Page 21 of Inextricably Tied

He’s on edge from lack of sleep, keyed up on anxiety and the tossing and turning from Harbinger’s room. Last night was the first time they haven’t shared a bed since the restaurant. The thought twists on his chest, and the gap between them that he’s tried so hard to close stretches out again.

Maybe it was the lack of his presence that kept her from sleep. In any case, her brows are knit when she emerges from the bedroom, circles darker beneath her eyes.

“Breakfast?” Flint pushes his glasses back up his nose.

“Not hungry.” But she sinks into a seat at the table, tearing into the cereal bar he requested from room service. His lip quirks.

She’s distracted as soon as she takes the first bite, gaze leveled across the room at Agony. But she doesn’t look horrified. Doesn’t look scared: not completely. More like she’s inspecting the edge of a cliff, judging how much power she needs to put behind her jump.

Flint’s skin crawls.

Agony’s attention to her, Flint understands. The terror is an asshole. He wants something to hurt, and Harbinger’s captivating all on her own.

But why the hell is Harbinger so interested in Agony?

It’s nothing.

It has to be nothing.

Surely it’s nothing.

“You ready?” Harbinger’s voice slices through Flint’s thoughts as she pulls on her helmet, hoisting their bags onto her shoulders.

Flint double-checks the room before he jerks Agony a bit too roughly by the neck, pulling him down the stairs as the elevator doors close on Harbinger. No way Flint’s trapping her in a confined space with the creature who tried to kill her. But in the few minutes it takes them to meet downstairs tightens the anxiety in his chest. Only once he sees Harbinger loading their bags into the trunk of the SUV can he breathe easy.

Well. Easier.

“You know, I —”

Flint stuffs the slipping rag back into Agony’s mouth, shoving him into the backseat. Handcuffs clink against the new chain wrapped around Agony’s middle as Flint shuts the door. Harbinger lifts on her toes to close the trunk. “I can drive.”

Flint shakes his head, taking a few steps away from the vehicle. Harbinger follows behind, and Agony’s eyes follow her.

Flint wants to black out the car windows. “We have to take him back.”

Harbinger is unreadable beneath her helmet. Fingers twitch at her side, but after a moment, she pulls back the skull visor to reveal her face.

“I can’t do this every night,” Flint continues. “And there’s no way I can sleep knowing what he might pull. Doesn’t seem like he sleeps at all.”

“Maybe he’s nocturnal.” Harbinger glances over her shoulder. Shockingly, Agony doesn’t smirk. Out of character with what little Flint has learned about him.

And Flint doesn’t want to know more.

“We’re going to Reid’s house today.” Flint tears his gaze away from Agony. “We’ll find more clues than we can get from the night terror, and then we’ll take him back to the OID.”

Harbinger still doesn’t meet Flint’s eyes. Disquieting heat prickles up his neck, but there’s nothing to be jealous of. This night terror is a threat. He came from a killer, and he’s no fucking better; he’s a killer himself. There’s nothing there for Harbinger to feel but hatred or fear at what Agony almost did to her.

And yet…

“Flint…” Her voice is low when she turns back to him, wariness in the white of her eyes. Like she’s going to tell him something he won’t like. Like she’s going to say they should keep this creature.

Flint braces for impact.

“I don’t think he was going to hurt me.”

It takes a moment to register, because Flint must have heard wrong. He puffs out a breath, the closest thing to a laugh he can manage. “He had metal wrapped around your throat.”

“Not around,” she corrects, and Flint tosses back his head at the semantics. “It was shocking more than anything. It didn’t really hurt. And when I went back into him, I could feel it. What he was thinking. What he was feeling. It wasn’t anything about harming me. He was curious about you and me. Our…relationship.”