Page 23

Joey

“Come back to me, mo lus na gréine.”

The feel of warm water gently lapping against my skin slowly woke me. I was cradled against Callum’s chest in the bath while he scooped water over my skin. I still felt slightly woozy, but it was a pleasant sensation. “What… happened…?”

“There you are.” His arms tightened around me as he kissed the top of my head. “I think we got stuck in a feedback loop. It was my fault. You reacted so well with the vision of our children last night that I thought I could share a little more with you, but one thing led to another and things kind of spiraled out of control until you blacked out.”

“Oh.” Turning on my side, I burrowed into him some more and relaxed against him. “Okay.”

He stilled. “You’re not freaked out?”

Turning my head enough that I could kiss his jaw, I shrugged. “Was mind fuck. Is fine now.”

Lifting another handful of water onto my back, he snorted even as he relaxed around me. “Mind fuck?”

Still not completely with it, I chuckled, thankfully able to appreciate the unintended pun. “Thinking is evil. Words are sparkly.” I raised my hand and swept it in front of us before letting it drop into the water and splashing us enough that water slipped over the side. “Oops. Water slippery.”

His chest rumbled as he laughed. “I think you might still be cum drunk, mo lus na gréine.”

“Nooo….” I smacked him lightly on the chin and grinned at him sloppily. “Not cum drunk. Happy.” Leaning forward, I pecked a kiss on the spot I’d smacked him. “In love.”

Callum melted, his eyes becoming liquid pools of warmth as he smiled at me. “I love you too, mo lus na gréine.”

“I know.” I patted his chest around where his heart was, then patted mine. “I felt it. In here.”

“Okay, I think I need to get you something to drink that’s got a bit of energy in it.” He looked around the bathroom. “Will you be okay until I come back?”

“Yup.” Somehow, I pulled myself up along the edge of the bath and moved until he could get up from behind me. I leaned against the side, resting my chin on my arms as I watched him towel off the excess water. “You’re pretty.”

Shaking his head, Callum chuckled as he wrapped the towel around his waist, sadly taking the sight of his delicious cock away from me. “Thank you, mo lus na gréine . So are you.” He leaned down and pressed his lips to the top of my head. “I’ll be back soon.”

“Okay.” I leaned back from him enough so I could lift my index finger and tap him on the nose. “Boop.”

He laughed as he stood up, taking one last look my way before he gently closed the door behind him as he left the bathroom.

Falling back into the tub, I splashed the water a little while I waited for him to return. It was getting a little cool, but was still pleasant enough to lounge in.

It wasn’t long before he was back, an open can of soda with a straw sticking out of it in his hand. He kneeled next to the tub and held it out to me. “Here you go, mo lus na gréine.” He cupped my jaw with his other hand, his thumb gently sweeping my cheek as I leaned forward to take a sip.

That first taste had me quickly scrambling for more. My cheeks hollowed as I pulled mouthful after mouthful of glorious sugary goodness down my throat, humming happily. I gripped the can with both hands and kept sucking until there was nothing left but noise. I let Callum take the can back while I smacked my lips. “Mm… So good. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He put the empty can in the basin and grabbed a towel. “You must be getting cold. Come on, let’s get you dry.”

“Okay.” With trembling legs, I stood up, taking his hand to help steady me. After wrapping the towel around me, he pulled the plug from the tub and, as it drained, he patted me dry. With every stroke, my mind settled more, and I started thinking clearer. “Sorry, sweetness. I think you were right.”

“Hmm?” Still drying me, he peered at me with a raised eyebrow. “About what?”

“I think I was cum drunk,” I admitted, feeling my cheeks heat in embarrassment. “I’ve never felt that out of it before.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, then,” Callum said, grinning.

“As you should.” I leaned down and rested my hands on his shoulders. “Christ, I needed it, though. You literally fucked my stress away.”

He chuckled. “That wasn’t just for you, mo lus na gréine.” The grin faded from his face. “I’m not usually that rough.”

“Hey, now, none of that.” Cupping his jaw with both hands, I brushed my lips against his. “I loved every second.” I could tell he wasn’t convinced. “Would you have stopped if I asked you to?”

“Of course!”

“Then why are you worried?” I shrugged. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but we both enjoyed it, right?”

“Yeah, but—”

“But nothing. We’re two consenting adults who enjoy each other’s bodies in a variety of ways. The only opinions that we should be concerned about regarding our sex life are our own.”

Brow still furrowed, he wrapped the towel around my waist, tucking a corner in to secure it, before he stood, sliding his hands up my bare sides. “I don’t want to ever hurt you, mo lus na gréine.”

“You won’t. I have a voice.” Pressing my hands against his pecs for balance, I stepped out of the bath and leaned forward to press my lips gently against his. “If I feel like you’re being too rough with me, I know I can tell you and you’ll stop. Okay?”

“Okay,” he said in a small, uncertain voice.

Oh, my sweet, adorable hunk of an eventual husband. “Sweetness, you trust me, right?”

“With my life.”

“Then trust me when I say you should trust yourself about this.”

He sighed, but nodded. “Okay.”

Patting him lightly on the cheek, I smiled softly, certain that he’d be fine. He just needed some confidence when it came to us fucking. God knew he had confidence in spades about everything else, so it seemed odd that he wasn’t sure about this. I guess I’d just have to show him. Eventually, he’d learn. “Come on. There’s lots I need to tell you.” I looked down at the pile of clothes still sitting on the floor. “You cleared all those, yeah?”

“They’re clear. The only bug I could find was in your scarf, which you knew about. It’s still downstairs next to your jacket.” He dropped his towel and put on his boxers from before.

Following his lead, I dug through the pile of clothes until I found my underwear, still tangled with my jeans. “And I’m assuming it can’t hear us up here? Otherwise, you wouldn’t be speaking so openly.”

“It can’t,” he confirmed with a nod, pulling on his pants. “If you’re worried, though, we can go to your room and put some music on like the other night.”

“Yeah, I think I’d prefer that.” I stepped into my jeans and grabbed the rest of our clothes. “Let’s get settled. Have I got some crazy shit to tell you this time.” I followed him out the door, down the short hall and into my room, before dumping our clothes on the bed. “Shut the door? I’ll grab the TV.”

Once we were all situated, we lay on the bed face to face and I told him everything I could remember about the meeting with the Agent, and the two strange men that had seemed to help at the end.

When I was done, he rolled onto his back and let out a deep sigh. “I was all set to follow the fucker until they showed up. I didn’t want to chance leaving you in case they were working with him, but the way he lit out of there, I’m guessing they weren’t.”

I shook my head and walked my fingers up his torso before I tapped him on his chin. “It sounded like they knew George. Maybe they used to work with him? It’s not like I have a comprehensive list of everyone he’s worked with in the past. Either way, it was obvious that they didn’t like the Agent.”

“At least we have that much in common, then.” He scratched his chin, thinking. “And you said that they disappeared? I lost track of them at the end, but I put that down to the way the sun was shining on them, and I missed where they went. They actually vanished in front of you?”

“Yup. One second, they were there, the next they weren’t.” I snuggled into him and rested my chin on my interlaced fingers on his chest. “Do you have anyone in your team, or know anyone in other teams who can go invisible?”

“Maybe. We don’t have anyone in our team, but I’ve heard chatter about two or three in other nearby divisions that can manipulate their surroundings or viewers’ minds enough to make it look like they’re invisible.” He wound his arm around me and pulled me closer.

I smirked and shook my head. “It’s still crazy to me that this is all real. That people with powers like yours are just wandering around like everyday people.”

He cocked an eyebrow at me. “We are everyday people. We eat, we sleep…” Smirking, he leaned down to whisper, “We fuck…” He kissed me on my forehead before relaxing and continuing in his usual voice, “All just like regular folk do.”

“I know that,” I responded, my cheeks burning so much that I buried my face in his chest. “I mean, like you’re all so rare. Like one in a million.”

Callum chuckled at my mumblings. “Technically, each one of us is one in five million. There’s maybe sixteen-hundred of us worldwide? No more than two thousand, that’s for sure.”

My curiosity piqued; I looked up, my previous embarrassment forgotten. “You know how many there are? Are there, like, lists or something?”

He shrugged. “There are family trees and record keepers that look after them. Sure, there have been families we’ve lost track of over the centuries, but otherwise, the records are pretty well kept. And with the world population being what it is, everyone’s reasonably confident that the ratio of powered humans to normies is around one in five million.”

“Huh.” I blinked as what he said sunk in and my eyes widened as a sudden thought struck me. “How secure are those family trees, Callum? No one can get access to them that isn’t supposed to, right?” Was this how the Agent and his cronies were getting their information?

“None of the family trees are online, if that’s what you mean.” He frowned. “I’ve never asked, because I’ve never been curious enough to see them, but I think Mam said you need to have access granted to you by the elders before they let you see them.”

“Thank fuck.” I let out a heavy sigh of relief. One less thing to worry about and with the number of things I was worrying about, I was more than happy to let one go. “You said last night that you work with normies. Seven powered, seven normies, I think you said?”

He nodded. “Yup. Some other teams around the world have more, some have less. It all depends on what their group purpose is.”

I pulled myself off Callum and leaned on an elbow next to him so I could tap my fingers against his chest again. “So, it’d be safe to say that there are always normies coming and going from teams. Retirements or leaving to work in non-powered related jobs. Right?”

“Retirements, yes. Leaving to work with normies who don’t know about us? Not so much. They’re mostly relatives of the powered and have been brought up knowing about us and our history. Because of that, it’s incredibly rare for any normie to work with us to quit outside of retirement, because it’d be like they’re leaving their families. Most bring in normies from the outside as friends that end up marrying into the fold and giving birth to the next generation.”

“You realize how cult-like that sounded, don’t you?” I teased with a grin. I understood the need for secrecy, but there was only so much you could do before secrets leaked, especially in the world today, where everything was online and so freely available. Closing groups off and creating cults around powered individuals was only going to end up getting people killed. I was kind of surprised it hadn’t happened already, given that he’d told me stories of his family that were easily over two thousand years old. Or maybe it had, and I just hadn’t heard about it yet.

Callum chuckled. “There are contingencies in place to ensure that never happens.” He folded his hand over mine to still my tapping. “Remember what I told you about Kiddo? We keep a close eye on all cults around the world and shut them down if we need to.”

“Good.” I turned my hand over so I could tickle his palm. “You said it was incredibly rare for any normie to leave outside of retirement. But, it can happen?”

He shrugged, completely unfazed by my question. “I mean, yeah? But it’s super rare. Like I said.” He eyed me. “Why do you ask?”

Chewing my bottom lip, I wondered how to word my response. “I feel like the Agent is someone who’s worked with you guys before.” I raised my hand to stop him. “Not like you personally. I mean, like worked in your agency or for a different department or something.”

“But the mole… George said—”

“Not the mole.” I shook my head. “You didn’t hear the way he was talking about George. Whatever he’s doing? This is personal. He knows George. Or at least knew him sometime in the past. It’s the only thing that makes sense.” Interlacing his fingers with mine, I rested my hand on his chest again. “It’s also something you said the other day that’s been plaguing me since you said it. You said that you would have done the same thing as the Agent, especially when it comes to a long game, because that’s how you’re trained.” I nibbled my lip enough that he lifted our interlocked hands up so he could free my lip from getting any more bruised. “He’s doing all this, because he’s worked with powered people before. And somewhere along the lines, he’s crossed paths with George. He can’t be that hard to find using those parameters, right? Especially if normies leaving the powered workforce is so rare, like you said.”

“I think I need to call George.” He shifted away from me to grab his phone from downstairs where he’d left it, but I grabbed his arm.

“Wait. I have one more question that you could help with.”

He paused, sitting on the edge of the bed and watching me curiously.

“All of what I just asked largely covers the why . The where , though…” I grinned at him. “Remember that hair the weird guys grabbed and gave to me?”

He nodded, understanding slowly dawning.

“Do you know any scryers?”