I nod, “Yeah, I know what you mean. Especially since we’re not apparently supposed to know about the threat yet.”
“I don’t like all the unknowns,” he adds, and I hum in agreement.
He decided that he would rather look over the case files and his notes in the office with me, and to be honest, I’m grateful for the company. It helps to pull me out of my work every now and then. Which I need, or I end up getting so sucked into it that I lose huge chunks of time. Kind of like Raiden does when he goes to the library.
Both of us refocus on our work for a while before I remember that I wanted to check in with him.
“How’s the feeding thing going?” I ask him. “We haven’t really spoken about it since you first brought it up.” I frown, “Sorry, man, I should have checked in sooner.”
Doc glances up from what he’s reading and smiles, “Don’t worry about it. It’s not like we’ve actually stopped properly for a while. It seems to be just one thing after another at the moment.”
“I know, but I still should have asked,” I reply. I don’t like it when I drop the ball like this. It’s my job to make sure that everyone in the team is okay, and I know you all come to me if you have issues, but I like to be on top of it.
“Seriously, stop worrying it’s fine.” He reassures me and then continues, “I’m doing great, actually. I still can’t seem to feed from anyone else, but I have absolutely no desire to. I really don’t want to feed from anyone else but Neith, which is an entirely new experience for me. It hasn’t seemed to affect me as much as it should. I’m still picking up enough,” he smirks, “more than enough actually, from her and you guys. Apparently, so long as she has caused the desire, then I can still feed from you guys too. I feel stronger than I ever have, which is weird.”
“Huh, that is strange. Are you sure that she isn’t your bonded?” I ask him seriously. It’s the only reason that I can think of that would explain his strange reaction.
I mean, he did have the strange desire to be here when Neith first showed up. He said so himself.
Personally, I think it would just make sense.
He shrugs, “She can’t be. It’s not like it is with a kitsune, Succubus and Incubus have more choice in the matter. This is more than that. I can’t feed from anyone else but her, and apparently, as a byproduct, you guys too, but that’s it. That’s not how it works with us.”
My eyebrows raise, “Maybe we should go and ask Raiden and see if he’s found anything? He’s been in the library every opportunity he can be, trying to catch up on all the research that we have to do.”
Doc shrugs, “Yeah, I’m ready for a break anyway. It’s not really concerning me, but if there is somehow a chance that she’s my bonded, that would be fucking awesome, and I would obviously like to know sooner rather than later.”
I chuckle, “Yeah, it would.”
We get up, but before we leave the large office, he stops me, “Why did you tell Neith that Sirens don’t have mates?”
I grimace, “I didn’t mean to, not at first. I’ve known that she was my mate since just before I went to the Magical Academy. I had this whole thing planned about how I was going to tell her, but she disappeared. Telling her when we were in the middle of the woods and dealing with the wolves would have opened up that discussion, and we didn’t really have time for that. Plus, she had only just found out that she was River’s fated mate. I didn’t want to overwhelm her and then have her freak out and run away again. So, it sort of just came out, and I went with it. She never attended the classes, as I said, so she didn’t know I wasn’t telling her the truth.”
Doc frowns, “You know she’s going to be really fucking pissed at you?”
I nod and sigh, “Yeah, I knew that as soon as the words came out of my mouth. But by that point, it was too late.”
He shakes his head, “The longer that you leave it, the harder it's going to be to tell her the truth. I think you should go and do it now before life gets crazy for us again, and you don’t have the chance.” He pauses and studies my worried expression, realization dawning across his, “She’s going to be really happy, you know that, right? You know, after she’s done being mad at you because you lied to her.”
“I hope you’re right,” I reply, aware that I still sound unsure. “Let’s go and talk to Raiden first.”
He raises his eyebrows at me, knowing perfectly well that I’m stalling on purpose.
“Are you sure?” he asks.
I nod and add with a sheepish smile, “Just let me stall a little bit.”
He grins, “You’ve got it, man. Let’s go and find Raiden and see if there’s something that I need to be worried about.”
We head out of the room and through the house to the library. I grin when Raiden doesn’t even look up when we walk in. He is so absorbed in whatever it is that he’s reading that he is completely unaware that we’re here.
“Hey, man,” I greet him, trying not to let my smile widen when he jumps.
He looks up, “Hey, guys. What’s up?”
“We’re here about me. I still find the thought of feeding on any desire other than Neith’s and you guys utterly repulsive, and yet what I’m picking up from her is more than enough to sustain me. So I was wondering if you’d managed to do any research into it?” Doc says, walking over to the coffee machine and laying it all on the table.
My eyebrows rise in surprise despite the fact that we’ve just had this conversation. He didn’t quite describe it like that to me, and I have a feeling that it’s a bit more of a big deal than he’s let on. He made it seem like he just didn’t want to feed, not that he found it repulsive.
