Page 106 of Glitched Fates & Stolen Mates

“After what happened earlier, I was still suspicious of Wren,” Seb continued, his voice cutting through my shame. “So I got Flynn to help me load up the footage and start skimming through it.”

“Flynn saw that too?” Priya asked.

“Yes.”

The floor needed to swallow me whole. Flynn had seen Kit’s mouth on my neck, the desperate way I’d arched beneath him. Heat scorched my face, flames licking up it until I thought I might burst into actual fire.

Yet I forced myself to lift my head, mustering what little courage I had left. “Aside from that one time in the ballroom, all the other times were during our lunch break.”

My brain reminded me snarkily that the time we’d had sex in my lair after that gourmet lunch had definitely exceeded an hour.

“I’m not actually concerned about you slacking, Felix.” Seb snapped. “I’m concerned you didn’t tell us about… this… as soon as Kit went missing!”

“I didn’t think it was relevant.”

“Kit is gone!” The words exploded from him with such force that I flinched. “Everything is relevant!”

“Seb.” Priya’s voice turned razor-sharp. “You need to calm down. You’re only having this reaction because you’re terrified for Kit, but you can’t take it out on Felix.”

Something in Seb’s expression cracked. The fury drained from his face, replaced by something so vulnerable it made him look almost human. His shoulders sagged as if the weight of his own fear had finally caught up with him.

“I am terrified,” he admitted. His hands trembled slightly as he pressed them flat against his desk. “Kit’s been gone over twenty-four hours and we have next to nothing. Then I find that listening bug, and I learn our security has been compromised in our most sacred place. And now I find out the pair of you were having this… this whole secret relationship behind my back…”

Priya reached across the desk and squeezed Seb’s hand. He placed his other on top.

I blinked. In all my time at Killigrew Street, I don’t think I’d ever seen Seb touch anyone apart from Flynn. The gesture looked strange, almost foreign.

“You have to understand—I’ve watched too many people I care about disappear from my life. Over the centuries, I’ve learned not to get attached. But Kit… Kit’s been my anchor for years. The thought that he might be…” He let out a shuddering breath. “And finding out there were things about his life I didn’t know, relationships he was hiding… it makes me wonder what else I missed. What other signs I failed to see.”

“We understand, Seb. We’re scared too,” said Priya, and I nodded.

Seb returned his gaze to me. “I apologise for my earlier behaviour, Felix. That was unfair of me. But may I enquire exactly what this is?” He tapped his laptop, voice devoid of its edge. “Not the… things that obviously happened in your office. Those videos remained wiped, don’t worry. Though I’m pretty sure that’s serious misconduct, at least.”

“I’m sorry.” The words tumbled out automatically. Guilt twisted in my stomach. The sneaking around had been thrilling at the time—stolen moments and secret glances—but now it just felt selfish. Childish. Stupid.

Though a tiny part of me wanted to remind Seb that he and Flynn did have sex on the roof once, and I’d caught it live through the cameras, causing me great trauma.

I dragged in a shaky breath. “Remember when I thought I was being stalked? It turns out, I was. By Kit.”

Seb’s eyebrows shot up.

“And when I figured it out, he told me I was his mate. That he’d known since the day we met.”

Seb went completely still. His mouth opened slightly, then closed again. He shook his head slowly, like he couldn’t process what I’d just said.

“That’s…” He shook his head again. “No. Kit would have told me something like that.”

“It’s true,” Priya said quietly. “I knew about it. The mate thing, and the stalking. Not the dating afterwards.”

Hurt danced across Seb’s face. Hurt that Priya had known and he hadn’t.

“You knew?”

“I caught him doing something suspicious and forced the truth out of him,” Priya explained.

“But still—”

“This isn’t about you, Seb.”