Outside Chinook, Annik's Bedroom in the Manor, Mid October
For a moment Nic couldn't remember why he was standing in the doorway to the guest room that Mikal had assigned to Annik. All he could see was how beautiful she was. Breathing in, he took her scent deep into his lungs. Wanting to hold it there forever. His brain just fuzzed out, froze, not wanting to move or say anything in case doing so made her run from him again. All he wanted was to be with Annik forever. To hold her, to care for her, to do whatever she wanted til time ceased.
And he thought he'd be able to let her go once her Tempering was done? That so wasn't going to happen. The memory of his parents, dead, flashed through Nic's mind again. Freezing the blood in his veins. If he stayed with her she would be in danger. So as much as it hurt, And it was going to kill him, Nic would let her go. For her own good. Anything else was just him being a selfish bastard. It would just be another way to let her down. something he would never do again. He would see her safely through her change and then pass her onto someone safer.
But passing people on to others for their own good hadn't worked out so well the last two times he'd done it? had it. He would have to make sure he did it right this time. Then the memory of the captured civilians flashed through his brain. The Undying had changed their behavior lately. What if they were looking for something? or worse someone? What if they were looking for Annik? Was anyplace as safe as the mansion compound? No, probably not. So even if it was selfish wasn't the safest place for her right here? with him? God, he was going to go insane trying to figure this mess out.
Standing in front of him Annik looked like an angel. A very confused angel. Had she spoken and he missed it? Damn it, he was going to have to keep his head in the game. Otherwise he might wake up without it. Nodding Nic acknowledged the bow that Mikal made.
"If you will excuse me master, mistress, I need to supervise first meal," Mikal said, giving another bow to each of them as he spoke before leaving.
Niculai waited for the door to close behind his major domo before speaking.
"Speaking of first meal, I thought you might feel more comfortable attending it with someone you know," Nic said. "Unless you'd rather eat in your room?"
God Nic really hoped that she wanted to go have first meal with him. More time with her, getting to know her better was going to make letting her go harder when the time came. But he had to be with her like he had to breathe. Focus on what's happening Nic thought, forcing himself to focus on Annik rather what he thought of her. Don't want to miss anything she says, again.
"First meal?"
"I believe Humans call it break fast. Or some such," Nic answered.
"Ah, yeah we call it breakfast," Annik answered. Nodding her head she continued. "Yes I would like to go to breakfast, first meal, what ever you want to call it with you."
God the sound of her voice went right through him. It both soothed him and energized him at the same time. He could listen to her talk till time stopped and not get enough of it. Feeling like a pathetic loser, Nic offered Annik his arm. Like a gentlemale would, like he was one? He wasn't sure if he hoped she would take his arm or if she wouldn't. Both maybe?
"Thank you," Annik said as she took his offered arm.
Her touch went through him like her voice did. Slicing him to the quick and healing his wounds at the same time. Looking down, Nic saw her small hand resting gently on his much larger arm. His whole body stilled, his whole world stilled, waiting, like she had the remote to his body. Nic never wanted her to stop touching him.
"I'm sorry," Annik said, her face reddening as she started to remove her hand. "I thought you wanted me -"
"No," Nic cut in stopping her from taking her hand from his arm. "Please let me escort you to first meal." Nic kept his hand on top of hers as he led her from the room. He never wanted to let her go.
A few minutes later the two of them were walking into the formal dining room. Well, that was what the room was called. Nic's Siblings weren't formal at the best of times. Downright rowdy was more like it. Although anytime the protocol button got pushed, when they were around outsiders in other words, the Siblings oozed formal. Other than that? not so much. Which is exactly how Nic liked it. He hated the formal dinners that the DeNeam held on the regular, just the thought of all that pretense and fakeness gave him the scratch.
Sitting at the head of the table Nic set her at his right, in the place of honor. The chatter stilled for a moment when they came in together but quickly picked back up at his glare. He so wasn't going to take any grief from the peanut gallery aka his Siblings in the Ashen War-Kin. He got enough hassle from them on the regular as it was. He wasn't even going to let it start over him escorting a female to first meal. Looking over at Annik to see if she noticed the momentary silence, thankfully it looked like she hadn't. Annik was looking around the room with wide eyes, taking it all in. As far as Nic could tell she hadn't even really registered the presence of the rest of the meatheads he called family that shared the table with them.
The huge formal dining table was fuller than usual, seating almost thirty people today. Not just the Siblings that lived here but a few visiting ones as well. Oh yeah, a new training class just started. That is why Rhuv was all up in my ass about coming and observing them. Any Sibling bringing in someone to get advanced training always stayed for a week or two so that the new student would have someone that they knew while they settled in. They had learned long ago that having someone that you knew when a new student got here made their transitions easier. Even though they rarely took in students before their Tempering's any more, it did still happen. Nic was actually considering doing that more often. Once upon a time the average age of student was under twenty. Now days the average age was closer to forty. That was still young to an Anvidai of course but well after adulthood had been reached. Either way had good and bad points and Nic hadn't decided if going back to the old way would be better.
Nodding at everyone Nic was glad that none of them were trying to get his attention. Thank the Mother, Nic thought as he watched Mikal and his staff bring in all the food. No one is here to give a report that they didn't trust to the phone lines. That was very good news as far as Nic was concerned. It meant that He could take Annik to the doc in the training facility. He wanted to make sure she was healthy. Nic didn't want any surprises to pop up when she went through her Tempering. Anvidai had died in their Tempering after all.
As soon as everyone was done eating, the arguing over patrol areas started. My brain is so mush right now. It's a good thing that I'm not going out to fight tonight. My mind is so scattered I'd put my team at risk. Nope, fighting distracted was a good way to wake up dead as Rhuv was fond of saying. One person that Nic did want to talk to was Pyetr, the Ashen War-Kin's Weaver, about the book Annik had brought with her. He needed to know more about the book and how Ingretta got her hands on it. He already knew that Annik couldn't answer any of the those questions, he'd asked her last night.
Nic couldn't keep his eyes off Annik. He tried not to look at her but couldn't stop himself. Who knew that he'd ever hate how good his peripheral vision was. The only way to not look at her was to close his eyes. Something that would make eating his food a bit more difficult. For heavens sake he really needed to get control of himself. Nic constantly caught himself looking at Annik. It was so embarrassing he was surprised that he wasn't blushing so much that everyone could tell. Thank god for not being a red head with fair skin. If he had been Nic was very sure everyone would know just how much he wanted Annik. Nic was so distracted by his own thought that he didn't really register the fact that the focus of said thoughts had stood up and walked out of the dinning room.
All Nic could think of was that he needed to speak to Pyetr. He had no sooner stood up and started to walk over to the Sibling when an ear-splitting sound echoed out of the foyer. Nic's only thought was that Annik was in there alone. Was she hurt? Had she fallen or something. He couldn't imagine what had caused her to scream but he was sure going to find out. Nic flashed into the foyer because running would have been to slow. Just in time to see Glinda, Bree and Rhuv's pet Bawelthu or crawler, as the Humans called them, run up the stairs like it was being chased. It's long skinny limbs looking almost comical as it scurried back up the stairs as fast as it could.
"Well," Nic murmured to himself "At least I know why she screamed."
As soon as she started towards him NIc pulled Annik into his arms without thinking about it. And for her part Annik sagged into his hold in relief. It felt so good to be supporting her even if it was only for this moment. How Nic wished that he could keep doing this forever. Keep his arms around Annik, supporting her and helping her for the rest of his life. But that wasn't to be was it. He was going to have to let her go for her own safety. Looking down at the top of Annik's head, Nic spoke to the his Siblings and staff, everyone that had come running at Annik's terrified scream. The majority with weapons in hand.
NIc spoke quickly and quietly to everyone that had come running. He knew that Annik was as embarrassed by her fear as she was afraid. He could feel her emotions as much as he could smell them. His being able to sense her emotions so wasn't a good sign. It meant that he was beginning to Pair Bond with her. Yeah like that was a news flash? Of course he was Pair Bonding with her and that meant there was no way he would be able to let her go. One half of a bonded couple without their mate was the walking dead, especially if it was a male. He was only fooling himself if he thought he'd be able to let Annik go. But what choice did he have?
Nic wished that he could tell her how he felt but he knew he had to wait until after her Tempering. Not only was she still considered to be a child by his species. But he didn't want her to think that all he wanted was sex. Mother of the Race he didn't want Annik to think all he wanted was sex. That would be even worse than her thinking he didn't want her at all. The later was correctable, the former? not so much. Nic shelved any thoughts about the future and just focused on the female in his arms. Breathing deeply Nic wanted to bring her into every part of his body, his soul. Bring her in and hold her there forever.