I raised my eyebrows and shared an amused look with Victoria while Doc went off on a fairly detailed rant about Nikolai, all in a Russian accent. I tried really hard to be sympathetic, but Doc's drawl mixed with the Russian in an extremely pleasing way, and it was kind of turning me on. Unfortunately, I knew at some point he was going to notice my arousal, and that just made the flutter in my stomach harder for me to ignore.
He finally stopped and glanced at me, eyebrow raised.
I blushed and shrugged, putting my hands up in a helpless gesture.
"Ugh." Doc rolled his eyes and flopped onto my bed dramatically.
Victoria laughed. "Are you going to be all right?"
"Yes. It will be just fine. He really is trying. He's quite grateful we saved him, if nothing else."
"I thought Sofia saved him?" Victoria said.
Doc opened his mouth to reply, snapped it shut, sighed, and nodded. "Yeah, that's what I meant."
"Sorry," Victoria backed off, realizing she had touched on something we didn't want to talk about.
"And of course, now Ash is back in class." Doc changed the subject. "The Andersons are getting restless, and who knows what they're going to do next."
"I'm curious about Ash. You know he's working for the Andersons, but you all actually seem okay with him. That's…a little strange," Victoria questioned.
"He likes Doc." I shrugged. "And he hates the Andersons. He's not working for them willingly. Seems like he's trying to help us."
"Why does he like Doc? That also seems kind of weird."
"I—" Doc snapped his mouth shut again. "I was nice to him when I could have killed him. Guess it made an impression." Doc cleared his throat and glanced away for a moment.
I laughed, I couldn't help it. ‘Nice’ was a bit of an understatement.
Victoria tilted her head at me, but I shook mine. It was too complicated to explain without telling her things it was safer for her not to know.
"I'll try not to ask awkward questions, but it's hard to know what I can and can't ask," she said.
"It's fine, Victoria. We're all grateful for your friendship and understanding," Doc answered.
"Aww!" she gushed.
A soft knock on the door interrupted us, and Victoria went and answered, letting Nikolai in.
"Thank you," he nodded to her before coming in and taking my office chair. The rollers didn't seem to faze him, so he must have encountered a rolling chair already.
He was taking most things in stride today.
"You warded the entire dorm?" Victoria sat down on the bed by Doc's feet.
"Yes. It should be quite safe from magical attacks."
"Thanks, Nikolai."
He smiled at her praise. "You are most welcome."
"Do you want to join us for dinner, Victoria?" I adjusted my position against the wall.
"Where are you going?"
"Nikolai has never experienced the joys of pizza." I smirked.
Victoria smiled back. "I'm in. Maybe you'll let me out of our normal Friday dinner then? I need to head home for the weekend."
"Sure, no problem. I'm quite certain the guys won't mind me showing up a little early this weekend."
"Not in the least," Doc drawled. He took my hint though and sat up on the bed.
I grabbed my backpack purse and a jacket. Victoria grabbed her bag and coat, and gestured for the guys to precede us out the door.
Nikolai and Doc snuck out ahead of us, and we waited about thirty seconds before following.
"Well, he's cute." Victoria nudged me as we walked down the staircase.
"Yeah, he is," I agreed, but I wasn't focused on the conversation.
She nudged me. "Are you okay?"
"I think so. There's just so much going on right now that I never expected. Don't know why it's hitting me now, but it is."
"Maybe it's because your guys suddenly aren't all getting along."
"Ed, Doc, and Allan are getting along fine," I protested.
"Right, but now you have Nikolai."
I raised my eyebrows and gave her a confused look.
"You may not have noticed, Sofia, but he looks at you just like the guys do. And you're giving him puppy dog eyes."
"I am not."
She snickered. "Are too."
"And we literally just met."
"You just met the others, and you fell pretty hard."
I sighed.
"And I wouldn't have pushed you to date them all if I didn't think you liked them," Victoria added. "And you like Nikolai, too."
I sighed again. He wasn't part of the pack, and he'd already told me he didn't want to cause problems for us. I didn't want to cause problems for us, either. Our relationship was so new, any misunderstandings might be hard to deal with.
She gave me a quick hug before we went outside to meet up with the rest of the guys.
Chapter 9
Doc
You've already lost her, Roy.
The words echoed in his head as he drove Nikolai, Ed, and Allan back to the cabin after dinner with Sofia and Victoria. Sam, the mage who ran a curio shop in the main strip of the tourist part of town, had stopped by the pizza place and come by their table. She had known Doc, Ed, and Allan for several years, though, to his knowledge, she hadn't guessed he was essentially a vampire. Being able to go out in sunlight unlike a full vampire and likely being the only half-vampire in existence, at least in the States, made it pretty hard to figure out what he was. Of course, Nikolai had known, but Nikolai claimed to have known several vampires, so maybe it was more obvious when you knew what to look for.
Sam had pulled him away from the table and outside after a quick round of introductions.
"Where did you find a mage?"
Doc shrugged. "Kind of dropped into our lap."
"You know you'll lose her to him, right?"
"What?"
She smiled grimly. "Everything you just gave up for that girl will be for nothing. He's suited to her. Their magic will draw them together as he teaches her."
Doc's heart stuttered, and
