Page 37 of Whispered Warnings: Part One

“Let’s get to bed. The sun is up, and we definitely shouldn’t be,” Raiden mutters with a yawn as he gets up.

None of us argue with the suggestion, we are all exhausted, it feels like we haven’t stopped the last few days. I frown as I watch Raiden. The shadows in his eyes are a lot more prominent than they usually are, and I don’t like it.

The amount of power that he kicked off earlier when he saved Neith was incredible, far more than I ever thought he was capable of and thought he was strong anyway. The power was so strong that I’m worried that Ransom’s wards wouldn’t have been enough to conceal the flare of magic from the Reaper council,and that could be very bad. Especially since Raiden has wings, fucking enormous stunning wings that are colored in similar shades to his hair, black that shimmers purple and blue when the moonlight hits them just right. I have never seen a reaper with wings like that. Hell, I have only seen two or three reapers with wings, and they are on the high council. They aren’t going to like the fact that Raiden has wings, especially wings of his color. At this point, I am just assuming that the color of his wings is significant, and considering that all other reapers have light-colored wings, I would be very surprised if I am wrong.

He didn’t ask what color his wings were, although he didn’t seem extremely surprised that he had them. He must have always known that he was strong, he had to, there is no way that he had that power inside and didn’t feel the strength of it. What is worrying me though is that he has felt the freedom of having his magic free now, and having to keep it confined after setting it free in such a spectacular way is going to be a hell of a lot more difficult than it was when he locked it away as a child.

What he did for Neith is truly monumental and could have harsh consequences for Raiden, which means for the rest of us as well because there is no way in any of the known realms that we would allow him to deal with the Reaper council by himself.

It’s not going to happen.

I have a feeling that Neith is going to be right there with us, and I have to admit that I like that. My intuition is telling me that Raiden is going to need all the backup that he can get if the council felt the power blast that he let off. I want Raiden to be entirely himself, not to lock away any parts of himself, but I want him to do it on his terms and not because some fucking council is demanding that he does.

I frown. I might bring it up with him and see how open he is to using his other magic again now that he has had it free. I think it would be a really good idea to start using it and not get caughtout if the Reaper Council does call him. Otherwise, his reaction is also going to be emotional, and that is going to make him vulnerable, and the Reaper Council will use that against him. I would much rather that he was vulnerable with us and could work with his other magic at his own pace and with people who love him than be surrounded by a bunch of snakes.

I know that the others will agree with me, but at the end of the day, it’s up to Raiden. If he is not comfortable with it, then that’s the end of the discussion, and we will respect that. A ping of intuition tells me that this is the right thing to do, and I need to talk to Raiden as soon as I can and suggest it.

“River?” Doc asks, pulling me from my thoughts, and I realize that while I have been absorbed in my own wonderings, everyone else has left.

“Yeah, sorry, I was in a world of my own then,” I say as I get up and stretch.

He watches me cautiously, “Is everything okay? Do you want to talk about what happened with Neith?”

My eyebrows draw down in confusion for a moment, the question completely throwing me since it had nothing to do with what I was thinking about.

When it finally clicks, I smile, “No, I’m good. I have a feeling that Neith might bring all sorts of reactions out in us.”

“True,” Doc replies.

I start to move past him, still smiling, when I notice that he is frowning and hasn’t started to move. He’s just standing there.

“You alright, man. Is there anything you want to talk about?” I ask him curiously.

His frown deepens, but he replies, “Neith is practically human.”

“Yeah,” I reply, unsure where he’s going with this.

He scrubs his hand across the back of his neck, “Humans can have relationships with low-level supes with no consequences, but none of us are low-level supes.”

It hits me like a ton of bricks exactly what he means, we haven’t spoken about it aloud, but its obvious that we all find Neith attractive, and she is more human than supe right now, which means we have to be really fucking careful.

“Shit, you’re right. She fits in so well with us and holds her own even fucking better than most supes would that it hadn’t even occurred to me,” I reply, “message the guys in our chat. She is a supe Doc, we just have to be patient if it gets to that.”

I am aware that I’m not saying it, and I think it’s because neither of us are quite ready to admit it yet, but Doc is a doctor and he looks after us all, it's understandable that he would have thought of this first and that he felt the need to warn the rest of us.

“Done, they’ve all seen it and replied similar to you,” Doc replies, his shoulder slumping a bit. It was clearly something that he had been worrying about.

I clap him on the shoulder, “Come on, dude, let’s get some sleep. It’s been a long ass few days.”

He chuckles as he follows me from the room, and up the stairs, we both look to the end of the hall where Neith’s door is.

“She’s going to change everything, isn’t she?” I mutter out loud without really meaning to.

“She already is,” Doc smirks before he turns on his heel and heads down the hallway to his now permanent room.

It feels good to have him here, properly here and a part of the team. Usually, you would have to worry about an adjustment period where we all got used to him living here and working with us more often. It’s Doc though, he’s spent more time here than I am sure he has spent anywhere else, we know we work well together, he’s one of us and has been for a very long time now.

I make my way to my room, and strip as soon as I walk through the door, leaving a trail of clothes behind me leading to the shower, I will pick them up later. All I want to do now is shower and get some sleep. I am fucking exhausted, more so now that I can actually see my bed. It has to be one of my most favorite places to be. Rushing through my shower, I don’t bother with clothes as I throw myself on my bed, landing face down and grabbing my pillow as I wriggle my way under my duvet.

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