But Withers is already palming the front of his shorts, and for the umpteenth time today, Luca thinks he might puke.
“If you don’t cooperate, I’ll convince Luca to jump from that window or drown himself in the bathtub,” he says it lightly, as if violating Nix is no more significant than ordering a cup of coffee at the drive-thru.
“Luca, go and wait in the bathroom, please.”
His mate’s voice is flat, dead.
“What?! No. Nix. You can’t…” Luca begs, his stomach dropping to his toes, and for the first time, he really is terrified.
“Luca!” Nix looks at him, and there’s nothing behind his eyes except determination. “Go. There’s nothing he can do to me thatI can’t handle. Please. Just be safe, and I can handle everything else. I won’t let him hurt you.”
Nix might be prepared to endure, but he isn’t the only one who gets to protect his mates.
“No. I won’t step out of the way so you can sacrifice yourself for me. I would rather die than have you go through that.”Again.“How can you expect me to do any less for you than you would for me?”
It seems to get through to Nix because, in the next moment, he’s being squeezed within an inch of his life.
“Oof, baby, you gotta let me breathe.”
Luca spots Withers over Nix’s shoulder, and the magic user is sitting with legs crossed and his hands under his chin like he’s observing an experiment or an exhibit in the zoo.
“What is that?” He waves his hand at them.
Not that Luca owes the slimy git anything—and certainly not commentary about his twin soul—but he still feels compelled to answer.
“Love? Not that you’d know.”
“Huh. Okay, enough of that. I’m bored already. Shirt off, or Luca bleeds.”
Nix doesn’t waste any time negotiating or pleading; in the blink of an eye, he has Withers’s throat in his hand.
The bastard’s eyes bug out as Nix presses his claws in, while he growls low in his throat.
Suddenly, Withers’s eyes roll back in his head and he’s a dead weight.
Nix drops him in surprise. “What the fuck? I didn’t even get to the good part.”
The bedroom door opens, and Connall is there with a plate of sandwiches and two glasses of milk.
“Fucking finally. Oops…did you do that?” he asks, nodding his head at Withers’s blood seeping from the shallow claw marksonto the bed cover. “If he’s dead, we are going to have a world of trouble on our hands in about thirty seconds. He’s got so many fingers in Carnell’s pies, and I don’t think you’re ready for that.”
“No! Well, I would have made it more—maybe I just scared him?” Nix kicks him with his bare foot.
Luca gives in to the urge to do the same. Twice.
Nix looks at Withers again like he’s considering ending the bastard and the magical consequences be damned, but after a few seconds, he shakes his head.
Turning to the butler, Luca points an accusing finger at him. “No, thanks to you. What a shitty thing to do! He was going to—”
Connall raises both hands in surrender. “I am so sorry. The drug in the sandwich took longer than I expected. Now hurry and eat, and then you should go. He’s going to be pissed when he wakes up.”
“You did that? Why?” Nix asks suspiciously.
Connall shuts the door and shakes his head. “Look, I have my reasons, which are none of your business. But I am not leaving a pregnant omega to the likes of Patrick Carnell. The dumb fuck couldn’t even tell…what a fucking idiot.” He thrusts the tray toward them. “Please, take the sandwiches and get back to Gideon. Stay gone and leave Carnell and Withers to me.”
Nix must see some truth in Connall’s eyes because he throws back the milk and then stuffs a sandwich into his mouth in three big bites.
“Now you, baby.” He offers Luca a glass of milk, already breaking the sandwich into pieces, while Connall watches with a small, indulgent smile.
