The Imperial Prince’s nickname for him made Sila shrug. “Guess you’ll have to wait and see.”
“Still,” Rin crossed his arms, “there’s got to be something we can do to kick them out of your house and get it back.” He turned to Kelevra. “Buy it for him.”
“Oh, no,” Bay held up his hands. “That won’t be necessary.”
“No? It won’t be a problem.”
“I’ve already got a place to live, but thank you.”
“That monstrosity is no place—” Sila began, only to have Bay send an innocent look his way.
“It’s true I didn’t get to see much of it,” he said, “but there’s no way that house you bought could be considered a monstrosity in any sense of the word.”
Sila blinked at him.
“Ew,” Rin made a gagging noise. “Did he just agree to move in with you?”
“In a very sneaky fashion too,” Kelevra nodded in approval. “Impressive, Professor.”
“We should clear out,” Madden called to them then.
“You got everything?” Kelevra asked, and his second in command grunted.
“Is morning wood hard?”
“Lovely.” Bay pinched the bridge of his nose.
“He’s right,” Sila told him, noticing how tired his kitten appeared to be. “We need to go.”
“Take my car,” Rin pulled a set of keys from his front pocket and tossed them at him. “We’ll get Bay’s looked at.”
“No need,” Bay said. “It’s junk anyway. Just scrap it. It’s past time I get a new one anyway.”
“That’s my baby.” Sila linked their fingers and began to lead him away from the group and over to the other end of the bridge where his brother had parked his hovercar twenty minutes ago. “Let’s get rid of all the junk that’s falling apart around you and upgrade.”
“I never would have taken you for a neat freak.” Bay slipped into the car when Sila opened the door for him.
“I’m not,” he explained. “I just don’t like things that are already falling apart before I can get my hands on them.”
When Bay flinched, Sila internally swore at himself, then he crouched down at the side of the car and rested a hand on the professor’s thigh until he’d peeled his gaze off the floor and met his.
“That was a poorly worded attempt at a joke,” he admitted. “What I meant was, I don’t like thinking about you in a house that’s crumbling and filled with mold, or a car that could give out and crash at any moment. I want you to be safe.”
“Careful,” Bay drawled, and there was a snide hint to his tone that Sila took as a challenge immediately. “That sounds an awful lot like you care about me.”
“Of course I care about you,” Sila stood, face hovering dangerously close to Bay’s. “You’re mine.” They stared at one another for a couple of seconds and then Sila hit the roof of the car, chuckling when Bay jumped at the sound, and then straightened. “Come on. Let’s go home so I can show you.”
Murdering those Shepards had whet his appetite.
Bay Delmar was going to be his main course.
* * *
“Are you certain we can trust the Imperial Prince?” Bay asked as he came out of the bedroom, calling down the long hall before appearing at the end where it opened up into the living room.
Sila was lying on the couch, an arm thrown over his eyes, though they hadn’t bothered turning on all the lights when they’d arrived an hour ago. As soon as he’d gotten behind the wheel back on the bridge, a wave of dizziness had overcome him, resulting in the professor—in a fashion that would have given Rin a run for his money—chiding him for being reckless.
The doctor had warned that he’d need to take it easy for another couple of days despite the fact he was discharging him. At Bay’s accusations, Sila had merely pointed out that it wasn’t like he could have said that to the Shepards and gotten them to come back another time.
