Page 3 of The Devil’s Bargain (A Devil to Die for #3)

“Confess, little monster.” Titus ran his fingers through Cal’s damp hair, relishing the aftermath of his conquest.

Calix and Aodhan were both sprawled out on the bed, conscious, but just barely.

He’d gotten them cleaned off and back onto the mattress with only a little heavy petting in between, which he considered a success.

After a week and a half of being locked in this tiny room, they’d burned through most of the excess energy.

His Second and Third would rest and stabilize.

Then they could finally go home.

But first…

Titus continued to pet Cal’s blond head as he waited for him to rouse enough to reply. He was seated against the headboard, with Calix on his right, tucked safely against the wall, and Aodhan on his left, an arm dangling over the edge of the bed as he snoozed.

“Tick tock,” he urged, keeping his tone light so as not to spook Cal, even though he knew his good mood could be felt through the bond now connecting them.

Contentment would be a better word for it than happiness.

For the first time in a long time, Titus felt completely centered.

There was no buzzing from wild energy, or the nagging fear of one day having to take on a Third just to survive.

The largest hurdle had been Aodhan, yet his delectable doctor had taken the bait and fallen for Calix with little to no prompting from Titus at all.

Things were looking up, and while he was loath to sour it all, the bubble was going to have to burst eventually. The sooner they cleared the air, the sooner they could let bygones be bygones.

Calix grumbled against the pillow but didn’t open his eyes. “Do I have to?”

“That was part of the agreement.”

He snorted. “Some agreement. You were going to get your way no matter what I said I’d do in return.”

“That’s true,” he admitted. “But that doesn’t change anything. You owe me a confession, little monster. I’m collecting.”

“And him?” Cal’s eyes finally opened and he jutted his chin forward, indicating Aodhan, but didn’t lift his head or bother getting up.

“He’s listening. Can’t you tell? Concentrate on the bond, there are three threads.

Follow his.” Titus waited patiently, watching as Cal presumably did as he was told.

Describing a sensation was never easy, and he’d heard stories of newly bonded mates who struggled with learning and understanding the bond.

Some people needed to see something to make it tangible, but he’d chosen well, and Cal had been doing better than anticipated.

Before they’d arrived, Titus had paid a large sum to the Owner of Moonward Manor to ensure they would be left undisturbed throughout the bonding.

Since he was the only Connect amongst them, his pod would need more time to adjust than a typical one made of at least two Connects.

He’d had food delivered periodically and left outside the door, but it seemed like neither Calix nor Aodhan had noticed when he’d hand-fed them between rounds of sex.

Later, he’d have to make a confession of his own and explain to his Third how foolish he’d been to come here, of all places. But that could wait.

“There’s…awareness,” Calix finally said. “Oh. I can feel what you mean.”

“If he were asleep, there’d be more of a fog,” Titus explained. “He’d feel fuzzy, cloudy. You’ll get the hang of it. You’re doing great, Azi.”

“But you still want that confession.”

“I do.”

His eyes slipped shut once more. “Where should I start?”

“At the beginning is always a good place,” Titus drawled.

Calix sighed. “The party. Not this last one, the first one.”

“You investigated it?” Titus had been mildly surprised when Cal hadn’t gone to Bruce about what had gone on there, but Aodhan had been certain he wouldn’t, so he’d trusted him.

The problem with not having seen or spoken to Calix since he’d been eighteen was that Titus didn’t really know his adult self.

Aodhan was closer, would understand him better.

Back then, in any case. Titus had spent the past few months learning all that he could about their Third, from his tastes to his habits. The things that made him sad or angry or excited or happy. He was an expert on him now, which was how he’d been able to finally see through the truth.

Cal had been to calm the night they’d killed Sister Grace. At first, Titus had believed it was because he’d been in shock, an understandable reaction. But then Cal had set up this game, had lured them to Alter as a sort of test.

“I always knew you were smart, but I wrongly assumed you were lying to yourself to protect your delicate state of mind,” he said.

“No, you were right,” Calix told him. “I was doing that. I’ve always done that. My memories…they often can’t be trusted because my subconscious will rewrite them, make them more…palatable.”

Since it seemed like he’d found a way past that on his own, Titus didn’t ask about it. Instead, he brought them back to the topic at hand. “You looked into the illegal activity of the club. Find anything interesting?”

“You’ve all covered your tracks,” Cal said. “I couldn’t find anything on the club itself.”

“Then?”

“I followed the only lead I had. It was what I was really after anyway.”

Titus thought it over for a moment. “Did you happen to see Sister Grace there the night Aodhan brought you?”

“Honestly, I was sure it was another trick of the mind. It took a lot for me to break into the orphanage to check. I wanted to prove it was someone else that I saw.”

“Why? Because she always called you names and said you’d burn in hell for the things you’d done?”

“Not the things I did ,” he corrected, a spark of indignation flashing through the bond. “The things I wanted to do. Or, more accurately, have done to me.”

Titus quelled that spark, settling it and internally soothing Calix through their link before continuing. It wouldn’t do to get him worked up right now, not when he needed to rest.

“She was a hypocrite,” Calix said. “Did you know she was a member?”

“Not before you returned to planet, no.” Though he’d learned about it shortly after.

He could have done something sooner, but he’d wanted to wait and make a spectacle of it.

Wanted to gift her mutilated body to their Third as a token of his and Aodhan’s lasting affections.

If he’d known Calix had wanted her dead, he would have reconsidered his plans.

“I guess the secret part of the club means there are identities hidden even from you.”

“Not anymore. We needed the master list to ensure we didn’t accidentally kill an ally.”

“Just useless people, that it?”

His hand paused in Cal’s hair. “Are you judging us, little monster?”

“What right do I have to that?” His eyes opened again, resting on Titus unflinchingly.

“You guessed correctly the other day. After I learned she was a part of that club, that she was every bit as morally corrupt as I was, a part of me hoped I could do something about it. I wanted to make her pay for her part in my self-hatred all these years.”

“And Aodhan?”

Calix was quiet for a moment. “There weren’t many signs, but there were some.

I had my suspicions, but I didn’t want to believe it could be true.

Those suspicions were hard to ignore due to his connection to that sort of party, but after discovering who Sister Grace really was, I also didn’t want to entertain the idea that the man I was falling for could also be a monster.

Even if there was something dark about him, the likelihood that he was the serial killer I was after?

It sounds insane saying it aloud, even now. ”

“When did you actually figure it out then?”

“Bruce.” He dropped his gaze. “It’s not that I actually thought Aodhan did it without a shadow of a doubt.

We already had our suspects, and Amory was on the run so she could very well have.

But…Bruce meant something to me. Which meant ignoring my instincts when it came to Aodhan was no longer an option.

I had to get off planet before I gave in and followed that hunch. ”

“You didn’t want to know who he really was.” That was…disappointing.

Cal’s hand moved, resting over Titus’s thigh. “I was afraid. I didn’t know what it meant. If he was the killer, had he been playing with me? Was any of it real? Had I fallen for someone who’d been laughing behind my back, just like those kids at school had laughed?”

“Then why did you agree to meet him one last time? Why didn’t you leave?”

The corner of his mouth tipped up, but there was no humor in his expression. “That’s where Sister Grace comes in. I was going to plant the seed. If Aodhan took the bait and I eventually got word that she was dead, I would know at least part of what we had was real.”

“Would you have come back for him?”

Calix didn’t reply.

Which was answer enough.

“You were going to use him.” Titus pursed his lips. “And then discard him.”

“I didn’t know then what I know now,” Calix said.

“Besides, there was a fifty-fifty chance. First, I’d have to convince him, without giving my intentions away, that he should murder Sister Grace.

If he was the type of mindless killer we’d been hunting for the case, he’d do it. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t.”

“Mindless?” Titus quirked a brow.

“Apathetic?” he tried. “You know what I mean.”

He captured Calix’s chin. “Does he feel apathetic now, Azi?”

“No. But…”

“He doesn’t feel the same range of emotion as you or I.” Titus released him. “You intended on using him, but in the end, got caught up in our web. I don’t suppose he can be angry with you for something that didn’t actually happen.”

“Didn’t it?” Calix asked. “Why do you think I agreed to go to another party?”

He hadn’t put up much of a fight…

“I wasn’t that bored,” he added when Titus didn’t answer right away. “I wasn’t lying when I said seeing a merman sawed in half was traumatic. Don’t ever put me through something like that again. I wouldn’t have risked it and agreed if not for Sister Grace. I hoped…Well. You know.”

“We killed a lot of innocent people to have you, Cal. Offing one guilty person wouldn’t cause either of us to lose sleep at night. Why didn’t you just ask one of us to do it?” They would have killed her in an instant if Calix had mentioned it, even in passing.

“For the same reason I planned on slipping the idea to Aodhan and leaving.”

Ah.

“Right. It was a test.” Titus had known Calix was hesitant to believe they really wanted him, even after they’d told him the serial murders that had brought him to Emergence had been done with him in mind. “Why didn’t you turn her in to Bruce then? Expose the party and her involvement?”

“There was no evidence, remember? I couldn’t get anything concrete. Just an email proving she was invited to the event. Bruce wouldn’t have been able to do anything, and if I got him involved and he somehow did end up getting too close…”

Someone from the club would have silenced him, whether that was Titus and Aodhan or another member.

“He died anyway.” Sadness prickled through the connection.

“I’m sorry.” Titus made sure he knew he meant it. “We had nothing to do with his death.”

“I know that now.”

“We’ll help you find who did,” Aodhan’s sleepy voice finally joined the conversation.

He groaned and sat up, curling up against Titus’s side and dropping his head to his shoulder.

“We’ll help you find whoever is responsible, and we’ll put them in the ground.

You don’t even have to ask us to do it, Be’urn. ”

“No,” Calix stated. “I do have to ask. No more running, right? No more pretending that I’m something I’m not.”

“And what are you?” Titus couldn’t help but ask.

Cal held his gaze steadily. “I’m a monster. Just like you.”