19. Date Night （Part 2）

19

DATE NIGHT (PART 2)

“Of course there’s a baby,” Nat said dryly. “It feels like every time I open my eyes, there’s more. ” He turned when Ivo shook his head, though. Nat’s eyebrows shot up when he saw Telos. Then he grabbed Walren and Killian, shaking them awake.

When Telos had all four men looking at him, he wriggled his fingers in a wave. “Hi. You probably remember me, so we don’t need another introduction.”

“That’s really fucking creepy,” Ivo muttered, hugging his baby closer and shuffling away from Telos.

“Just as long as you don’t scream.” Telos patted his ear to make sure his wire was still in place. “Y’all still there? Duke.”

“Here and waiting. What do you have?” came Duke’s tinny voice in his ear.

Telos spoke fast. “Three pairs of guards on the grounds. Last I saw, they were on the north, west, and east sides. Might’ve moved. I thought I saw crates in the smaller buildings. Unsure if they’re weapons. Also, the south building has two sleeping guards. I’ve verified the main building’s floor plan. There are four guards patrolling in here—”

Telos paused, cocking his head to listen. The guards in the building were talking amongst themselves, footsteps heading over.

“Fuck. I think they might’ve heard me.”

“Secure your location, right now.”

Telos released his shift, leaping smoothly to his feet. He shoved his hand into his pouch and slapped down a paper spell in the nearest corner. Then he shifted his nail into a claw, and stabbed his thumb.

He couldn’t wait for the blood to drip. Telos smeared his wound over the paper and grabbed the next spell from his bag, already bloodying it. It went down in the next corner.

The footsteps pounded closer. People yelled.

“Van pulling up to the gates,” Duke said. “We’re coming in.”

Telos sprinted to the third corner of the cell, flinging down another spell sheet. He’d barely made it to the fourth corner when the footsteps skidded to a halt outside his cell. He grabbed the last spell so quickly that it crumpled, rubbing his thumb over it. Then he smacked it onto the concrete floor, right as the door handle squealed.

The barrier snapped into place, a vibration in the air. Then the door pushed inward and budged no further, the kidnapper on the other side swearing violently.

“Pinks’ friends are secure,” Telos said, listening to the background noise of people fighting.

“Good. Secure the other cells,” Duke said. “Crush and Mav are heading in.”

“On it.” Telos was hurrying toward the unlocked door when he caught movement from the corner of his eye.

“Wait,” one of the omegas said. Walren?

Telos turned. “Yes?”

“What’s going on?” Ivo asked, glancing around in panic.

“We’re breaking you out. This is a barrier spell to prevent unwanted entry into your cell.”

“Leave us something to do!” Crush said in his earpiece. “I want to be heroic in front of our dates. Are they cute?”

“Now is really not the time.” Duke grunted, and there came the heavy thud of flesh on flesh.

“Plenty cute,” Telos said. “I’ll even leave the door open for you to show off.”

He wrenched open the steel door, taking the kidnapper by surprise. In the next breath, Telos punched him, sending him flying across the hallway.

A huge gray wolf bounded up to them, stopping in front of the doorway and almost bowling Telos over.

Crush shifted back into a man, straightening his shoulders and running his fingers through his hair. “I’ll protect all of you.”

“Leave some for us,” Ace and Raptor yelled somewhere outside the building.

Telos snorted and turned back into a beetle, crawling under the next cell door. This room had more omegas and babies; Telos shifted into a small, thin man, reaching into his pouch for more barrier spells.

“Who’re you?” someone asked, sounding panicked.

“Name’s Telos. My friends and I are getting you out of here. But I need to secure this room. Give me ten seconds.” Telos was slapping down the bloodied barrier spells before the men could get themselves together; by the time they looked ready to interrogate or fight him, he was on the third spell, then the fourth.

The barrier snapped into place. A couple of the omegas hissed. Telos ran around them and dove for the bottom of the door, shifting back into a beetle.

In the hallway, he flew into Mav’s bare chest, bouncing off him.

“Telos?” Mav asked, his chest heaving. Blood trickled down the side of his face.

Telos checked the hallway, then shifted back into his original shape. “You okay?”

He looked Mav over for injuries. Before he could get Mav to turn around, Mav grabbed him, and turned him around. Telos squinted over his shoulder to find Mav examining his body.

“You’re fine. Good,” Mav muttered. “We’ve taken out the ones in this building, but—”

A gunshot rang out. Mav threw himself in front of Telos, slamming him against the wall. Telos had a split second to appreciate their naked chests and cocks pressing together.

A man ducked out from behind a corner, gun aimed at them.

Mav breathed a plume of orange flame at him. But the man fired anyway, the sound exploding against Telos’ eardrums.

Mav jerked and grunted in pain—he’d been shot.

Telos’ stomach clenched. Instead of collapsing, Mav kept breathing fire, grabbing Telos and shoving him down the hallway, away from the enemy.

Telos strained his ringing eardrums. They had to know if the path ahead was clear. Just that there were so many heartbeats—so many prisoners. It was impossible to hear anyone creeping up on them.

He dragged Mav into an empty room and shut the door, his heart in his throat. “Where were you shot?”

They looked down at the same time. Telos held his breath, hoping like hell the bullet hadn’t—

Blood gushed from Mav’s arm, both sides of it. The bullet hadn’t stayed in his body. Instead, it had ripped clean through the largest blood vessel.

Mav would bleed out in the next few minutes if they did nothing. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

“You have spells.” Mav grabbed Telos’ spell pouch.

Their wires crackled. “Someone set fire to the main building,” Duke said urgently. “Get everyone and get out.”

“ Fuck! ” Telos snarled. “How the hell is it burning? This place is made of concrete!”

“Accelerants,” Duke replied tersely.

Mav cursed. “We don’t have time for this.”

“We have time to save your fucking life, ” Telos hissed. He almost panicked, riffling through all the spells in the pouch, but remembered at the last moment where the healing spells were. Just that healing took time; Uriel had said these spells couldn’t work miracles. He yanked two out and slapped them on either side of Mav’s arm. “I swear to the gods, if you let yourself bleed out—”

“I won’t, okay?”

Telos pulled out a strip of fabric, tying the spells to Mav’s wound with shaking hands. There was no time. He didn’t know what kind of fire had been lit, or how fast it was spreading through the building. There were so many lives at stake.

He pressed his hands to either side of Mav’s arm, letting Mav’s blood soak into the paper. Mav pressed his hand over Telos’, and their eyes met.

Telos repeated the incantation that Uriel had taught him, and prayed like he’d never prayed before.

Mav hissed. “Think it worked.”

“You better fucking tell me if it didn’t,” Telos snarled. Then he grabbed Mav’s unhurt hand and yanked him out of there, kicking down all the doors with heartbeats behind them.

Omegas whimpered; babies wailed. “C’mon, everyone! Let’s get you out of here,” Telos yelled, gesturing for them to stand. “Those of you who can walk, grab some babies. This place is on fire.”

“Like that won’t send everyone into a panic,” Mav said dryly.

Telos scowled and charged into the nearest cell, shoving babies at the adults who had an arm to spare. He hauled two wobbly omegas over his shoulders—both with two babies in their arms—and ran out of the building, kicking down the emergency door.

Outside, smoke billowed. A car alarm blared into the night, and bodies were strewn about.

“What’s the status?” Mav asked on the comms.

“We’ve taken down all the targets,” Duke replied. “Focus on evacuation.”

The next several minutes were filled with bundling babies into empty arms, sometimes giving an omega three babies to hold. Those who were steady on their feet got hurried down the hallways, and the team carried out omegas who couldn’t walk.

The smoke grew thicker in the hallways, though. Telos was quickly discovering the disadvantage of being tall—he had to crouch extra low so he wasn’t breathing the smoke near the ceiling.

Between the six of them, they got out every last baby and omega, watching from a safe distance as the building began to collapse.

“Fuck,” Telos breathed, leaning into Mav’s side. His throat and lungs were burning from all that smoke.

“It’s not over yet,” Mav muttered. “We still have to deal with the police, the EMTs, and finding a place for everyone for the night.”

The list alone exhausted Telos. “Butlers,” he muttered. “That’s what butlers are for.”

But some of the victims probably needed the hospital, and they probably needed it right now.

With a groan, Telos stepped forward, only to have Duke clap loudly to catch everyone’s attention. “Show of hands: Who has difficulty breathing? Who needs medical attention right now?”

A few hands came up. Telos thought he saw a couple of Pinks’ friends in that number.

“I’ll fly them to the nearest hospital,” Ace said.

“Same here,” Raptor said.

Both of them looked incredibly hopeful when omegas began climbing to their feet.

One of Pinks’ friends stood and promptly stumbled, falling into Raptor’s arms. It was Walren, with his uneven legs.

“Sorry,” Walren squeaked, ducking his head. “I can’t walk straight most days.”

Raptor looked as though Walren had hung the moon. “I’ll fly you to safety right now. You can count on me.”

Ace shifted into a large sapphire dragon. “Who’s hurt? Don’t worry about walking; I’ll come over to you.”

Ivo limped up to him, baby in his arms. “I need help.”

Ace’s eyes widened. He pulled Ivo close to sit on one of his large feet, making sure Ivo could hang on properly. “I’ll get you to a hospital. You’re safe with me.”

Ivo blinked up at him, gingerly leaning against Ace’s leg. Ace gave a full-body shiver.

“Wow,” Telos said. “That was fast.”

“It’s just a meeting. Who knows what’ll happen after that?” Mav shrugged.

“You’re right,” Telos realized. “We don’t know if those omegas would actually want them. Ace and Raptor are... eager.”

Mav snorted.

Two other omegas joined the dragon brothers, and the group of them took off into the night sky.

The rest of the victims waited as Duke sorted out transport arrangements, his phone pressed to his ear. Killian, the frightened omega in Pinks’ group of friends, huddled in a tight ball.

Crush padded over, still fully wolf. He slowly approached Killian, waiting until Killian noticed his presence. Then he lay down close to the man and rested his snout on his paws, pretending to close his eyes.

Killian watched Crush for several long minutes. Finally, he relaxed, his baby clutched to his chest.

Telos and Mav exchanged a look. “It would be a perfect date night if Duke found someone,” Mav said slowly.

But Duke was too busy talking on his phone, making sure everything went according to plan.

“Did he just book hotel rooms for everyone?” Telos asked in disbelief.

“Looks like it.”

Telos shook his head. “I was going to tell Hilly-Billy to do it.”

“That’s Duke for you. He won’t be happy unless everything’s squared away.”

“More rest for me, I guess.” Telos tried to breathe out his adrenaline, his senses still keyed up in case of danger. He’d probably only relax when they were back at the hotel. “How’s your arm?”

Mav shrugged. His wounds were bleeding sluggishly now, much less severe than before. But he was still bleeding, and Telos didn’t like it.

He shifted his nail into a claw and sliced off the cloth holding up Mav’s healing spells. Then he fished out two fresh spells from his pouch.

Mav frowned. “Are you sure?”

“We’re almost done with the rescue. Those who need help are on their way to the hospital.”

At that, Mav sighed. “Do what you want.”

Telos raised an eyebrow. “Don’t offer things you can’t give.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“You tell me. What can I do? Or rather, who can I do?”

Mav’s gaze sharpened. Telos’ heart thumped. He pressed the healing spells to either side of Mav’s arm, over the entrance and exit wounds.

The spell didn’t seem to work as well this time. Mav barely hissed at all, but at least his wounds stopped bleeding. Telos tied a clean strip of cloth around Mav’s arm, staring hard at the wound because Mav was still watching him, and it made him nervous.

“Thanks,” Mav murmured.

Telos shrugged. “I had to make sure we didn’t lose anyone we needed on the mission.”

Mav snorted. “Yeah, and that’s why you’re using all your healing spells on me right now. I could just go back to the hotel and have someone stitch me up.”

“Shut up.”

Mav’s smile grew. “You like me.”

Telos was not blushing. “So? You knew that already.”

“So.” Mav leaned closer. And he caught Telos’ chin, brushing his mouth against the corner of Telos’ lips.