Dr. Royal was his mentor and friend, but they never talked about sex or romantic relationships, and he certainly never told her about his occasional one-night stands with strangers. He never even had a repeat encounter. Not since he was dumped by his boyfriend when he cut ties with his family after he turned eighteen.
He had no idea what to do.
All he did know was that he wanted Raum, and the thought of leaving him behind once the mission was over sent a lance of pain through his heart.
Lilith jumped up on the bed beside him, purring and rubbing her face on his arm. He was obviously forgiven. Ezra sighed, petting her, taking the comfort she offered.
Ezra
Carrying Lilith,he made his way across campus to the library, not bothering with calling for a ride. The day was nice—a cool breeze, warm sun, and fluffy white clouds in a bright blue sky.
He found his sunglasses in his duffle bag, glad past-him had the inclination to pack them, as he’d forgotten about them until that morning, finding them when he was checking how much clean clothing he had left. And the answer to that was not much. He really needed to do laundry.
He got some looks from other people, but he didn’t care. He was a bit too old to be an undergrad, but he was in the rightage range for a graduate student or post-doc. Maybe it was the clothing? He was dressed in khaki cargo pants, black leather boots, and a dark gray t-shirt that clung to his torso and arms. The pants hugged his butt, too.
He may or may not have dressed with the intention of drawing and holding a certain professor’s attention.
Or it might be the werewolf cat lounging on his right arm, observing the lesser mortals of the world. She was rather striking.
It was probably Lilith.
He was almost at a junction of several paths and he slowed down to read the sign nearby, checking to see which path took him to the Rutherford Library, when a silhouette moved in his peripheral vision within a nearby arch full of deep shadows. He blinked, trying to make sense of what he saw, struggling to get his mind to accept that Simmons was standing not even twenty feet away from him.
“The fuck?” Ezra blurted out, taking in the sight of the wanted man standing in a startled pose, as if frozen by the sight of Ezra. Simmons looked horrible—his hair was a mess, clothing rumpled and wrinkled, and he looked like he hadn’t slept in days. Probably hadn’t, not since he convinced his poor student to open the reliquary, killing a ton of people as a result.
Simmons jerked, eyes wide, and he turned and stumbled into a doorway that read Pedestrian Tunnel Junction, the door clanging and the sound echoing like a busted bell.
Ezra took a few steps to follow, then pulled himself to a stop. He was not a cop, he was not a MERS soldier, and he was in no way equipped to follow a murderer into a tunnel system he had no familiarity with.
Ezra patted his pockets instead—he’d forgotten his phone. Again.
He turned and ran back to the huge sign, found the right path, and headed at a fast jog for the library.
Thankfully, Lilith was used to him running while carrying her—she just dug in with her claws a bit and held on for the ride.
He reached the library, dashing around people and he raced into the stacks, heading right for the Special Collections room. He paused long enough for the security guard to let him in, and the second he was through the door, yelled, “Raum!”
Ezra kept up a jog toward Raum’s office, but Raum came out of the stacks halfway there and caught him by the biceps, halting his steps. Ezra leaned over, putting Lilith down, and he sucked in some deep breaths, heart racing.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Raum asked, helping him straighten, eyes and hands running over him, as if looking for injury.
“Simmons!” Ezra gasped out. “I saw him not too far from here—he ducked into one of the pedestrian tunnel entrances. I almost followed him but grew a brain cell at the last minute. I need to call MERS, but I left both my phones in my room.”
“I have the number on the NDA paperwork, we can call them.” Raum grabbed his hand and Ezra followed right behind him as they headed for Raum’s office at a near sprint. Lilith kept pace, zooming into Raum’s office as if she were afraid to miss anything happening.
Raum grabbed a small pile of papers from his desk, leafing through them, and he let go of Ezra to grab his phone and start dialing.
Ezra
MERS showed up in droves.Official vehicles swarmed the university, pouring out uniform-clad soldiers who disappeared down into the tunnel systems that existed under the university. Ezra had no idea the tunnel systems were there until he saw Simmons run into one, and out of curiosity asked Raum to explain.
“They’re mostly utility tunnels for steam, electric, water, heating and cooling, things like that,” Raum said as they stood side by side at one of the library windows, watching as MERS and police officers interviewed students and blanketed the entire campus as they searched for Simmons. “Some of the tunnels are used for pedestrian traffic—very useful in winter when there’s several feet of snow and drifts taller than the first floor of most of the buildings. Many of the larger buildings on campus are connected through the tunnels, so Simmons could be anywhere by now.”
“Maybe I should have followed him?” Ezra said, but he shook his head the next moment. “No, I’m not a battlemage. I’m not the Necromancer of Boston, for fuck’s sake. What do I know about catching a person and holding them? I didn’t even have my phone to call for help.”
Raum wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him in for a hug. Raum kissed his hair, and Ezra returned the hug, wrapping himself around the bigger man.
“I am so glad you came to me instead of following Simmons,” Raum breathed out, and Ezra could hear the relief in his tone. Raum grew easier to read the longer they spent in each other’s company. “Thank you for trusting me to help.”
