*Adrik*
I felt Sephie stir next to me. I knew it was morning. I did not want it to be morning. I knew I didn’t have anything important until early afternoon, so I could stay in bed with her for once. I didn’t even open my eyes; I just pulled her closer to me, pulling her leg over mine. *“I’m not getting up yet. You’re not allowed to leave yet, either,”* I thought. I heard her quietly giggle as she snuggled in closer to me. She pressed her body completely against mine. I heard her sigh as she relaxed once more, falling back asleep.
It was sometime later when I woke up again. She was still asleep next to me, her body completely tangled with mine. I heard Ivan’s voice, but I heard it in Sephie’s head. This is weird.
*“Princess, are you two okay? You never sleep this long, but nobody is brave enough to come check on you.”*
I couldn’t help but laugh. I was thankful they weren’t going to come in to check, as I hugged Sephie’s naked body a little tighter. I concentrated on Ivan, trying to push my words to him the same way Sephie had shown me with her. *“She’s fine, Ivan. It’s my fault. I didn’t want to wake up this morning.”* I wasn’t sure it had worked, but I heard his reply a few moments later.
*“You got new level zapped, Boss. Don’t think I didn’t see your eyes change last night.”* I could tell he was laughing when he thought that.
*“Right. Because being able to talk to you when you’re God knows where is completely normal, too,”* I thought. I could hear him laughing. *“We’ll be out soon.”*
I pulled Sephie closer, running my hands through her hair. She made her cooing noises, snuggling into me even more. “I like it best when you sleep in with me. The guys try their best, but nobody keeps me warm like you do,” she said. She finally opened her eyes, revealing my favorite deep blue.
“It’s the thoughts you make me think. It warms me up. They don’t have the same thoughts. Because they know I would kill them for thinking about you the same way I think about you,” I said.
She laughed loudly. “Gross.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at her response. “Come, we should get up. The guys are worried. Ivan checked on you once already.”
“Ivan came in here?” she asked, surprised.
“No. I could hear him in your head. He was asking if you were okay. He said none of them were brave enough to come in here, which I appreciate.”
“You heard him in my head?”
I nodded. “I answered him, since you didn’t wake up. You were right. Apparently he and I can communicate with each other the same way you and I do. He also caught my eyes changing last night. He said I got new level zapped when I told him it was me that didn’t want to wake up this morning.”
“He’s right. I think you did. I’m not surprised he caught your eyes changing, either. He’s very quick to notice the newest weird things now,” she said. “Poor Viktor is going to be terrified once he learns you and Ivan can do it too.”
I sighed. “I don’t know what to do about Viktor. I think you’re right. I think he’s avoiding spending time with you.”
“He is. I’m not sure I’m going to be the one to help him. My dad said it needs to be you and Ivan. My dad keeps assuring me that Viktor isn’t scared of me, but he’s terrified of finding out what he can do. He knows I’m the one that’s helped everyone else unlock their gifts and he doesn’t want to know what his is yet.”
“How do we help him then? I don’t know the first thing about how you’ve helped everyone else. You just do it, it seems. How are we going to do that for him?” I asked, thinking of how Ivan and I could possibly get Viktor to realize his gift.
“That, my love, is the million-dollar question,” she said, climbing over me to get out of bed. “One that I do not have the answer to just yet.”
--
Viktor walked into my office that afternoon. “I heard from the journalist. He said he has the information we need. Do we still keep up the charade that Chen is the one he’s been talking to this whole time? Did Battista tell him who he’s really been helping?”
I thought for a few moments. “I’ll call to confirm with Battista, but my first instinct is to keep up with the charade. Chen seems to enjoy it and I’d still like to keep us as anonymous as possible.”
Viktor chuckled. “Chen loves it. Who knew that kid would enjoy pretending to be somebody else so much? I’ll make the arrangements.”
Once he walked out of the office, Ivan walked in the office, closing the door behind him. “That looks serious,” I said, watching him close my office door.
“Eh, I’d rather not be overheard and I don’t know how I feel about it looking like we’re in here staring at each other without saying anything yet. We have to ease into this one,” he said, laughing as he sat down.
“What’s on your mind?”
“Sephie talked to you about Viktor?” he asked.
“Briefly, yes. When we woke up this morning. I had noticed that he’s been avoiding spending any time with her after she brought it up. He always sends somebody else. I think she might be starting to take it personally,” I said.
“She’s definitely taking it personally, but she’s also trying to not let it bother her. Her dad confirmed that he’s been avoiding her. She was not the least bit surprised. But her dad also said it might be up to the two of us to help him figure it out,” Ivan said.
“That’s what Sephie told me this morning. The bigger question is how the fuck do we do that? She’s the one that’s done it for everyone else. Even she doesn’t know how she’s done it. She just does.”
Ivan was thoughtful for a few moments. “I think we should have a conversation with her. She’s inadvertently nailed everyone’s gifts before they’ve gotten them. I think she was the first one to say that Stephen could mindfuck someone. She nailed me being able to see demons. She also hyped Andrei up enough that he finally started to trust himself and trust what he was seeing. The only one she didn’t do much for was Misha, but his was already starting. She did, however, make damn sure we’d always listen to it.”
“I don’t think I’ve heard her say anything like that about Viktor, though. Because he’s the one that spends the least amount of time with her, he has the fewest inside jokes with her.”
“That’s why we need to talk to her, I think. I know she’s seen something that none of us have or she knows something that the rest of us don’t, she just hasn’t paid attention to it. She just has to give us a hint on what she thinks his gift is and then we can figure out a way to help him realize it.”
“Agreed. She gave you extra points when she found out you caught my eyes changing yesterday. She said you’re getting quite good at seeing the weird shit when it first happens. I agree.”
“I wouldn’t have caught it if her dad wouldn’t have told me it was going to happen. I knew hers started when she would get insane level angry. When I felt her anger go off the charts to contain yours, I figured that’s when it would happen. I knew you were also trying to figure out a way to keep her from seeing Armando again. The best way to keep him from seeing her eyes is to make your eyes do the same thing. For the record, I do agree with her on what to do about him, but it doesn’t mean I’m happy about not watching him die.”
“I’m still trying to wrap my brain around that one. I still don’t like it. I’ll argue with her. I’m not sure I should argue with the universe though,” I said. Ivan laughed as he saw my anger start to rise over not being able to kill Armando myself.
“You might need to get contacts too, Boss. At least for your business meetings,” he said, smirking at me.
“No shit? Right now? I’m barely angry.”
“No shit. They’re not as dark as hers, but they’re darker than what they were last night. It took her a long time to get all the way black.
“Shit. I didn’t even think about my meetings. That’s gonna be awkward until I can get a handle on this,” I said, somewhat amused at the thought of scaring my business associates.
“Maybe avoid eye contact for a while until we can figure this out,” he said, laughing at my predicament.
“Get out of my office, asshole,” I said, laughing with him.