Covenant (boyxboy)

Chapter Three

"I can walk," Connor said as I scooped him out of the taxi. I carried him to the sidewalk, and he thumped my chest. "Come on, put me down. I'm not sick anymore!"

With reluctance, I set him on his feet. His heart rate was steady, his breathing clear. But a sense of dread remained coiled in my stomach, no matter how many times I repeated the facts to myself.

Connor's symptoms had never escalated beyond the severity of a flu. He'd started recovering within a week—lightning fast, compared to what untreated humans experienced—and once his immune system had gotten the upper hand, his vitals were back to normal in a span of seventy-two hours. It had been a textbook project from beginning to end. With the amount of antibodies now coursing through his system, he was nearly as immune to the virus as a Nephilim. And after a couple weeks of quarantine he was no longer contagious. Elioud Biogenesis had already implemented mass inoculations of our communities across the globe based on the data Connor's test case had provided.

He'd literally saved our world.

Cambrias was so thrilled, he'd granted Connor a temporary reprieve from further experiments, other than his ongoing wellness exams. Basically, Bo, Connor and I were on vacation for the next month.

So why did I still feel so anxious?

Connor gave me an exasperated huff, shouldered his backpack, and started up the path toward our house. I pulled out my phone and tapped the security app so that the gate opened. Then I followed as he got to the front door and waited for me to unlock it.

We'd barely been in this new place a month before Connor's three-week coronavirus stint at the lab. After living nearly two decades in an apartment, I was still getting used to the space and seclusion of this three-bedroom bungalow. I'd moved us to a residential neighborhood several blocks to the south. The commute to work was longer, but Connor and I weren't tripping on top of each other anymore. There were even two bathrooms, so each of us had our own.

It was a nice little place, sandy-colored brick and white trim, a small concrete porch in front. I'd put a security fence around the property, with motion sensor cameras and an alarm system. Connor was safer here than in the apartment complex. His pheromone signature was a lure to every Nephilim in his proximity, not just me, and sharing the building's ventilation system with sixty other apartments had always made me uneasy. Now we had yards, front and back, and brick walls between us and the neighbors. The houses were too close together for my liking, but it was a vast improvement over the prior arrangement.

In the entryway, Connor kicked off his sneakers and tossed his backpack by the door. Then he collapsed face-first onto the couch. "God, it's fucking good to be home!"

I flashed into his senses long enough to be sure he was feeling okay. He twisted his head to look at me. "You hungry? I could eat a moose."

I jumped, guiltily. My conscience loved to remind me what a bastard I was, invading his privacy so often. It was a habit I had to break. But I'd felt the empty growl of his stomach. "Rest. I'll make you some food."

He popped off the couch and threw an arm out, barring my way into the kitchen. "No way, I've been eating your weird lab cooking for weeks. I want something that's not a rehydrated bowl of preservatives. I'm doing it."

I backed off, blinking, as he darted for the pantry and started rummaging. Maybe I ought to have been offended, but his obsession with food was so cute. Come to think of it, he'd eaten every single meal I'd brought him in the lab without complaining. Even when he hadn't had an appetite because of his illness. Given that all we had in the EBG break rooms were TV dinners and cup noodles, it must have been hard for him.