"Sorry," Doc apologized.
It took a minute for him to catch his breath, then he shook his head. "It is fine. Get some rest. You can take over in a while."
Doc nodded and curled up on the couch, while Nikolai got up and found the tablet Doc had given him. He curled up on the other end of the couch and settled in to learn more about this world he found himself in.
The wards would alert him with plenty of notice if something was going on. He could have gone to sleep as well, but he decided it was safer if one of them were awake.
After a few hours of catching up on history, Nikolai got up and went to the kitchen to make some tea and stretch his legs. He wandered around the cabin while the tea steeped, and even that didn't wake Doc. He had thought to wake the other man up in a few hours so he could get some rest. Doc was exhausted, though, so he left him alone and returned to his spot on the couch.
At some point in the middle of the night, Doc shifted around on the couch until he was actually laying down, with his head on Nikolai's thigh and his legs curled so he fit. He didn't think Doc woke up and chose to cuddle with him, so much as he had gotten used to sleeping with the werewolves, and now Sofia, and had felt alone.
Nikolai ran his fingers through Doc's long hair, and marveled that the others had accepted him so easily into their pack.
Sofia had a lot to do with it, he was certain. He studied the pawprints she had added to his wrist for a moment, before he went back to playing with Doc's hair, amazed that she also had accepted him so quickly. True, she needed him, but it was more than that, he was sure. Or hoped.
Doc's light breathing changed, and the vampire tensed.
"It's still the middle of the night," Nikolai whispered. "All's quiet." He slid his finger along Doc's temple, brushing the vampire's hair out of his face. "You can go back to sleep."
"I thought the idea was for us to take turns," he replied softly.
"You need the rest more than I do, I think."
Doc didn't reply. He also didn't move, so Nikolai continued to play with his hair. "Tell me about where you are from," he asked once it became clear Doc wasn't immediately going back to sleep.
"I'm not sure I'm really from anywhere," Doc mused after a while. "I was born in Arizona, though it wasn't a state when I was born. We moved around a lot when I was younger, traveled all over the Southwest. California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico. I didn't make it up to Colorado until much later. Lots of desert. Lots of cactus." Doc spoke slowly, as if he were reliving memories while he shared a few hints of his early life.
"First time we spent more than a few months in any one location, was at a cattle ranch in California. My father had injured himself, and they graciously allowed us to stay while he recovered. The cowboys taught me to ride, work cows. We ended up staying for nearly a year before the cowboys started asking questions about me. That's when we moved on. We continued to move around until my father died. Then I started spending a little more time in one spot, mostly cowboying. Occasionally hunting down rogue vampires or werecreatures."
Nikolai's hand stilled. He had never considered that Doc might be a hunter. He spoke slowly. "I suppose you've killed many vampires?"
"Only a couple. Only ones that were noticeably preying on humans. More weres. I was not quite so dedicated to the cause as my parents were. I only got involved when there was a real problem."
He went back to running his fingers through Doc's hair. "How did you end up with Allan and Ed?"
"Their parents were killed by werewolves while they were out camping. They ended up in the foster care system, which is a bad place for a couple of new werewolves to end up. Somehow, they evaded detection, but it was getting tough for them. They ran across me not long after I moved to the area. Long story short, I was able to get them out."
"And then you found Sofia," Nikolai added.
Doc smiled. "Yes. She has certainly turned our lives upside down."
He traced his fingers lightly along Doc's jaw and down his neck.
The man shut his eyes and tilted his neck, enjoying the attention.
"What do you want for yourself, Nikolai? Now that you're here," Doc asked after a few minutes of silence.
The mage stilled his hand, resting it on Doc's shoulder, and thought. "I don't know. There is so much to learn before I can answer. I suppose in the short term, I want to help keep her safe. See where I fit in to this modern world. Figure out how I fit in here."
Doc put his hand on Nikolai's and ran his fingers lightly across his knuckles. "We're glad to have you."
"You are. Sofia is. I'm having a harder time reading Allan and Ed."
"They are glad to have you, as well. They just have to get used to you, and the whole situation with the Andersons is going to make everything more difficult than it really needs to be."
"And Sofia wants all of us."
Doc dragged his fingers over the back of Nikolai's hand until he could touch the mage's wrist, then he traced the colorful wolf paws marked there. "She wants all of us, and we all want her."
"Yes," he whispered, Doc's gentle touch sending shivers down his spine. "We do." His breath quickened as Doc continued to run his fingers softly over Nikolai's hand.
Doc stilled his hand. "Sorry."
"No need to apologize. I
