The hivemind is conquering for me?

White Death looked on curiously. 'Sloppy manipulation of the Cyros, he clearly has only recently awakened this power, but the amount of energy he is able to conjure with such sloppy technique. He could be the key.'

White Death also noticed that Apollo was wincing. 'Is he injured?' He thought to himself. This might be his best chance to attempt a possible grooming of the young man, while he is defenceless, but as he was about to walk over to introduce himself, White Death felt a chill.

Not a chill he was familiar with or had mastery over, no this was something else. All of a sudden, a woman was standing next to Apollo, rubbing his back as he continued his channeling for a short while longer.

White Death had not felt fear in a very long time, but that woman enacted it within him. To make matters worse, the woman turned in his direction and narrowed her eyes at him as though in warning before turning back to Apollo.

White Death was taking no more chances. He would have future opportunities to interact with the man he would wager. Preferably away from the woman who made it feel like he had a knife to his throat simply looking at her. He then proceeded to walk back over to his past flame to reignite the conversation in an attempt to settle his beating heart.

…

I was sweating bullets from my head as I suppress the pain, but as I removed my hand from Ronnie and saw the white hand mark, I smiled. "There you go Ronnie. You are now marked as one of my own. Wear that scar like a badge of honour." I said before I scrunched up my face as the manipulation of energy caused a chain reaction inside of my body.

Ronnie looked at his scar with pride. 'One of Apollo's chosen.' He did indeed feel honoured, but that was put to the side as his concern for Apollo took over. Fortunately Onyx arrived at the scene the moment she realised Apollo was using Psionic energy. Discover exclusive content at empire

"Here you go my universe. Take a couple." She suggested as she pulled out two of the meat blocks from out of nowhere. I did not argue and wolfed them down as fast as possible. The first one did nothing, but the second one did thankfully alleviate my symptoms of pain.

Leaning against the nearby pillar to ironically cool me down, I listened as Onyx began to scold me. "Apollo, that was beyond reckless. You know that you are in a vulnerable position right now. Using Psionic energy is the last thing you should be doing and you know this. We never want to restrict you my universe, but if you cannot behave yourself, we will put you into an induced coma. You may be mad at us if we do that, but the safety of our mate takes top priority."

I side eyed Onyx for a moment before smiling coyly. "Mmh, my love. Throwing out ultimatums is incredibly sexy. Just goes to show how much you love me." Onyx kept a serious face on as she stared at me, but the blip of green energy in her eyes gave away her true emotions.

Reaching out and taking her hand, I sighed like I lost and was giving in. "Fine, I won't use any more energy for as long as we are together. Ok?" The green energy in her eyes dissipated as she furrowed her brow.

"Apollo, now is not the time for teasing, I need to be sure you are going to stay safe during your journey back. It is important to me as I won't be close by to protect you." She said sternly.

Putting my hands up I sighed in defeat. "Fine! I guess my health is not a joke topic with you my love, I get it. I promise you I won't use my energy until I am out of my healing vat back home, happy?"

Onyx smiled in content before planting a kiss on my cheek. She then began to walk away as she said. "For now, my universe." I watched Onyx walk back towards Orchid and I could not help but admire her derriere and would miss it inside of my Mindspace over the next few months.

Sapphire on the other hand, was sending me waves of delight at having peace and quiet as it would only be her and the sword. As I continued to stare at Onyx's rear, I could not help but gulp. 'Man, I could use a drink.' I thought after a moment and made my way to the bar, forgetting that Ronnie had been standing there the whole time as I walked away.

"Thank you." He ended up saying to himself before smiling back down towards the handprint on his arm. 'Best. Day. Ever!'

…

"So then, my boss was all like. 'Love, I get you are trying to be supportive, but you have to respect workplace boundaries.' I mean I get that, but I was only trying to help her destress as she had a lot going on. A nice talk could help with that. Also-"

Zeona decided to clock out of Delilah's rambling. She loved the woman like a sister, but by goodness, does she ever ramble on. Zeona had to give it to Keyla, the woman seemed genuinely engaged as she listened to the drivel coming out of Delilah's mouth.

Deciding to take another gander around to see if Apollo had finally separated from the line of women who made it seem like a necessity to dance with him. After looking towards the spot he had been the most this evening, she realised he was not there.

She began peacocking around before she heard the same voice from the speech earlier to her right. "Hey Maddie, how are you tonight?" Zeona decided to watch out of the corner of her eye for a moment.

"Hi Apollo, much better now that I have spoken to you." She said as she leaned onto the bar top with both elbows. I smiled at Maddie, she had opened up a lot more with prolonged exposure to me and did not turn away with embarrassment after every conversation, though I still tried to make that happen.

"Oh that is sweet of you to say dear." I replied before looking around. "Mandy not with you this evening?" Maddie shook her head before she began speaking low. "No, Mandy could not deal with these." She said as she pulled down on her under eyelid.

Zeona noticed this and zoomed in her optics. ' Coloured Contacts? Heh, and hear I thought they were obsolete with all the eye cybernetics available.' She thought to herself before she continued with the eavesdropping.

"Since she knows you love our eyes so much, she decided not to risk anything going near them. So she will be in a secondary location until the Praetorian leaves." Zeona glanced at Apollo for a moment. 'Ochlophilia? Meh, not the worst thing I have overheard someone having a fetish over.'

"Oh is that so? That is a shame, I would have liked to see the pair of you working behind the bar one last time. It is a feast for the eyes after all." I said, causing myself to laugh as I managed to make Maddie look away in embarrassment.

When she turned back, she looked professional once more as she asked Apollo. "So what can I get you tonight Apollo?" After our usual banter, I then picked up the menu and had a look down the drinks list. "Let's see. I will have..."

Zeona could guess exactly what this man was going to order. He was a noble, so his tastes would be first class. He would feel the need to impress anyone around that saw it so it also had to look appealing.

She would usually guess whiskey, but the man seemed too young to enjoy the smoky or peaty flavours of a good whiskey. A club setting such as this was too lively for a good wine as well so that left her with a final guess. A simple brandy, possibly on the rocks.

"Yes that looks good, I will have a blue lagoon please Maddie." I said and passed the menu back. All of a sudden, I heard a snort coming from my right. Looking over, I saw a woman stifling a laugh and sitting next to her was. 'Delilah?'

I suddenly remembered Sophia telling me earlier to act like I did not know Delilah if I came across her. 'Ooh, I wonder if this is a person of interest?' I thought excitedly. I decided then to try a little bit of espionage to see if I could help Sophia in any way.

"Hi, are you laughing at me?" I questioned the woman to which she replied. "Forgive me Archon, I just did not expect you to order such a 'feminine' beverage. You don't seem the type is all."

I shrugged my shoulders before replying. "What can I say? I like a drink with a pleasant taste." As Maddie placed the drink down in front of me I decided to act 'cool' for the first time in a long time.

"Besides." I said as I pushed the drink across the bar towards the woman. "I like to drink with company." The woman blinked in surprise upon hearing that,caught off guard for the third time this night, while also not realising her ginger friend had stopped talking and was now giving her a grumpy look from behind.

She decided to take Apollo up on his invitation as it fell perfectly into her goals. "Very well Apollo, I am Z by the way, It would be my pleasure to have a drink with you, only you have just given me yours?" She said leadingly.

I smiled with the cool factor I was about to drop, even though only I would ever understand the coolness of it. I then turned to Maddie and smiled as I asked for a drink worth of my current espionage goal.

"Maddie, could you fetch me a Martini? Shaken, not stirred?"