Page 43 of Forging Bonds: Part One

Raiden shrugs, “I have no idea, but I intend to find out and hopefully put a stop to it.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Evander agrees.

“Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, I want to carry on making River’s top-up spell potion so I can get that on him as soon as possible, and like Van said, it’s something else that we then don’t have to worry about anymore,” Ransom says.

“Agreed,” I reply. I want to make sure that we’re all as safe as we possibly can be.

“I'll help Raiden get some practice in,” Griff offers. He grins at Raiden, “What do you think about a crash course in flying fight maneuvers and practicing with a few weapons and whatever other magic that we find out you have?”

Raiden’s smile is broad, and his eyes are filled with excitement as he replies, “Less of the crash part, but yeah, that sounds awesome.”

“How are you doing with the emotional side of having your magic free?” River asks, watching Raiden closely.

Raiden tenses, and I can see him think about brushing off River’s question before he sighs heavily and decides to answer honestly.

“I’m coping. The nightmares are happening a bit more frequently, but they haven’t got to the point where I’m scared to sleep yet,” he explains, and my heart breaks for him. I know what it’s like to have nightmares that are more memory than not.

It’s because I know this that my mouth speaks before my brain has caught up, “Do you want to sleep with me?”

Raiden’s eyebrows rise, and his expression clears immediately as a smirk pulls at his lips, “Well . . .”

I chuckle, “Before you continue, what I meant by that is that I get nightmare memories, and it helps if someone is sleeping next to me. Griff did it for me at House after we spoke to Dimitri, and it helped so much. So I was wondering if it would help you, too.”

Raiden studies me closely, “You would do that for me?”

I nod, “Of course I would. I mean it’s not entirely unselfish, I don’t like sleeping alone.”

Raiden chuckles, “Well, in that case, yes, I would love to sleep with you.”

“Lucky fucker,” Griff mutters.

Raiden shrugs, “Neith’s bed is massive, and there’s no reason why you can’t sleep there, too.”

Griff glances at me, his eyebrow raised in question. I grin, my heart pounding in my chest, “As I said, I hate sleeping by myself. If you guys want to share my bed, consider this an open invitation. You can work it out among yourselves how to keep it fair if you all want to.”

As I finish my sentence, I get that uncomfortable feeling that I sometimes get when I think that I’ve said something wrong or not normal. I don’t really know how to explain it, but it quickly dissipates when the guys all smile excitedly.

“I’m texting Doc and Reed, we can work out a schedule or something,” Evander says, his phone already in his hand.

“So, you all want to sleep in my bed?” I ask.

River chuckles, “Obviously.” He carries on without waiting for a reply from me, “Raiden is going to need to be with Neith tonight.”

Van nods, “Yeah. We’ll figure it out.” He looks at me, “I think you may have underestimated how much we like cuddles.”

I burst out laughing at the sincerity in his expression and then say, “That was so fucking cute.”

Ransom shrugs, “He’s not wrong. If you ever want the bed to yourself though, some of us are bed hogs, just say.”

“Oh, don’t worry, if I want to starfish you guys will be the first to know,” I chuckle.

“Starfish?” Griff asks, a cute, confused frown on his face.

Before I can reply, Evander does. Sitting in his chair, he holds his arms and legs out to the side in demonstration and says, “Starfish.”

“Oh,” Griff chuckles, “understood.”

“So that’s the plan then?” Van starts getting us back on track. “Obviously, Reed and Doc are at the Training Academy, and Doc is doing his thing. Griff and Raiden are going to practice, Ransom is going to work on the spell potion for River and Neith, River and I are going to see if we can find anything out in the library.”

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