Page 7 of The Devil’s Bargain (A Devil to Die for #3)

“You’re late.” Mercy didn’t even glance up from his holopad, barely sparing any attention for Calix, who’d been standing on the opposite side of his desk for the past five minutes.

Cal had made it to the hospital with only two minutes to spare, and by the time the elevator had brought him to the correct floor and he’d been allowed to pass to the director’s office, those two minutes had come and gone.

“The station is exactly fifteen minutes away from here on a good day,” Calix pointed out. This was a setup. The director hadn’t given him enough time on purpose.

“Guess it was a bad day then, huh?” Finally, Mercy set the device aside and leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers before his gaze roamed over Cal’s body. “How are you, little monster?”

“Annoyed.”

“I can tell.”

He blew out a breath and shifted on his feet. “Mercy, you can’t do this. It’s my first day back. Why—”

“Have you eaten?” he asked, just as a knock came at the door. He pressed the button on his desk that would allow whoever was out there to enter, and then nodded at the nurse who stepped in carrying a tray. “Thank you, Jean.”

“Not a problem, Director.” She placed the tray on his desk then bowed to both him and Calix before exiting without another word.

Cal scowled. “Did you just have a nurse deliver food from the cafeteria? That’s got to be a blatant abuse of power.”

“Are you going to report me, Detective?” Mercy chuckled, then motioned him closer with his chin. “Come. You have to be hungry.”

“I’m not.”

“Eat anyway.”

“Mercy—”

“Eat. That wasn’t a suggestion.”

The tray was pulled to Mercy’s side of the desk, another silent command to approach.

There was a decent selection on it, though all of the items were finger foods.

He selected a cube of cheese and ate it, growing impatient when Calix still didn’t move.

The warning look he sent his way was enough to finally get Cal into motion.

He huffed and rounded the desk, propping a hip against the edge at Mercy’s side. But when he reached for a piece of fruit, the director swatted his hand away.

Mercy ignored his sound of indignation and reached for it himself, picking up the small pink fruit and bringing it up to Cal’s lips. When Calix didn’t open for him, he didn’t seem bothered, dragging the fruit across the seam of his mouth, painting him with sweet juices.

Calix parted and sucked the fruit in just to get him to stop.

Chewing as he crossed his arms, making sure to push his frustration through the strange, invisible bond that tied them together.

There was a brush of humor, another of interest, but it didn’t take him more than a second to realize the first was from Mercy and the second came from Aodhan, wherever he was.

They remained like that for a bit, with the director quietly feeding him, until the tension became far too much for Calix to handle.

“You’re enjoying this more than you should be,” he stated.

Mercy smiled. “Do you think? A First should take care of his Third. It’s an honor to even have one.”

That was the first time he was saying it like that. Usually, the honor was Calix’s.

He wasn’t buying it.

“Don’t use your position to excuse away your controlling nature.” Cal made a big show of reaching for another piece of food himself, grunting when Mercy captured his wrist before he could touch any of it. “See? This isn’t caring. It’s domineering.”

“Would you like me to dominate you, little monster?” He glanced pointedly at the door. “Here?”

“Mercy.”

“I love when you call me that, did you know? Only Aodhan has ever called me that before. You both say it so differently. He says it possessively, but you? There’s a hint of pleading in your tone every time. Are you doing it on purpose, I wonder?”

“Let go.” He tugged lightly on his wrist, knowing better than to put up a real fight. It would only spur the director on. “We’re both on the clock.”

“Would you like to be on my desk?” He tipped his head, considering, and then shook it. “No. I’d rather you be under it.”

Mercy pushed his chair back and then tipped his head. “Well?”

Calix stared at the space between the director and the desk and pursed his lips. “There’s no way I’m crawling under there. We aren’t children.”

“Trust me,” he practically purred in response, “the last thing I have in mind for you is something childish. On your knees, little monster. You were late. It’s time to pay the penalty.”

“I was late because you—”

He clicked his tongue, instantly silencing him. “Are you going to argue? You’ll only make it worse for yourself if you do. Actually, I don’t mind if you do. I could have you under the desk and on top of it. There’s no rule that says it has to be one or the other.”

“Yeah,” Cal muttered, “because you make the rules.”

“I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

“Do you really need to throw your weight around like this?”

“You said it yourself, I’m controlling. Knees. Now. If I have to say it again—”

“Fine.” Calix dropped to the floor dramatically, twisting until he was mostly under the desk, glaring up at Mercy. He knew what was coming, it was obvious, but he didn’t make any moves to start things off himself.

“Going to be bratty like our doctor?” Mercy smirked. “I do enjoy that about him.”

“You scold him every chance you get.”

“That’s because Aodhan requires a firm hand. But you,” he captured Cal’s jaw, tracing his bottom lip with his thumb, “you’re different. You need care, and,” Mercy forced his head up higher roughly, “ dominating .”

He was throwing his own words back at him.

Calix glanced to the side, knowing it would get a reaction, and sure enough, Mercy chuckled darkly. The sound practically vibrated down Cal’s spine, straight to his toes, and he felt his groin twitch.

“Take me out, little monster.”

“I would love to. Just give me a second to reach for my gun,” Calix mumbled, knowing Mercy would hear him in the otherwise quiet of the office. Still, despite his words, his arms lifted, hands going to pop open the button on the director’s pants.

“Do you plan on acting like you’re not into this forever?” Mercy drawled, though he didn’t sound disappointed by the prospect. He shifted on the chair, leaning back and settling his legs more comfortably around Cal as the zipper came undone and his cock was freed.

“Who says I am?” Calix’s tongue flicked out, lapping against the director’s flushed crown. His hand steadied his cock, and then he took him down his throat in one swift move, gagging slightly when he banged against the back of his throat.

They both moaned when a flash of arousal zipped through the open connection between them, and somewhere in the murky distance, Cal felt Aodhan’s answering envy.

He sucked Mercy off, taking his time with it despite the setting and the fact that he should be rushing back to the precinct.

The familiar musk and the silky feel of the director’s skin on his tongue causing all sense of responsibility to vanish in a puff of smoke.

Suddenly, it was like he was exactly where he was supposed to be, on his knees, pleasuring his First, and a swell of pride and longing overtook him.

Mercy’s fingers delved through his hair, soft at first, before he pressed his palm to the back of Calix’s head and started forcing him onto his cock harder, leaving himself buried deep long enough that saliva started to pool at the corners of Cal’s mouth, and his lungs started to burn from lack of oxygen.

“Look at you,” Mercy cooed down at him. “So perfect. My good little monster, isn’t that right? So good for me, and only me.”

Cal somehow managed to quirk a brow, gasping when he was finally allowed to pull off.

“All right, good for me and our doctor,” he corrected, knowing that’s what Calix was getting out with the silent judgment.

He didn’t give him a chance to speak, however, pulling him back onto his cock after only a few breaths.

“Keep working me, Azi. Show me how grateful you are that I let you return to work.”

Grateful? They both knew Cal had no real passion for being a detective.

“You enjoy your autonomy,” Mercy said, seemingly reading his mind even though that was impossible.

The bond didn’t allow for that sort of depth into each other’s psyches.

“Haven’t I done well for you in that department?

I’ve given you a means to take care of yourself, a room of your own, a Second worthy of this wet, hot mouth of yours…

What more could you possibly need? What more could you wish for? ”

That was sort of the thing.

Nothing came to mind.

Calix wanted to rebel for that very reason. Wanted to push his luck and see how far he could go before the director forced him back into line. But that was a dangerous line of thinking, and this thing between them was still too fresh for him to take risks like that.

Mercy made it sound like he was doing him a favor, but the reality of their situation was stark.

He hated that Cal wasn’t entirely under his thumb.

Hated that he’d insisted on working and living a life outside of the pod.

His controlling nature was more intense than Cal had even realized, only clear to him now that they were linked and he could feel the dissatisfaction coming from the director.

“Since you aren’t replying, I’ll take that to mean you’re satisfied,” Mercy teased, chuckling when Calix glared.

With a mouth full of cock, he couldn’t very well answer, now could he?

He picked up the pace, pressing a thumb against the base of Mercy’s member as he sucked and traced a throbbing vein with his tongue.

His free hand had just slipped to the hem of Mercy’s shirt, pushing beneath the thin material to graze the flat of his stomach, when a knock came at the door, startling him.

“Keep going,” Mercy ordered, shifting forward, pressing Cal more securely beneath the desk, before he reached over and pressed the button that opened the door.

Calix froze, Mercy’s cock halfway out of his mouth, and listened to the sound of approaching footsteps.

“Director, I’m sorry to bother you,” a male voice rushed to say as he approached the desk where Cal was hiding. “I need your signature on a few documents, and it couldn’t wait.”

“Of course.” Mercy leaned forward, his cock pushing further past Cal’s lips from the motion, and presumably took the offered paperwork. The sound of his pen scrawling came a second later. “You could have emailed these to me.”

“They requested physical copies,” the man said. “I know it’s uncommon, but I couldn’t refuse.”

“No, you’re right.” Mercy’s voice remained steady, but he twisted his hips, a silent reminder that Cal was meant to be doing something.

Afraid of making too much noise, Calix opted to lightly lick at him instead of continuing to bob, pulling off enough he could swirl his tongue around his crown and dip against his slit.

Teasingly, he lapped at him, like a kitten leisurely drinking milk, his excitement growing every time Mercy’s cock pulsed.

This was meant to be a punishment, a means to make him uncomfortable with a stranger in the room and the chance of getting caught, but instead, Calix felt his worries swept away, replaced by a familiar thrill that rivaled the ones he felt before leaping into the fray on a dangerous case.

Which made him wonder…Was this by design?

Had Mercy actually lured him here to give him a rush, to satisfy his urges so he would be less likely to take unnecessary risks while on duty?

When he’d told Cal to come to him whenever he felt antsy, he hadn’t thought too much of it. The sexual innuendo had been obvious, so he hadn’t bothered considering it further. Now, the statement was starting to make more sense.

His dick, already aching between his thighs, gushed.