Chapter 596
“That is horrifying,” Jordan said.
at’s the least weird thing we’ve done,” Ivory said. “I’m leaning toward yes.”
“No,” Nina said.
“Come on,” Kael said, looking at the group. “First documented same–sex fated bond in Shadowhere’s recorded history. You’re telling me you don’t want to see if the fiating process is-”
“Exactly like the books,” Ivory said, with the specific quality of someone who’d been hoping someone would make this connection.
“Exactly like the books,” Kael confirmed.
“Everest,” Ivory said.
“Everest,” Kael confirmed.
“The chapter fifteen sequence,” Ivory said.
“I’ve read it four times,” Kael confirmed.
“The question of whether the-”
“Ivory.” Jordan said.
“I’m curious,” she said.
“I know you’re curious,” he said. “You’re always curious. Your curiosity has no ethical governor.”
“The ethical governor slows things down,” she said.
“That’s what it’s for,” he said.
“Inconvenient,” she said.
“NECESSARY,” he said.
Theo and Luca were standing under Kael’s arms with the exp their Alpha found their situation academically interesting an
of people who’d just discovered that ot entirely sure how to navigate this.
“Look,” Kael said, to them, with the specific man–to–man quality he used when he was being direct, “I know this is a lot. The bond is new – well, the recognition is new. The bond’s been there. And I know the girl at the market situation is-”
“Complicated,” Luca said.
“Complicated,” Kael confirmed. “But here’s the thing. Fated bonds are-” he stopped. Made a face. “Look, I have complicated feelings about fated bonds. Ask anyone. I banned them for three years.” He paused. “But what I’ve been learning recently is that complicated isn’t the same as bad. And what you’re feeling right now
“Is alarming,” Theo said.
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“Yes,” Kael said. “It is alarming. It’s also real. And you’ve been-” he looked between them, “-fighting over r girl you were both reaching toward because you couldn’t feel what was actually there. Because the link was suppressed and the bond was suppressed and you were both trying to find the thing you could feel when the thing you were supposed to feel was blocked.”
Silence.
“That’s,” Luca said.
“A reasonable interpretation, Theo said.
“It’s the correct interpretation. Ivory said, from the crowd’s edge, in the tone of someone doing a clinical assessment. “The reaching–toward behavior is well documented in suppressed bond cases. The brain finds the nearest available analog to the fated connection and orients toward it. The girl at the market is an analog. She’s not the source.”
“That’s-” Luca started.
“Better or worse, depending on how you look at it,” Ivory said. “From her perspective, probably better. From yours-” she paused. “It explains the intensity of the argument. You were both fighting for something that wasn’t actually what you thought it was.”
“Okay,” Kael said, moving along, “so the question-”
“We’re not in the room.” Jordan said.
“For science,” Kael said.
“Not for science,” Jordan said.
“For a bunch of interested parties,” Ivory suggested.
“Also no,” Jordan said.
“Edna would want to know,” Kael said.
As if summoned, Edna’s voice arrived in the link with the specific elderly authority of someone who’d been listening and had decided to contribute: “I would want to know.*
“EDNA,” Jordan said.
*What,* Edna said. *I’m old, not dead. And it’s a legitimate question about how fated bonds function in same–sex pairings. The documentation on this is thin.*
“It’s thin,” Ivory confirmed.
“For a reason,” Jordan said.
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“Privacy concerns, Ivory said. “Which are valid. But also result in significant gaps in the research lase”
Tape willing. Kaei said, “to provide supplementary information. For the research base. I would personally be willing to-
“For science, Ivory said.
“For science,” Kael confirmed.
“You could bottom,” Jordan said, in the tone of a man who’d been backed into a corner and was locating.the corner’s exact dimensions.
Everyone looked at him.
“I mean-“Jordan started.
“GO ON,” Nina said, with the enthusiasm of someone who’d been waiting for this specific/sentence and was very glad it had arrived.
“I wasn’t–that came out wrong,” Jordan said.
“Did it,” Nina said.
“I was being-”
“Forthcoming,” Ivory suggested.
“No,” Jordan said.
“Candid,” Kael suggested.
“Absolutely not.” Jordan said.
“Data–driven,” Ivory said.
“IVORY,” Jordan said.
“What,” she said. “You brought up bottoming.”
“I was making a point,” he said.
“What point,” Nina said.
“About the-” he stopped. Looked around the circle of faces. “Why are you all looking at me like that.”
“You said the thing,” Kael said. “Now you have to follow through with the thing.”
“I don’t have to-”
“A certain time ago,” Ivory said, in the specific tone of someone opening a case file, “I had hopes that you and Kael would provide the data for me.”
Jordan looked at her.
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“Sleep with Kael,” he said.
the research base,” she said.
“The size of the d–Jordan started.
“Say it.” Nina said. “Go on.”
Jordan stopped.
He looked at Nina.
Nina looked back at him with the specific expression of someone who had decided she wanted to hear the end of that sentence and had all the time in the world.
“The size of the research gap.” Jordan said.
“That’s what you were going to say.” Nina said.
“Yes,” Jordan said.
“That’s exactly what you were going to say,” Nina said.
“Yes,” Jordan said.
“With great conviction.” Nina said.
“Yes,” Jordan said.
“I believe you.” Nina said, with an expression that communicated the opposite.
“I could,” Kael said, “totally bottom. If that helps.
“IT DOESN’T HELP,” Jordan said.
“I’m being flexible,” Kael said.
“You’re being-“Jordan stopped. “Why am I the only one who thin
“You’re not wrong,” Killian said, from somewhere at the edge of the
inappropriate.”
where he’d been watching with
the expression of someone who’d joined this pack and was still calibrating what normal looked like here.
“THANK YOU,” Jordan said.
“But you’re also outvoted,” Killian said.
“That’s not–out voting doesn’t make something appropriate-”
“Do it for science,” Kael said,
“Do it for the pack,” Ivory said.
“Do it for a bunch of horny people,” Edna said, through the link.
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The link, at this point, had become aware that something interesting was happening in this section of the
mds, and approximately two hundred wolves were tuned in with varying degrees of active participation
“YEAH,” said approximately two hundred wolves.
Jordan looked at the sky.
“Why,” he said. “Why am I the only-
“You’re not the only one who’s right,” Kael said. “You might just be wrong.”
“I am absolutely right,” Jordan said.
“You could be wrong,” Kael said.
“I am not wrong about this,” Jordan said.
“The research gap is real, Ivory said.
“I know the research gap is real.” Jordan said. “I’m saying the proposed methodology is-”
“Fine,” Kael said. “We don’t use them. He indicated Theo and Luca, who had been watching this exchange with the specific expression of people who’d come to their Alpha with a significant personal situation and had somehow ended up as the sane ones in the conversation. “We can provide the information ourselves. I’m willing. For science. I’ll give myself up.”
“This is something I could watch,” Nina said.
“NINA.” Jordan said.
“What,” Nina said. “We’ve done worse.”
“When,” Jordan said.
“Remember when we infiltrated Alpha Monroe’s pack.” Nina said.
The air around the inner circle changed.
Not badly the specific change of people who’d received a re it from different directions. Jordan’s direction appeared to inve
“That was different,” Jordan said.
ey recognized and were arriving at acant discomfort.
“You and Kael had to pretend to be lovers,” Nina said, to me and Killian, providing context with the efficiency of someone filing a report. “Monroe had rumors about certain clubs. We needed access. Kael eventually ripped his heart out for what he was doing to children, but the infiltration required-”
“A performance,” Kael said.
“A convincing one,” Ivory said.
“We don’t need to-” Jordan started.