“We know,” Reed says, “but like hell are we going to let you do this alone.”
“We’re here for you, if you need us,” River says sincerely. His eyes flash to his kitsunes as he adds, “I don’t care what kind of supernatural he is, if he hurts you in any fucking way, I’ll rip out his throat.”
“I’ll help,” Coen adds.
It doesn’t surprise me. He may have a loyalty to Dimitri, but he holds more loyalty to me.
I fucking love it.
“Thank you,” I say.
“You should know, just in case it goes in a way that we don’t expect, you won’t be able to call on Asael and Betty while you’re inside the prison,” Raiden warns me. “I’m not expecting it to go badly, but I do know that Betty, in particular, is your emotional support gun, so I wanted you to know that you won’t be able to call on them, so you don’t panic if you try and you can’t.”
I nod, “Thank you. That was a smart call. I was most likely going to call on Betty at some point, and I would have definitely panicked if I couldn’t.”
“It’s going to be okay,” River says firmly, leaving no room for argument.
“Does anyone want to play eye spy? What about tic-tac-toe? Anyone got any paper? I know, let's have a deep and meaningful discussion about where our relationship is going,” I ramble.
The guys smile at my nervous rambling.
“Neith, our relationship is going wherever the fuck you want it to. We’re in it for the long haul, and that means forever and everything that may entail,” Raiden says in a somewhat matter-of-fact kind of way before adding, “Now stop stalling. You’ve got this.”
My mouth drops open, and I must look like a gaping fish. I have no idea what just happened, but he’s shocked me silent. The guys all nodding in agreement with his words didn’t help either.
They all chuckle as Doc grabs my hand and pulls me gently from the car.
We head toward the doors, before we get there, Doc asks quietly, “How do you want to play this? Would you like me to come into the interrogation room with you, or would you like me to wait outside?”
I take a moment to think about it, and we slow down to allow me a little bit of extra time.
“Can you stay on the other side of the glass, please?” I ask him.
He nods, “Absolutely.”
“Thank you,” I say as I squeeze his hand.
We carry on walking for a moment before Doc adds in a voice as cold as death, “If he threatens you in any way, I will be in there, the cameras will be off, and I will fucking make sure he regrets it.”
“Thank you,” I reply, after a moment.
It really does help, knowing that someone has my back. For many of our interactions, when he got considerably worse, no one had my back, and in fact, several of the slimy fucks that he employed after he changed, used to join in.
So knowing that Doc will be in there if I need him to be, that means a lot.
He chuckles slightly, although his laughter has an edge to it, “Most people wouldn’t thank me for that.”
“I’m not most people,” I reply sincerely, as I glance over at him.
He smiles, pulling me under his arm and kissing my head, “Thank fuck for that.”
We move apart as we get closer to the imposing building and switch into work mode instead, as I reluctantly let go of Doc’s hand.
As we get to the doors, we both swipe our ID badges and even have to do a retina scan, which is super fucking cool.
HID definitely didn’t have anything like this, and I’m not just saying that because I never saw it or had access to it, even their interrogation rooms didn’t have proper locks on them. If the prisoner was really motivated, then they could have gotten out of the room pretty fucking easily.
This place is incredibly high-tech and possibly the most secure place I have ever been in. As a former criminal who is still somewhat morally grey, being inside makes my ass pucker.
