17. Aru

17

ARU

A ru leaned against the desk in the underground clinic, listening to Merlin explaining the procedure in clinical detail to the three humans.

Marcus, the oldest of them, paid little attention to the explanations and seemed much more interested in exchanging smiles with Hildegard than concerning himself with the upcoming surgery.

"Any questions?" Merlin asked.

Jake shook his head. "It's all pretty straightforward. Let's get it done. Who's going first?"

"I will." Marcus pushed to his feet. "I can't wait to get in bed and have this beauty take care of me."

Hildegard giggled. "You are such a flirt," she said. "Come on. I'll get you ready."

Aru followed them to the operating room, while Merlin went into one of the rooms where the trafficker had been placed, the patient sedated and waiting for the tracker to be removed.

Jake and Wade had remained in the waiting room with Dagor and Negal.

After Marcus changed into a surgical gown behind the screen, he walked to the bed and laid down, with Hildegard admiring his physique unabashedly.

The guy was still young and in great shape, and he exuded confidence. No wonder the nurse was taken with him.

"Do your worst, Hildy," Marcus said. "Is it okay if I call you Hildy?"

She chuckled. "Since you already did, go ahead." She prepared his arm with a local anesthetic.

"Do you always work in secret underground facilities?" he asked.

She smiled while inserting the needle with practiced precision. "No, not always. I work wherever I'm needed."

"And where might you be needed tonight?"

"Tonight?" Hildegard's smile turned playful. "I'll be monitoring your recovery in the fancy hotel suite we booked for the three of you. Depending on how well you handle this procedure, we will figure out what to do with the rest of the time."

Marcus grinned. "Trust me, I heal fast."

"We'll see about that," she said, checking that the area was properly numbed, and then doing the same thing on his other arm.

It made sense not to put the two trackers next to each other in case that created interference.

Merlin walked in with his surgical tools. "Ready to begin?"

"Born ready, doc." Marcus winked at Hildegard. "Though I wouldn't mind if the lovely nurse held my hand."

"Sorry, big guy. I need both hands free to assist," she said. "But I'll be right here monitoring your vitals."

As Merlin made the first incision, Marcus didn't even flinch and kept up a steady stream of flirtatious banter with Hildegard. "So, about tonight?—"

"Less talking, more lying still," she chided playfully.

"Almost done," Merlin announced. "First tracker is in place. Hildegard, would you close?"

The first one was the tracker that had been removed from Dagor, implanted in the trafficker, and now found a new home in Marcus. The second tracker was built by William and his crew, and it was for the benefit of Aru's team so they could monitor the humans and make sure they were following instructions.

As Hildegard began suturing the small incision, Marcus continued undeterred. "You never answered about tonight."

She tied off the last stitch with expert efficiency. "Tell you what—if you're feeling up to it after the procedure, we can discuss it over takeout in the hotel."

"I'm already feeling up to it."

"We are not done," Merlin said as he implanted the second tracker in Marcus's other arm.

Negal, who had been watching from near the door, stepped forward. "My turn next?"

Merlin shook his head. "Hildegard needs to stitch up Marcus on his other side, and then we will get him out to the recovery room and you on the operating table."

The procedure for removing the tracker was much more complicated than implanting it and took more time.

As Hildegard helped Marcus walk out of the operating room and into one of the patient rooms in the clinic, Negal took his place on the operating table, and unlike Marcus's casual demeanor, his jaw was tight.

"You okay?" Aru asked.

"Fine," Negal replied. "I'm ready for this thing to be out of me so I can join Margo in the village."

The ladies were there to attend Jasmine's transition ceremony, and Aru would have loved to accompany them, but this needed to be done first.

Soon, they would be free to live with their mates in the village and stop pretending to search for pods that would probably never be found. The question was what they would do while there.

Margo had a bunch of ideas about all of them working for Perfect Match, but that wasn't what Aru wanted to do. Dagor would probably want to join William's crew and work on building new things and learning all he could from the clan's tech genius. Negal was a soldier through and through, and he would most likely want to join the Guardian force in some capacity.

Aru wanted to work on advancing the resistance against the Eternal King, but he wasn't sure how to go about it. Perhaps Queen Ani would have some ideas for him.

When it was his turn, Aru lay back on the table and closed his eyes.

"Last one," Merlin said cheerfully as he began administering the local anesthetic.

The procedure itself seemed to pass in a blur. Before Aru knew it, Merlin was announcing that he was finished and Hildegard was applying the final bandage.

"Time to take care of our guests' memories," Merlin said.

"I'll handle it." Aru pushed to a sitting position. The local anesthetic was making his thigh feel strange, but he ignored it.

He approached the waiting room where the three men sat, already dressed and ready to go. Marcus started flirting with Hildegard as soon as she walked in, and the other two seemed content to watch.

"Gentlemen," Aru said. "Please look at me for a moment. You've had a routine medical examination in preparation for your upcoming assignment, and everything went well. You'll remember coming to a private clinic, but not the exact location."

The men's eyes glazed slightly as the thrall took effect. Even Marcus fell silent.

"Hildegard will accompany you back to your hotel to monitor your recovery," Aru finished.

Given that the procedure had been simple on their end, it wasn't really necessary for the nurse to accompany them, but Merlin thought it was prudent in case they experienced discomfort or their bodies rejected the implants for some reason. No one wanted them to seek treatment in a human hospital or clinic.

"I'll make sure they rest properly," Hildegard assured him with a wink.

Dagor appeared in the doorway. "The car's ready whenever you are."

As Hildegard helped the men to their feet and guided them toward the exit, Marcus seemed to shake off some of the thrall's effect. "So, what did you say about dinner?"

"Let's see how you're feeling in a few hours," she said.

After they'd gone, Dagor turned to Aru with an expectant grin. "Let's celebrate with a bottle of whiskey or two upstairs and then start packing."

"Not yet," Aru said. "I don't want to jinx it, as the humans say. I want to wait until they're actually on the plane on their way to Tibet before I start celebrating."

"Can we at least do the drinking part?" Dagor asked. “The packing can wait."

"We can do that." Aru clapped him on the back. "And once they are in the air, we can drink some more."