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Apollo elbowed him. "Shut up. I didn't get any dick. Not yet, anyway. But yes, from what I have seen, it is pretty magical."

Valentine laughed. "Lachlan naked sounds gross to me, but if it makes you happy, that's all that matters. Mating just looks confusing and complicated."

"Keep your voice down with the M word, asshole," Apollo growled. He knew Valentine was teasing him on purpose to take his mind off where they were, and he was thankful for it. It worked every dam time, and he had to admit, the view was pretty fucking great.

Apollo was suddenly tempted to send Claudette some flowers himself. He vowed to find a way to get Lachlan into a suit more often because, damn, did he make them look good.

I finally kissed Lachlan Ironwood . Apollo still felt a little dazed by that realization. He did the thing he'd feared for so long and the world didn't explode. Not yet anyway. It was like every cell in his body hummed with a resounding, Yes. Yes. Yes.

"Wake up, little brother," Valentine prompted, and Apollo shook himself to focus on where they were. It was too dangerous to get lost in his mind right then. Fantasizing over Lachlan would have to wait until later.

They went up another two flights of stairs before they found a gray steel door with warnings about authorized personnel and wearing protective gear to stop contamination.

"What can be behind door number one!" Apollo chimed.

Lachlan held out a hand. "Wait. Layla is turning off the cameras in there."

Valentine did a quick magical scan to ensure they wouldn't set off any wards, and once they got the okay from Layla, they pushed the door open.

Apollo looked at all the equipment. They had found a pathology lab. It was empty, thank the gods. Maybe everyone had been invited to the party downstairs?

"It's not the lab they showed me. I think that one was for their cosmetics. This is pathology. Start looking in the fridges," Apollo instructed.

This part of the night was his to take care of. He took out the three travel perfume bottles filled with a clear liquid and passed one to Lachlan and one to Valentine.

"If you find anything with my name on it, open it and give it one small spray," Apollo instructed, and they took one side of the lab each. Apollo didn't find much on his side of the lab, but it didn't take long for Lachlan to call out.

"I found you. Jesus, Apollo, what didn't they take from you," he grumbled, and Apollo hurried over to where a whole fridge had been allocated to him.

Apollo looked at the trays of test tubes containing blood, hair, skin, saliva, and semen.

He swallowed down the vomit rising in his throat.

"You start from the bottom, and I'll start from the top.

" He had to stay focused. He could vomit and cry as much as he needed to when they were out of the building.

Valentine was still looking through a folder and a fridge on the other side of the lab.

"Val! We are going to need your bottle of elixir. "

Valentine shut the folder. "Coming. I think I have found something else that needs our attention."

"It can wait its fucking turn," Lachlan said with a pissy growl. He was looking at the samples like he wanted to smash every single one of them. His anger made Apollo's dragon stop its squirming. His mate was there and was helping, and it was all it needed.

The three men pulled out tray after tray, removing caps and spraying everything down as fast as they could. Apollo lost time doing it, trusting that Layla would warn them of anyone coming.

"I think that's the last of it," Valentine said, sliding a tray back into the fridge. "I really need to show you what I found now."

"We need to get out of here," Lachlan replied.

Valentine ignored him and went back to where he had been searching before. Apollo followed him, feeling cold and numb. Valentine put the ring binder in his hands, and Apollo opened it. He flicked a few pages.

"Oh, no," he whispered.

Lachlan leaned over his shoulder. "What is it?"

"Genetic profiles," Apollo muttered, flipping through a few more pages. "They have been experimenting on other creatures. Lots of other creatures There's no way they're keeping all these subjects in the catacombs."

"Which proves our theory—they have another location," Valentine replied, his frown deepening. "Somewhere off the grid."

"Guys, I don't want to rush you, but we need to get the fuck out of here. Layla can find the other location. She's in their system now," Lachlan reminded them.

Apollo put the folder down and nodded to him. Lachlan took his trembling hand and hung onto it.

"Following your lead, Lachlan," Valentine said. Magic was bristling off him like he was about to blow.

Apollo squeezed his shoulder. "Keep your lid on, Val. We will blow these fuckers up, but not tonight."

Lachlan led them back into the cold concrete tunnels, and they went down and down and down.

Apollo's legs were shaking, and sweat was covering him when Lachlan found the exit.

He pushed open the door, and keeping as low as possible, they used the full underground parking garage to hide from security behind pillars and cars.

Apollo felt like he was out of his body. The only thing keeping him from curling up into a ball was Lachlan's strong hand in his. They waited until the guard in the ticketing booth was distracted by something on his phone before they crept under the gate and up and out into the cold, wet streets.

They were a block away when alarms sounded, and Valentine laughed wickedly.

"Too slow, assholes," he snarled softly. "Someone must have tried to pick up one of the books I took and realized it wasn't solid."

"Hiding a crime with another crime was a good idea," Lachlan said, but the humor in his voice didn't touch his eyes. He removed his jacket and put it around Apollo to stop him from shivering.

Apollo gave him a weak smile. He felt like crying again and hated it.

Lachlan put his arm around his shoulder. "Come on, my golden boy. Let's get you home."