Dex pulled away to arch an eyebrow at him. “Shouldn’t you be comforting me?”
Sloane held back a laugh at Dex’s serious pouting. Thank goodness his sense of humor remained intact. “Sorry.”
“I expect lots of comfort.”
Sloane smiled, his lips brushing Dex’s temple. “All the comfort is yours.”
“Will you make me hot chocolate when we get home?”
“You bet.”
“With whipped cream?”
“And marshmallows. And powdered chocolate from Belgium,” Sloane added, his heart squeezing when Dex laced their fingers together, the bandages around Dex’s fingers faintly scraping against Sloane’s skin, making certain he couldn’t forget for even a moment.
Dex yawned, his voice sleepy. “In my magic lightsaber mug?”
“Of course. How else would a Jedi knight drink his hot cocoa?”
“I think I’ll keep you.”
Sloane chuckled. “I appreciate that.”
In a matter of seconds, Dex was fast asleep. Knowing there were armed guards outside the door and a small army of TIN Therian operatives were walking around the place, Sloane closed his eyes and slept.
Sometime later, Sloane was woken up by Dex’s low growl. He opened his eyes to find Dex glaring at Sparks, who stood at the end of the bed looking frustrated.
“Bullshit. If anyone knows anything about a file, it’ll be him.”
“No,” Sparks insisted. “We keep Sergeant Maddock out of this.”
“He was the closest thing to family my parents had. If anyone knows—”
“Dex, we have to tread carefully here. Hogan, Fuller, Pearce…. None of them can compare to what we’re up against. Wolf doesn’t work for just anyone. He works for government organizations, for the kind of people who can make your loved ones disappear. Right now, Tony isn’t on Wolf’s radar. He’s a sergeant, and a high-profile officer for the THIRDS. The risk of being exposed would be too great for Wolf, unless you give him a reason to move on Tony. You bring your father into this, you make him a target. Is that what you want?”
Dex let out a grunt. “Then what?”
“Like I said. Let me make arrangements for you to talk to Shultzon. Maybe he’ll open up to you and Sloane.”
“Fine. But if we don’t get the answers we need, we’ll be having this discussion again.”
Sparks nodded. “I assume you agree, Sloane?”
Sloane sat up and ran a hand through his hair. “What Dex said.”
“Very well.”
The door opened, and several Therians in lab coats entered with an array of equipment.
“What the hell is this?” Sloane glowered at the expressionless operatives. Hadn’t Dex been through enough? How many more tests did they need? And what were the tests even for?
“We’re going to run some final tests to make sure Dex is ready to be released. I’ll make contact as soon as arrangements have been made.”
Meaning Shultzon wasn’t on-site. Who knew how many bases of operation TIN had or how far the organization stretched?
“When will I get the results of these tests?” Dex asked as one doctor wheeled over a stainless steel cart with equipment Sloane had never seen before.
“We’ll be in touch,” Sparks replied before leaving the room.