Page 25 of Briggs
“We started to talk about ourselves a little, but we didn’t get very far,” Todd said. “You know more about me, I think, but I know so little about you.”
I shrugged. “Possibly not.”
“How old am I?” Todd asked.
“I believe nineteen? Twenty?”
Todd nodded. “But what about you? I don’t know how old you are. When is your birthday? Favorite pastime? All the things.”
I chuckled again. “Well, I’m forty-three. My birthday is July twenty-sixth. My favorite color is blue, favorite food is probably steak, followed by pie. I love to run,” I said but gave him a look that he understood. I loved to run, but in my other form, not this one. “Lazy mornings are a goal, and on the weekends, I do not get up early.” I leaned back and watched Todd eating. It was good that he was since he hadn’t eaten much of his lunch.
Todd looked around again before leaning close once more. “Do you think I’m too young for you?”
I shook my head. “On my team, there is Benjamin, whose partner is Eli. Benjamin ismucholder. Raiden and Alexander. They’re fairly close in age, only eight years apart. Dimitri…now, he’s probably close to twice the age of his partner, Caspian. If you think about…say Master Ambrosius. He is…yeah,” I said, cutting myself off as someone walked by. They had to choose the table that was right next to us, which was frustrating and meant Todd and I would have to limit what we were discussing. “Age is just a number,” I whispered. “It’s not important.”
Todd nodded. His eyes shifted to the right, then back at me before landing on his food. We ate in mostly silence until we were finished. I gave Todd half of my shake, and once he’d finished it, we cleaned up and left. The place was much busier now than it was when we arrived, and before we could even get to the bin to dump our trash, someone was sliding into our booth.
Once outside, it had not only cooled considerably but had started to get dark. “I will say that I miss the longer days of summer,” Todd said.
“Yes. It will be winter before we know it, and then there will be snow on the ground. We have a date already for that,” I reminded him. Todd smiled up at me. I grinned back before I opened the door for my mate. He grinned at me as he climbed in.
I closed the door, rounded the truck, and after I slid in behind the wheel, I looked over at my mate. “Now we can talk,” I told him. “I didn’t even think about the lack of privacy. That’s my fault.”
Todd shrugged. “The council is busy, I know, but it would be nice to have a restaurant or two up on the mountaintop. We have everything else.”
“True. Maybe we should suggest that at some point. I agree that it would be nice. Although there is the council cafeteria. You are always welcome to eat there.”
“Yeah, but I don’t always want to take it home. I don’t have a badge like you do. Like, I could get in, but it’s a whole thing. So I have to go to the takeout window around the back. I don’t mind, but sometimes it’s just nice to be able to sit down and eat at a restaurant where you don’t have to cook or do any of the cleaning.”
I stared at Todd, a bit bewildered. “You don’t have a badge?”
“Sort of. There’s no reason for me to be in the council building. So I have one that gets me into the clinic, and the storeis obviously open, and I can knock on the door to the council, but my badge doesn’t work in the keypad thing.”
I blinked at my mate. “We’ll get you one tomorrow. You’re my mate, and I’ll get you a mate’s badge. That way, you can come into the building.” How was it that his badge didn’t get him into the council building? He was employed by them.
“What? No, I don’t need one. I was just saying…it would be nice to have a restaurant.”
“I agree, but why wouldn’t you want a badge? You can come see me at work once we get you one.”
“But I’ll be working. And so will you.” Todd shook his head. “I wouldn’t want to bother you at work.” I chuckled before starting the truck. “But you could come have lunch with me in the cafeteria. Lots of mates come, and some even bring their babies.” This was all true. Granted, it wasn’t an everyday thing, but it did happen. And with Todd being right next door, it wouldn’t be a far walk for him to come on over. “Are you planning on continuing to work?” I asked.
Todd looked at me with confusion on his face. “Why wouldn’t I?”
I shrugged. “I was just asking—making conversation. You know you don’t have to, right? If you want to stop working, that is. Maybe you want to go to school full-time like you mentioned earlier? Or just spend time relaxing?”
Todd’s expression was pure surprise. “I have to work. Eventually, my brother and sister are going to have to come stay with me.” Todd took a deep breath. “Well, with us. I should already have them, actually, but I’m being difficult about it.”
“They can live with us. That’s not an issue. And you don’t have to work because I make more than enough. You’re welcome to if you want. I was just putting it out there as an option. I didn’t want you to feel trapped as if you had to be able to do it all.”
“I…I’ll think about it.” Todd turned to look straight ahead. “I do like my job, but I think Dr. King would have less work if I wasn’t there and he didn’t have to always fix my messes.”
“We’ll work on that,” I told him. “Once we’ve claimed each other, we’ll be able to communicate through our bond. If you run into an issue, you can share it with me, and I can talk you through how to fix it. Hopefully.” I wasn’t sure that would work, actually, but I was certainly going to do everything I could to help my mate.
“Do you think that will work?”
I glanced at Todd as I stopped at a streetlight. “The only way to find out is if we try it.”
“Yeah, but we have to claim each other in order to do that. And although I’m okay with us doing that already, you seem hesitant every time I bring it up.” Todd sighed. “I get it. I’m…things were done to me, and that’s not attractive.”
