“Little Bas is a dark horse, huh? Who would have thought it,” Lachlan chuckled.
“Not me. Great surprise, though,” Bridget said, making them all laugh.
They followed a doctor through two security doors and were asked to wear masks before entering the ward.
Bridget hated the itchy, claustrophobic feeling of them against her skin. She wanted to see what Charlotte was going to do, and there was no way she was leaving Bas by himself, so she put hers on without complaint.
“Can you point me to your labs? I like to oversee what’s happening there,” Apollo asked one of the doctors in the most professional voice that Bridget had ever heard.
“I’ll be joining him as his assistant,” Lachlan added. “He tends to wander and get lost if left unattended.”
Apollo’s eyes narrowed over the top of his mask, but he didn’t argue. He couldn’t without exposing his own games. Lachlan wasn’t dumb.
“Of course, please follow us, Doctor Greatdrakes,” their helpful guide said.
“He’s a doctor? For real?” Bridget asked Bas as Apollo and Lachie disappeared through another set of doors.
“Apollo is many things,” Bas replied, and his eyes crinkled, which showed he was smiling. “Right now, I think he’s in trouble.”
25
Lachlan Ironwood never thought he would find tweed pants sexy, but once again, Apollo Greatdrakes was proving to be the exception to the rule.
Apollo must have been going for his most professional outfit because he usually wore jeans or something casual. Apollo always looked good, but in bespoke tailoring and polished oxfords, he looked like a sexy professor that Lachlan wanted to play doctor with. He certainly had an ache that only Apollo could cure.
Behave yourself. You’re in a hospital, for fuck’s sake, Lachlan scolded himself. He couldn’t help it. Trying to concentrate was a challenge when he had Apollo walking in front of him.
They had ditched the masks because they weren’t near patients, and watching Apollo talk science with the research doctor was a special kind of torture.
Lachlan knew it was childish to be following him about, but he wanted to maximize the time he could get around Apollo. He was elusive prey, but Lachlan was a good hunter.
Fuck Bas for putting that thought in his head. That conversation had changed everything about how Lachlan thought about the tense situation. Hewasa hunter, and it had kicked in some predator part of his brain. As if it wasn’t bad enough when it came to Apollo.
Lachlan had always thought of himself as being an 80/20 girls-to-boys sort of bisexual with some theys thrown into the mix. He liked sex uncomplicated and without any attachments. He had a demanding, violent job, and relationships were hard when your life was constantly in danger. It was unfair to expect anyone to deal with that on a regular basis.
It had been a fine arrangement for years, and Lachlan had never felt the need to change it. Right up until he met Apollo fucking Greatdrakes.
Lachlan had been chatting with Imogen atMonkey Pawa few weeks before Morrigan had decided to run havoc in Dublin, and the most beautiful man had walked over and hugged his cousin. It was like being struck by lightning. They had talked, and Lachlan hadn’t heard one word. He had been struck completely dumb.
He had finally stammered out a hello and his name, and Apollo had only smiled, in that sexy, sly way of his, and danced off into the crowd.
Lachlan’s sexuality had gone from a comfortable 80/20 to a full 100% Apollo in the blink of an eye. He had no fae or shifter blood in him, but when they described the feeling of finding their fated mate, Lachlan knew exactly what they were talking about.
He thought it was a dumb crush that would go away with time. He had tried to fuck blonds of both sexes to get the fixation out of his system. Then Apollo had started cockblocking his hookups, and Lachlan had retaliated by doing the same, and now Lachlan couldn’t get it up thinking about anyone else. His dick wanted Apollo and no substitute would do.
When Apollo had given him an incredible birthday present on Midsummer’s Eve, Lachlan had thought, ‘Yes. Finally. He’s coming around.’ But Apollo had bailed on him and had avoided him ever since. It was beyond frustrating, and Lachlan had been at a loss for how to proceed next.
Bas, bless his heart, had given Lachlan clarity. He wasn’t going to stop until Apollo told him with his own pretty mouth to stop pursuing him. Until then, he wasn’t going to give up. In fact, he was going to kick it up a notch because his patience was almost gone.
“And these are our genome sequencing machines,” the researcher said, leading Apollo to another section of the floor with a light brush of his hand on Apollo’s forearm.
Lachlan’s left fist clenched.
You can’t punch out a doctor, he reminded himself.
Apollo made excited sounds. “And has anything come up in the victims’ genomes that could explain how this dreaming sickness is manifesting?” he asked, eyes shining.
Damn. Lachlan couldn’t start a fight when Apollo was having this much fun.
