really wasn’t a fan of the watching idea either.

“It’s not up to you, little killer,” Titus insisted, holding Cal’s gaze hostage. “It’s up to him.”

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