Luke attempted for the fifth time to get the damn tie to knot anything like it should. The silk was something he wasn't used to and it slipped and slithered through his sausage fingers like it was alive.
"Come here," Alex said. His voice was gentle and held a note of laughter. Luke stood still as Alex concentrated on getting the red silk to behave and he took his fill of the man in front of him.
His love for Alex was a very strange thing. Meeting as they had—with mystery and kidnapping and the entire weight of Grecian gods bearing down on them—had been a long way past interesting. Alex coming home as he had done three nights before, his eyes wide with fear and his inner thoughts of despair carved into his face had been a shock. But it had been nothing Luke couldn't handle.
Before, when making love, there had been a spark of blue between them and when they were joined as close as two lovers could be, Luke had often thought he could sense Alex's thoughts. He had dismissed it as wishful thinking. Wishful? Was that the right word? Did he really want Alex to have all those powers back? Yes, it would make his retrievals and replacements a lot easier. That was a plus. But there were downsides. The most obvious was the instant worry that Alex might be in pain. Alex described it as pain but then in the same breath said he welcomed the touch of the blue fire.
The less obvious was the one thing that Luke could not get his head around. The Greek gods were a myth. A story. But inside him, even as an academic, he had to question that. He couldn't deny the evidence standing in front of him. What if the gods weren't happy to just take Athan back? What if they had returned the powers and somehow wanted Alex?
Alex's blue eyes were so bright while he was concentrating. When he did that he frowned and suddenly Luke wanted to kiss that frown away. Pushing Alex's hands to one side as soon as the damn tie was finished, he was somewhat satisfied when Alex let out a near squeak of surprise. It wasn't often he could surprise his lover.
"They're not getting you back, you know," Luke stated simply. He kissed his lover on each eye and the tip of his nose before pressing a kiss against Alex's surprised 'O' of exclamation. They kissed deeply. Luke could never get enough of the taste of his man. When Alex separated them with a chuckle, he tilted his head in question.
"Who?" he asked.
"Zeus, Apollo, who the fuck ever."
"Oh." Alex frowned again. "I hadn't thought—"
"Don't. Don't think at all. They will have to come through me to get to you." Luke imbued his statement with every ounce of conviction he could muster and Alex smiled the frown away.
"You. Against the gods? No competition. They won't get near me," Alex said. He pulled Luke into a hug and Luke didn't care if his shirt was going to get creased or his tie was ruined—he held on tightly in return.
"I was being serious," Luke said. He knew he sounded defensive but Alex wasn't laughing at him.
"So was I."
They held each other for a few seconds and then by silent agreement they parted—Alex to concentrate on sorting his own tie and Luke to the bathroom. With the door shut between them, Luke leaned back and concentrated on his breathing. It would break him to lose Alex. Literally tear him apart and leave him bloody and broken in the wake of such a loss.
"Me too," Alex said from the other side of the door.
Damn. He'd forgotten how this link worked. Alex was inside his head. And Luke could do the same if he concentrated hard enough.
"I love you, Alex linked-to-the-gods Sheridan," he thought with determination.
"I love you, Luke linked-to-me MacKinnon," Alex thought in return.
Luke heard every syllable and it made him smile.
"Ass in gear," Alex said loudly. "Griff has the car ready."
Griff and Luke had been invited to an evening reception at an embassy in London. Griff for his connection to the Morgan collection—a room full of old documents that his family had collected over the years that were circulated around the museum circuit frequently. Luke apparently because of his ability with languages and his mild fame on the lecture circuit now. Luke hated these evenings. They were often full of people with titles and no reason to live apart from schmoozing and talking down to people like him. He wasn't convinced he understood how Griff had gotten him to agree to go, but at least both men had their 'plus ones'. Any stupid gathering was easier with Alex by his side.
One final breath to settle himself and he moved out of the bathroom, grabbed his jacket, and followed Alex down the wide sweeping stairway of Six Pillars and to the waiting car by the fountain. Luke knew nothing about cars but this was big and plush and had room for a football team. Of course, some of said football team would have to sit on each other's laps but now was not the time to be thinking on that. Especially when Alex cast him a glance of amusement. Shit. He really needed to cap his thoughts.
Griff was looking at his phone, Chris and Alex were talking, and Luke was just listening.
"We need to discuss the cathedral problem," Alex said.
"We'll cover it tomorrow."
"I want the lift done soon."
"We know," Griff responded quickly. "It's not like the book is going anywhere, the new owner is a recluse and doesn't seem to want to share the fact that he has a book that was lifted from the Chained Library in his office."
"We need to do some recon," Chris interrupted. "You need to go through the damn mappa mundi security to even get to the chained library. The windows are high and there's only one other door to access it."
Luke smiled to himself. He guessed that was the upshot of all of this. If Alex was all-powerful then surely he could walk in and walk out without much of a problem.
"The book should be back in the chained library," Alex said simply. "We'll find a way."
Chris nodded then peered out of the window at the profusion of signs proclaiming that the City of London was five miles away. "Where exactly is it you're dragging me to tonight?" Chris asked.
"The Serbian embassy. Some guy called—" Griff peered at an engraved invitation edged in platinum color. "Milan Surčin invited Luke and I."
Alex stiffened in his seat and his sudden shock telegraphed to Luke like a punch to the gut.
"Milan Surčin?" Alex snapped. "Drugs trafficking through Lima, ex-Serbian mafia? That Milan Surčin?"
Chris leaned closer to Griff. Gone was the suave guy in a suit and straight to the front was the soldier.
"A lot of things happen in war," Griff said calmly. He might have been talking to Alex but he was looking at Chris.
Luke opened his mouth to interrupt but Alex got there first.
"What is he doing at the embassy now?" Alex was clearly ignoring Griff's calming technique.
"He apparently has some translating work for me," Luke interrupted.
"No. Do you know what he is? What he wants? What his schedule is? He's a war criminal and he's using you. He uses everyone."
"I never said I was going to do it," Luke said. "Give me some credit. We're just seeing what he wants and why he asked Griff as well. It's no different to any other meet and greet we go through for the Morgan collection."
"Are none of you getting this?" The car turned into Belgravia and suddenly they'd run out of time for discussion. Luke frowned. What was Alex trying to say? "We talked about this. I meet an ex-art thief, part of the Serbian Pink Panthers group, maybe the only surviving member of that gang at the museum. Then a Serbian ex-leader who appears to have come away from the war with a clean passport and has been allowed into the UK all of sudden wants to meet you?"
"You're saying it wouldn't be possible that he actually wants to meet me?" Luke snapped. "It's not always about you, Alex."
"This is. I promise you something is wrong here. Dragan said you would be part of what I did soon enough and we never analyzed what he meant. You're not going in there." Alex's tone brooked no argument but Luke was a grown man and he knew what he was doing.
The car pulled to a gentle stop and the driver climbed out to open the door to the rear. Griff exited first but the remaining three men were at an impasse.
"We can't put Luke in there with them," Alex said simply.
Great, now he was talking to Griff as if Luke wasn't even there. Luke's stubborn streak pushed to the fore and he glanced out at other cars and other people arriving. It wasn't just the four of them. Quickly, before Alex could stop him, he left the car and stood next to Griff. Alex was at his side in an instant.
"I don't trust this," he thought clear enough for Luke to hear. Luke swallowed his instant defense that he could look after himself. He wasn't stupid, far from it. Alex felt something was wrong and so he should heed his lover's advice.
"We're here now," Luke pointed out. "Let's at least see what they want us to do. Just stay with me and we'll be fine."
Alex grabbed Luke's hand and held on tightly. He didn't often give such public displays of affection since he didn't want attention drawn to them, but Luke pushed those thoughts away and held on to Alex's grip. Shoulders back, they waited until Chris was out of the car, while Griff gave the driver instructions.
"A couple of hours and we will be out of here," Luke telegraphed. He hoped Alex would pick up the thoughts. A subtle squeeze of his hand and Luke was happy. The link was there. Excitement flooded him as he pushed the worries to one side and focused on what the embassy contact had told him. Inside this place was a manuscript that was circa fourteenth century and just the thought of getting his hand on the vellum was enough for him to grin broadly.
"Nerd," Alex murmured under his breath.
Luke just grinned harder. Yep. Total nerd.