23. Chokehold
Chokehold
Seth
My knee bounces as I glance over at Hellas’s closed office door.
Not for the first time, I wonder how much trouble I’d be in if I just barge in and demand to be bumped up the list. Probably not the best idea, especially because the only excuse I’d be able to give is that my gut is telling me something is wrong, and my girlfriend won’t text me back.
It’d probably have a little more sway than that, considering now with our bond, Ryn is far more than just my girlfriend, but still. I’d rather not figure out exactly how far I can push his goodwill before he snaps.
I refresh my messages again, hoping that maybe I somehow missed a response, despite the fact that I’ve been obsessively checking every 30 seconds or so.
My knee bounces faster as I’m greeted with a big fat nothing, and my shoulders sag right as my phone pings.
I jerk, fumbling with the device in my lap until I finally manage to get it the right way up.
Ryn: No, Seth. I need you to listen to me, okay?
Seth: …
Because that’s not ominous at all. Maybe if our bond wasn’t screaming “DANGER”, I’d be more inclined to agree without question.
Ryn: When I take the necklace out of my pocket, put up a shield.
Annnd there’s the crazy I was waiting for. Something is wrong. My bouncing knee is shaking my screen, so I sit back and start shaking one ankle over the other.
Seth: You’re joking, right?
Seth: Right?!
Ryn: Just trust me?
A little whine creeps up my throat, because what the fuck, dude.
That can not mean good things. Before I can even contemplate a response that doesn’t make me appear slightly unhinged (because let’s be real, I’m getting pretty fucking close to unhinged right now), the door to Hellas’s office opens and my ticket number dings above the door. Sweet death, it’s about time!
Jumping up and practically floating across the room with more enthusiasm than I’ve ever had while entering a superior's office, I slide in and shut the door behind me. When I look up, Hellas has his brow quirked and his lips pursed.
“Sephtis. Sit down.” His tone is gruff, but not as deadly as the last time I was in here. Which is good. Especially because I’m pretty sure I’m about to royally piss him off.
As soon as I fold myself into the little chair, my knee bounces uncontrollably.
Hellas’s eyes dart down to the motion, and he frowns slightly.
He’s not stupid. I wasn’t even this nervous after getting caught with my pants metaphorically around my ankles and the cold, hard length of my crimes fucking my ass (again, metaphorically).
He also doesn’t like to waste any time, because with no further preamble, he steeples his fingers on the desk in front of him and sighs.
“Why don’t you just come out with it? Either you’re about to piss on my floor, or something is wrong.
And you’d better not piss on my fucking floor.
” Hellas holds my eyes with an intensity that dares me to look away, and I gulp as I sit up a bit straighter and still my bouncing legs.
Oddly enough, I had zero urge to piss on the floor until he levelled me with that terrifying fucking stare.
“I need help.” I clear my throat because my voice comes out kind of squeaky. Determined to sound in control of my emotions, and not three blinks away from batshit crazy, I try again.
“My girlfriend is in trouble. I don’t have any proof, but I know she’s in trouble.
Also, she’s not really just my girlfriend—and maybe I violated my parole a little, but who wouldn’t have for the sake of a fucking soul-bond, am I right?
” Words rush out all at once, and my heart rate increases with the speed of them, “I can’t check on her with that illegal shadow necklace because she took it off and texted me not to do anything until she says, and get this—she wants me to throw up a shield.
A SHIELD! But she won’t say why. That’s suspicious, right?
Smells like danger. Something is wrong, Hellas, I’m telling you, man.
My girl is in trouble. I–I need to leave. I need to find her.”
“Sephtis—”
“And another thing—that fucking dickhead, Darro. I know I’m not allowed in his court, but he’s probably involved, and I can’t make any promises if he takes my soul-bond into his court, can I? Obviously, there’s gotta be some kind of get out of jail free card for situations like that, right?”
“Seth—”
“She did what he asked, she figured out the fucking soul stones. But something must have happened. Maybe her crazy sister made more—who knows how much shadow dust she has? We never figured out how she was getting it. Fuck! What if she made something worse with it? What if it was all a trick and Darro and Saskia just made up the problem to get their filthy Unseelie hands on my Ryn?”
“SETH!”
I pause, sucking in air for the first time since I started talking. I blink away the dizziness and stare at Hellas, whose orbs are red-hot embers of flickering rage. Yeah, so much for not sounding batshit crazy, I guess.
“Shut the fuck up.”
That’s fair, honestly. My jaw, which had been hanging open mid-word, snaps shut. Hellas glares at me for a few more seconds before nodding and sitting back in his chair.
“Burning Hell. I’ve never regretted someone not just pissing in my office.
” He cuts his heated gaze up to the ceiling and blows out a slow breath.
My knee bounces again, but at Hellas’s sound of displeasure, I immediately freeze.
“Okay. We’re going to circle back around to all the illegal shit you just admitted, to your fucking probation officer, by the way, you dumbass.
” His eyes narrow, and when I nod vigorously, he grumbles, “But first, can you track the illegal necklace without compromising your mate?”
I continue nodding, my heart in my throat, and my head likely to nod itself right off my shoulders.
Speaking of—Hellas’s shoulders, which I hadn’t noticed move up so high around his ears, sag down, and he blows out a breath of relief.
It’s actually super fucking touching, and I might have teared up that he’s almost as worked up about the risk to my soul-bond as me, if I weren’t so singularly focused on Ryn.
He leans forward and picks up his phone, pushing a few buttons, and then his voice crackles out of the overhead speakers, “Attention all personnel, I need all G1-level agents ready for a code 3, Sbr22 in five minutes.”
My orbs flare not only because of the emergency search and rescue code, but because G1-level agents are the oldest and most well-trained in our entire guild.
He stands, all irritation gone from his face, leaving only steely determination behind as he motions for me to lead the way. “Get us coordinates. Now.”
Please, please, please. Shit hit the fan remarkably fast. Before everyone even assembled at the guild headquarters, Ryn signaled me to activate a shield from the necklace, but not around her. Which means she’s unprotected, and I was right—something is very wrong.
It's taken every shred of willpower I possess not to do anything more through the necklace, but Hellas is adamant that doing anything to tip whoever is with Ryn off would be more dangerous, especially before we have anyone in position at her location.
It makes sense, which is why I've listened up to this point, but now that we’re outside Ryn’s lab building, I'm losing my patience.
“Can't I just—”
“No.” Hellas doesn't even look up from his vidscreen. He's been trying to orchestrate an incognito surrounding of the building for ten minutes now but the signal keeps cutting out, and coms seem to be randomly signing off.
My lip curls involuntarily, and I wait for a moment before trying again, “I really think I should—”
“Seth, if you don't let me concentrate, I'm gonna break my foot off in your—”
Ding.
Hellas falters, and we both glance down at my crotch. Under normal circumstances, I'd have a field day with my boss staring at my crotch, but right now all I can do is gulp.
“Should I?”
He lifts his orbs to mine and quirks a disbelieving brow, and I nod, pulling out my phone and opening my messages with shaky fingers.
My heart gets lodged in my throat when I see Ryn’s name flash across my screen.
Ryn: Hey, lover boy, I need your help at my lab. Xoxo
Wait, what? I look up at Hellas with a furrowed brow ridge. He rubs his chin as he takes a minute to contemplate this new development.
“Any chance that's actually her?”
I appreciate how calm he is right now, especially since my heart is about ready to beat out of my chest.
“I don't know. Maybe? But she doesn't usually sign off like that. And she hasn’t given me the sign to deactivate the shadow shield.” My stomach drops to my feet as my orbs flash white. “I need to go in, Hellas. I can’t wait.”
“If this isn’t Ryn, we risk putting her in more danger by walking into a trap.
” The brightness of his orbs is the only outward sign that he’s stressed.
It’s also the only thing keeping me from punching him in the face for making me wait, because as much as I resent being forced to wait, at least one of us is keeping eyes on the whole picture.
Ryn doesn’t need balls to the wall right now, she needs help that isn’t going to give whoever is threatening her the edge.
Hellas sighs and rubs a hand over his face before nodding to himself, “Alright, go in. We need eyes in that fucking lab to know how best to proceed.”
“Right, okay.” Wiping my palms off on my pants, I swallow around a nervous lump in my throat and pray that none of this will be necessary.
That I’ll walk into that lab and the other half of my heart will be ready to explain away the past few hours with a smile on her beautiful face, and some snuggles to stabilize my seemingly permanent erratic pulse. Please.