Page 90 of Five to Love Him
“You okay?” Leo asked as a result, frowning at our unmatching reactions.
“We are. We…we don’t really know what to say or feel. We’re glad you’re here, don’t doubt that, but everything else is a lot.” We wiped at some of our faces. “The hive was here?”
“Yeah, they’re downstairs. I told them they didn’t have to stay with that many hivelings, but they were insistent, and I’m low-key glad. Uhm. Something else.”
“What? Did we say anything?”
“Oh no. Nothing like that. I told Headprinci-master Farrow you were sick, and he didn’t believe me or whatever. Your bosses didn’t either, and they showed up here with that other big vampire. Uhm. They… I don’t know how to say this.”
“Did they see us?” We sighed. “Are they letting us go?”
“Huh? No, of course not. Don’t freak out, okay, but they knew there was a call at the studio, and that you were upset. That upset them and, uhm, I think they’re looking for that man now.”
We jerked upright with two. “L-l-l-looking for him? Why? We didn’t—we won’t—”
“They are going to put an end to him.” The hive pushed the door open with one. They had a thermos and a few mugs in hand, a stethoscope around their neck. “We think that’s a reasonable response if we are being honest.”
“Oh.”
We considered that while they poured us tea and then checked us over. Leo was more interested in seeing us drink than finishing his own cup, so we did. We remembered the worry in his eyes. It would haunt us. We realized we were clutching Bruno to us with one and looked at the teddy bear.
Leo saw, and like sunrise brightening the world, he smiled.
“You were holding him all night.”
“Well, we…”
We didn’t know what to say, and when Leo reached for one to caress and kiss, language fled us anyway. It was the one who’d hurt, the one who still hurt.
We wiped the back of our hand. We’d spilled a drop of tea.
“Perhaps…we were thinking that perhaps if we kept ourself apart, kept the two that were in that room, the two that were used, away, we’d be better. We have the house in the underground. We could…”
The hive was frozen, his stethoscope touching our chest, his jaw hanging slack.
Leo tightened his hold on that one briefly before kissing him again.
“Nope. I’ve gotten used to there being five of you. And I warned you about spoiling me. Now I am spoiled and nothing less than the attention of five of you will do.”
“Leo, we…we’ve tried, but we are scared this might happen again.”
“Exactly. If it does, I want to be there to make sure you’re okay.”
We opened our mouth, but once more, we had no words.
“Trust your gleaming one, hive,” the other said, putting his stethoscope back around his neck. “He watched over you. He wouldn’t let your friends near you, that’s how protective he was. He threatened them should they mistreat you.”
“That’s true?” we asked Leo.
He shrugged. “I was scared. I didn’t know what to do. Anyway, the hive is the one who came over here with several of himself and really made a difference.”
“Hardly. And we left with two earlier, but we made breakfast. Both of you should eat something.”
Leo reached for us, waiting until all of us were on our feet before heading downstairs, just like a lion mother not wanting to leave any of her cubs behind. The gesture filled us with warmth, made us less afraid about him changing his mind. He had said he loved us, all of us, but he could change his mind. He might act differently from now on, pulling away because in his subconscious, we disgusted him.
That wasn’t anything we could control. We looked at our hands—and noticed that we had carried Bruno downstairs with us.
“Oh. We should bring him back to the bed.”
