“When you say you’re not sure he ever hurt him, what do you mean?” Fix asked, voice firmer and jaw clenched slightly. Wren knew this was hard for him. He knew it hurt Fix to hear terrible things about the institution he cared about so much. He could understand it no matter how much he disagreed.
“He was always weirdly…interested in Teddy,” Wren said. “From the moment we entered training he zeroed in on him. He’d present it as consultation, but he just wanted to get Teddy alone. I don’t know…”
“Was it sexual in nature?” Fix asked, the vein on his neck bulging, and Wren knew he was fighting the urge to go deal with it right away.
“No, I don’t think so.” Wren shook his head. “It was never that, but I also…I don’t know what it was. I never saw any proof that it turned physical but… Do you know how animals react when they’re scared of being hurt again?”
“Yeah,” Ash said.
“I thought… Sometimes I felt like I could see that in Teddy. I remember he’d sometimes be jumpy. Shy away from touch for a split second before catching himself.”
“You never asked?” Fixed asked gently.
“He always came to me with everything, so I figured if there was anything I needed to know he would have told me. I guess I was wrong.”
“Wren…”
“He didn’t tell me he was placed. I knew he had matches. I knew the team was coming together. I knew he would be ready to be placed before I would because I had no matches, but I thought we had more time. And I thought…I thought I’d get to say goodbye. I’d made peace with having to say goodbye. I didn’t know I’d just lose him like that. I wasn’t ready for that. Kellan made sure of it.”
“And now Teddy’s back.” Black sounded like he was crying. “Like in a romance novel.”
“More like a horror,” Ash said. “He’s still around, isn’t he? Kellan. You said you wanted them to leave you alone.”
“He’s still lurking around Teddy, yes,” Wren said. “Seems to keep him on a very tight leash.”
“Nexus instructors have no reason to keep tabs on active cursebreakers unless rules are being broken,” Hart said, voice clipped and void of emotion, the way it got when he desperately needed to protect the order. “Teddy doesn’t strike me as a rule breaker.”
“Really?” Ash asked, pointing to Wren.
“Well, other than the obvious.”
“He finds excuses,” Wren said. “He comes around a lot asking about their cases. He finds bullshit to complain about. He’s still here and he still has a hold over Teddy.”
“Must be some killer blackmail material,” Black said.
“Me,” Wren said. “He threatens me whenever he wants Teddy to fall in line.”
And that, more than anything else, got their attention.
“He can’t do that,” Hart said, appalled.
“I can talk to Gwen,” Fix said. “Not mention you or Teddy, but see what her thoughts on Kellan are.”
“I can make him hurt in several different horrible, awful ways,” Black said. “I have a binder full of inspo pics. A mood board, if you will.”
“I can just set him on fire.” Ash shrugged.
“Not before I dismember him,” Black complained. “You don’t get to have all the fun.”
“I’m here,” Midas signed to Wren before looking away again, and Wren wanted to cry so badly he thought he’d choke on it.
“Are you all really okay with this?” he asked, voice shaky and the question making them all fall silent as they looked at him.
“Sometimes rules need to be broken,” Hart said. “I know I’m the last person you thought would say that, but I love someone I shouldn’t too, and he makes it worth it.”
“All we want is for you to be happy,” Fix said. “It’s all we’ve ever wanted. For you to find a home.”
“He is home,” Wren said.
