Page 65 of The Devil's Mercy

There were three chairs.

Just like in the kitchen.

Cal shook his head and pushed that detail aside. It didn’t matter. None of this was real or okay. What would it make him, if he simply rolled over and gave in to their madness just because he was lonely?

And yes. Fine. He was lonely. But so what?

He’d take being lonely over letting them into his head enough to physically feel his emotions.

This last month, he’d barely gotten any time to think past the orgasms and constantly forced state of arousal, which he was certain was by design. But now, standing out in the fresh air, reality was finally starting to trickle back in.

Did he really think a Connect wanted to make him a part of their pod as he currently was?

He almost snorted.

Connects were one of the oldest species in the known galaxies, considered elite and practically revered wherever they went. The fact Titus Mercer was here, on this planet, and kept what he was so close to the chest was a sign he wasn’t out looking for life mates. He must have stumbled on Aodhan accidentally and realized their particular breed of insanity matched.

Calix didn’t know the director’s real age, but he couldn’t be nearing his one hundredth birthday. There was no chance he would be quiet about what he was if that were the case. He’d be worried and scrambling to find a Third, shouting from the rooftops he was a Connect and looking.

Titus didn’t seem like the type to put his life in jeopardy, and Connects only had until they turned one hundred to complete a pod. Otherwise, the influx of energy within them, the source of most of their power and longevity, would start to eat away at them, beginning with their brains.

If a Connect didn’t form a pod that could help them disperse and share that chaotic energy, they would first lose their minds, and then eventually die. Titus was crazy, but he seemed present, not like a person currently losing their marbles.

Calix was wanted because his energy pattern matched theirs. No other reason but. Hence why they’d spent all this time trying to change him, altering his way of thinking and his instincts to better submit to their desires.

He was a monster, but they were devils. Whispering dark promises and delivering illicit, convincing touches that made him crave more despite knowing how bad it all was for him. How bad they were for him. A monster didn’t stand a chance against a single devil, let alone a pair of them.

Add to the equation that Calix was a monster who still didn’t know his limits, who had only just accepted he was a monster at all and…He couldn’t stay here.

Calix couldn’t lose himself when he’d only just finally started scratching at the surface of who he truly was.

When he’d only just come to terms with the fact that all that garbage Sister Grace had fed him over the years had been nothing more than that. Trash spewed from a hypocritical woman who couldn’t face her own desires or sins.

Cal refused to be like her.

Couldn’t stay here. Couldn’t allow their sweet words, dripping like poisoned honey from their lips, to confuse him the same way the younger version of him had allowed Sister Grace to.

This wasn’t real and he wasn’t anyone worth keeping.

Not yet.

Cal didn’t have his multi-slate or his keys, but he rounded the house anyway, glancing around the side to check the driveway. His hovercar was gone, but that wasn’t surprising. Of course they’d cover their tracks after kidnapping an Intergalactic Police Force agent.

He needed to get away for now, find somewhere safe he could hunker down and carefully think about his next move. Titus being a Connect complicated matters in more ways than one, and the frustratingly collected director must be very aware of that fact.

Aodhan would be easier to avoid, but…He came from a prominent family and was the Second in a Connect pairing…Shit. Between the two of them, they’d probably get away with hiring an elite search team to hunt Calix down and drag him back here.

He needed to go somewhere off the grid. Somewhere where anonymity was the norm.

Their house was pretty far from the main city, a twenty-minute drive, meaning the walk, especially without shoes, would take three times that if he was lucky. His best bet would be to reach one of the neighbors, though they were also a good distance away. Cal recalled only passing one other house in this whole wooded area when he’d driven through it.

Thinking he was just coming to say goodbye to the kinky man he’d been sleeping with.

Like an idiot.

Not wanting to linger any longer, Calix started walking, forcing himself to maintain a steady pace instead of racing off into the night like some cliché movie character. There was too much ground to cover, and he’d burn out way too soon if he did something stupid like that, so as badly as he wanted to get away, he needed to be smart about it.

It got darker and darker the further from the house he got, making it harder for him to make out more than a couple of feet in front of him. The streetlights were few and far between; the orange glow of one, so far down the path, made some of the stars glittering above seem closer.

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