Alex pulled their hands to his lips and kissed Quinn’s. “As you wish, my dearest.”
“I believe that means you are now officially—or unofficially—married,” Harry said. “You may kiss your husband, Alex.”
Alun scrunched up his face. Those were not the words he would have used if he were pledging his troth to his beloved. But it worked for this couple, because they kissed as if there really was no tomorrow and everyone whooped and clapped until they stopped.
Holding Quinn’s hand up, Alex said, “My husband!” Over more cheering, he added, “Let’s go fulfill my promise.”
And with that, they all left.
* * * *
Merlin considered himself lucky that he hadn’t been forced to dance attendance on the Mad King all day. He had been there to pick up Dafydd’s limp body and take him back to his cell, where Mateo paced in agitation. Dracul hadn’t called for the human to serve him, perhaps thinking that he was dead. None of the men Merlin had tangled with had apparently dared to tattle on him, the one benefit perhaps of Dracul’s volatility. That also worked in Merlin’s favor, because he needed the boy for this one last effort before the raid.
Dafydd was dead weight, unconscious and breathing raggedly. He wouldn’t survive another ‘session’ with his former master. The violence had escalated and the only reason why he’d tossed Dafydd aside was to have the dinner Andri had prepared and to spend time with Idris. The poor boy had screwed up his face and wailed at the sight of his father—Dafydd, that was—and Merlin worried that the baby’s experience was going to scar him for life.
“Let me help,” Mateo called out as he rushed over. “Jesus.”
“Yeah,” Merlin agreed grimly. “I have my medical supplies, though.” He’d taken the time to get them before answering the summons.
Once he and Mateo had managed to put Dafydd in as comfortable a position as they could, he got to work with pain relief and assessing the damage. He was sure a rib or two was broken this time and worried that it was interfering with Dafydd’s breathing. A cold pack wasn’t going to help, but he made sure anyway that Dafydd was on his uninjured side and draped the chemical pack over his torso once he’d mixed it.
“His fingers on this hand are broken,” Mateo said, pointing to the one lying on the pallet.
“I have something.” Merlin shuffled through his stash and came up with a splint. He taped the fingers together and held them straight. Dafydd groaned and whimpered. It was upsetting, yet there was nothing else to be done. He hoped that Harry or the human doctor would be coming with the others and could do more.
“Idris.” The name was barely a whisper on Dafydd’s lips.
“He’s fine,” Merlin was quick to reassure him and that seemed to settle him a bit. Merlin looked over at Mateo. “You’re coming with me.”
“What? No, I need to stay with him.”
“What I need from you is more important. Remember last night? You don’t have a choice, slut. Jacko is waiting for his entertainment and I don’t intend to disappoint him.” For fuck’s sake, he had hoped the human had gotten with the program already. How much more emphasis did he have to put on his cooperation without giving up the game to anyone who might be listening? Considering how Mateo was on Jacko’s radar at this point, it wasn’t crazy to think he might be listening in right now.
Mateo seemed to get it, finally. Thank fuck. He put on a good show, too. “Fine,” he spoke out as he stood. “It’s not like I can fight you. Too bad you don’t know how to please a man. Maybe if he likes me well enough, I can get out of this fetid room.”
The boy practically flounced his way to the door and waited with his arms folded for Merlin to catch up. When he did, he grabbed Mateo’s arm in a show of force—although he was barely clasping him—then trooped him down to Jacko’s area. The man was waiting for them. After he let them in, he took Merlin by the arms and shoved him against the wall.
“What the fuck are you up to, slut?”
Merlin tried to hide his fear. “I thought you liked how Mateo serviced you last time. Shouldn’t I have brought him?”
“I’m talking about the computers. I’ve been checking and some of the settings are off. You’ve been tampering with them.”
Merlin’s heart leaped into his throat. “No, I haven’t. What do I know about all this stuff?”
Jacko shoved him again. “You’re a lying cunt. And as soon as I get my dick sucked, I’m going to beat the truth out of you.”
Shit. This was not how it was supposed to go. And yet, this guy was so dumb that he wasn’t trying to strip the hide off him for information, nor had he called in reinforcements. Then again, it wouldn’t go well for Jacko if Dracul found out that he’d allowed a breach of security. Plus, it didn’t matter, considering that Merlin had never intended to let this man interfere with the evening’s plans. He only needed the guy to be distracted for a few seconds…
Jacko played right into Merlin’s hands by pushing away from him and sitting heavily in his chair. He exposed himself without preamble. That was the perfect set-up, actually. It would make it easier for Merlin to deal with him.
He pushed Mateo toward the man. “Get started.”
Mateo didn’t waste time or words. He dropped to his knees as he reached for the goon’s dick and, without knowing Merlin’s intent, actually swiveled Jacko in his chair so that his back was to Merlin. There was no point in thinking about what he had to do next, so he didn’t. Instead, he rushed over and, grabbing a startled Jacko by the sides of his head, he twisted sharply. The man’s neck snapped and he slumped. It was over in an instant, leaving Merlin almost stunned by what he’d done. It was not his first kill, but if he’d thought it would get easier each time, he’d been wrong.
Mateo had no trouble accepting the new reality. He jumped to his feet quickly and stumbled back a step or two, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Whoa. I knew you were going to do something, but that was—”
“Horrifying?”
“Well, yeah, but necessary, right? This guy was about to blow your cover or simply kill you. You did what you had to do. And the others are coming tonight?”
Merlin was already turned to the console and monitors. “That’s the plan. I have to disable the security warnings. They already know the entryways and have a schematic of the complex.”
Mateo came to join him. “You sent all that to them?”
“Sure. It was the whole point of my coming here, to be an inside man.”
“Whose idea was that? No, don’t tell me…Annika.”
“Right. She knows everything.”
“Then why didn’t she share her wisdom with Alex and the others and avoid this whole shitshow?”
Merlin didn’t bother to look at him as he shrugged. “I don’t know.” He focused on what he’d seen from Jacko and hoped like hell that he was pushing the right buttons to stop the entire complex from ringing with alarms when rescue came. It was early yet, but he figured that Jacko being the only one who kept track of this, the others wouldn’t notice if anything had shut down. If he was wrong… If Jacko had inflated his own role or had already told someone about his suspicions regarding Merlin, they were all fucked.