Page 119 of Inextricably Tied

Agony squeezes between Flint and Harbinger, nuzzling into Flint’s neck. “Been dreaming about me, huh?” But Agony already knows the answer, pressing his forehead to Flint’s. Firm. Solid. “I told you I’d take care of her.”

“That was really you?”

Agony’s breath is warm against Flint’s lips. “You think I’d pass up an opportunity to annoy you?”

Flint tightens his arms around Agony, too afraid of him slipping away. “How?”

“Trial and error.” Shadows flare as Agony lifts his arms. “I didn’t even have this for a while. No body, no form. I barely existed. Couldn’t fathom my own exhaustion, because I was nothing. But I had one thought. One purpose. The thing that kept me going.” His hands find Flint and Harbinger’s faces. “To get back to you.”

Her cheeks are sticky with dried tears. Agony wipes the fresh ones away. “Hey, I’m here now.”

But as he soothes her, there’s strain on his face, fatigue worn around his eyes and tension in his smile. No matter how he assures that he was always going to return to them, there’s despair that he very nearly didn’t.

“How did you find us? After Reid —”

“I couldn’t see anything.” Agony brushes Harbinger’s hair back. “Couldn’t feel anything. Couldn’t find anything. Just kept trying to crawl out of the darkness into something real. I couldn’t get back to the real world. It took weeks to find your dreams, and even then, I couldn’t get close enough before you drifted away. But you…”

He lifts Harbinger’s chin, tracing the carved line of her jaw. Flint’s never seen Agony look at anyone like that. Like he would kill and die for her, over and over.

“You found that place in your dreams between life and death. You held the Veil open for me.”

It’s the first time Harbinger’s powers have done something for her. Given her something. Her breath trembles. “But that should be impossible.”

“Come on: you didn’t think something as small as death would stop me.” Agony nudges his nose against hers. “Not when I have you.”

Everything she’s been holding onto breaks. Shattered and splintered at finally, finally touching Agony again. Her mouth hurtles against his, desperate to be closer, to make sure he’s real — and Agony holds her together. Reassembling the broken parts, engulfing her until her skin is drenched in shadows.

He’s perfect on her, draped around the thudding pulse in her neck, the swell of her chest, the v of her thighs when he hoists her into his arms. His shadows blend into the hollow parts of her body, knitting into every crevice until neither are whole without the other.

Impossible. Inseparable. Breathtaking.

Flint could watch the two of them forever, chasing each other on a razor’s edge, but then shadows find Flint and hoist him back onto the bed where Agony appears above him.

“Don’t fucking hold back any more.” Agony clutches the back of Flint’s head, pain daggered through Agony’s voice. “I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again.” Their breaths mingle until Agony’s snarl reverberates through Flint’s body. “I want everything you never gave me.”

This is what Flint’s been hopeless to get back to, the feeling he wasn’t sure he could find again. Emotions he can’t keep at bay send him running, sprinting, diving headlong into the rush.

Now that he has it, he never wants to stop falling with them.

Flint pushes against Agony’s hold, and Agony’s surprise morphs into a grin. “You love me, then?”

It clenches in Flint’s chest. He’s always had doubts. Always questioned himself, his judgments, his choices — but he doesn’t doubt Agony. Doesn’t doubt the emotion that saturates every moment with him.

“Yes.”

Agon doesn’t get closer. Doesn’t give Flint the touch he craves, but Agony’s smile illuminates the darkness. “Yeah?”

Flint’s growl drags against Agony’s mouth. “Yes!” His claws dig into tendrils, keeping Agony as close as he can. “Don’t leave us without you.”

Agony licks the words from Flint’s mouth and swallows them whole. Buried deep inside him, a promise embedded in the lining of Agony’s skin until Flint has to come up for air. Only then does Agony pull back enough to speak.

“Show me.”

FORTY-FOUR

Flint

Agony doesn’t release Flint. But he makes room for Harbinger to slide between them, her back to Agony’s chest, thighs on either side of Flint’s. She’s all bare skin now, proud and perfect as Agony works Flint’s sweats down enough to take him in hand. Harbinger presses her palms to Flint’s chest, searing over the thud of his heart.