Page 29

Cal waited until around three am, when the house was completely silent, to make his move. He’d insisted on keeping the sylar with him in his room and had managed to convince Titus and Aodhan that he needed some time alone to process everything that had occurred at the party.

It hadn’t been a lie. Not entirely.

He’d noticed the collar on the creature right away when he’d first spotted it locked in that small cage. Just as expected, the loop attaching the bell to the rest of it came off with a little bit of prying. He chucked the bell onto the bed and twisted the tiny piece of metal to his liking.

It took another twenty minutes to get it to work, but eventually, he managed to use it to unlock the golden cuff that Titus had annoyingly remembered to lock around Cal’s ankle before he’d left.

The sylar watched him silently the entire time, sitting patiently at the head of the bed on the pillow he’d been sleeping on before Calix had begun this daring escape plan.

If he left the creature here, would Aodhan harm him out of anger?

Would Titus forget to feed it and starve it to death?

“You have to keep quiet,” Cal whispered before scooping the creature up. He couldn’t leave it behind, even if they didn’t do anything to harm it. He was the one who’d begged for it, after all. Taking care of it was his responsibility.

The door wasn’t locked, but then, he was pretty sure it never was.

Still, he eased it open an inch and put his ear to the crack, listening for any signs of movement.

He was just as careful as he stepped out and padded down the hallway toward the stairwell, pausing at the top to do the same, though no sounds came from below either.

Briefly, he glanced up at the ceiling. Their bedroom was on the third level. He’d never been invited up, but he knew that much. That put them far from the exits, with him in between. Seemed kind of stupid, and that wasn’t a word he would use to describe either of them…

“Whatever,” he mumbled under his breath.

He could stand here and fret over all the potential possibilities, or he could try his luck while he still had the guts and the opportunity.

He’d managed to get their guard down by going with them to the party and sleeping with them. This was his only chance.

The pink suit he'd worn had been covered in blood, lube, and come, so he’d been forced to remove it as soon as they’d gotten home.

He’d been allowed to change back into the pajama set Titus had given him, but he stopped at the foot of the stairs, frowning down at his bare feet.

Did he waste more time looking for shoes?

There weren’t any by the front door…Better not.

The house was still quiet, his heart thrumming wildly in his chest, seemingly the loudest sound in the whole building as he walked toward the kitchen.

The back door would be a safer bet for certain.

Trying to go out the front would be riskier since it was the obvious escape route.

The stairs faced the front. If they heard any noise at all and came to investigate, they’d catch him at the front door easily.

But the back exit was on the opposite side of the house, tucked into a corner.

As expected, the kitchen was dark when he reached it, the only light coming from the one outside. He made his way toward it, carefully twisting the top lock, and then the bottom before pausing with his hand on the knob.

This had been too easy.

What if they were out there?

He pressed his ear to the glass, the frilly black half curtain that was draped over the window scratching at his cheek.

All he heard were the usual night sounds, crickets chirping and the occasional hoot or call of a bird.

No voices, nothing to indicate they were out there lying in wait or having a drink or a smoke or whatever the fuck else two men could do after midnight in their backyard.

A sweeping dread overcame him anyway, causing his skin to prickle and sweat to dot his brow.

He wiped it away and inhaled through his nose, counting down from four in an attempt to calm his nerves.

It didn’t work. The fear only grew, this unsettling feeling that if he did this, he’d be making a terrible mistake.

Which was crazy.

Crazier than the fact he’d been kidnapped and sexually assaulted for weeks straight with no food and only enough water to keep him functioning properly to be fucked at the doctor’s whim. Then left to twiddle his thumbs for another couple of weeks, all to make him crave their touch.

Which had worked.

Earlier, getting a taste of what sex with Titus was like…

Cal wanted more.

But the “gift” they’d left him in that storage room had been his breaking point. They were killers and psychopaths, and Calix might not be average or a decent person himself, but he had miles to go before he even had a hope of catching up to them.

If he stayed, he’d eventually be eaten alive.

He had to go now, while he still had the resolve to do so, and he was still willing to work on himself. They’d already convinced his body it needed them, and they were close to convincing his mind as well. Once that happened, he’d lose any chance of coming to terms with who he was on his own.

His whole life had been spent running.

He didn’t want that.

He wanted freedom.

Reminded of that fact, Calix gritted his teeth against the sensation and stubbornly turned the knob, pulling the door open wide enough for him to slip out.

The chilly night air bit his skin, a cool balm when his entire body felt like it was on fire. His bare feet contacted smooth stone, and he glanced down to find he was standing on a white marble walkway that trailed off to the right and led to a small patio, complete with a glass table and chairs.

Three.

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.

He stuck toward the edge of the road, keeping to the pavement to avoid stepping on anything and injuring himself, but wanting the comfort of knowing he could dash off into the shelter of the trees if need be.

Even though it slowed him down even more, every now and again, he found himself stopping and glancing behind him.

It was too dark to make anything out, but not hearing anything also helped to calm his nerves.

All Cal needed to focus on was getting away and doing what he’d planned to do last month.

Leave.

He was going to take his new sexual awareness and fly to a planet where he could further explore that, safely and anonymously. He’d never been to the world ship Alter, but he’d heard enough about it over the years to know it would make the perfect fresh start for someone like him.

A world where no one knew who he was or what he’d done, and where no one would care even if it did somehow get leaked? Sign him up.

Calix was even more determined to leave once he finally reached the neighbor’s house, but he hesitated at the end of the driveway.

He wouldn’t wake the neighbors or call for help, and not just because Titus’s status as a Connect meant he’d most likely get away with it, and all of this would be swept under the rug.

Cal’s anger simply wasn’t strong enough for him to want to report Aodhan or the director.

He almost laughed because, of course he was going to let them get away with it. That had to be another thing Aodhan and Titus knew full well before starting this.

Cal had been an easy target.

He deserved everything he’d gotten for being such a dumbass. Top agent with the most prestigious policing force in the universe? Ha. He was a joke.

And since he was already so low…

Hotwiring the single hovercar parked in the driveway was easy. He didn’t even feel an inkling of guilt as he pulled the vehicle onto the street.

But driving away?

Seeing the road that led to Aodhan and Titus’s house get further and further in the rearview mirror? That part was hard.

Calix decided to think of it as just another punishment he deserved for being a detective stupid enough to fall for the killer he was after.

Chose to ignore the tiny part of himself that urged him to turn around and go back.

To slip inside and return to the bedroom and pretend like he’d never escaped at all.

The image of Titus and Aodhan making love to each other, the reminder of how perfect they were together, and how he’d never truly belong, was what helped dampen that inner voice enough not to give in to it.

Even though it would be difficult, Cal was confident he could do the exact same thing he’d done the last time he’d fled the planet after making a massive, life-altering mistake.

He’d start again.