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“Stop fucking him, he’s passed the hell out.” Aodhan drawled from the window seat where he was packing up the medical supplies. He clicked his tongue when his words went unheeded but knew better than to physically intervene.

It’d been harder on Mercy these past few months in some ways. Allowing the perfect candidate for joining their pod slip through their fingers…He’d taken it pretty hard.

Even if it had all been a part of the plan.

Aodhan had only been better with it because he’d known there was no way Calix’s little vanishing act would last. The tracker they’d secretly implanted behind Cal’s right arm, up close to the armpit, was state-of-the-art and could keep tabs on him across the entire universe.

“You’re going to irritate his wounds,” Aodhan sighed, leaving the tube of cream he’d used on the seat next to him before closing the medical box and joining them once more.

He opted to sit on the floor at the side of the bed instead of climbing on it, reaching out to rest his palm over the back of Cal’s hand.

“Branding him relieved your anger,” Mercy growled, wild thrusts never faltering, “it did nothing to relieve mine.”

“If you were going to be like this, why did you wait so long to come get him?” Aodhan huffed.

They’d known all along where Cal was, but the director had insisted they wait him out.

He kept saying Calix needed time to work through some things, and they needed to give him the space to do so.

That everything would work out in the end.

“He almost took another man’s cock.” Mercy clearly hadn’t counted on that possibility, even though they’d realized Cal was on Alter.

“It’s not like you don’t know what a stimulus does for a living,” Aodhan drawled. “I wanted to stop him the moment we found out, but no. Now two more people are dead.”

“I know,” he said. “I shot one in the ass, remember?”

Aodhan rested his cheek on the mattress and peered up at the flushed face of his First. “That was so hot, by the way. Watching you take a life. Seeing that spark in your eyes. If we weren’t already bound, I’d ask you to mate me again.”

Titus snorted. “You want me to marry you.”

He stiffened, but the director wasn’t finished.

“Please. I know you, little killer. The second your brother got married, you’ve wanted it. You hate the idea of him having something you don’t. He’s the only person in the universe with whom you’re competitive.”

“If you ever tell Zane that,” he replied darkly, “I will never forgive you.”

Before Titus could respond, Calix groaned and then cried out.

Aodhan pressed his hand down on Cal’s when he started to struggle. “Relax, Be’urn. Just be a good boy and take your punishment, yeah? If you’re good for him, maybe he’ll even let you off easy and only go one round.”

“We’ve already passed one round,” Titus reminded, and Aodhan gave him a look that screamed shut up.

“Hurts.” Calix blinked through tears and seemed to focus on Aodhan, lips pursing into a pout as soon as he did. “How did we get to my room?”

“Carried you after you passed out.” Aodhan had been surprised when Cal had. Branding someone wasn’t pleasant, of course, but he’d been through worse kinds of pain. “Were you overstimulated?”

Cal nodded his head against the pillow.

Which was so damn cute, Aodhan almost kissed him. But Mercy wouldn’t like that, not when he was still this angry. The sound of his hips slapping against Calix’s backside was proof enough of that.

“If you ride him any harder, you’ll risk breaking him,” Aodhan chided. Not because he actually thought it was true.

Just for funzies.

The scratching from the bathroom started up again. They’d put the sylar in there to keep it out of the way, but it was getting on his last nerve.

Aodhan heaved a sigh. Sadly, all good things must come to an end. “When did you take this out, Be’urn?”

Mercy frowned when Aodhan presented the small tracking device he’d been holding onto since they’d brought Cal here. He’d found it in the bathroom while getting clean water. “If you figured out he’d removed his tracker, why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Aodhan shrugged. “Maybe my anger wasn’t as relieved as you assumed.”

The director swore under his breath and finally came to a halt, though he didn’t dismount.

“No.” Calix reached back blindly, grabbing onto Mercy’s thigh. “Don’t stop. I’m close.”

They both blinked at him in shock.

“This doesn’t exactly seem like the punishment it’s meant to be,” Mercy said, though it was unclear if the words were meant for their Third or for himself.

“Keep going,” Cal pleaded, lifting and rolling his hips to push Mercy’s fat cock in deeper on his own. He let out a low moan and clawed at the sheets.

“When did you realize there was a tracker on you?” Mercy demanded, not giving in despite how sexy Calix looked.

If it’d been Aodhan, he would have cracked instantly. In fact, he was so hard in his pants, he feared the seam was about to burst from the pressure.

Cal pressed his lips into a stubborn line, gasping when Mercy gave a single pump of his hips and then stilled once more, his message clear. “Just after I left the house. When I was on the ship.”

“And when did you take it out?” there was a hint of suspicion in his tone.

“After I arrived,” he confessed.

Aodhan’s brow furrowed in a mirror of their First’s expression. “If you’d known you were being tracked, why didn’t you get rid of it?” Unless… “You wanted us to come for you.”

Good. Fucking. Light.

“Did you…play us, Be’urn?” A proud chuckle burst out of him. “No way.”

“Hold on.” Mercy didn’t sound nearly as pleased with this turn of events as Aodhan was.

He braced a palm at either side of Cal and leaned over him, careful to keep his cock buried in their Third’s hole.

“You’re claiming you lured us here by taking on those clients tonight?

What would have happened if we didn’t come for you, huh? ”

Calix shrugged like it was no big deal, but he avoided Aodhan’s gaze. “Then I would have taken that as my answer.”

“Answer to what?” Aodhan asked.

“To whether or not you really wanted me.”

“I don’t let everyone who discovers I’m a serial killer walk away with their life, Be’urn.

” The only reason Cal was still breathing was because they wanted him to.

“We could have murdered you when we had you locked up in our house. Or even that night at the party. One more body to the count wouldn’t have made any difference to us.

When I told you I liked you, did that mean nothing? ”

“Speaking of that night,” Mercy interjected, a stillness about him that gave Aodhan pause and made him take notice. “You were so quiet after. You barely spoke the entire ride home. I assumed it was because you were in shock, and later plotting your escape, but now I wonder.”

Aodhan wasn’t following, and he hated that.

Mercy had just figured out something Aodhan hadn’t, but what?

“It’s because you realized he was arrogant, isn’t it?” Mercy guessed, staring down at Calix as though trying to burn holes through his skull. “That’s why you took the gamble. And me? Was I always a part of the equation, or was I a happy accident?”

Calix refused to answer, even when Mercy repeated his earlier move and drove into him once, then twice for good measure. The stubborn man kept his mouth firmly shut.

“I’m no longer in the mood for games, little monster,” he warned.

“Let me come,” Cal boldly said. “Give me an orgasm, and I’ll tell you.”

“An orgasm?” He snorted. “I don’t think so. I didn’t think you’d earned one before, and I most definitely don’t think you’ve earned one now, not if my suspicions are correct.”

“Bond with me then,” he offered, without any hesitation whatsoever.

Aodhan dug his nails into the back of Cal’s palm, but he didn’t even flinch.

“Are you trying to lock us in, little monster? Trying to trap us into a lifelong bond while you still have the chance?” Mercy surprised Aodhan by saying, instead of immediately agreeing.

Calix closed his eyes. “Ah. So that’s how it is after all. I should have known. Of course. Since you didn’t love me then—”

“Oh, on the contrary,” Mercy’s tone shifted, becoming more of a purr that even sent a shiver of anticipation down Aodhan’s spine, though it wasn’t directed at him.

“I love you very much, little monster. Can’t you feel that?

Can’t you,” he pulled out to the tip and then slammed back into him, “feel my love for you? If bonding is what you truly desire, all right. I can give you that. I can give you myself and my Second, but first, you have to answer one more question for me. Refuse, and I’ll pull out and leave you here, on this planet you ran to, alone.

Is my threat clear enough for you, Calix? ”

He nodded. “Yes.”

“Good boy.” Mercy’s eyes narrowed. “Was ensnaring a Connect your real endgame, or was it just an unfortunate result of you biting off more than you could chew?”

“It wasn’t an accident.” Cal twisted his head so he could meet Mercy’s gaze over his shoulder when the older man stiffened.

“It can’t be considered an accident because this is what you wanted.

You made me this way, not the other way around.

I’ll admit my faults after, confess all my sins and transgressions if that’s what you want, but I won’t take responsibility for something I didn’t do.

Yes, I took a gamble. But I had no idea about you when I made that decision. ”

He tilted his head. “If you had, would—”

“I would have cut my losses and run a hell of a lot sooner,” Cal didn’t let him finish.

His expression softened. “And that would have been the biggest mistake of my life. Maybe that’s your persuasion and your influence, maybe not.

We’ll probably never know. If I wasn’t able to shake it after three months, even after sucking someone else’s—”

“Careful,” Aodhan growled.

“We’ll probably never know,” he repeated.

“I don’t care,” Mercy said.